Christian Crier
The 5th Commandment is “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you” so what does this mean to believers today?
The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments are not 10 suggestions or 10 helpful hints, they are commands given by God for all people for all time. The difference between the Mosaic Law and the Ten Commandments are the Mosaic Laws were given only for a time and only for a specific people. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, the Mosaic Law was superseded and done away with because of Jesus’ once-and-for-all sacrifice at Calvary. When He was nailed to the cross, so were all of these old ordinances. The Mosaic Law was written by Moses and were given for a time but the Ten Commandments were written by the very finger of God in stone revealing their permanence and perpetually. How can “You shall not murder” ever be done away with? Why would we think that adultery is okay today? Why can we still not use God’s name in a vain way? These commandments were written to stay and they are principles to live by for all people for all time. Many of the laws in this world were based upon the Ten Commandments and they are the bedrock of most societies today. For example, it is still illegal to murder anyone in cold blood because only God as the Giver and Author of Life has the right to take a life. The Ten Commandments have stood the test of time because of the moral nature of these laws.
The 5th Commandment
The first 4 commandments were given to mankind and deal with their relationship to God. The next 6 commandments are given to mankind in how they are to deal with one another. The first 4 are vertical and reach upward; the next 6 are horizontal and extend outward. The 5th Commandment is listed in Exodus 20:12 and says “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” What does it mean to honor your father and your mother? I would say we can honor our parents by keeping the Ten Commandments. Even if our parents are no longer living, we can and should honor them by the way that we talk about them to others. We can dishonor our parents, even if they are dead, when we talk disdainfully about them to others. If we continue to blame them for all of our problems and make them responsible for our actions, we indeed are not honoring them. God is displeased when we don’t honor our parents.
Why the 5th Commandment?
Isn’t it surprising that the very first commandment given in human relationships with one another is to honor our parents? Why isn’t “You shall not murder” listed at the top of the horizontal commandments? Isn’t murder worse than dishonoring our parents? Isn’t adultery far worse than not honoring our parents? Perhaps God has placed this as the first commandment given to humans in relating to one another because the family is the foundation of society and the cornerstone of any nation. When families begin to break down, so does the society. As families go, so goes the nation. If parents are not honored then these children who grow up or are already grown will show the same type of disrespect to the society in which they live. Too often people who get into trouble with the law blame their upbringing and the way that their parents raised them. The criminal then becomes the victim but when someone breaks the law, the judge doesn’t ask for the parents to sit next to them in court and make them liable. The judge might make the parents culpable if the child is still under age (as a juvenile) and require them to be present in a juvenile court but ultimately, each one of us are responsible for our own actions. Unless criminal negligence can be proven in a court of law, each child, whether grown or still under age, reaps what they have sown. They can’t point their fingers at their parents and make them responsible for something that they did. By doing this, they are breaking the 5th Commandment by not honoring their parents.
The First Commandment with a Promise
Paul mentions this commandment as the first one with a promise. What promise was given if a child honors their parents? Paul mentions this in Ephesians 6:2-3, “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise — so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” Why would a child have a longer life if they honored their father and their mother? The main reason that they’d live a longer life is because God has commanded them to honor their parents. That should be enough of a reason right there! To obey God is always in their best interests and if we are obedient to God’s commands, then He is inclined to bless that person substantially more than He would someone who is disobedient. Part of the reason that they might live a longer life is also due to the fact that parents, generally speaking, have more experience and wisdom about the things of the world. They know that certain things should and should not be done. If the child obeys their parents, they would be less likely to steal, injure, or kill someone. Parents are the child’s first and foremost teachers in life and what is important to parents to understand is that more is caught than is taught so the parents most certainly have responsibility in training up a child in the way in which they should live (Prov 22:6). A child left to him or herself usually brings shame to the parents (Prov 29:15). The opposite of love is not hate…it is indifference and when a child feels that the parents don’t care, then why should we be surprised if the child grows up to be a non-caring adult? The prisons are full of men and women whose parents didn’t care about them or abandoned them. By the way, parents should be honoring and talking respectfully about their own parents, whether they are living or not, otherwise how could they expect their own child or children to honor them when their parents never honored their own parents?
Conclusion
If you have been born again or literally, born from above (John 3:3) then you have this promise; you have your sins forgiven, you have received eternal life, you have been spared from the eternal damnation of hell’s fire, and you are assured to be in the joyful presence of God for all time. If you haven’t, then you have the wrath of God still abiding on you (John 3:36b) and you will face God’s judgment after you die or if Christ returns first (Rev 20:12-15). Repent of your sins and forsake them, confess your sinfulness to God, and then put your trust in Jesus Christ and He will save you and remove your sins. There is no other way to the Father than through Jesus Christ (John 6:44) and He is the only way that you can possibly be saved…there is no other (Acts 4:12). If you haven’t already made this decision to be saved, what will you do on that day? Without Christ as your Savior, you will have no excuse as Paul writes in Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” For those who haven’t been born again, they cannot possible enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5) and at the judgment “every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God” (Rom 3:19b).
Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In