Tenet 9

9. Every Christian father and family ought to be a submitted and committed part of a local church, subject to the authority and discipline of the church through its elders. (Heb. 10:24-25; 13:17)

Heb. 10:24-25 – And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

We – fathers and non-fathers, families and singles, in short, all believers – should assemble to exhort and encourage one another to love and good works. Female Christians and Christian children should also take part in exhorting and encouraging. We should come together and stir up the good in one another.

Heb. 13:17 – Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

Obey in this text comes from a Greek word for being convinced. It is not unquestioning obedience, but obedience because you are convinced they are right. So yes, be obedient to your church – when you have good reason to believe they are right. The argument of this blog is that "Christian" patriarchy is essentially wrong, and that you should rather be convinced by (and then obey) a group that better understands what it means to be the church.

9a) Every Christian father and family ought to be a submitted and committed part of a local church

Every Christian, without the words father and family added. It is only the one-sided patriarchal focus on the family that put “father and family” in this tenet.

b) subject to the authority and discipline of the church through its elders.

Subject to their authority? Yes, it is in Heb. 13:17. Subject to their discipline? I believe that could be found in scripture, but TBP (the Tenets of Biblical Patriarchy) does not back it up with scripture. “Through its elders” is not in the texts given, but a scriptural case can be made for it.

Other ways Christians understand this:

Some say that the church is in itself the family of God, and that it does not have to rigidly follow earthly family structures in everything it does. Many churches have, for example, Sunday school or children’s groups that are so popular that some children attend whose parents are not churchgoers. Instead of thinking that they are usurping parental authority by teaching this girl/boy, these Sunday schools will rejoice in the opportunity to be the family of God for this child. As such, they encourage not only the family to be part of their church, but also the individual Christian who have a family that does not want to attend church.

Summing it up

How reliable is this tenet? I will use a color code:

      The color code:

      This is adequately Biblically defended

      This can be defended Biblically, but TBP don't give such a verse.

      This is not Biblically defended

9. Every Christian father and family ought to be a submitted and committed part of a local church, subject to the authority and discipline of the church through its elders.