Parents

The biblical teaching on parents encompasses both the obligations of parents toward their children and the duties of children toward their parents. The fifth commandment — "Honor your father and your mother" (Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16) — is the foundational text, framed as a positive duty with the promise of long life in the land. It is the first commandment with a promise (Eph. 6:2). Striking or cursing a parent was a capital offense in the Mosaic law (Ex. 21:15, 17).

The responsibility of parents to instruct children in the faith is mandated in the Shema context: "You shall teach them diligently to your children" (Deut. 6:7). Proverbs extensively addresses parental discipline: "Train up a child in the way he should go" (Prov. 22:6). In the NT, Paul commands fathers not to provoke their children to anger but to raise them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Jesus himself submitted to his parents (Luke 2:51) and condemned the Corban tradition that allowed men to evade parental support (Mark 7:10–13).