What Does It Mean To Honor Your Father And Your Mother? [The Fifth Commandment]

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Exodus 20:12

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

 
 

What does it mean to honor your father and your mother?

At the very least, it means to be grateful that the Lord used them to give you life. Procreation is a partnership with the Lord; obviously, a man and a woman have to come together for there to be conception, but it’s God who makes life possible. The Lord has delegated power to fathers and mothers to make procreation possible. So, every human life is a product of what the Bible calls the “one flesh” union between a father and a mother. There are no people who do not have both a biological father and a biological mother.

Now, many people don’t know their biological parents for many reasons, and many other people had parents who were abusive or even evil. And yet, the basic fact is the same: none of us would be here were it not for our parents (and their parents, and their parents, etc.).

So, honoring your father and mother must always start with gratitude that the Lord used them to give your life. It can be more than that, but it’s not less. And gratitude is always a good place to start.

P.S. As the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus (Ephesians 6:2-3), this is the first commandment with a promise. Do this, and things will go well for you.

P.P.S. Note how both fathers and mothers are given equal place here—both are essential to life, and neither is more important than the other.