The Fifth Commandment: Statutes and Precepts (1)
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 within 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.
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
