Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you, and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.
What does this mean?
We should fear and love God that we do not dishonor or anger our parents and others in authority, but honor, serve, and obey the, and give them love and respect.
This is, perhaps, the most loved commandment. I don’t think you even have to be a Christian to love quoting this commandment to your children. The commandment isn’t limited to children, though. In fact, it isn’t limited at all. As long as you have parents, you are to honor them. When they are 90 years old, God has still given them to you to care about you and pass along the wisdom of their years. The commandment also applies to parents, in that you should be honorable parents. Be patient and loving, teach your children to do right, and teach them to know God.
Now, if we consider all that the Bible has to say, we really shouldn’t limit this commandment to honoring our parents. God has placed various people in positions of authority over us, and he wants us to honor them. Romans 13:1 says, “There is no authority except that which God has established.” Your teachers, your pastors, and even your government has been placed over you by God, to represent him. God isn’t going to come down here to teach you math and history, so he has given you teachers. He doesn’t want you to be a worthless fool in the world, so honor the teachers he has given you. God isn’t going to come down to teach you the Bible and personally tell you what is right and wrong, so he gave you pastors. Honor them.
So far, that is pretty easy to understand. The difficult one is government. God is not going to come down and personally stop robberies and murders. Neither is he going to fix our roads. Yet, he does want his world to work in a relatively peaceful and orderly manner, so he has set up governments. Now how can we honor a government if it is not Christian, or if it allows or commands things that are unchristian? The Bible has not limited God’s command to good governments. For that matter, neither has God limited the commandment to good parents, good teachers, or good pastors. We are to honor them all, and obey them as far as possible. When they tell us to do something against God’s will, however, we must disobey. As Peter said in Acts 5, “We must obey God rather than men.”
This fourth commandment gives us a difficult road to follow, and one that is often confusing to the Christian who wants to do right. Whenever we have questions, we look to Christ, our Head. There we see his perfect life. He paid his taxes to Caesar. He honored and obeyed his parents when he was young, and cared for his mother when he was older. But all of that would do little good if we were only to learn from his example. His perfect obedience actually stands in for us, as the perfect life God requires of us. His death was the punishment for our sins of failing to keep this commandment. In Christ, you have a perfect record of keeping this commandment. Your task now is to live up to what Christ has done for you. Do like he did. Honor your father and mother, and all those in authority, just like Jesus did for you.
Heavenly Father, fill my mind with thoughts of your love and concern for me, which moved you to give me my parents and all those in authority. Help me to see your kind hand caring for me through them, as you use them to put food on my table and teach me to do right, and as you fix the roads and keep peace in my world through my government. Put humility and thankfulness in my heart, so that I will love and honor them just as I love and honor you. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
One Lutheran Voice 