"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."
Ephesians 6:1-4
The second relationship Paul deals with is that of parents and children. Obedience is enjoined upon children (again the principle of submission is evident), and the first reason given is 'for this is right', and the second, that the fifth commandment requires it. This is both an appeal to the fundamental reality of the creation ordinance - it is something that is built into the very structure of life, and to go against it is to do something essentially unnatural - and to the revealed will of God in the Decalogue. The importance of the teaching is seen in the fact that this is the only subject that is singled out in the Scriptures for special reference in relation to children and young people. One reason for this is surely clear: obedience to parents leads to obedience to God, and the one is training for the other. Parents are in the place of God to their children, as God's representatives. This is why the modern tendency of children calling their parents by their Christian names and, worse still, calling other adults by their Christian names, is so wrong and perverse. Children are not the equals of their parents in any sense, and should not be given any encouragement to think so, for it contradicts an essential order of creation, and this always tends to the disintegration of society. Furthermore, Paul reminds us that this is 'the first commandment with promise'. The idea of 'the first commandment with promise' raises a problem for those who regard the second commandment (Exodus 20:5, 6) as also carrying a promise, and some commentators render the words 'this is a priority commandment, and it has a promise attached to it'. Either way, however, if these words mean anything, they must mean that particular and specific blessings come to those who honour their parents, and that children who dishonour them are not likely to get on in life - and may in fact come to a premature end. And what is true in individual life is true also for society, which is not likely to last long without disintegration where the family relationship is undermined.