p. 740 | Honor to Parents by C. P. Bollman

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 11, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 47.

Honor to Parents.

By C. P. Bollman

OUR first duty as accountable beings is to God. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. 22:37-40; Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18. The first great commandment is the foundation upon which rests the first four precepts of the decalogue; while the last six specify what is required by the second great moral principle, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

If we may single out any one duty required by the second table of the law and say that it is of first and prime importance, that one certainly is the duty we owe to our parents. For the violation of the fifth commandment, one of our Saviour's most cutting reproofs was given to the scribes and Pharisees. Matt. 15:3-9. From the words of Jesus on this occasion, we learn that obedience to this commandment is of vital importance, and that no worship is acceptable to God which makes void any part of the divine law. The Saviour says: "In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." How important, then, that we rightly understand what God requires of us, that we do not, like the self-righteous Jews, make void his law by our traditions.

That parents are to be honored by obedience, is evident from the language of Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (chap. 6:1, 2); but duty to God is not to be forgotten; the apostle says: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right. Honor your father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise." It may be said, however, that this text applies only to children; perhaps so; but the claims of the fifth commandment do not cease when we become men and women. Ham was himself the father of children, when he sinned by showing disrespect for his father (Gen. 9:22-27); and the sin for which Christ rebuked the scribes and Pharisees consisted in teaching that by giving to the church, children could be freed from all obligation to support their needy parents. But it is not to this phase of the subject that the writer desires particularly to call attention; for there is another way in which children may honor their parents, especially godly parents.

Solomon says, "A wise son maketh a glad father; but a foolish man despiseth his mother" (Prov. 15:20); and as "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 9:10), we must conclude that when we truly honor God, we, at the same time, honor our parents, in the highest and most perfect sense; for our duty to God and our duty to our parents are in perfect harmony, both being enjoined by the perfect law of God. Failing to discern this fact, persons sometimes seek to excuse themselves from accepting present truth, because their pious parents, long since dead, did not so believe. They argue that to believe and practice differently from their parents, in matters of religion (no one ever thinks of reasoning thus in worldly affairs), will dishonor their memory! Their parents, say they, were truly pious people; and, no doubt, in many instances this is true; and where it is true, those parents must have lived up to all the light they had; they must have loved the truth, and walked in it, so far as they saw it. They could not have been Christians had they refused to humble themselves before God; and if such were their principles, they must have so taught their children. This being the case, they who refuse to follow the example of their pious parents, by cultivating a love for Bible truth, and by walking in the light of the divine word, not only disobey God, but they also dishonor those pious fathers and mothers whom they profess to revere.

No parent can be more highly honored in his children, than to have them devoted to the service of God; and no child who sincerely desires to honor his parents, in obedience to the fifth commandment, will hesitate to keep all the commandments merely because his mother or father did not have the light which now shines upon his pathway. True reverence for parents does not lead to sin against God; and they who obey the divine law will not lack filial affection. The wise man has said, "Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. 12:13. Let us then have a care lest we, too, be found, like the scribes and Pharisees, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." C. P. BOLLMAN.