Question 125. Why should we call our superiors parents?

 

Question 125. Why should we call our superiors parents?

Answer. The reason we call our superiors parents is so that they, like our earthly parents, can teach us all our duties toward our inferiors, so that we can treat our inferiors with love and tenderness according to human relationships, and so that our inferiors can more willingly and cheerfully perform their duties toward their superiors as if they were their own parents.

This statement is a continuation of the question, "Who are the parents in the fifth commandment?" (Q. 124). The answer to this question is that parents are not only natural parents, but also all those who are superior to us in age and gifts, and especially those who, according to God's ordinance, are in authority over us, whether in the family, church, or state.

The Bible tells us to respect those who are older and in positions of authority. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 “I urge, then, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people—for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.” 1 Timothy 5:1-2 “Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.”

However, the fifth commandment is not about earthly parents, but about Jesus Christ’s obedience to God, and further, about how the saints in Christ should obey God. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Parents refer to God the Father, and honoring means obeying death on the cross. Then God will give you resurrection life. Those who are in Christ must also die on the cross with Jesus. This is obedience. Then, they will live forever in heaven (he basileia ton uranon), which symbolizes the land of Canaan given by God.

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