Mutual submission: Why parent and child are to respect each other

Many people think of mutual submission as between spouses in Christian teaching. However, all relationships with your neighbor are based on the concept of mutual submission. The Pauline epistles give commandments for specific and important instances of mutual submission. One is male headship over wives, and another is parental leadership of children, both reversed by Rome. 

It says 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 be discouraged.

The Greek root word "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest and trust in the love and grace of parents, coming from sacrifice for children, in the spirit that Christ sacrificed for His children; taking up the cross for children, like Christ took up the cross for His children; martyring oneself in everything regarding parenting, with children securely resting in the sacrifice of parents, showing gratitude and thanksgiving by emulating their Christian example. This Greek root word ultimately uplifts the traditional Judeo-Christian parenting context of the Bible, which was attachment-based in nature. Children went in the nude throughout childhood, throughout the biblical context, with children deemed vulnerable while in that state, swaddled and snuggled up next to their mother's bosom, with children up until age 3 breastfed and treated behaviorally as infants. The most common form of secure attachment in the Bible is policing attachment, meaning children asking, demanding, and sometimes even ordering parents around regarding their needs, at least in so many tears, with parents surrendering to their child's wishes on everything but the demands that clearly could not be fulfilled due to safety or other factors. Basically, it involves a parent that does everything for their child, request after request after request, and even when tired, serves the needs/wants of their child, usually as attachment needs, giving up the fight completely and allowing their child to be the boss of their needs. A good Christian parent should only say "no" for safety's sake in most cases, and whenever a child is declined an item, the parent must reassure the child and validate their upset at the same time. Parents in the biblical context were convicted of their child's needs, meaning struck with reverent terror for the child's every need, revering the child's vulnerability, and the child being won over to parents by such reverence. 

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and literally translates to "stirring up" upset and resentment in children, referencing the Jewish idiom of "stirring the pot" regarding your child's emotions. This was a direct command from God delivered by the Apostle Paul that opposed spanking and corporal punishment, as well as any punishment committed against a child. Punishing a child in particular was kidnapping under Jewish law, as it was a form of hostage taking in the reverse towards a child, and since it was a capital offense before Christ, it was a collective offense. Striking a child out of punishment was a serious crime under Judeo-Christian statutes then. Corporal punishment did exist in biblical times, but only in judicial format, as a final warning before execution. Only adults could be whipped by their elders, with children simply seen as learning right from wrong, and not culpable for their actions until they were fully literate concerning the Law. In order to be punished by the Law, you must know what it says and what it means, and individuals under a certain age are not responsible for their actions. If a child were to have murdered someone, the parents would have been put to death, not the child. Punishment outside of the law, as well as any anger outside of the law, was seen as perjury and entitlement. The death and Resurrection of Christ banned all corporal punishment everywhere in Christendom, with moral disassociation, both individual and collective, being the only negative consequence handed out by churches then. The Apostle Paul handed out parenting manuals instructing parents in the church ordinance that supports attachment parenting. Attachment parenting in 1st Century Christian homes was very much based on exemplary teaching, meaning being emulating Christ in His Living Example, especially how He sacrificed for His own children. Parents are called to sacrifice like that for their own children, with the focus being on Christ's sacrifice, putting the needs of children and other needy people in your life before you, which is the key of the Christian example given by Jesus of Nazareth. Warnings were also a rare part of Christian parenting then, when children were getting too rambunctious and could hurt themselves. The warnings were modeled after the graceful nature of Christ's commands. 

Rome reversed the roles. Children are an extension of God in the family home, and a vulnerable one (Matt. 25:31-46), with parents being a giving extension of Christ, being a charitable example that gives to their children at the child's demand and orders. The Roman Catholic Church, upon its founding, reversed many mutual submission roles. We conservatives have reversed back what was reversed formerly by the Roman Catholic Church, meaning husbands are to provide for their wife, and wives rest in the providence of husbands, whereas before then, husbands were authority figures to police their wives, "like children" as some feminists would say. Now, the last battle is children's rights, meaning parents aren't authority figures either, but simply hold a leadership position, and that usually leads to parents being led to the child's needs, and shown a few interesting sights along the way. Parents are to provide selflessly like Christ, and children are to rest securely in that providence from parents, and if children are rebelling all of the time, you aren't listening to them, so you don't deserve to be listened to by your child.

The depraved and entitled parents will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them burn in the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death, which is Satan's final resting place! Let them descend into everlasting Hell-fire, with God angry at the parent evildoers who harm and abuse children! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!