It’s not often you get to focus on such a necessary ‘need-to-hear-but-rarely-spoken-of’ topic like domestic violence and abuse within a sermon. So in the providence of God our sermon series in Ephesians coincided with the present controversy over statistics purporting to show that Evangelical men, with sporadic church attendance, were the most likely to abuse their spouses. If you haven’t had a chance to listen, please do so here.
When planning a sermon series out in advance (usually before the year begins) we can hardly predict these scenarios and controversy timings. In a way, we were thankful to be able to address, and correct, how to read these passages. But it also meant that the original plan, to also cover and explain 6:1-9, had to be left out for brevity’s sake.
But thanks be to the internet we can write up some of our thoughts here for our edification.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at the first half: Ephesians 6:1-4.
[1] Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2] “Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), [3] “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” [4] Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (ESV)
Children…
Here we can see the different roles that God intends for parents and children.
Firstly, children are to obey their parents.
Three reasons seem to be offered as to why this should be. First, children (and it seems Paul has in mind not adult children but children still living under the roof and authority of their parents) are to obey their parents ‘in the Lord’. Paul has Christian children of Christian parents in mind. Obedience to their parents ‘in the Lord’ is in keeping with the harmony and unity that Paul has already spoken of (cf Ephesians 4:15-16, 5:30). Second, children are to obey their parents ‘for this is right’. It seems evident, from a creation stand point, that children’s obedience to their parents is a good and right thing in this world. It was good in the past, present, and it will be good into the future of this temporary world.
The third reason for obedience requires further explanation. Paul appears to quote the Old Testament Commandments as the final reason for the obedience of children. Specifically, Commandment #5 as written in Exodus and explained in Deuteronomy. At first glance it appears that Paul is saying that Christians are under obligation to the Old Testament Laws, which appears to not only fly in the face of what he has already said about God ‘tearing down the dividing wall of hostility’ between Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:14), but also what he has said clearly elsewhere that Christians are no longer under the Old Covenant Law (cf Galatians). It will also not do to suggest that Paul is saying that the ‘moral’ elements of the Law continue in effect over Christians, for this division of the Law would also go against Paul’s clearly stated view that obedience to one Law requires obedience to all of the Law (cf Gal 5:3, emphasis mine).
How are we to understand this quote? Perhaps the best way is to consider this issue is to see Paul’s inclusion of Deuteronomy in this quote. Exodus 20:12 states, ‘Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.’ Deuteronomy 5:16 states, ‘Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.’ Paul’s combination of these two quotes might be suggesting that obedience to God’s command brings with it the blessing of ...
