The Ten Commandments: A 10-Day DevotionalSample

Honor Your Father and Your Mother

How can we obey the fifth commandment? For starters, we could say that the commandment is larger than just parenting. There’s a long tradition of understanding this commandment (and all the commandments) as having a broad application. Christians have always understood that the fifth commandment is not just about parents and children but about that relationship as a template for any other relationship of authority we have in our lives.

The New Testament says that slaves ought to obey their masters—or, as we would say in our context, employees ought to listen to their employers. Wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord. Hebrews 13:7 says to obey our leaders in the church and submit to them. First Peter 5:5 says that younger men ought to be subject to the elders. Romans 13 says that we ought to be subject to the governing authorities. Titus 1:1 says to be submissive to rulers and authorities, obedient for every good work. First Peter 2:17 tells us to fear God and honor the king.

If you don’t have children or living parents, or you don’t even know who they are, you will please God—the God of families—by loving the family of God. There are opportunities for all of us to follow these commandments. We have a heavenly Father to honor, and all the family of God to love and serve. For all of us, this is a good place to start.

Reflect

In what specific ways does the fifth commandment go beyond simply the honor owed to parents?