Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Ephesians · About this commentary
Children and Fathers
Ephesians 6:1-4
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. · WEB
Children are addressed directly and given a commandment with its promise attached, and the fathers are given a prohibition first.
Children are spoken to in their own right, which is worth noticing: the letter assumes they are present when it is read and treats them as able to obey for a reason. The qualifier in the Lord frames the obedience as part of their own standing rather than as a household rule.
Verse 2 quotes the fifth commandment and adds an observation about it: which is the first commandment with a promise Exodus 20:12. The letter is reading the decalogue closely enough to notice which of its clauses carry an attached outcome, and it quotes that outcome in verse 3.
That citation also settles something about the letter's view of the law. Chapter 2 said the law of commandments contained in ordinances was abolished as a dividing wall Ephesians 2:15; chapter 6 quotes a commandment as binding, with its promise, to gentile children. The two are not in tension once the first is read as being about the barrier rather than about the standard.
Verse 4 turns to the fathers, and the order is the letter's consistent one. The prohibition comes first — do not provoke your children to wrath — before anything positive is asked. The party with the power is addressed by what he must not do.
The word for provoking suggests exasperation produced over time rather than a single act. And what replaces it is two nouns: the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Discipline is training that includes correction; instruction is verbal teaching. Both are qualified as the Lord's rather than the father's own, which limits the authority in the act of granting it.
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