The family cannot usurp the church's jurisdiction: God established three parallel governments with separate jurisdictions: the family, the church, and the state, each wielding separate forms of discipline (the rod, the keys, and the sword). The family did not delegate the "keys of the kingdom" (the sacraments and church discipline) to the church, and therefore it does not have the authority to take them back. Just as the power of the sword (Rom. 13) initially flowed from the family (Numb. 35:19, 21, 24, 25, 27; Deut. 19:6, 12) but cannot be usurped back by the family to avenge evil today (Luke 22:36; Rom. 12:19-21; Rom. 13:1-7), the family cannot take back the church's jurisdiction. Furthermore, church office is a God-ordained position (Eph. 4:11; Acts 20:28; Titus 1:7) that cannot be taken without calling (Acts 1:24-26; Jer. 14:14-15; 23:21, 32; 1 Cor. 17). Families who abandon the church have excommunicated themselves (1 John 2:19) and stepped outside the covenant's protective canopy (1 Cor. 5:5).

Even when the New Testament churches of Corinth and Galatia became exceedingly corrupt, God’s remedy was discipline and reformation, not abandoning the institutional church to meet as isolated families. In Corinth, God still mandated Sunday gatherings (1 Cor. 16:1-4) and church discipline (1 Cor. 5:5), maintaining a strict distinction between what families did "at home" (1 Cor. 11:34; 14:35) and what they did "when you come together as a church" (1 Cor. 11:7, 18, 20, 33, 34; 14:26). For Galatia, Paul’s solution was reformation (Gal. 1-6), discipline (Gal. 5:10, 12; 6:1), maintaining connection to the body (Gal. 6:1-5, 10), and financially supporting the pastor (Gal. 6:6-10). (Note: While Scripture tells believers to withdraw from apostates via Rom. 16:17; 1 Tim. 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 3:5; 2 John 10-11; and Rev. 18:4, the biblical response is to form new, faithful churches, not remain unaccountable).