Children
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”
From a section outlining the duties of wives and husbands, Paul logically proceeds to a section on children and parents. Although it is not a particularly weighty point, there is a bit of disagreement among Bible scholars on the placement of the phrase “in the Lord.” The NIV translation puts it with the parents, giving it the meaning, “Children, obey the parents whom the Lord has given you.” That is certainly possible.
Others link “in the Lord” with the children. Paul would then be urging children who are “in the Lord” to obey their parents. That pairing is what underlies a translation such as, “Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord” (NLT). In view of the fact that this section of the table of duties concerns itself with the sanctified lives of children, the latter interpretation addressing them as Christians is perhaps to be preferred.
Either way, Paul is addressing the “new man” (or should we say, “new child”?) in young people and urging them to obey their parents. The reason given is simply “for this is right.” It is right because the Lord says so. He has given children life, a home, and parents.
But children are not merely to “obey” their parents, perhaps unwillingly and grudgingly. More is asked of Christian children. They are to “honor” their parents. Thus a proper attitude is required, one that involves both heart and mind.
That the Lord is serious about having the Fourth Commandment obeyed is evident from the fact that he attaches a promise to it. Paul’s quotation of the commandment and the promise is taken from Deuteronomy 5:16. While the original promise recorded there speaks to Israel and refers to the Promised Land, the general truth holds for all time.
That doesn’t mean every child who obeys his or her parents will necessarily live to be a hundred. But the converse is true: disobedience to parents has bad consequences.
Since the family is the basis of society and thus also of the nation, woe to the people and the land that disregard this fundamental relationship between parents and children.