Living in the Image of God M05S14
To conclude the bible study series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships, we discuss interactions regarding child and househelp; to understand the responsibilities of parent to child, child to parent, househelp to master, and master to househelp; anchored on Paul’s letter to Ephesians. The key responsibilities of parent to child are to provide for the child’s basic needs and train the child to perform his or her responsibilities to others. A child’s responsibilities to parent are anchored on positive fear, which motivates the child to perform other responsibilities. We define househelp to represent a household member that is neither parent nor child and master as the head of household. The responsibilities of househelp to master and master to househelp are guided by the reciprocity of Living in the image of God.
This study concludes a series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships. The series started with a discussion of the responsibilities of the head of household for spiritual commitments and prayer on behalf of the household; and continued with husband-wife interactions, based on understanding that household interactions and relationships constitute the core of the human interactions network that God establishes around every person. The series concludes with the current study, where we discuss household interactions and relationships regarding child and househelp.
The discussion is anchored on Paul’s letter to Ephesians, where he describes specific responsibilities of parent to child, child to parent, househelp to master, and master to househelp. In the study, we define househelp (referred to as slave in Paul’s letter) to represent a household member that is neither parent nor child; whereas master represents the head of household, usually the husband but at times delegated to his wife.
The responsibilities of parent to child consist of providing basic needs (food and drink, clothing, shelter, protection, and community values training) to bring up the child physically and training the child to perform his or her responsibilities to others. The responsibilities of a child in parent-child interactions are anchored on positive fear of parent, which motivates in the child respect, appreciation, obedience, love, and wholehearted service.
The responsibilities of househelp to master and master to househelp are guided by the individual responsibilities in positive human interactions (i.e., Living in the image of God). Similar to the principle for child, househelp responsibilities to master are anchored on positive fear, which motivates respect, appreciation, obedience, love, and wholehearted service. The responsibilities of master to househelp are based on caring for the househelp as God expects a person to care for another: that is, in the Image of God.
Parenting Responsibilities
God defines parent and parental responsibility to child in a statement regarding Abraham: “For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him” [Genesis 18:19]. Through the statement, God defines the responsibilities of a parent to child as “training the child to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just,” that is, training the child in Living in the Image of God.
The statement defines two aspects of parenting responsibility to child: namely, bringing up the child physically and training the child. Bringing up a child physically, also described as physical upbringing, means a parental responsibility to provide for the child’s basic needs. The basic needs are food and drink, clothing, shelter, protection, and community values training. Training a child requires the parent to recognize that God sends messages to a child through normal interactions with the parent. Therefore, the parent plans and implements parent-child interactions expecting that God could choose any of the events as a forum for transmitting messages to the child. Notice that both aspects of parental responsibility to child involve family training.
Community values training, also described as family training, means training a child to become a God-fearing member of community. The objective of community values training is to prepare the child to perform his or her responsibilities to others, including the parent. The training requires effective parent-child communication: such as listening to the child with intent to understand, clarity of parent information to child, and recognizing that every parent-child communication could be important. Further, community values training requires holding a child accountable for his or her actions.
Listening to Child
Effective parent-child communication requires listening to the child with intent to understand him or her. For example, Eli understood Samuel after three attempts of listening carefully. He understood Samuel’s information in the third attempt and provided the right instruction: “So Eli told Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”’” [1 Samuel 3:9].
Clarity of Parent Information
The bible provides two examples regarding the clarity of parent’s information to child. One example is Jacob’s instruction to Joseph when he sent Joseph to visit his brothers in the wilderness. The other is Jesse’s instruction to David when he sent David to visit with his brothers at the battlefield against Philistines. In each case, the parent provided a clear instruction to the child to assess the brothers’ condition and bring information back to the father. The clarity of instruction led the child to focus on the objective of the errand and eventually transition into a mission of God through the errand. For more information see Receiving Message from God through Parent.
Parent Communication Important
The examples regarding Joseph and David (under “Clarity of Parent Information”) indicate that every parent-child communication could be delivering a message from God. Typically, neither the parent nor child recognizes a priori that a particular parental instruction, advice, or request to a child is a message from God to the child. For example, Jacob did not recognize the significance of sending Joseph to the wilderness to check on his brothers. Similarly, Jesse did not recognize the significance of sending David to check on his brothers in the battlefield.
In each case, the child received a clear instruction from the parent regarding an errand, and, seeking to implement the instruction, transitioned into a mission of God through the errand. In the case of Joseph, the mission was to relocate to Egypt and prepare a sanctuary there for his family and descendants. In the case of David, the mission was to defeat Goliath and present himself to Israel as their future king. God disguised and presented each mission to the child through his father, as an errand for his father.
Holding Child Accountable
Another requirement in family training is to hold a child accountable when he or she does something wrong. Such as failing to notice a need that the parent judges that the child should notice, dodging responsibility, terminating work on a task without accomplishing the objective of the task, or failing to do something that the parent judges that the child ought to have done.
Responsibilities of Parent to Child
In his discussion of parental responsibilities to child, Paul calls parents to tailor every parent-child interaction to make positive contribution toward training the child: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” [Ephesians 6:4]. Paul conveys an important message through this bible verse: that a parent should consider every parent-child interaction as a family training event.
Responsibilities of Child to Parent
The responsibilities of a child in parent-child interactions begin with positive fear of parent. As we discuss in previous studies (Fear of God, Parents, and Others), positive fear of parent motivates in a child respect, appreciation, obedience, love, and wholehearted service. Such a child will make himself or herself available to interact with the parent. For example, Samuel went to Eli repeatedly because he thought Eli called him. Eli understood after the third time and provided the right instruction to Samuel. Also, such a child listens to the parent with intent to understand and implement the parent’s information.
Apostle Paul focuses on obedience in his discussion of child’s responsibilities in parent-child interactions [Ephesians 6:1–3]: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’—which is the first commandment with a promise—’so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.’”
Responsibilities of Househelp to Master
Regarding househelp, we start by defining househelp as a household member that is neither parent nor child. In the relationship, “master” represents the head of household, which is usually the father and could be delegated to his wife. The responsibilities of househelp to master are based on the individual responsibilities in positive human interactions (i.e., Living in the Image of God).
Paul describes the responsibilities of a househelp to master in terms of fear, respect, obedience, and sincerity of heart. Positive fear of the master motivates in the househelp respect, appreciation, obedience, love, and wholehearted service: “Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ” [Ephesians 6:5]. That is, perform your responsibilities to your master the same way that God calls you to perform your responsibilities to others based on Living in the Image of God.
Responsibilities of Master to Househelp
The responsibilities of master to househelp are based on the individual responsibilities in positive human interactions (i.e., Living in the Image of God). The master should receive and care for the househelp as God expects a person to receive and care for another person: that is, in the Image of God [Ephesians 6:9]: “And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him.”
Summary of What We Learned
To conclude the bible study series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships, we discuss interactions regarding child and househelp; to understand the responsibilities of parent to child, child to parent, househelp to master, and master to househelp; anchored on Paul’s letter to Ephesians.
The key responsibilities of parent to child are to provide for the child’s basic needs and train the child to perform his or her responsibilities to others. A child’s responsibilities to parent are anchored on positive fear, which motivates the child to perform other responsibilities. We define househelp to represent a household member that is neither parent nor child and master as the head of household. The responsibilities of househelp to master and master to househelp are guided by the reciprocity of Living in the image of God.