The Small Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther

The Ten Commandments

The Fourth Commandment

Honour your father and your mother.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honour them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

Fourth Commandment Heavenly Father, You have commanded us to honor our father and mother. Grant that we may fear and love You so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

Third Sermon-1534

Luke 5:1-11

The fourth commandment: Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. This commandment encompasses all vocations: father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, servant, maid, magistrate, subjects, and so on. For the estate of matrimony is the source from which all vocations originate. By virtue of this commandment a child learns to say, I go to school, study, cook, spin, sew, and I know that if I faithfully and diligently do these things, God is pleased with me; for my father and mother have told me so, and God’s Word tells me that I am to obey them. Accordingly, a child who goes through a whole day obeying his parents may know that this is well-pleasing to our Lord God. Similarly, a servant or maid, husband or wife in the home, each in his own vocation, has God’s Word speaking to him and can say, God has commanded me to do this; in his name it is my intention to arise from sleep, go to work, sit down to eat, again lie down to rest, and so on. Therefore, all that we do, even if nothing more than tidying up a room, is pleasing to God and manifests our obedience to him. For the word, Thou shalt honor father and mother, takes in all stations, vocations, and works which belong to, and originate from, the marriage estate.

A person who does not have or know God’s Word cannot have such confidence and must do without this precious comfort. For this reason we should gladly listen to God’s Word, since from it we learn how our life can please God. And by it we can become all the more joyful and have a good conscience. This no Gentile, no Turk, no Jew knows. Christians alone know this and are able to say, What I now do, I wish to do in the name of Jesus and in the obedience into which I have been placed by God, and do it with joy. Even though something befalls me because of it, and the devil presses me hard, what does it matter? I still stand securely in what God’s Word teaches me and in its comfort; what I do or endure is all well and good according to God’s good pleasure, and he will be with me with his grace.

A person who has God’s Word speaks like this: It is true, if we judge by the deed, that it is a very insignificant thing when a young lad goes to school and studies, when a young girl spins and sews, when a servant girl cooks, cleans, dusts the house, takes care of, wipes up, and bathes the children. For these things, also, the Gentiles and non-Christians do. But they do these things apart from God’s Word, that is, they do not do them in faith, do not believe that by such deeds, service and obedience are rendered to God, and they know nothing of his commands. However, a Christian son, daughter, and maid know from the fourth commandment that God commands and desires such deeds.

So, this word and command of the fourth commandment includes and covers all vocations and works, consecrating them as holy professions and deeds pleasing to God, inasmuch as you believe in Christ and render obedience in God’s name. They have a holy station who believe this and so go about their tasks. When they die, they are children of eternal life, for they die in a state of holiness and true faith.

What a holy deed is and what sanctifies is that you believe in Jesus Christ and then deal with the fourth commandment and render your obedience, inasmuch as you have learned that the vocation in which you are is adorned with God’s Word and so is a holy profession.

No Christian should despise his vocation and life, particularly when he enters it in accord with God’s Word, but he should say, I believe in Jesus Christ and am doing what the Ten Commandments teach me, and pray that our Lord God would help me to achieve that. This is a truly holy life and cannot become any holier though one would fast himself to death.

That is why it is very good to get children and young people from youth on accustomed to the catechism, so that they learn to say, I want to obey my father and my mother, for God has so commanded in the fourth commandment. If, therefore, each one in his station and calling would act in conformity with God’s Word, all deeds would then be precious treasures. But the devil does not tolerate our taking it to heart.

So learn now what a holy, spiritual life is. It is not living in a monastery, but believing in Jesus Christ and being faithful to your calling, in faith and in accord with God’s Word. Be sure, first of all, that you believe in Christ and are baptized; then look to your vocation and calling. I have been called to preach. When I now preach God’s Word, pure and undefiled, it is a holy work, with which God is pleased. If you are a father, or a mother, and believe in Jesus Christ, you are a holy father and a holy mother. Examine your children ( in the catechism ) each morning and have them pray; rebuke and punish them when they are disobedient; observe what is going on in the house, how the servants are cooking and doing their work. These works are holy, for you have been called by God to do them. It is a holy life thus to carry on in God’s Word, and in the vocation and calling entrusted to you.

For the Word and faith which he bestows are holy, as are also station and vocation. Whoever has God’s Word and faith and is in a vocation ordained by God is holy. Whoever in faith is obedient to parents, master, mistress, and those in authority, is holy. Therefore, it is only by the Word, faith, and the vocation ordained by God that we become holy, and in no other way. You have heard this many times. May our dear Lord Jesus Christ help us to cherish and hold on to it. Amen.

The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther: The House Postils
Volume 6; pages 304 thru 310
Sermons on Gospel Texts for Easter, Ascension Day, Pentecost, Trinity, and the Fourteen Sundays after Trinity
Edited by John Nicholas Lenker
Translated by John Nicholas Lenker and Others