10 C's #5: Honor your parents
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. (NKJV)
As Paul points out, this is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesisans 6:1-3). Paul points to the enhanced refresher version of the 10 C's in Deuteronomy 5:16
When Moses gives his review in Deuteronomy, he's talking to a mostly new generation, and giving them promises right before their invasion of Israel.
This commandment takes on a new tact from commandments 2 and 3, no idols and no misuse of God's name. Both of those commandments come with threats. This one comes with an incentive, the promise. Why a carrot this time and not the stick? As a parent myself, I know that I have to carry a stick all the time and sometimes wield it, figuratively of course. When the children refuse to treat each other in the way they want to be treated I am called upon to bring justice. I can bring mercy too, especially in offenses against me. Our family is also in a financial position to offer small material incentives for performing chores around the house. But I cannot offer my children a long and blessed life. None of my rewards compare to God's. Of course, many people are satisfied with far less than God's blessing. However, some families can offer so little to their children in regards to incentives either due to poverty in the material, spiritual, psychological or emotional realms. What material incentive can a Darfur mother offer to a child? What spiritual incentive can an atheistic parent offer? What psychological incentive can a clinically depressed or schizophrenic parent offer? What emotional incentive can an abusive parent offer? God makes an offer that is independent of the condition of the parent!
When God's commands and promises are conditional only between Him and you, regardless of the behavior of those in between, He entreats us to respect the office despite the sinner who resides in it. There have never been sinless parents. Children, juvenile and adult, have the opportunity to love the sinner but hate the sin. Some American Christians question the utility of this aphorism, especially in regards to loving our homosexual friends, co-workers, and neighbors, but we practice it constantly in our families.
What makes parents worthy of such honor? They have been given an opportunity by God to participate in creation. God presents himself as Father to us. He calls us children, those who believed in his name (john 1:12). Jesus is portrayed as God's only-begotten son (John 1:18). A family is a symbol/shadow/type of the relationship God has with us. The way we interact with this shadow, our parents, reveals our insufficient understanding of God.
As Paul points out, this is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesisans 6:1-3). Paul points to the enhanced refresher version of the 10 C's in Deuteronomy 5:16
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you. (NKJV)
When Moses gives his review in Deuteronomy, he's talking to a mostly new generation, and giving them promises right before their invasion of Israel.
This commandment takes on a new tact from commandments 2 and 3, no idols and no misuse of God's name. Both of those commandments come with threats. This one comes with an incentive, the promise. Why a carrot this time and not the stick? As a parent myself, I know that I have to carry a stick all the time and sometimes wield it, figuratively of course. When the children refuse to treat each other in the way they want to be treated I am called upon to bring justice. I can bring mercy too, especially in offenses against me. Our family is also in a financial position to offer small material incentives for performing chores around the house. But I cannot offer my children a long and blessed life. None of my rewards compare to God's. Of course, many people are satisfied with far less than God's blessing. However, some families can offer so little to their children in regards to incentives either due to poverty in the material, spiritual, psychological or emotional realms. What material incentive can a Darfur mother offer to a child? What spiritual incentive can an atheistic parent offer? What psychological incentive can a clinically depressed or schizophrenic parent offer? What emotional incentive can an abusive parent offer? God makes an offer that is independent of the condition of the parent!
When God's commands and promises are conditional only between Him and you, regardless of the behavior of those in between, He entreats us to respect the office despite the sinner who resides in it. There have never been sinless parents. Children, juvenile and adult, have the opportunity to love the sinner but hate the sin. Some American Christians question the utility of this aphorism, especially in regards to loving our homosexual friends, co-workers, and neighbors, but we practice it constantly in our families.
What makes parents worthy of such honor? They have been given an opportunity by God to participate in creation. God presents himself as Father to us. He calls us children, those who believed in his name (john 1:12). Jesus is portrayed as God's only-begotten son (John 1:18). A family is a symbol/shadow/type of the relationship God has with us. The way we interact with this shadow, our parents, reveals our insufficient understanding of God.
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