My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
— Proverbs 1:8-9
Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.
— Deuteronomy 4:40
God’s Doctrine of Authority, by John Calvin. The following contains an excerpt from his work, “God’s Doctrine of Authority in Honor Thy Father and Mother.”
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.—Exodus 20:12
There are two main things in our life: first, that we serve God purely; and secondly, that we live honestly and uprightly with other men, giving to every person his due.
Now, just as the honor of God excels all things that concern man, so the commandments pertaining directly to Him must be set down in the first and primary place in order that we might honor Him as we ought to, which is done in the first table [of the Ten Commandments]. Here, therefore, God begins to tell us how to direct our life if we desire to serve Him in our dealings with men (Deu 30:19-20; Psa 15).
Now, we already mentioned that God is not in need of receiving any honor from us, for He does not need it and is no better for it; but He does this for our wellbeing and salvation. Thus, He desires to test our obedience and the love that we bear Him by commanding us to conduct ourselves uprightly and honestly towards our neighbors, and to live together in such fellowship and peace that none of us are to live for ourselves but all of us are to communicate together, and every man is to strain and employ himself to do good according to such power and ability as he has. This, I say, is a test God gives us by which we can know whether we worship Him with our hearts or not. For we might truly make many pleasing outward displays and shows, but God will not receive them as payment. And this is the very reason our Lord Jesus Christ said that the main points of the Law are justice, judgment, mercy, and faith—or loyalty or trustworthiness, which is the meaning of the word faith in this passage (Mat 23:23). Thus, if we live uprightly among men in such a way that we are neither underhanded nor wicked but instead are desirous of serving everyone and upholding good and resisting evil as much as we are able, this is the chief point of the Law. Yet we must not think that God’s service and worship ought to be forgotten in the meantime or that it is of less importance, for it is impossible for men to discharge their duty towards their neighbors if they are not led by the fear of God.
Now let us deal with this commandment we quoted, which deals with honoring our father and mother. Although father and mother are here particularly mentioned, yet He no doubt meant to give us here a doctrine dealing with the honoring of all those in authority in general. As a proof of this, we know that the Law is a perfect rule in which nothing is lacking (Psa 19:7). But if there were nothing included in it concerning other authorities such as rulers, masters, magistrates, and those who wield the sword of justice, something would be missing from it. Therefore, we must conclude that God here commanded us to honor and obey all those who are in a position of authority or superiority (Rom 13:1-4).
Also, considering that all promotion comes from God and that this is an order established by Him without which the world could not exist, what an absurdity it is to think that God did not pay enough attention to it to instruct us concerning it by giving us a sure and certain form of a good and holy life!
We must not think it strange that He includes all under one particular name, for we have already seen that this manner of speech is found in the Law, and we will see it again later. This was not done because God could not have spoken in any other way, but because it was the best way for our profit and instruction. For we know that, though men desire above all to appear wise and sharp-witted, yet they never cease to hide behind the cover of ignorance when they see that God’s Law presses them too closely. We do this because we desire some excuse to exempt us from submitting ourselves to it.
Now, if God’s Law were not suitable to teach the most ignorant and unlearned (Psa 19:7), many would protest that they are not scholars and never went to school and would thus convince themselves that God’s Law is not binding on them. But, when we see that God has stooped to our ignorance and has spoken in a lowly and simple manner according to our aptitude and understanding, this removes every excuse from us and puts an end to all arguing or disputing, so that every one of us must submit ourselves and acknowledge that nothing hinders us besides the fact that we are stubborn and rebellious against God and do not want to bear His yoke.
Thus, you see that God, by including all under one particular name, trains us just like little children who are not capable of being taught thoroughly and perfectly. Nevertheless, this is the true and natural meaning of the text, as we will see later. For, just as God gave the Ten Words (as He calls them), so also He added an exposition of them in order that nothing might be obscure, nothing might be called into question, and no one might doubt what they heard. We see, then, that God has declared Himself more fully and has shown that He wills that not only fathers and mothers but also all authorities without exception should be obeyed.
Besides this, let us note that God here speaks of honoring fathers and mothers because He desires to draw us by the way that is most pleasant and agreeable to our nature. We know there is such pride in men that they are loath to willingly submit or yield to one another, and every man thinks that he ought to be a master. And it is certainly difficult for men to yield and lower themselves enough to simply obey those who are in any authority over them until God has changed them. Therefore God, seeing that subjection and submission are things so contrary to our nature, has used the terms father and mother to draw us to obedience by the most loving way possible.
Now, it would be an execrable and unnatural thing if a child did not acknowledge those by whom he came into the world and by whom he was nourished and brought up. Therefore, if a child ignores or is ungrateful to his father or mother, he is a monster, and everyone will abhor him. And why? Because, even without God’s speaking, without having any Holy Scripture, and without an abundance of preaching, nature itself shows us that this duty that a child owes to his father and mother is a duty that cannot be neglected or refused. We see, then, that God intends to win us to Himself by setting down the terms father and mother so that we should not be stubborn but might humbly come to Him to receive the subjection that He lays on us.
And, because all the authority that exists among men proceeds from Him, He speaks according to the law of civil order, meaning that we should be diligent in rendering to Him the honor due Him and that every one of us should—for His sake—obey those who have authority over us (Rom 13:1). And each of us ought to recognize our own position and calling, so that children honor their fathers and mothers, all people honor their magistrates, and servants likewise honor their masters. In short, there ought to be a perfect harmony of peace among us according to the order that our Lord has established, which ought to be inviolable14 (Eph 6:1-3, 5-7; Col 3:20, 22; 1Pe 2:13-18).
Also, though mention is here made of honor, yet it is not meant that children should only speak respectfully to their father and mother or take off their caps or bow their knee to them, for God is not entertained or deluded by this. But honoring means much more than that: children should follow their fathers’ and mothers’ counsel; they should allow themselves to be ruled by them; they should strive to fulfil their duty toward them. In short, they should know that they are not at their own liberty so long as they have a father and mother. This is in effect the thing that God meant by the word honor.
And, to prove that this is so, we cannot have a better or more faithful interpreter of this law than the Holy Spirit Himself, Who spoke by the mouth of Moses and all the prophets, and by Paul particularly (Deu 21:18-20; Eph 6:1; Col 3:20). For we will see later that God explains the meaning of this command—that is, that it is not enough for children to show some reverence with the head or with the knee to their parents, but that they must be submissive to them and must employ themselves in their service to the utmost of their power. And when Paul repeats this, he does not exhort us to observe some external ceremony, but he says that children should be subject to their fathers and mothers. He expressly uses the word subjection (1Ti 3:4). So then, we now see what this means and what the true meaning of this verse is.
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