The Fourth Commandment

So far we have worked through the first three commandments, which deal with our obligations to God. First, that we are to trust, fear, and love Him with our whole heart for all the days of our lives. Second, that we must never misuse His holy name to prop up lies or wicked deeds, but instead use it to praise God and to serve the well-being and salvation of both our neighbors and ourselves. Third, that on the appointed days of rest we should study and practice God's Word with genuine diligence, so that everything we do and every way we live reflects it. Now come the remaining seven commandments, which address our obligations to our neighbors. The first and greatest among these is: "Honor your father and your mother" (Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16).

God has elevated fatherhood and motherhood above every other relationship under His authority. This is clear from the fact that He does not merely command us to love our parents, but to honor them. For brothers, sisters, and neighbors, God generally asks nothing more than love. By this distinction, He sets father and mother apart from all other people on earth and places them second only to Himself. Honoring someone is a far greater thing than loving them. It encompasses not only love, but also obedience, humility, and reverence, as though a kind of hidden sovereignty resided in the parental role. It requires not only that we speak to our parents with warmth and respect, but above all that we demonstrate through our actions, in both heart and conduct, that we hold them in the highest regard and consider them, after God, above all others. Whoever we truly honor from the heart, we must genuinely regard as our superior. Young people, therefore, should be taught to reverence their parents as God's representatives, and to remember that even if their parents are humble, poor, frail, or difficult, they are still father and mother, given to them by God. Their manner of living and their personal failings cannot strip them of that honor. We are not to judge them by their personalities or shortcomings, but to recognize God's will, which appointed and ordained them as our parents. Before God, we are all certainly equal, but among ourselves there must be the kind of inequality and rightful distinction that God Himself has established. Therefore, God commands you here to obey me as your father, and makes clear that I hold parental authority over you.

First, let's be clear about what this commandment actually requires when it speaks of honoring parents. It means holding them in higher esteem than anything else on earth, treating them as our most precious treasure. It also means watching how we speak to them, making sure our words are never rude, overbearing, or argumentative, and choosing silence over conflict even when they push too far. Third, it means honoring them through our actions: in how we carry ourselves around them, and in the practical help we extend to them when they are old or sick, frail or poor. We are to do this not merely out of duty, but cheerfully, with humility and genuine reverence, as though we were serving God Himself. Because a person who is truly well-disposed toward his parents will never allow them to go without or go hungry. He will put them before himself, and share whatever he has with them as generously as he is able.

Consider also what a great, noble, and sacred calling is given to children here, one that has been almost entirely ignored and discarded. No one recognizes it as God's command, as a holy and divine word carrying real authority. If we had truly honored this commandment, it would have been obvious to everyone that God is calling people to a holy life grounded in these very words. There would have been no need to establish monasteries or religious orders if every child had kept this commandment and could stand before God with a clear conscience, saying: "If I want to do something good and holy, I know of nothing better than to show my parents complete honor and obedience, because God himself has commanded it." What God has commanded must be better and far more excellent than anything we could come up with on our own. Since there is no higher or wiser teacher than God, there can be no better instruction than what He gives. He has told us plainly what we must do if we want to perform truly good works, and we can be confident we are pleasing Him when we do what He commands. Since God's commands reflect His highest wisdom, who am I to think I can improve on what He has ordained?

If God's will had been our guide, we would have raised godly children, properly taught and formed in true blessedness. They would have stayed at home in obedience, serving their parents, and we would have had a living example of goodness and genuine happiness right before us. Instead, we were foolish enough to push God's commandment aside, failing to give it the place it deserved. It was neglected and allowed to fade from view. Children had no real opportunity to take it seriously, and in the meantime they looked on in bewildered fascination at everything we had invented without ever once asking God's permission.

With all of this in mind, let us teach our young people to set aside every competing priority and place this commandment first. If they want to serve God through truly good works, they must do what their father and mother, or whoever stands in their place, require of them. A child who understands and lives by this has, first of all, the deep comfort of being able to say with confidence, against everyone who is busy pursuing their own self-invented religious schemes: "This work pleases my God in heaven, and I am certain of it." Let those people step forward in all their proud display, boasting about their many great, demanding, and burdensome works, and we will see whether any of them can produce a single work greater or more honorable than obedience to father and mother, which God Himself has appointed and commanded to rank just below obedience to His own supreme authority. If God's Word and will are to be fulfilled, then nothing is to be held more sacred than the will and words of our parents, provided that in honoring them we remain obedient to God and do not violate the commandments that come before this one.

So let your heart overflow with joy and gratitude to God, who has chosen and equipped you for such a beautiful and rewarding calling. Recognize it for what it truly is: something great and precious, even if the world dismisses it as the lowest and most contemptible kind of service. Its worth doesn't come from your own merit, but from the fact that it is woven into the very fabric of God's Word and commandment, part of His crown and temple. Consider what the Carthusian monks and nuns would give to bring before God, in all their religious striving, even a single act done in genuine obedience to His command, and to be able to say with a joyful heart in His presence: "Now I know that this pleases You." What will become of these poor, wretched souls when they stand before God and the world, only to be put to shame by a small child who simply kept this commandment, and must confess that everything they ever did in their lives doesn't make them worthy to hand that child a cup of water? Because they have trampled God's commandment underfoot through this satanic distortion, it is only fitting that they exhaust themselves in vain with their self-invented works, and receive nothing but scorn and grief as their reward.

Shouldn't the heart leap and melt with joy, then, when it can approach its God-given task and say: "Look, this surpasses all the holiness of the Carthusians, even if they fast until they die and pray on their knees without stopping." You have a clear text here, a direct word from God commanding this very thing, while He never said a word about their practices. That no one believes this is a testament to the world's wretchedness and its pitiful blindness. The devil has deceived us so thoroughly with a counterfeit righteousness and the spectacle of our own works.

So let me say it again: I would be very glad if we would open our eyes and ears and take this seriously, so that we are not led astray from the pure Word of God into the devil's empty lies. If we did, we would see real improvement: parents would enjoy far greater happiness, love, friendship, and unity in their homes, and children would receive the full warmth of their parents' affection. On the other hand, when children are stubborn and refuse to do right unless a rod is applied to their backs, they provoke both God and their parents to anger. In doing so, they forfeit what was meant to be a blessing and a source of genuine joy to their consciences, and store up nothing for themselves but misfortune. This is why the world is full of a universal complaint: both young and old are wayward and undisciplined, with no sense of order or respect. They do nothing unless forced into it, and behind each other's backs they cheat and steal without restraint. God therefore punishes them, and they sink into every kind of filth and misery. The parents themselves offer no remedy. One fool raises another; as they lived, so their children will live after them.

This, I say, is the first and most compelling reason we should keep this commandment. In fact, if we had no father or mother, we should wish that God would set up a block of wood or a stone for us to call father and mother. How much more, then, should we rejoice that He has given us living parents to honor and obey, knowing that this pleases the Supreme Majesty and all the angels, and that it infuriates the devils. It is the greatest work we can do, second only to the sublime task of worshiping God according to the previous commandments. Even giving to charity and every other act of service to our neighbor falls short of this. God has placed the estate of parents above all others; He has appointed it to stand in His own place on earth. That alone, knowing it to be God's will and good pleasure, should be reason enough for us to do everything in our power to honor it, eagerly and joyfully.

Beyond this, we genuinely owe it to the world to show gratitude for every kindness and blessing we have received from our parents. Yet here again the devil holds sway; children forget their parents just as we all forget God. No one stops to remember how God nourishes, protects, and cares for us, or how richly He blesses our souls and bodies. When a difficult hour comes, we grow angry and complain impatiently, and every blessing we have received throughout our lives vanishes from our minds. We treat our parents the same way, and no child truly recognizes or reflects on this unless the Holy Spirit leads them to do so. God is fully aware of this stubborn ingratitude in the world, which is why He uses His commandments to remind each of us and press us to consider what our parents have actually done. When we do consider it honestly, we recognize that we received our very body and life from our parents, that they nourished and raised us when we would otherwise have perished a hundred times over in our own helplessness. There is a true and noble saying from the wise: "God, parents, and teachers can never be sufficiently thanked or repaid" (Deo, parentibus et magistris non potest satis gratiae rependi). Whoever genuinely sees the matter this way will honor their parents and cherish them as bearers of God's blessing, without needing to be commanded to do so.

Beyond all of this, God has attached a temporal promise to this commandment as another powerful reason to keep it, saying: "That your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you."

Here we see further evidence of how genuinely God cares about this commandment. He declares that it brings Him not only pleasure and delight, but also serves as a tool for our own benefit, designed to promote our highest good and lead us toward a pleasant, fulfilling, and blessed life. Paul shares this deep appreciation for the commandment and praises it warmly, writing: "Which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Eph 6:2-3). While other commandments do carry promises, none states that promise as clearly or as directly as this one.

Here you find the reward waiting for those who keep this commandment: good days, happiness, and prosperity. By contrast, those who disobey it face a shorter life, stripped of joy. In the Bible, living long doesn't simply mean growing old; it means having everything that makes a long life worth living: health, family, food, peace, good government, and similar blessings, without which life can neither be enjoyed nor sustained. If you refuse to obey your father and mother and submit to their guidance, then you will obey the hangman instead. And if you refuse him, you will obey death itself, that great destroyer, the final teacher of rebellious children. In short, God calls us to obey, love, and serve Him so that He can repay us richly with every good thing. But when we provoke Him, He will answer with death and judgment. Where else do so many criminals come from, those who are daily hanged, beheaded, or broken on the wheel, if not from disobedience? Because they refused to submit to good discipline, they bring about their own ruin and misery through God's judgment. It is rare, after all, for people like this to die a peaceful or timely death.

The godly and obedient, however, are blessed. They live long in peace and see their children flourish, as we noted earlier, to the third and fourth generations. Experience bears this out: wherever you find well-established families enjoying both prosperity and many descendants, you find people whose upbringing was shaped by genuine respect for their parents. The opposite is equally true. Scripture says of the wicked, "Let his posterity be cut off; in the generation following let their name be blotted out" (Ps 109:13). Consider carefully, then, how much weight obedience carries in God's eyes, given that He honors it so highly, takes such delight in it, and rewards it so generously, while at the same time bringing severe punishment on those who refuse it.

I press all of this so firmly because the young need to have it deeply embedded in their minds. This is especially necessary because, under the Papacy, this commandment was neither taught nor taken seriously, and most people still have no real sense of its importance. Everyone assumes these are simple, unremarkable words that require no particular effort to follow. So they glance past them and go looking for something more impressive, never stopping to grasp or believe that God is genuinely angered when this commandment is ignored, and that keeping it is a work He considers precious and pleasing.

While discussing this commandment, it's worth addressing the various situations in which obedience is required toward those in authority over us, whose responsibility it is to lead and govern. All authority is rooted in, and derives its legitimacy from, parental authority. When a father cannot raise his child alone, he brings in a teacher to provide instruction; when he lacks the strength to manage everything himself, he calls on friends or neighbors for help; and when a parent dies, he entrusts his authority and responsibilities to others appointed for that purpose. He must also have servants, both men and women, working under him to manage the household. Everyone who holds the title of master stands in the place of a parent and draws their authority and power to command from that same source. In Scripture, they are all called fathers, because in their governing role they carry out a father's functions and should hold a fatherly affection toward the people in their care. In the language of the Romans and other ancient peoples, masters and mistresses of the household were called patres et matres familiae (housefathers and housemothers). Similarly, they referred to their princes and magistrates as patres patriae (fathers of the country). It is a shame, then, that we who claim to be Christians neither use such titles for our rulers nor, at the very least, treat and honor them as they deserve.

Whatever a child owes to its father and mother, every member of the household owes them as well. This means that servants and maids should not merely obey their employers, but should honor them as they would their own parents. They should do everything expected of them, not grudgingly or under compulsion, but willingly and with genuine enthusiasm, and they should do so for the reasons already given: because it is God's commandment, and because it pleases Him more than any other work. They should, in fact, be willing to pay for the privilege of serving, and be grateful to find employers worth honoring, so that they can maintain a clear conscience and know they are doing work of real and lasting worth. Such work has gone unrecognized for far too long. Instead of embracing it, people ran off in the devil's name to monasteries, pilgrimages, and the pursuit of indulgences, all to the ruin of their souls and consciences.

If this truth could truly sink into the hearts of ordinary people, a servant girl would leap for joy, praising and thanking God, knowing that through her honest daily work, for which she receives food and wages, she would be building a treasure surpassing anything accumulated by the most celebrated saints. Think about how remarkable it is to be able to say to yourself: "If I faithfully carry out my everyday household duties, that is worth more than the supposed holiness and harsh self-denial of the monks." And on top of that, you have the promise that things will go well for you and that you will prosper in every good thing. How could you be more blessed, or live more holy, than that, as far as works can contribute to such a life? Before God, it is truly faith that makes us holy; faith alone serves Him, while our works serve the people around us. In that, you have everything good: shelter and protection under the Lord, a clear conscience, and beyond that, a gracious God who will repay you a hundredfold. If you are faithful and obedient, you are a true nobleman in the deepest sense. If you are not, you will face only God's wrath and displeasure; your heart will find no peace, and in time you will encounter every kind of trouble and misfortune. Anyone who refuses to be moved by these realities and shows no inclination toward faithfulness, we leave to the hangman and to death. So let everyone who can receive instruction remember that God is genuinely present here, and that it is God Himself who speaks to you and calls for your obedience. Obey Him, and you are His beloved child. Despise His commandment, and shame, misery, and sorrow will be your reward.

The same principle applies to the obedience we owe civil authority, which, as noted earlier, falls under the broader category of fatherhood and extends further than any other human relationship. Here the father figure is not head of a single household, but of many tenants, citizens, and subjects. Through civil rulers, just as through our parents, God provides us with food, shelter, land, protection, and security. Since they carry this role with all the honor it deserves as their highest distinction, we are obligated to honor them and regard them as we would the greatest treasure and most precious jewel on earth.

The person who is obedient, willing, and capable, and who gladly gives honor where it is due, can know that he pleases God and will receive joy and happiness as his reward. If, on the other hand, someone refuses to serve in love and instead despises or resists authority, he should understand that no favor or blessing will follow him. Where he gains a dollar through his unfaithfulness, he will lose ten somewhere else. He may end up at the gallows, or perish through war, plague, or famine; his children may turn out badly; servants, neighbors, strangers, and tyrants will bring loss, injustice, and violence down on him. Whatever we seek and earn through disobedience will, in the end, be paid back to us in full.

If we would only stop and consider how pleasing our obedience is to God, and how richly He rewards it, we would find ourselves with more than enough, with everything our hearts could want. Instead, God's Word and commandments are dismissed as though they were the ramblings of some vagrant. But consider this: do you really think you can stand against God? How difficult would it be for Him to repay you in kind? You would live far better under God's protection, peace, and blessing than you ever will under disgrace and misfortune. Why, do you suppose, is the world so full of betrayal, shame, misery, and violence? Precisely because everyone strives to be his own master, free from all authority, indifferent to others, and answerable to no one. God punishes one scoundrel by means of another. If you deceive and despise your master, someone else will come along and treat you the same way, and within your own home you will suffer ten times the injustice from your wife, children, or servants.

We certainly feel our misfortune, and we grumble and complain about betrayal, violence, and injustice. But we refuse to see that we ourselves are the scoundrels who richly deserve our punishment, and we learn nothing from what we endure. The truth is, we don't actually want God's favor and blessing, so it's only fitting that we suffer misfortune without mercy. That there are still godly people somewhere in the world is the only reason God continues to pour out so many blessings on us. If it came down to what we deserved, we wouldn't have a coin in the house or a single stalk in the field. I feel compelled to press all of this with such force in the hope that someone will take it seriously, and that we might be freed from the blindness and misery into which we have sunk so deeply, and come to understand God's Word and will as we should, embracing them wholeheartedly. For it is there that we learn how to find abundant joy, happiness, and salvation, both in this life and in eternity.

This commandment, then, presents us with two kinds of fathers: biological fathers and fathers by office, meaning fathers within the family and within the state. Beyond these, there are also spiritual fathers. This title does not belong to those in the Papacy, though they eagerly claim it for themselves, since they perform none of the duties that fatherhood actually requires. The true spiritual fathers are those who govern and teach us through the authority of God's Word. Paul himself takes pride in this kind of fatherhood when he writes, "In Christ Jesus I begat you through the Gospel" (1 Cor 4:15). Because they are fathers in this genuine sense, they deserve honor, and in fact more honor than any other kind of father. Yet they receive the least. The world repays them by driving them out of the country, begrudging them a crust of bread, and treating them as Paul describes in the same chapter: "as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things" (1 Cor 4:13).

The broader population needs to understand this clearly: anyone who claims the name of Christian is obligated before God to show double honor to those who watch over their souls, to support and provide for their spiritual shepherds (Heb 13:17; 1 Tim 5:17). Do this, and God will give you abundance and see to it that you never go without. But instead, people hold back, raise objections, and tremble at the thought of going hungry, which is why we can no longer support a single faithful and respectable preacher where we once lavishly fed ten gluttons. We deserve exactly what this attitude invites: that God would withdraw His Word and His blessings from us, and allow false teachers to rise up once more, teachers who lead us straight to the devil, paid for with our own sweat and blood.

Those who keep God's will and commandments in view are promised generous repayment for everything they contribute to both earthly and spiritual authorities, and for the honor they show them. What has been promised is not merely bread, clothing, and money for a few short years, but long life and peace, and abundance and blessing without end. So simply do your duty, and let God provide for all your needs. He has promised it, and He has never lied, nor will He lie to you. This truth should continually encourage us and cause our hearts to overflow with joy and love toward those to whom we owe this honor. We should lift our hands and joyfully thank God for giving us such promises, and then pursue their fulfillment with everything we have. The combined effort of the entire world could not add a single hour to our lives or coax one grain of wheat from the ground to feed us, but God can and will give to all people far beyond what their hearts could desire. Anyone who dismisses this truth and throws it aside is unworthy to hear another word from God. We have dwelt on these things at some length for the benefit of those to whom this commandment speaks directly.

This is also a good place to offer some guidance to parents and others who hold positions of authority, regarding how they should treat those placed under their care. While the duties of those in authority aren't spelled out explicitly in the Ten Commandments, Scripture returns to the subject frequently elsewhere, and God intends for it to be included in this commandment as well, where He speaks of father and mother. God does not intend to place the role of parent and ruler in the hands of scoundrels and tyrants; therefore, He does not grant them the honor of power and authority simply so they can receive deference. Parents must recognize that they themselves are accountable to God, and that their first obligation is to carry out the responsibilities of their role with integrity and care. This means not only providing for the physical needs of their children, servants, and those under their charge, but above all, raising them to honor and glorify God. So do not think, parents, that your role is simply yours to exercise however you please. God has commanded it seriously, entrusted it to you deliberately, and will hold you accountable for how faithfully you have carried it out.

Here again we find a deeply troubling failure: no one seems to recognize or take seriously what is at stake. People live as though God gave them children merely for their own amusement and delight, as though He gave them servants to use like oxen or horses, fit only for labor, or as though they were free to treat those in their care however they pleased, ignoring them entirely and caring nothing about what they learn or how they live. No one wants to believe that this is a commandment from Almighty God, who will one day demand a full account and will judge those who neglect it. Nor does it seem widely understood that the young deserve our most careful and conscientious attention. If we want capable, worthy people to lead us in both civic and spiritual life, we must hold nothing back when it comes to teaching and raising our children to serve God and their neighbors. We should not fixate solely on accumulating wealth and property for them; God is perfectly capable of providing for them and making them prosperous without our financial maneuvering, as He does every single day. What He has commanded is that we take the children He has entrusted to us and raise them according to His will. That, after all, is precisely why He instituted the roles of father and mother in the first place. Let everyone understand, then, that under penalty of losing God's grace, their primary duty is to bring up their children in the fear and knowledge of God, and, where a child shows ability, to ensure that child receives a proper education, so that they may serve wherever they are needed.

If this were done, God's blessing and grace would become visible in the raising of people who would be a genuine benefit to their communities and country, in the strengthening of civic life, and in the formation of virtuous, capable women who would in turn raise godly children and servants. Consider, then, how serious a wrong you commit if you are negligent in this area and fail to raise your children to be useful and to be a blessing to others. Beyond that, you bring God's wrath and judgment on yourself, earning condemnation for how you have treated your own children, even if you are otherwise devout and upright in every other area of life. Because this commandment is so widely ignored, God is punishing the world severely; the result is a society without discipline, order, or peace. We all grieve over this condition, yet we fail to see that we ourselves are responsible. The children and citizens we have are simply the children and citizens we raised. This is enough by way of warning; a fuller treatment of the subject belongs to another occasion.