With a Promise – The Fifth Commandment

With a Promise

There’s a rich promise in this, as in every, commandment.

Read 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.”

Paul observes that this is the first commandment with a promise (Eph. 6.2). But not the only one. Some people make the mistake of separating the Law and the promises of God. We have the promise of forgiveness by the grace of God; therefore, we’re no longer under Law. This is an unwarranted dividing of the covenant mercy of our God. He is gracious in saving us, apart from any works on our part. And He is gracious in outlining the works we should do (Eph. 2.10) that will lead to a life filled with love for God and neighbor. The promise of this commandment is that, if we get it right, it will lead to every other blessing and promise embedded in the Law – of freedom from fear about murder, adultery, robbery, deception, and covetousness. No one who respects and honors his neighbor will treat him in any way other than the love spelled out in the glorious Law of God.

Why do you suppose the promise dimension of the Law first appears with this commandment? Is it present, if only implicitly, in the first four? How?

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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.