Tenet 10

10. The church is defined by its orthodox confession and faithful teaching of God’s word; by the presence of the Holy Spirit; by the rule of qualified elders; by the biblical administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; by regular meetings for worship, instruction, breaking bread, and fellowship; and by the exercise of discipleship and discipline. (Gal. 1:8; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Cor. 12:13; 1 Tim. 3:1ff.; Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:20ff.; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 5)

Gal. 1:8 – But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

Orthodox confession –yes. (By the time we get to the end of the TBP's tenets on men and women, education, and older children, you can judge for yourself if "the gospel centered doctrine of biblical patriarchy", as the tenets call itself, is the real gospel, or "any other gospel.")

1 Tim. 3:15 – I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

How is this relevant to the tenet? Does “pillar and ground of the truth” mean the orthodox confession and faithful teaching? Is the living God the pillar and ground of truth, or is His church that?

1 Cor. 12:13 – For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

The sacrament of baptism and presense of the Holy Spirit, yes.

1Tim. 3:1 and further (Excerpt):  This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless …

This covers qualified elders. (By the way, the original Greek of this contains no gendered word like "man" or "he".)

Matt. 28:19 – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Baptism and discipleship is in the tenets.

1 Cor. 11:20 and further (Excerpt):  …the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come…

Acts 20:7 – Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

Breaking bread together is something the disciples did, but it does not say this is what defines the church. 

10a) The church is defined by its orthodox confession and faithful teaching of God’s word;

 Yes.

b) by the presence of the Holy Spirit;

Yes. It could be covered by more verses, not just half of 1 Cor. 12:13.

c) by the rule of qualified elders; by the biblical administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper;

Yes.

d) by regular meetings for worship, instruction, breaking bread, and fellowship;

Nothing in these verses mentions either regular meetings or worship, or instruction. Breaking bread is mentioned, but not as a definition of the church. Fellowship is not mentioned.

e) and by the exercise of discipleship and discipline.

Discipleship is mentioned in Matt. 28:19. Discipline by God, not by elders, is mentioned in the 1 Cor 11:20 and further passage. Discipline by the church elders is meant by TBP, but not covered in the Bible verses.

Other ways Christians understand this:

Some Christians emphasize that the church is not a building or a meeting, but each and every believer. The church can firstly be known, they say, by this:

 Joh 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

This verse, interestingly enough, is not part of how the New Patriarchal leaders define the church, and none of their definitions, except Matt. 28:19, comes from Jesus himself.

Summing it up

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

      The color code:

      This is a partial truth. (The other part of the truth, that together make it Biblical, will be added in brackets.)
      This is not Biblically defended

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

10. The church is defined by (the love of Jesus’ disciples for one another,) its orthodox confession and faithful teaching of God’s word; by the presence of the Holy Spirit; by the rule of qualified elders; by the biblical administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; by regular meetings for worship, instruction, breaking bread,  and fellowship; and by the exercise of discipleship and discipline.

Tenet 18: Biblical educational methodology

18. Educational methodology is not neutral. The Christian should build his educational methodology from the word of God and reject methodologies derived from humanism, evolutionism, and other unbiblical systems of thought. Biblical education is discipleship, a process designed to reach the heart. The aim is a transformed person who exhibits godly character and a trained mind, both of which arise from faith. The parents are crucial and ordinarily irreplaceable in this heart-level, relational process. (Deut. 6:5-7; Lk. 6:40; 1 Thess. 2:7-12; 2 Tim. 1:5; 2 Pet. 1:5-8)

6:5-7 – You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.

Once again, this is a command to the Israelites, to teach Deuteronomy ("the words I teach you today" refer to those written down in Deuteronomy) all the time.

Lk. 6:40 – A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

That is a great reason why to be careful who you allow to teach your children. It is also a reason why parents should really not teach alone: We are not perfect. I do not want my children to be a mere copy of me, who lacks a few of my strengths. (Where their talents differ from ours, they would not be able to develop strengths.) I want them to develop all their talents, even those I don't share. I want them to have right beliefs where I have wrong ones, and good qualities where my bad ones are.

1 Thess. 2:7-12 – But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how devoutly and justly and blamelessly we behaved ourselves among you who believe; as you know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

2 Tim. 1:5 – when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.

They set a good example: They preached the message of God.

These people did not spend time exclusively with the congregation day and night, but taught part time and worked part time not to be a (financial) burden. This example would be the equivalent of working parents lovingly teaching children about God in the evenings after work, and even in lunchtime or when the kids pop in at their job, but the children learned everything else about life from elsewhere before the parents started teaching the gospel.

Sometimes, children follow what the parents taught. This is a good example of why we should model faith to our children - not only if our spouse agree. (Timothy's father or grandfather were seemingly not a part of it.)

2 Pet. 1:5-8 – But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At least some forms of knowledge depend on having faith and virtue first. Obviously, that cannot refer to all forms of knowledge. A non-virtuous student could know her algebra as well as a virtuous one. A student with faith in God may know less history than another who does not.

18a) Educational methodology is not neutral.

I believe this, but it is not in the Bible, and thus not a Biblical tenet.

b) The Christian should build his educational methodology from the word of God, and should reject methodologies derived from humanism, evolutionism, and other unbiblical systems of thought.

Methodology refers to things like learning from books, learning from observation (from seeing how their parents treat each other, they learn how to treat a spouse, for example), learning by repetition (the only way to learn something like multiplication tables), and learning by experiment. I know of no educational methodology derived from humanism or evolutionism. However, some educational philosophies could come from humanism or evolutionism. 

I don't think that the Word of God contains a proper manual for all the ways in which we could learn, and thus disagree that we could build an educational methodology from the word of God. The methodology for some things (like teaching a child how to brush his teeth, or preparing a delicious casserole, or teaching children to count) are not in the Bible.

c) Biblical education is discipleship, a process designed to reach the heart. The aim is a transformed person who exhibits godly character and a trained mind, both of which arise from faith.

Yes. And people need that. But they also need, in order to function in the real world, a solid education in reading and maths and basic knowledge of, for example, how to work with money and how to nurture babies. The Bible does not say how or by whom that part of education should be imparted. And the aim of that kind of education is different, and not taught in these texts.

d) The parents are crucial and ordinarily irreplaceable in this heart-level, relational process.

Crucial and irreplacable? Many a greatly succesful Christian develop a relationship with God, and a knowledge of Him, even though their parents were not Christians. Many children of Christian parents do not become disciples.

Important, yes. Very important. That is why God instructs Israelite parents and grandparents to teach the law in Deuteronomy, and why He tells parents/ fathers to bring children up in the training and admonition of God (Eph 6:4). But important is not synonymous with crucial, and the provided texts do not teach it is crucial.

Other ways Christians understand this:

(No extra notes this time)

Summing it up

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

      The color code:

      This is adequately Biblically defended

      This is not Biblically defended

18. Educational methodology is not neutral. The Christian should build his educational methodology from the word of God and reject methodologies derived from humanism, evolutionism, and other unbiblical systems of thought. Biblical education is discipleship, a process designed to reach the heart. The aim is a transformed person who exhibits godly character and a trained mind, both of which arise from faith. The parents are crucial and ordinarily irreplaceable in this heart-level, relational process.