The Fifth Commandment: Why there is no such thing as parental authority in the Bible

Many parents feel like they are authority figures, and many credit God and the Bible for giving parents authority over children. The fact of the matter is that a parent is a leader in the home, not an authority figure.

The Fifth Commandment states in Exodus 20:12 KJV:

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land the LORD thy God gave thee.

This commandment refers to family honor, not individual honor, and refers to the criminal code of ancient Israel, meaning if you, as an adult child, commit a crime, with said criminal offense reflecting poorly on parents. Canaanite parents had the right to kill their children on the spot for dishonor, whereas under Jewish law, only adult children could be subject to legal punishment of any kind, and it had to go through the court system. Most parents in the Old Testament practiced a form of attachment parenting that involved bondservice from parents, with parents beholden to the every vulnerable need of children. Respecting parents was something where the burden of proof was on parents, meaning children could charge their parents with any offense in the book.

The Fifth Commandment is repeated 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 translated "parents" is γονεύς (Latin: goneus) and refers to leadership, meaning either leading children down the right path, or them leading you as the parent to their needs, with the parent fawning to their child's needs like a ragdoll, selfless like a vending machine. The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to closeness to parents leading to respect, in the form of secure attachment, meaning children being able to be themselves in relation to parents, being able to tell them anything and everything under the sun, without fearing any punishment or reprisal from parents, making demands towards parents, with parents supplying said demands, surrendering to their children, with parents expecting absolutely nothing in return from their children, yet earning respect and gratitude from children through love and mercy towards them. Children went in the nude in ancient Israel and adjoining churches, and this was for mothers to treat children with skin-to-skin treatment, with children being breastfed and treated as infants behaviorally until age 3. Under the Judeo-Christian parenting traditions, children co-slept with mother at night into adulthood, with mothers and daughters being inseparable until adulthood.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and literally translates to "stirring up" upset and resentment in children, provoking them to anger. Parents in ancient Judeo-Christian society were reverently afraid of their children, meaning children were seen as vulnerable yet convicting extensions of God. This was a command prohibiting corporal punishment and all forms of punishment and control in parenting, as the Apostle Paul was cracking down in punitive parenting by Hellenistic Christians in the churches he oversaw. Greco-Roman society, then, supported corporal punishment of older children and teens, and controlling and punitive measures otherwise for younger children. The Law of Moses, which Christ expanded and catapulted with His Sacrifice, prohibited provoking children to anger through punitive and controlling attitudes in parents towards their job as parents. A provocation to anger is the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, with the child issuing a hatra'ah, meaning lawful and binding order, by crying if they are younger in a way that signals abuse. A mere cry of abuse is, in fact, absolute proof of such under biblical law. 

Parents are leaders in the home in terms of being a good role model for children, as Christian parenting was based on the Living Example of Christ, and parents were mini Christs called to sacrifice for their children in the spirit that Christ Himself sacrificed for His children. Parents lead their children in that light, and are to be their first role models, and the greatest role models in the hearts of their children, winning over closeness and respect by surrendering to the every need of their children, resigning to their righteous servitude towards children. Parents are servants towards children, called to fear their children, leading to them being beholden to their children by way of bondservice. Love is a form of selfless service towards children that puts them before you as the parent or adult, out of reverent fear and terror convicting you as the parent or adult of their needs, and is denoted by the Greek root word αγαπαο (Latin: agapao). 

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 prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!