The Sanction of the Fifth Commandment – A Kingdom Catechism

The Sanction of the Fifth Commandment

A Kingdom Catechism

Breaking the fifth commandment has profound social consequences.

Q 90: What sanction does the Lord threaten in the fifth commandment?

A 90: The Lord threatens that those who disobey the fifth commandment shall come under the judgment of God, even to the point of being separated from the community of the redeemed. (Deut. 18:19; Deut. 17:10-13).

The judgment of God takes various forms, and is active in the present, as Paul explains in Romans 1:18-32. Neglect of the fifth commandment and all the Law of God has the twofold effect of distancing people from God, Who gradually “gives them up” in their struggle to be “free” of Him and His influence, and of compromising and undermining the justice and neighbor-love essential to civil society. Where the commandments are neglected, Jesus explained, love grows cold (Matt. 24:12), with the result that society degenerates into a dance of mutual self-seeking, leading to irreligion, corruption, violence, and death.

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