Fifth Commandment
“Honor your father and your mother” (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16).
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism Question 104. What does God require in the fifth commandment? That I show honor, love, and faithfulness to my father and mother and to all who are set in authority over me; that I submit myself with respectful obedience to all their careful instruction and discipline; and that I also bear patiently their failures, since it is God’s will to govern us by their hand.
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Shorter Catechism Question 64. What is required in the Fifth Commandment? The Fifth Commandment requireth the preserving the honor, and performing the duties, belonging to everyone in their several places and relations, as superiors, inferiors, or equals.
- Eph. 5:21 “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
- Eph. 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.”
- Rom. 13:1 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God.”
- Rom. 12:10 “love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”
Shorter Catechism Question 65. What is forbidden in the Fifth Commandment? The Fifth Commandment forbiddeth the neglecting of, or doing anything against, the honor and duty which belongeth to everyone in their several places and relations.
- Rom. 13:7-8 “Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.”
Shorter Catechism Question 66. What is the reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment? The reason annexed to the Fifth Commandment is a 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.
- Eph. 6:2-3 “‘Honor your father and mother’—this is the first commandment with a promise: ‘so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’”
Study Catechism
Study Catechism Question 105. What do you learn from this commandment? Though I owe reverence to God alone, I owe genuine respect to my parents, both my mother and father. God wills me to listen to them, be thankful for the benefits I receive from them, and be considerate of their needs, especially in old age.
- Eph. 5:21 “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
- Rom. 12:10 “Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”
- Eph. 6:2 “Honor your father and mother—this is the first commandment with a promise.”
- Prov. 1:8 “Hear, my child, your father's instruction, and do not reject your mother's teaching."
- Lev. 19:32 “You shall rise before the aged, and defer to the old; and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.”
- Luke 2:51 “Then [Jesus] went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.”
Study Catechism Question 106. Are there limits to your obligation to obey them? Yes. No mere human being is God. Blind obedience is not required, for everything should be tested by loyalty and obedience to God. When it seems as though I should not obey, I should always be alert to possible self-deception on my part, and should pray that we may all walk in the truth of God’s will.
- 1 Pet. 2:17 “Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.”
- Acts 5:29 “Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.’”
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