Title: Filial Piety of the Bible
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise. 3 For it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.
1. Words that begin
In modern times, parents are going through a lot of hardships in many ways to the extent that the word filial piety is embarrassing. Even the old-age business that takes advantage of the situation in which children do not like to take care of their parents and honor their parents is known as a promising business for taking care of the elderly for money.
We, who are to be examples of this world, must listen to what God has to say about our children.
2. Obedience to parents
The basic principle of a child is almost unconditional obedience. It is the basis of filial piety to refrain from obeying the teachings of parents. As J. R. W. Stott said, "All civilizations have regarded the recognition of parental authority as essential for a stable society." However, communism treats parents as comrades or comrades of the same class.
A. Barnes explained the importance of children's obedience to their parents.
First, the right order of a family and the community from which it arises depends on its obedience. There is no prosperity in the family or community without due obedience in the home. Second, parents are worthy of guiding their children because they have a lot of living knowledge and wisdom acquired through numerous and varied experiences. Third, parents have an instinctive love for their children that God has bestowed on them. Fourth, since the rule of family love is an imitation of God's rule, the obedience of the family is education and training for obedience to God, who is in charge of life and death.
The blood relationship between parents and children in a family is not the choice of parents or children, but the providence of God. Therefore, the Bible teaches obedience based on the premise of ‘in the Lord’, not obedience, which is the basis of filial piety based on the natural law. Instead of saying it is right to obey your parents, you say, “Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” “In the Lord” clearly defines the grounds and limits of obedience to parents. Strictly speaking, the basis for a child's obedience lies in God who ordained them before their parents. Therefore, it is not necessary to obey the unbelieving or unrighteous requests of parents that go against God's will. Parents, too, have no right to make unbelieving or unrighteous demands.
3. Respect for parents
Next, the Bible says, “Honor your father and mother, for these are the first commandments with a promise.” “Respect” is the Greek word timao (τιμ?ω), which means to fulfill all responsibilities to show love and respect.
Unfortunately, the reality of our country, which has been praised as a country of courtesy to the East, is not so. Looking at the statistics for one year, only 3,988 cases were reported and received in relation to elder abuse nationwide. The perpetrators were sons in 1326 cases, daughter-in-law in 281 cases, daughters in 249 cases, and spouses in 187 cases. By type, verbal and emotional abuse such as rough abusive language was 43.6%, neglect was neglected at 22.7%, physical abuse such as beatings was 18.5%, and financial abuse such as extortion or demanding money was 11.6%! % was.
This is only a criterion for classification, and in reality, it should be seen that various types of abuse are complex. Experts say the number of potential unreported abuses could be tens of times higher.
Respect for parents, which is God's commandment, must be done in three ways.
First, we must honor the material. People often say, “What kind of money do the old people need?” In fact, the older you are, the more money you need. It's not because you have to use it, but because everything is falling apart and you're in a state of weakness, so you have to rely on money. Even wealthy parents feel the reward and joy of having children and raising them through the allowance their children give them.
Second, we need to respect you mentally. One of the sufferings of the elderly is the feeling of alienation. Because they have been withdrawn from the front line of life, they suffer from a sense of social alienation as if they have been abandoned by society, and suffer from a sense of human alienation that is perceived as outdated and worthless and ostracized. All people, especially children, should be able to appreciate the rich life experiences and practical wisdom acquired by their parents.
Once upon a time, there was a daughter who made offerings to her mother by beg. However, when it became difficult to beg because of a famine, he made offerings to his mother with what he had worked for in a wealthy house. Then, one day, the mother asked her daughter, “The day before, I felt more at ease when I ate rough food, but these days, good food seems to sting my stomach, so I don’t feel good, so what’s the matter?” When the daughter told the truth, the mother said, “How did you know that you could only offer my mouth, and didn’t know how to take care of a displeased mother?” She hugged her daughter and wept. When the king learned of this, he rewarded him with five hundred stones, and everything went well.
Although there is a problem that labor was regarded as lower than begging, it should be learned that honoring one's parents should focus on the spiritual rather than the material.
Third, we must honor spiritually. Even if you are good at respecting materially and mentally, if you do not honor it spiritually, it means nothing. Parents who receive both material and spiritual honor will one day die, and after that they will be judged by God. Therefore, the most valuable reverence is prayer for parents and leading them to the Lord of eternal life.
When the person who has received a lot of love and help from us does not know it, how great will our sadness and pain be? If that is the case, wouldn't it be impossible to fully explain the sadness and sorrow of parents over children who do not honor their parents?
In Ruth 1, there is a story of a truly beautiful filial piety.
Her mother-in-law, Naomi, forced her two widowed daughters-in-law to leave, telling them to find a new husband and live well. When Orpah heard this, she left crying, but Ruth did not leave her mother-in-law until the end. “Where you go I will go, and where you stay, I will lodge. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God, and where you die, I will die and be buried there. If I leave my mother except for the matter of death, the LORD will punish me and send more.”
After losing her husband, Ruth, who honored her mother-in-law until the end, met a good husband by God's grace and was blessed with a good life.
4. Conclusion
Even though it is the proper way for sons and daughters to obey and honor their parents in the Lord, God, who is rich in love, rewards those who keep the proper way. The reward is good luck and long life on earth. To live a long life is a true blessing only when life goes well. To live long without success is not a blessing, but a misfortune of suffering more sorrow, lamentation, and suffering. In reality, there are many lives that cannot be lived. Therefore, it is said that life is a happy life if you live a long life with good life. May all of us obey our parents in the Lord and honor our parents physically, mentally and spiritually so that all of our lives will go well and we may enjoy the blessing of living a long life.
(Poongseong Methodist Church. Book: Complete New Testament Commentary Series/ Interpretation of difficult scriptures/ Prayer of Prosperity/ Baking before the birth of Jesus (English, Korean)/ Sermonbook 17. 426-3051)