Tag: Household

Individual Responsibility, Living in the Image of God

Household Interactions and Relationships—Child and Househelp

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.

Household Interactions and Relationships—Child and Househelp 21:18

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.

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Individual Responsibility, Living in the Image of God

Household Interactions and Relationships—Husband and Wife

Living in the Image of God M05S13

This study continues a series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships, anchored on the understanding that God creates every person to represent him in human interactions with others. He calls every person to represent him as the channel for his human presence and interactions with others in a dynamic human interactions network. Household interactions and relationships form the core of a person’s human interactions network. Thus, every member of a household owes responsibility as God’s representative in human interactions with other members. The current study discusses husband-wife interactions, to understand that the responsibilities of husband to wife anchor on love, because love conditions the husband to perform all other responsibilities. Similarly, the responsibilities of wife to husband anchor on submission, because submission conditions the wife to perform all other responsibilities.

Household Interactions and Relationships—Husband and Wife 18:01

This study continues the series on individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships, which started in a previous study with a discussion of the responsibilities of the head of household for spiritual commitments and prayer on behalf of the household. The series is anchored on the understanding that God creates every person to represent him in human interactions with others: to be for the others what God would be for them if he lived as human among them. The current study begins with understanding that household interactions and relationships form the core of the human interactions network that God establishes for every person. The study also discusses husband and wife interactions as the nucleus of household interactions and relationships. The series will conclude in a subsequent bible study with a discussion of interactions regarding child and househelp.

The study uses an example from Christ teaching, regarding the Parable of Faithful and Wise Servant (Matthew 24:45–51), to understand the aspect of human relationship with God whereby he establishes a dynamic human interactions network for every person. He calls each person to serve others in the network as God’s representative in human interactions with them. Because household interactions and relationships form the core of a person’s human interactions network, human interactions in the network begin with human interactions at home. That is, God calls every member of a household to serve other members as his representative in human interactions with them.

Based on Paul’s letter to Ephesians regarding individual responsibilities in household interactions and relationships, we discuss husband and wife interactions (Ephesians 5:21–33) in this study and interactions regarding child and househelp (Ephesians 6:1–9) in a subsequent study.

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