The fifth commandment

5.2 Honor God’s Prophet and His prophets

Hear and obey those who speak God’s Word in the tradition of Moses, the prophets, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the apostles.

Deuteronomy 18.15-20

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen – just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’”

Romans 15.4; 1 Corinthians 4.6; 2 Corinthians 3.12-18; 1 John 2.1-6

As for those who assay to speak the Lord’s Word in His Name, the warning is even more dire. They must speak only what God has made known to them (1 Cor. 4.6). They must not depend on their own wisdom or art in communicating to the people of God, but must determine to search the Scriptures daily and to divide the Word of God as He intends, bringing to the people in their charge that which will edify and equip them for service.

Pastors and teachers must exercise a careful watch over their teaching, as well as over the people entrusted to them (1 Tim. 4.16). The people must be warned against false teaching and false teachers; this is part of the duty of a shepherd in defending the flock of God. It is not enough, in other words, merely to teach the Scriptures faithfully. We always preach and teach into a particular context, and that context must be illuminated by our teaching, so that the people can see where the Lie is encroaching on them, and prepare themselves against it. Like our Lord Jesus, the faithful pastor must be bold to expose false teaching for what it is, and to warn the people of God away from it.

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.