Honoring Father and Mother

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

Continuing through this small topical Bible study of the Ten Commandments, in the fifth commandment with find that the instructions of Holy Scripture on honoring our fathers and mothers is crystal clear.

• Leviticus 19:3 “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.”

• Proverbs 23:22 “Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.”

• The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 15:4, “For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

• Colossians 3:20 “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.”

When we consider how God has ordered His creation, we see that He has established various levels of authority and submission. Of course, all begins with the honoring and respecting of our heavenly Father, Lord God, who created and blessed the family unit. The Apostle Paul gives a description of authority and submission in the home in Ephesians 6:1-3, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth”, repeating the fifth commandment of God. 

Deuteronomy 5:16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

The commandment’s  promise is an interesting addition, and it reflects a basic reality of human civilization as design by our Creator: a given society will be only as strong as its family units. We first learn what it means to honor and respect others within the context of our families, and those who learn to honor their fathers and mothers learn also how to respect and honor the other authorities God has given us.

Ephesians 6:4 “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

Colossians 3:21 “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

The Apostle Paul gives instruction to mothers and fathers. Parents are not to allow their children to be disrespectful, but they are to teach their children how to honor then and other rightful authorities. Of course, this does not mean that mothers should not be bringing their children up in the training and admonition of the Lord, but fathers need to be disciplining and instructing the children to love and serve the Lord; he may not be uninvolved with the training of his children. Training children to honor their parents and other authorities is not only right according to God’s law, but it is also good for society. May we as parents, teach our children to honor and obey their elders.

Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Blessings in Christ