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The Scriptorium

Training Ground

Civil society begins in the home.

The Law of God Miscellanies (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.” Deuteronomy 5.16

Reflect and discuss.
1.  It only makes sense that children should honor their parents. Why?

2.  What are the responsibilities of parents in teaching their children to honor them?

Think about it.
This is the second giving of this commandment (cf. Ex. 20.12), and here it is doubly reinforced. In both the command and promise sections of the fifth commandment, the Lord reinforces His Word. 

First, the commandment is given, then Moses declares that the Lord had previously commanded this word to them. It’s as if the Lord were saying, “I’ve told you once, and I’m telling you again.” While the Deuteronomy record is the second giving of all the commandments, this is the only one that includes such reinforcement. We should give it the special attention God intends.

Then the promise section of the commandment is reiterated and expanded, adding the phrase “be well with you.” It thus appears this commandment has special significance, standing as it does at the head of the second table of the commandments, which outlines the requirements of neighbor love. Having outlined the ways of loving God (commandments one through four), Moses now turns to the requirements for loving our neighbors. And he wants the people to understand that the home is the indispensable training ground for knowing God and enjoying His blessings.

Loving our neighbors is learned as we honor our parents. Honoring our parents grows out of loving God. As we grow in love for God, according to His Law, we will be willing and able to honor our parents. And in honoring our parents – with whom we live, whom we see every day, and who remain our parents throughout the course of our lives – we learn what is required for honoring and loving our neighbors. 

It is not hard to see how the breakdown of the family in our day has led to the decline in love for neighbors. Yet the breakdown of the family is a consequence of failing to love God as He commands. This, in turn, is in no small part a result of the Church’s failure to teach the Law of God. 

The social cloth of our society has become threadbare because love for God has been forsaken, honoring parents is considered an option, and thus the skills of neighbor-love that a healthy and safe society requires have by many never been learned. And many who did learn them have become persuaded that the culture of narcissism is a better place in which to flourish than the culture of mutual respect and self-denial which they learned at home.

We cannot love our neighbors if we will not love God, for loving God teaches us to honor our parents, in which framework we learn to love our neighbors as ourselves. This failing, we forfeit the promised blessings of the Lord, and, rather than things being well and good in our native land, they are fraught with disrespect, uncertainty, and rampant self-seeking. 

Meditate and discuss.
1.  Why is loving God a necessary precondition for honoring our parents and loving our neighbors?

2.  God attaches the blessings of His covenant – His precious and very great promises (2 Pet. 1.4) – to obeying His commandments. Obedience does not earn God’s favor; obedience discoversGod’s favor. What’s the difference?

3.  The land is often a symbol of all the promises of God. It is also a symbol of everything God has entrusted to His people (recall yesterday’s Scriptorium). What does this suggest about how we should teach children to honor their parents?

“The formation of the children is then the prerogative of the parents. Therefore honor your father, that he may bless you. Let the godly man honor his father out of gratitude and the ingrate do so on account of fear. Even if the father is poor and does not have plenty of resources to leave to his sons, still he has the heritage of his final blessing with which he may bestow the wealth of sanctification on his descendants. And it is a far greater thing to be blessed than it is to be rich.” Ambrose of Milan (333-397 AD)

This commandment never ceases. I know that I must honor my parents always, Lord, so help me to do so. For I believe that as I do, You…

Pray Psalm 78.1-7.

Pray for Christian parents, that they may teach God’s Law to their children. And pray for the children, that they may learn, obey, and set their hope on the Lord.

Psalm 78.1-7 (Foundation: How Firm a Foundation)
Give ear, O my people, attend to my word, 
Dark sayings and parables sent from the Lord, 
Things we have before by our fathers been told, 
Which we would not dare from our children withhold.

The glorious deeds of our God in His might, 
And all of the works He has done in our sight, 
Together with all of the words of His Law, 
Would we on ourselves and our children bestow. 

Lord, let all our children arise and declare 
The truth of the Lord every day, everywhere, 
And set all their hopes in God’s wonderful Word, 
And never forget all the works of the Lord.

T. M. Moore

For more insight to the Law of God and its role in the life of faith, order the book The Ground for Christian Ethics  by clicking here. If you’d like a free copy of our Kingdom Catechism, write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  and request it.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing adapted from The Ailbe Psalter. All quotations from Church Fathers from Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006.

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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