Prayer:

Father, We are glad to be called Christians. We wish to demonstrate in every aspect of our lives your principles of compassion and love. Create in us a militant compassion that seeks to watch your marvelous works, replicate those same works with the same results you had while here in the flesh, to bring you glory and honor.

Key Word - "Honor"

Honor, the very fabric of men’s character modeled solely after God’s attribute of grace and character, is reflected in every verse in this section of Scripture. How well men deal with their honor is the crucible which determines the molten state with which men are forged, and then creates the hardened result in which they exist for the rest of their lives. The Christian principle which we try to follow is to give our honor to Jesus, and trust His principles and their legacy of truth. Every type of relationship is covered in this section with the added bonus of an in-depth study on spiritual warfare. How exciting to examine Scriptures and find nuggets of truth with which to pattern our lives giving Him glory and honor.

6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

Paul uses the Greek word teknon here, as this word describes someone beginning to understand; someone who is of sufficient age to recognize certain concepts that are profitable for Christian maturity. The word for obey means to hear under (as a subordinate), i.e. to listen attentively; by implication, to heed or conform to a command or authority. It is a stronger term than what was used for the wife earlier due to her equal status.

2 Honor thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

Honor means to prize, i.e. fix a valuation upon; by implication, to revere. Some youngsters today should listen very attentively to this Greek definition for their own blessing. Verse two states the commandment and announces the idea for selfish reasons i.e., we should follow the commandment due to a blessing and verse three states the blessing out of Exodus twenty.

3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

An interesting note on this verse concerns the word for earth it is ge (ghay); contracted from a primary word; soil; by extension a region. The gospel has its temporal, and spiritual promises. Although the authority of God is sufficient to perform our duty, yet are we allowed to have the promised rewards, and though it contains some temporal advantage, even this may be considered a motive and encouragement for our obedience.

4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Fathers should not get quickly angry like their children but gently instruct with only mild rebuke from the scripture.

5 Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

If we have a boss or superior we are supposed to listen to them as children were supposed to listen in verse one. Fear in the English text here is from the Greek word where we get the word phobia. Trembling is translated from the Greek word for quaking with fear. An interesting footnote concerning the word singleness subjectively speaking means sincerity (without dissimulation or self-seeking), or (objectively) generosity.

6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

Paul admonishes us to be free from the furtive attitude of having to be watched by a superior; someone who needs watching because he might goof off. We should do the work, because as the servants of Christ it is an attitude we should have not to please or be agreeable (or by implication, to seek to be so) to men for the benefit we might gain.

7 With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:

As a kindness to our masters (employers), because of our relationship to Jesus, we should essentially forget our employer, except for the obvious, and just work for Jesus.

8 Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

We know that what action we perform we shall be blessed from the Lord, and it does not make any difference whether we are slave or free. Since slavery did exist back then, this might have seemed very difficult when the believers heard this, especially if they had a hard taskmaster. If we look for our reward from Jesus we will never be disappointed. We found that we can worship in the midst of any congregation if that is our sole purpose i.e. to worship. Focus is the hardest and most controversial aspect of anything we do.

9 And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him.

When the Masters became Christians they were under the same obligations to treat their slaves with reverence. Non-Christian slaves were now to be treated with a different mindset than what they had before salvation occurred. The slave master needs to let up, i.e. (literally) slacken or (figuratively) desert, desist from menacing their slaves with threats and fear.

The slave master was now dealing with a fellow member of the body of Christ and his reaction and treatment of his slaves was of paramount importance due to the nature of the God. The Father has no favorites and treats each and every [body member] with love and the implication is that God is going to fight for the underdog. There is now an equality to each member of the body of Christ which must be valued at all costs, lest we displease our mutual head …Jesus Christ.