Three important details about children of Christians can be seen in this passage. The first is that the children were present in the church services when this letter from Paul was read to the congregation. The apostle expected that they would be there, and that they would have listened to all that he had said previously in the letter.
The second detail is that Paul regarded the children as being in the Lord. How could he do this since he had not seen the congregation for several years and would not know their personal relationship to Jesus? Paul could use this description because the children had been baptised. Baptism brings children into the visible church (there is no other way of entrance). Being in the visible church is a great blessing because those in it are within touching distance (by faith) of all the spiritual blessings the Lord has to give.
The third detail is that Paul in the New Testament era expected children of believers to obey the ten commandments and reminded them here that it was their duty to obey them, especially the one that addressed them directly. The fifth commandment contains a promise of divine help (that it would go well with them) and longterm blessing in their lives.
There is another important detail in the section which is a reminder to parents not to make unrealistic demands of their children. The father is addressed directly because the responsibility to ensure that does not happen is mainly his. Parents have no authority in a religious sense to demand of their children what God has not required. Instead, parents should follow the range of instruction that God has revealed in his Word. And there is ample there for both parents and children to profit from. This is what parents promise to do at the baptism of their children.
No comments:
Post a Comment