Submission to children: Why parents are to submit to children

Many parents think that children should submit to their parents. This is a common belief amongst American parents. Most American parents want a child that submits to them. However, the fact of the matter is that the Bible teaches the opposite, when understood in context - that parents are to submit to their children. Parents are to love their children as they would their neighbor, and that means submitting to a child as they would God.

Love is submission, and submission is love. The Greek root word denoting Christian love is αγαπαο (Latin: agapao) and refers to, in the context of parenting, prioritizing your children first, and yourself as a parent last, to the point of dutiful and selfless submission to the every vulnerable need of children, expecting absolutely nothing in return from children or others, valuing children as one would God. True Love comes not from pride or desire, but from a place of fearful conviction, where parents are convicted of the fact that they are depraved and decadent sinners deserving of absolutely nothing from children or others. This prompts the sinner/parent to pay due penance by serving their child. See Matt. 22:35-40.

Parents are to submit to their child just as they would God, revering and fearing their child as an installment of God put on earth to convict their parents and other adults of their charitable side. Children are called by God to bring out the charity in all mankind. In return, children rest securely in the wake of parental submission. See 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 "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and grace of parents. Children are to rest securely in the sacrifice of parents, just as parent believers rest securely in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Parents are to be extensions of God, sacrificing for their children, just as Christ sacrificed for His church, with children being a Godhead for parents to serve, and with children resting safely and securely in the submission of parents. Parents are depraved and decadent sinners deserving of absolutely nothing, from children or others. Respect for parents is to be earned, with the burden of proof falling on the parents.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages or offenses, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by the child, coming from entitlement. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul, and understood in its original context, as a moral statute prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including any punishments or controlling demeanor towards children. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their children one last time. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined under the Law as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen in biblical times as holding a child hostage merely for things they do wrong, thereby treating them as a captured slave instead of a child. Paul here was lifting up this legal context for a group of Greek Christians who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

Children, in biblical times, wore no clothing, at all, until they became adults. Women only wore clothing outside the home, and otherwise went in the nude in order to serve their husbands and their children, separately. Mothers served their children by way of providing nourishment and sustenance, namely breastmilk (until age 3) and skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy. The core aspect of Christian attachment parenting in the 1st Century was skin-on-skin co-sleeping, with mother and child fast asleep next to each other, with the child soaking up the rays of skin-to-skin contact. Children went naked for a specific reason - so that mothers could snuggle them up and cuddle them up in skin-to-skin closeness and intimacy. For the first 6 years, time with children was to be spent together. For the last 6 years, time with children was to be spent apart, with fathers encouraging bold feats of independence in older children.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be forever cast into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!