Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your GHonor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.od is giving you. Deut 5:16
Half a lifetime ago I wrote a thesis on the Fifth Commandment. It was entitled, Yahweh’s
Fifth Word. Its contention was that the Fifth Commandment is the foundational commandment for all human authority. In its unique position in the commandments it connects God’s vertical relationship with us, with our horizontal relationships with each other here on earth.
This pivotal word starts with parents. The family is the heart of God’s plan for authority. It must be taught, shown and practised in this setting. In God’s plan, the family then becomes the nursery for the exercise, including responsibility and submission, of Godly authority.
The challenge for the church in this rebellious age, is to reveal, declare and show what the healthy exercise of authority looks like. Our parents, teachers, employers and employees, and especially our politicians need to see it in practice. Your family, your church is called to be a living representation of the way God exercises and wants us to exercise healthy authority. I believe, from a social perspective, that is a key challenge of our age.
Travels from Ur 