Biblion Bible Commentary
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Children and Fathers
Colossians 3:20-21
20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord. · WEB
Children are addressed as members of the congregation — and fathers are warned about a specific injury.
Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord. That children are addressed at all assumes they were present when the letter was read aloud, which says something about how these congregations met.
The reason given is not the parents' authority or the household's good order but that it pleases the Lord — the same standard applied to everyone else in the code.
Verse 21 turns to fathers, and again the party with power gets the sharper word. Don't provoke your children, so that they won't be discouraged.
The verb means to stir up or exasperate, and the danger named is precise. Not rebellion, which is what a father might fear, but discouragement — the word describes losing heart, going listless, ceasing to try. A child worn down by constant provocation does not fight back; the spirit simply goes out of them.
That is the second time in four verses the instruction to the powerful party concerns damage done without breaking any rule. Bitterness in a husband, discouragement in a child — neither is a crime, and the letter treats both as the real hazard.
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