Ephesians 6:1
in Ephesians 6Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
KJV
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
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This verse in Ephesians 6
Commentary
18 notes on this verseIt is not clear whether this saying means that children are to obey their "parents in the Lord" or that in the Lord children are to obey their parents. I take it both ways. We are to obey those parents who gave birth to us in the Lord, as through Paul and the apostles they were spiritually born, and do what they say. And we should submit in the Lord to our own parents, from whom we were born according to the flesh, performing all their commands that are not contrary to the Lord's will.
This site's exposition
obey your parents in the Lord
on Ephesians 6:1-3
The children are addressed directly, which assumes they sit in the assembly hearing the letter read. Paul cites the fifth commandment and marks it the first commandment with promise, quoting Exodus 20:12 with its pledge of wellbeing and long life. In the Lord bounds the obedience: the household order stands inside a higher allegiance, not above it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
This law is given to children: Since their parents are the enablers of their existence, they are to obey them. The principle is that they reverence those through whom they exist.
A commentator
Theodoret of CyrusInterpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 6.9 · Written before 458.
proposed
The order in which he gives his injunctions is worthy of admiration. For first he has given laws to husbands and wives, for marriage comes before childbirth. Then he tends to fathers and children, for childbirth is the fruit of marriage, since it is only …
A commentator
Ignatius of AntiochEpistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Antiochians · Written before 108.
proposed
Let the husbands love their wives, remembering that, at the creation, one woman, and not many, was given to one man. Let the wives honour their husbands, as their own flesh; and let them not presume to address them by their names. Let them also be chaste, reckoning their husbands as their only partners, to whom indeed they have been united according to the will of God. Ye parents, impart a holy training to your children. Ye children, "honour your parents, that it may be well with you."
A commentator
CyprianTreatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews · Written before 258.
proposed
That we must obey parents. In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians: "Children, be obedient to your parents: for this is right. Honour thy father and thy mother (which is the first command with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest be long-lived on the earth."
As a man in forming a body, places the head first, after that the neck, then the feet, so does the blessed Paul proceed in his discourse. He has spoken of the husband, he has spoken of the wife, who is second in authority, he now goes on by gradual advances to the third rank-which is that of children. For the husband has authority over the wife, and the husband and the wife over the children. Here he has not a word of discourse concerning Christ, not a word on high subjects, for he is as yet addressing his discourse to tender understandings. And it is for this reason, moreover, that he makes his exhortation short, inasmuch as children cannot follow up a long argument. For this reason also he does not discourse at all about a kingdom, (because it does not belong to the tender age of childhood to understand these subjects,) but what a child's soul most especially longs to hear, that he says, namely, that it shall "live long." For if any one shall enquire why it is that he omitted to discourse concerning a kingdom, but set before them the commandment laid down in the law, he does this because he speaks to them as infantile, and because he is well aware that if the husband and the wife are thus disposed according to the law which he has laid down, there will be but little trouble in securing the submission of the children. For whenever any matter has a good and sound and orderly principle and foundation, everything will thenceforward go on with method and regularity, with much facility: the more difficult thing is to settle the foundation, to lay down a firm basis. "Children," saith he, "obey your parents in the Lord," that is, according to the Lord. This, he means to say, is what God commands you. But what then if they shall command foolish things? Generally a father, however foolish he may be himself, does not command foolish things. […]
11 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church4 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 5 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
By reason of governance, the honor of obedience is owed to the father; whence the Apostle to the Ephesians: Children, obey your parents, for this is just. Honor your father and your mother: which is the first commandment with a promise, that it may be …
A commentator
BonaventureDisputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Since the law of grace considers the origin, fall, and remedy of nature, it belongs to it to approve the threefold mode and distinction of obedience. For it approves filial obedience, Ephesians 6: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is just. Fatherhood …
He had previously given advice to husband and wife which is one relationship in the family (5:22). Now he cautions the fathers and children, which is the home's second relationship. He begins, Children, obey your parents. Note here that fathers have a natural duty to …
As a sculptor, reproducing the figure of the human body, first creates the head, then the neck, and finally the legs, so too Paul, having spoken of the husband as the first principle, and the wife as the second principle, now speaks of the third …
The Reformation1 voice
Experience shews how rare this virtue is; for do we find one among a thousand that is obedient to his parents? By a figure of speech, a part is here put for the whole, but it is the most important part, and is necessarily accompanied by all the others.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Children, obey your parents in the Lord,....
They command them to be found in the way of their duty towards God, and to take heed of those sins most incident to their age; in these things especially they must see that they be obedient. There is a general reason given: For this is right, there is a natural equity in it, God has enjoined it, and it highly becomes Christians.
He exhorts and directs Christians how to behave themselves in the spiritual warfare with the enemies of their souls; and to the exercise of several Christian graces, which he proposes to them as so many pieces of spiritual armour, to preserve and defend them in the conflict,
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Children - τέκνα tekna This word usually signifies those who are young; but it is used here, evidently, to denote those who were under the care and government of their parents, or those who were not of age. Obey your parents - This is the first great duty which God has enjoined on children. It is, to do what their parents command them to do. The God of nature indicates that this is duty; for he has impressed it on the minds of all in every age; and the Author of revelation confirms it.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Obedience is more unreasoning and implicit; submission is the willing subjection of an inferior in point of order to one who has a right to command. in the Lord--Both parents and children being Christians "in the Lord," expresses the element in which the obedience is to take place, and the motive to obedience.
Children, obey your parents - This is a duty with which God will never dispense; he commands it, and one might think that gratitude, from a sense of the highest obligations, would most strongly enforce the command. In the Lord - This clause is wanting in several reputable MSS., and in same versions. In the Lord may mean, on account of the commandment of the Lord; or, as far as the parents commands are according to the will and word of God. For surely no child is called to obey any parent if he give unreasonable or unscriptural commands.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Τὰ | ta | you who [are] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| τέκνα, | tekna | Children, | G5043 → | 99 times |
| ὑπακούετε | hupakouete | do obey | G5219 → | |
| τοῖς | tois | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γονεῦσιν | goneusin | parents | G1118 → | |
| ὑμῶν | humon | of you | G4771 → | 2973 times |
| ἐν | en | in | G1722 → | 2738 times |
| κυρίῳ· | kurio | [the] Lord; | G2962 → | 711 times |
| τοῦτο | touto | this | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| γάρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| ἐστιν | estin | is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| δίκαιον. | dikaion | right. | G1342 → |
Τὰyou who [are]
taG3588 →19766 times
τέκνα,Children,
teknaG5043 →99 times
ὑπακούετεdo obey
hupakoueteG5219 →
τοῖςthe
toisG3588 →19766 times
γονεῦσινparents
goneusinG1118 →
ὑμῶνof you
humonG4771 →2973 times
ἐνin
enG1722 →2738 times
κυρίῳ·[the] Lord;
kurioG2962 →711 times
τοῦτοthis
toutoG3778 →1381 times
γάρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
ἐστινis
estinG1510 →2333 times
δίκαιον.right.
dikaionG1342 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 1:8Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
it leads to
- Proverbs 6:20
My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 5:1–2
My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,
- 2 Timothy 1:5
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced is in you as well.
- Proverbs 31:1
These are the words of King Lemuel—the burden that his mother taught him:
- Proverbs 6:20
Through
Proverbs 23:22Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
it leads to
- Proverbs 30:17
As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 1:8
Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother.
- John 19:26–27
When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.”
- Ephesians 6:1–2
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
- Proverbs 30:17
Where this verse is studied
About Ephesians
This page draws on 16 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS 6.2; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 5; Bonaventure, Disputed Questions on Evangelical Perfection, Question 4; Cyprian, Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews; Ignatius of Antioch, Epistle of Pseudo-Ignatius to the Antiochians; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ephesians 6:1; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Chrysostom, Homily on Ephesians 21; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretation of the Epistle to the Ephesians 6.9; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Ephesians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Ephesians.