God’s Image Study • Commandment 5: Father and Mother
The fifth commandment joins honor with a promise. We must follow both parts: the response required and the life described.
Father and mother are named together, and the land is identified as something God gives.
The Gift and the Walk
Deuteronomy repeats the command to honor father and mother, connecting it with prolonged days and well-being in the land YHWH (יהוה) gives. Read Deuteronomy 5:16.
At the chapter’s conclusion, Moses again connects walking in God’s instruction with life, well-being, and continued days in the land.
The gift and the responsibility belong together. Israel is called to live faithfully within what God provides. Read Deuteronomy 5:29–33.
This recalls the question carried through our Sabbath study: Having received, how do we continue?
The Promise Remains in Paul’s Instruction
Ephesians repeats the commandment and its promise while addressing children’s obedience to their parents in the Lord.
Paul then addresses how fathers raise their children. The household must provide the Lord’s instruction without provoking the children to anger. Read Ephesians 6:1–4.
The promise appears within a relationship of teaching and response. Those giving instruction have responsibilities, just as those receiving it do.
Children and Heirs
Galatians 3 connects belonging to Christ with being Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise.
Earlier, Paul explains that the inheritance rests upon God’s promise to Abraham. This directs our attention to the One who gives and to the relationship through which inheritance is received. Read Galatians 3:15–18, 26–29.
Alongside the fifth commandment, we can now examine a wider pattern: God gives, children belong, and inheritance follows the promise.
Our study of Jerusalem above as mother belongs within this examination of the children of promise.
Life by the Spirit
Romans 8 identifies those led by God’s Spirit as His sons. Paul describes adoption, the Spirit’s witness that we are God’s children, and the relationship between children and heirs.
He also includes suffering with Christ in his description of sharing in Glory with him. Belonging does not remove the need for faithfulness through difficulty. Read Romans 8:14–17.
Later, the chapter describes those who have the Spirit’s firstfruits still awaiting the redemption of their bodies. What has been received and what remains awaited must both be preserved. Read Romans 8:23–25.
These connections continue our Born Again Study: life, sonship, and inheritance are examined through our relationship with God.
Returning to Honor
Within the spiritual application we are developing, honoring Father and Mother means recognizing the relationships through which life, teaching, and nourishment are conveyed.
The promise directs us toward life within what God gives. Our response concerns how we receive instruction and continue faithfully in that relationship.
Threads to Follow
Dishonor and its consequences: Examine the passages concerning speaking evil of father or mother.
Death and forgiveness: Preserve the distinction between a stated death penalty and an unforgivable offense.
Receiving correction: Consider how faithful instruction guards the life entrusted to us.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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