Children And Parents
CHILDREN AND PARENTS
EPHESIANS 6:1-4
Mutual consideration extends even to parents and children. Here is how Paul says they are to relate in a Christian home.
A remarkable quality of Scripture is that it is written simply enough so that its commands can be understood by those to whom they are addressed. When God speaks to children, he speaks in simple words they can understand: “Obey your parents in the Lord” (6:1). In both Hebrew and Greek, the primary languages of the Bible, the verb “to obey” is a more intense form of the verb “to hear.” Obedience is a consequence of listening: children listening intently to their parents, and all of us listening intently to the voice of God.
Paul reminds us that these words to children are based on the fifth commandment, which tells us to honor our parents (6:2-3). Children should obey their parents because God has commanded it and because a Christian home commends it. Of all of the Ten Commandments, the fifth is the only one to which a promise is attached. Obedience to parents is rewarded by God’s approval and long life. Disobedience to parents is a mark of a reckless indifference to divine authority and invites the judgment of God (see Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2).
The obligations of a husband and wife to one another extends to their children as well. Children are to obey their parents, and parents are to be understanding and provide them with instruction (6:4). Paul assumes that the father has primary responsibility for discipline in the home, and he warns against the exercise of an authority that does not show the sympathy and love that Christ inspires.
Paul’s own conduct with a young church indicated that exhortation, encouragement and teaching were legitimate elements in “the discipline of the Lord” (see 1 Thessalonians 2:11). When the education of children is based on the admonition of the Lord, they should realize that the obedience they give to their parents is a picture of the respect they have for God.