Can you really begin to live out the ethical practices of the last six commandments without first living according to the first four, the ones that address our relationship with God? 

And can you really live according to the last six commandments (thou shall not kill, commit adultery, steal, lie and covet), if you don't embrace the first of these ethical commandments -- "You shall honor your mother and your father?"  Many scholars argue that just as the first four commandments (addressing our relationship with God) inform how we live out the last six (addressing our relationship with one another), so, too, the fifth commandment informs how we live out the final five.  

Think about it!  If we cannot abide by God's divinely ordained order and the rule of law (5th Commandment), then what ethical norms govern our conduct?  Anarchy does not abide others well; those type of persons are a law unto themselves.  God is not at the center of their lives: they are!

This commandment is not as simple as it appears.  How do we comply with this commandment when one or both parents have abused the position of authority God has entrusted to them:  when there has been parental abuse, whether sexual, physical, verbal and/or emotional?  And what about corrupt regimes or political despots who sanction genocide and brutality and abide oppression?  Are we to submit to their authority?  What do you think?  When do you honor authority and when do you operate outside of it.  

In our study, we look at two instances of abuse of authority and discuss responses to each.  There's the case of David's response to Saul, when David could have killed the king of Israel, who was out to kill him, but didn't because Saul was the one "annointed by God."  (1 Samuel 24)  And we'll look at the civil disobedience of Shiphrah and Puah and how God looks favorably upon them notwithstanding their disobedience of the Pharoah's order to kill newborn Hebrew males and their intentional misrepresentations to him. (Exod. 1)  

What does it mean to "honor" authority, especially that held by our mothers and fathers?  

This can be a very difficult subject to discuss because there are many who have been the recipients of abuse by those in positions of authority.  I trust you will be sensitive and pastoral with one another as you courageously engage in a most important topic that raises a host of issues.

God bless you all as you meet this week.  Encourage and be a blessing to one another.

Peace,

Michael