The Basis of a Well-Ordered Society – The Fifth Commandment

The Basis of a Well-Ordered Society

Exodus 20:12

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

Here is the basis of a well-ordered society: honor and respect for those who give life and embody the goodness of God. The fifth commandment encompasses the whole broad scope of honor and deference due within the civil order–to parents, rulers, the elderly, other image-bearers of God, and the creation itself.

But it begins at home, while we’re young. By learning to honor their parents, children develop the mindset and practical skills that will preserve dignity and order–the goodness of God–in the larger social sphere. Here is no license for parents to exasperate their children, as Paul points out (Eph. 6:1-4); but here indeed is a blueprint for preserving respect and love throughout the civil order.

Parents, teach your children to respect you in love; children, learn to respect and honor your parents. The rest of your life depends on this.

What does that word, “honor”, entail? Do you honor the people around you, if only because they are the image-bearers of God? How would you want someone to honor you?

Daily meditation in the Law of God helps us along the path of holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7:12). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, by going to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.