Mutual submission: Why the Bible commands that parents respect children first

Many parents demand that children respect them, as do many adults such as teachers, coaches, pastors, clergy and even adults who befriend a family ("call him 'uncle'"). The setup in America is different from many countries, and the biblical context, in that authority is a ledge over children, keeping them trapped in a ravine. It is about time to blast open that ledge, freeing the children, educating them of their civil liberties. Parents are to respect children first, not the other way around. Children first, parents last, in terms of priorities in the family home.

Children do not need to obey parents blindly, as blind obedience is an unbiblical teaching towards anyone but God Himself. The Fifth Commandment is cross-referenced in Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they become discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest and trust in the love and grace of parents, with children demanding while in the providing custody of parents, and parents supplying the demands of children, with every want demanded being seen as a petition for needs or redress of grievances, with the grievances of children being listened to and validated, and the every need of children, with children owing nothing in relation to parents, but nonetheless being heeding their example and instruction out of gratitude and thanksgiving for the charity and generosity of parents, with peaceable and orderly compliance being not out of fear of punishment, but being tethered along with a parent, like a gentle tug or nudge. It is vulnerable trust in parents, with parents not being the authority, but parenting in the shadow of an authority, namely the child protection system. This is in response to Christian love, as denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers to being struck with reverent terror leading to conviction of one's sinful, adult nature, leading to surrender to God through one's children, giving up one's adult power and control, sacrificing for one's children in the spirit of Christ sacrificing for His children, taking up the cross for them, rendering oneself in relation to children, shamefacedly devaluing oneself to the level of caregiver or servant, leading to good works for the sake of good works, expecting absolutely nothing in return, being and feeling grateful for everything said and done in favor of children, striving to be perfect in terms of self-improvement, knowing no parent will get there while on this earth.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to "stirring up" anger and upset in children, as in "stirring the pot" in terms of the negative emotions of parents. Ultimately, this refers to the moral count of provocation of your neighbor to anger through fits of anger or sexual violence. The former, in the form of corporal punishment, was accepted under Roman law, but under the Christian law. Christian parents were not seen as extensions of God, but extensions of Christ, with Christ being the giving, sacrificial part of God's entity. The Epistle to the Christian community at Colossae came with a parenting instruction manual to get the Colossians, mostly Hellenistic in terms of ancestral origin (situated in modern-day Turkey), on board with attachment parenting, with the Apostle Paul seen as the deacon over all the Christian churches of God then. Paul was cracking down on spanking and corporal punishment, with such actually being a pagan custom to "harden up" boys and "purify" girls. The ancient Jews were the opposite in terms of parenting, meaning in terms of mothers swaddling their children to their bosom or side, up to age 3 or even older in some cases, with children co-sleeping next to mothers, with skin-to-skin contact being a common parenting tool of earning trust, lasting oftentimes until adulthood. Children were allowed reverent rebellion, meaning testing the waters, advocating for every and any need, and parents diagnosing every want as a connected need, then providing for that need. Punishing a child at all was in violation of the Law, even in the Old Testament, with the rod of correction being an implement of judicial corporal punishment for adult children only, and only in the Old Testament, with most young adults being whipped being punished for murder or child abuse, not for the reverse. Today, "rod of correction" can be supplemented with "department of corrections", as the two are largely analogous. Corporal punishment was not a practice in the Early Christian churches, and spanking is banned under natural law in Col. 3:21 and also Eph. 6:4, which are sister verses that command Christian parents not to spank or punish at all, and to practice attachment parenting, when understood in the affirmative in context. America is a Christian nation, with natural law coming from God and being above the law of the land. Thus, spanking is banned in our country, and the secular laws simply need to keep up with God's Law.

The depraved and entitled parents who defend their right to punish their child, and for their child to "respect" them, will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them descend into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death, which is Satan's final resting place! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!