Bible Study - Ephesians 6

S – Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor 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."
Ephesians 6:1–3 ESV

O – Commentary:
Honor: timaō: to prize, i.e. fix a valuation upon; by impl. to revere:— honour, value.

James Strong, The New Strong's Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996).

Jewish and Greco-Roman writers unanimously agreed that children needed to honor their parents, and, at least till they grew up, needed to obey them as well. The command to honor one's parents was in the Old Testament (Ex 20:12; Deut 5:16) and included living in such a way as to bring honor on them in a godly society (Deut 21:18–21). Many Jewish writers believed that honoring one's parents was the most important commandment. Household codes (and thus this passage) particularly addressed minor children.

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 553.

A – Honor isn't about age. It's not about agreeing with every call your parents ever made.

It's a posture. Prize them. Value them. Revere the place they hold in your story.

Cultures express this differently all over the world. The standard doesn't move. Scripture never says honor them until you turn 18. It never says honor them only if they got it right.

They didn't always get it right. I haven't either.

So what do you do with the mistakes? You forgive them. You love them anyway. You remember they have a story too — one that started long before you showed up in it.

Honor isn't earned. It's given. And when you give it, you're showing the world what God's love looks like up close.

R – Father, you are our Father first. Before any earthly parent shaped us, you did.

We want to honor you the way you've called us to honor our parents — with value, with reverence, with everything we are.

Empower us today to live that out, so the love we show becomes the honor we bring to your name.