The fifth commandment

The Commandment

We are called to observe, respect, and honor the God-ordained order of the cosmos, beginning with honoring our parents, and extending to all properly-constituted authorities and powers, others, and the creation itself.

Exodus 20.12

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Deuteronomy 5.16

“‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.’”

This is, as Paul notes (Eph. 6.2), the first commandment explicitly tided to a promise – although all the commandments, being part of God’s covenant with His people, are bound up in His precious and magnificent promises (cf. Deut. 6.1-3).

Honoring one’s parents is fundamental to a well-ordered and just society, one that endures and prospers and is pleasing to God according to His Edenic plan for creation (“that it may go well”, or, “that you may know good”). The fifth commandment thus intends to encompass the whole broad scope of honor and deference due within the civil order – parents, the elderly, rulers, others, and even the creation itself. To honor another person is to esteem him highly, to exalt and uplift him, to treat him with respect, and to serve as unto the Lord. Where such honoring of others is practiced, a society achieves a measure of stability that allows it to prosper and to endure.

The sad state of civility in our society today begins in the home. Children who do not honor their parents will not honor the Lord or anyone else, either.

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.