The fifth commandment

Leviticus 19.3

“Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father…”

The instruction here is, literally, to fear one’s parents. Again we can see how the attitudes God requires of us toward Himself are inculcated in our relationships with our parents. Why should children fear their parents? Obviously, for the discipline parents can impose for acts of disrespect or disobedience (cf. Heb. 12.3-11). What child does not fear incurring his parents’ anger, and whatever punishment may attend that?

This does not give parents carte blanche to tyrannize their children. When it is necessary to discipline children it should be done with tears of sorrow and not with strokes of anger. At all times a parent’s discipline must be conducted with a context of unbroken love. Thus children who fear the discipline their parents can inflict will receive it as a gesture of love and not of rejection (cf. Ps. 30.5).

In the same way citizens must fear civil magistrates, church members should fear their elders and pastors, employees should fear their employers, and all must fear one another – not a fear of harm that may be inflicted, but of deference and submission (Eph. 5.18-21) lest, by our lack of proper respect, we despise an image-bearer of God.

This series of In the Gates we present a detailed explanation of the Law of God, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and working through the statutes and rules that accompany each commandment. For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the practice of ethics, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Book Store.