The Hinge of the Law – The Fifth Commandment

The Hinge of the Law

The fifth is the “hinge” commandment of the Law.

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.”

Those who see “two tablets” of the Law – some devoted to inculcating love for God and some devoted to loving our neighbor – divide on which of the tablets should hold the fifth commandment. It’s not an issue to break fellowship over; rather, the “debate” on whether the fifth commandment goes on the first tablet or the second simply illustrates its place as a kind of “hinge” commandment. Parents have the authority of God to bring children into the world and to raise them up unto Him. Children learn to love God by honoring their parents, and they also learn to honor their neighbors in that same nursery of the fifth commandment. The flow of love we owe to God and neighbors is all of a piece, and the “whole cloth” of that love is sewn together by learning to keep this commandment.

What kind of responsibility does the “hinge” aspect of this commandment put on parents? Can you see how the fifth commandment holds both love of God and love of neighbor together?

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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.