Ephesians 6:2

Ephesians 6:2. Honor thy father and thy mother. See marginal references for repetitions and citations of Exodus 20:12. ‘Honor' includes more than obedience; Luther: ‘serve, love and esteem.' ‘Thy' should be repeated with ‘mother,' to give the force of the article which occurs twice: both parents standing on an equality with respect to the honor due them.

Which is. The relative may be taken as explanatory (= the which), or as causal = ‘seeing that it is.' The latter lays too much stress upon the promise as the motive to obedience.

The first commandment with (lit, ‘in') promise. First in order, the first one involving a promise. The second commandment in the Decalogue does not contain a specific promise, but adds the general principles of God's dealings: ‘showing mercy,' etc. Other explanations: the first that meets us in life; the first of the second table of the law, an important commandment. The first is for fetched; the second is opposed by the fact that the fifth commandment belongs to the first table, respecting duties to God, since parents stand for the time being in the place of God. It is true no commandment ‘with promise' follows in the Decalogue; but ‘first' may refer only to what precedes, or, as is preferable, other Mosaic commands may be regarded as forming the rest of the series.