God’s Image Study • Commandment 5: Father and Mother
Our examination of the fifth commandment has followed a connected pattern: life given, relationships established, instruction received, and honor expressed through faithfulness.
Exodus 20:12 names both Father and Mother and attaches a promise concerning life in the land Jehovah gives. As we gather the study together, we keep YHWH (יהוה), His provision, and our response at the center. Read Exodus 20:12, ASV.
Preserve the Relationships
Galatians 4 describes God sending His Son, believers receiving adoption, and the Spirit of His Son entering their hearts. The same chapter identifies Jerusalem above as our mother and believers as children of promise. Read Galatians 4:4–7, 26–28.
Revelation presents the Bride, the Lamb’s wife, through the vision of Jerusalem. Alongside Galatians, this has guided our examination of the Bride and the maternal relationship. We preserve the roles rather than treating Bride, Mother, and children as interchangeable descriptions. Read Revelation 21:9–10.
Christ gives himself for her, cleanses her, and presents her to himself holy and blameless. He nourishes and cherishes her. These actions remain central to the preparation of the Bride. Read Ephesians 5:25–32.
Receive the Instruction
Proverbs places the father’s commandment and the mother’s instruction together. Their guidance is to remain bound to the heart, accompanying the child through daily life and guarding against unfaithfulness. Read Proverbs 6:20–24.
Jesus’ statement that Wisdom is vindicated by her children adds the question of response. What the children receive becomes evident through how they live. Read Luke 7:35.
Honor therefore reaches beyond recognizing a relationship. It involves retaining its faithful instruction.
Live by the Spirit
Romans 8 connects the Spirit’s leading with sons, children, and inheritance. It also describes conformity to the image of God’s Son. These connections keep this commandment within our God’s Image Study. Read Romans 8:14–17, 29.
The life examined in our Born Again Study carries responsibility. Hebrews 6 warns that those who have shared in the Holy Spirit and then fallen away cannot be renewed again to repentance. It follows that warning with the picture of ground receiving rain and producing either useful growth or thorns. What has been received must bear faithful fruit. Read Hebrews 6:4–12.
Let Honor Become Visible
Jesus’ correction concerning Corban shows how religious language can conceal the neglect of father and mother. A claim of devotion cannot excuse setting aside God’s instruction. Read Mark 7:9–13.
His teaching in Matthew 22 keeps love before us: love for God and love for our neighbor belong at the heart of our response. Read Matthew 22:37–40.
As we carry this commandment forward, we can ask: Do I recognize the relationships Scripture reveals, retain the instruction given, and express that honor through a life shaped by love and holiness?
This brings our examination of Commandment 5: Father and Mother to a close. Next, we will continue with Commandment 6: You Shall Not Murder, beginning with its wording and following its connections throughout Scripture. The planned Orphans and Widows Study will remain available for later time.
Threads to Follow
Father and Mother: Retain life, instruction, nourishment, and care alongside their distinct roles.
Promise and faithfulness: Keep the inheritance connected with the Spirit’s leading and the fruit of our lives.
Orphans and Widows: Preserve these relationships as we later examine absence, care, presence, and restoration.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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