Honour Thy Father: Adam to Abraham
Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
But he answered and said unto them,
Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
For God commanded, saying,
Honour thy father and mother: and,
He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
But ye say,
Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
And honour not his father or his mother,
he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:1-9
The Fifth Commandment: Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 123. Which is the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Ex. 20:12.
Q. 124. Who are meant by father and mother in the fifth commandment?
A. By father and mother, in the fifth commandment, are meant, not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts; and especially such as, by God’s ordinance, are over us in place of authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth.
Prov. 23:22, 25: Eph. 6:1-2; 1 Tim. 5:1-2; Gen. 4:20-22; Gen. 45:8; 2 Kings 5:13; 2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 13:14; Gal. 4:19; Isa. 49:23.
Q. 125. Why are superiors styled father and mother?
A. Superiors are styled father and mother, both to teach them in all duties towards their inferiors, like natural parents, to express love and tenderness to them, according to their several relations; and to work inferiors to a greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing their duties to their superiors, as to their parents.
Eph. 6:4; 2 Cor. 12:14; 1 Thess. 2:7-8, 11; Num. 11:11-12; 1 Cor. 4:14-16; 2 Kings 5:13.
Q. 126. What is the general scope of the fifth commandment?
A. The general scope of the fifth commandment is the performance of those duties which we mutually owe in our several relations, as inferiors, superiors, or equals.
Eph. 5:21; 1 Pet. 2:17; Rom. 12:10.
Q. 127. What is the honor that inferiors owe to their superiors?
A. The honor which inferiors owe to their superiors is, all due reverence in heart, word, and behavior; prayer and thanksgiving for them; imitation of their virtues and graces; willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels; due submission to their corrections; fidelity to, defence and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may be an honor to them and to their government.
Mal. 1:6; Lev. 19:3; Prov. 31:28; 1 Pet. 3:6; Lev. 19:32; 1 Kings 2:19; 1 Tim. 2:1-2; Heb. 13:7; Phil. 3:17; Eph. 6:1-2, 5-7; 1 Pet. 2:13-14; Rom. 13:1-5; Heb. 13:17; Prov. 4:3-4; Prov. 23:22; Ex. 18:19, 24; Heb. 12:9; 1 Pet. 2:18-20; Titus 2:9-10; 1 Sam. 26:15-16; 2 Sam. 18:3; Esther 6:2; Matt. 22:21; Rom. 13:6-7; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; Gal. 6:6; Gen. 45:11; Gen. 47:12; 1 Pet. 2:18; Prov. 23:22; Gen. 9:23; Ps. 127:3-5; Prov. 31:23.
Q. 128. What are the sins of inferiors against their superiors?
A. The sins of inferiors against their superiors are, all neglect of the duties required toward them; envying at, contempt of, and rebellion against, their persons and places, in their lawful counsels, commands, and corrections; cursing, mocking, and all such refractory and scandalous carriage, as proves a shame and dishonor to them and their government.
Matt. 15:4-6; Num. 11:28-29; 1 Sam. 8:7; Isa. 3:5; 2 Sam. 15:1-12; Ex. 21:15; 1 Sam. 10:27; 1 Sam. 2:25; Deut. 21:18-21; Prov. 30:11, 17; Prov. 19:26.
Q. 129. What is required of superiors towards their inferiors?
A. It is required of superiors, according to that power they receive from God, and that relation wherein they stand, to love, pray for, and bless their inferiors; to instruct, counsel and admonish them; countenancing, commending, and rewarding such as do well; and discountenancing, reproving, and chastising such as do ill; protecting, and providing for them all things necessary for soul and body: and, by grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God, honor to themselves, and so to preserve that authority which God hath put upon them.
Col. 3:19; Titus 2:4; 1 Sam. 12:23; Job 1:5; 1 Kings 8:55-56; Heb. 7:7; Gen. 49:28; Deut. 6:6-7; Eph. 6:4; 1 Pet. 3:7; 1 Pet. 2:14; Rom. 13:3; Esther 6:3; Rom. 13:3-4; Prov. 29:15; 1 Pet. 2:14; Job 29:12-17; Isa. 1:10, 17; Eph. 6:4; 1 Tim. 5:8; 1 Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:3-5; 1 Kings 3:28; Titus 2:15.
Q. 130. What are the sins of superiors?
A. The sins of superiors are, besides the neglect of the duties required of them, an inordinate seeking of themselves, their own glory, ease, profit, or pleasure; commanding things unlawful, or not in the power of inferiors to perform; counseling, encouraging, or favoring them in that which is evil; dissuading, discouraging, or discountenancing them in that which is good; correcting them unduly; careless exposing, or leaving them to wrong, temptation, and danger; provoking them to wrath; or in any way dishonoring themselves, or lessening their authority, by an unjust, indiscreet, rigorous, or remiss behavior.
Ezek. 34:2-4; Phil. 2:21; John 5:44; John 7:18; Isa. 56:10-11; Deut. 17:17; Dan. 3:4-6; Acts 4:17-18; Ex. 5:10-18; Matt. 23:2, 4; Matt. 14:8; Mark 6:24; 2 Sam. 13:28; 1 Sam. 3:13; John 7:46-49; Col. 3:21; Ex. 5:17; 1 Pet. 2:18-20; Heb. 12:10; Deut. 25:3; Gen. 38:11, 26; Acts 18:17; Eph. 6:4; Gen. 9:21; 1 Kings 12:13-16; 1 Kings 1:6; 1 Sam. 2:29-31.
Q. 131. What are the duties of equals?
A. The duties of equals are, to regard the dignity and worth of each other, in giving honor to go one before another; and to rejoice in each other’s gifts and advancement, as their own.
1 Pet. 2:17; Rom. 12:10; Rom. 12:15-16; Phil. 2:3-4.
Q. 132. What are the sins of equals?
A. The sins of equals are, besides the neglect of the duties required, the undervaluing of the worth, envying the gifts, grieving at the advancement or prosperity one of another; and usurping pre-eminence one over another.
Rom. 13:8; 2 Tim. 3:3; Acts 7:9; Gal. 5:26; Num. 12:2; Esther 6:12-13; 3 John 1:9; Luke 22:24.
Q. 133. What is the reason annexed to the fifth commandment, the more to enforce it?
A. The reason annexed to the fifth commandment in these words, “that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee,” is an express promise of long life and prosperity, as far as it shall serve for God’s glory and their own good, to all such as keep this commandment.
Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16; 1 Kings 8:25; Eph. 6:2-3.
Modern Heresy
A son honoureth his father,
and a servant his master:
if then I be a father, where is mine honour?
and if I be a master, where is my fear?
saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
Malichi 1:6
The modern church has invented a heresy unknown, as far as I can tell, to the church historical. We have invented the idea that it is only small children who are to obey their parents.
And then, using this heresy as a lense we look at Scripture and miss whole swaths of the stories. Sometimes we don’t even see a whole issue that a man of God, or even an unrighteous man, was struggling with in the Old, or even New, Testament.
The New Testament is filled with language, from Christ and the apostles, that assumes and emphasises the authoritative nature of the father/son relationship. Abraham and David are, generations after they have died, still called ‘father’, and their sons are judged by their obedience to these long dead fathers.
Adam
If we limit our view of a father as having authority over only those children, living in his house, unmarried, and underage… then we will completely miss the entire issue of Adam. We know literally nothing of the relationship between Adam and his underage sons. Nothing.
And yet, time and again, the idea of ‘Son of Adam’ comes up in Scripture. All of mankind is said to be a son (or daughter) of Adam, and yet we limit Adam’s authority to his little nippers.
Adam vs Christ
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
I Corinthians 15:22-23
The New Testament brings out Adam in parallel to Christ. Adam, in his failures, had the authority to bind all of mankind after him, until Christ replaced him.
Adam vs Sin
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Romans 5:12-14
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
I Timothy 2:12-14
Sin entered the world via Adam; and, through Adam, affected the whole world. The word usually used for this is ‘Federal Head’. Far from the authority of a father stopping when his sons reach eighteen, we see Adam’s authority continuing down through the ages.
Adam as our name
This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
Genesis 5:1-2
Feminists occasionally rail against the modern custom of naming children after their father’s last name. The internet mocks them because, when they use the woman’s last name, they are in effect passing on HER father’s name.
Unfortunately for them their is no choice. We are all named after our father… Adam. The very name of man in Genesis comes from the name of the first man.
Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:6-8
When read a story about a clan, the name of the clan is, more often than not, the name of its founder. Of a long dead father. But when we read about mankind, we are all called the ‘sons of Adam’.
Adam, Sheth, Enosh,
I Chronicles 1:1
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Luke 3:38
The very nature of Biblical genealogies screams the authority of the father. Except for certain rare exceptions, they all trace the line back from father to father. And unlike with ‘Ancestry Online’, these genealogies are not there just for curious interest. These genealogies end in the line of Christ. We are called the son’s of Adam, Adam was called the son of God.
Seth and the Godly Line
And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.
Genesis 4:25-26
Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Luke 3:38
If you were to content yourself to a light and casual reading of the Scriptures, especially the genealogies, you would perhaps be excused for not thinking much about Seth. (Although you would not be excused for your light and casual reading of Scriptures.) Seth is hardly mentioned.
But those whose reading goes deeper point out to us that Seth is the father of the Godly line which culminates in Noah.
Job
And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
Job 1:5
As our false view of the authority of the father causes us to miss the doctrine played out in the pages of Scripture, so does that same false view cause us to miss out on actions that we should be taking. Indeed it causes us to oppose those actions.
If sacrifices were a thing nowadays (literal animal sacrifices, that is. Other sacrifices are quite common and commanded) would our fathers even consider giving sacrifices for the sins of their children?
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Ezekiel 14:14-20
We see this happen very explicitly in the stories of Lot and Noah: that a Godly man is blessed with the rescue of his family from an position of God’s punishment. What does that say about the authority of the father? Do we only read genealogies about those with children in the home?
Noah
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
By faith Noah,
being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear,
prepared an ark to the saving of his house;
by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Hebrews 11:6-7
Noah prepared an ark… to save his house. God rewarded Noah for his faith, by saving Noah’s family. His grown family.
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you,
for perpetual generations:
Genesis 9:9-12
And when God made a covenant with Noah and his sons… it didn’t stop at Noah and his sons, but continued down through perpetual generations.
The Sin of Ham
And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
Genesis 9:18-24
When Abraham lay drunk in his tent, Ham came in, saw him naked, and went out and told his brothers. For this dishonour of his father… Ham’s son Cannan was punished.
Abraham
The Circumcision of Ishmael
And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
Genesis 17:23
Abraham was commanded by God to circumcise all of the men in his house, including his son Ishmael.
The Sacrifice of Isaac
And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Genesis 22:1-2
We all know the end of the story. Abraham did not sacrifice Isaac. God intervened, Abraham’s faith was proved, and a ram was sacrificed.
But that’s the end of the story. The beginning of the story has God commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and Abraham obeying. And there was never a question of his authority to do so.
Wife for Isaac
And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.
Genesis 24:1-9
There can be no question that Isaac was an ‘adult’ when Abraham sent his servant to get him a wife.
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham.
But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.
John 8:39-40
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham.
Galatians 3:6-7
We read these passages all the time, but we fail to see what they say. Christ here says that if the pharisees had Abraham as their father, if they were Abraham’s children, they would… do the works of Abraham. This is authority. This is the very definition of authority.
Paul says that those who follow the faith of Abraham, are children of Abraham.
And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
Luke 13:16
God calls out the pharisees for objecting to the healing… of a daughter of Abraham.
Conclusion
The historical Christian Church, as shown by the Westminster Larger Catechism, has always held that the Fifth Commandment is not limited to the direct father and mother of underage children; including in its application to the obedience that children owe their parents.
The modern Christian Church has not only rejected this, but the overwhelming majority do not even know that they are rejecting anything. They have no idea that previous generations of Christians taught clearly that ‘Children obey your parents’ meant children of all ages, and parents of all generations.
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Thanks again, God Bless, Soli Deo gloria,
Von
Links
The Inevitability of Patriarchy: Laying some foundation.
The Blessings of the Breast and the Womb: // Podcast Version The role of pregnancy, lactation, and raising children in the inevitability of patriarchy.
What is Marriage // Podcast Version: Adding the issue of marriage, and discussing meritocracy and inheritance.
Differences Make Differences: // Podcast Version Given the differences between men and women, could it be that boys are wired to do their jobs and girls are wired to do theirs?
Not in the letter exchange, but on subject:
What is a man? A response to
on the subject.
In your estimation, should there be a difference between how younger children obey/honor their parents and how adult children obey/honor them?