Parental Controls

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,  2 Timothy 3:2 NASB

Disobedient to parents – “Honor your father and mother” says the Law. But sometimes we need a word like goneusin to remind us why respect and deference are required. Goneusin is the Greek word for “parents.” It is derived from the verb ginomai meaning, “to bring into existence.” The word itself means, “from the base.” The idea is plain. Your parents are not only responsible for your very existence, they are also the foundation of your life. Without them you are quite literally nothing. So we start with recognition of our debt. We owe them no matter why we came to be or how we were subsequently treated. Of course, God intends parents to model His fatherhood, but even if they didn’t come close, life for us began with them. Honor is due.

With this in mind (and the lessons of Torah are never far away for Sha’ul), we must examine the next word, apeithes. Bultmann comments:

This word means “to be disobedient” and is a significant term in the LXX for disobedience to God. In the NT it is used of the wilderness generation in Heb. 3:18, that of the flood in 1 Pet. 3:20, all sinners in Rom. 2:8, and Gentiles in Heb. 11:31. Rom. 11:30. “To believe” is the opposite in Acts 14:1–2, and unbelief is parallel. We find an absolute use in Acts 14:2. Rom. 15:31; 1 Pet. 2:7. Important phrases are disobeying the word (1 Pet. 2:8), the gospel (4:17), and the Son (Jn. 3:36).^[1]

With this in mind, we should note that Sha’ul’s use of apeithes suggests that disobeying parents has a strong connection to disobeying God. It’s a matter of authority. If I am rebellious, arrogant and unruly toward my parents who I can see, how do you suppose I will treat a God I cannot see? One models the other. Actions and attitudes toward one will certainly influence the other. We recognize this connection when we attempt to convince someone whose parents have mishandled the role God gave them. We have to go to great lengths to demonstrate that God is, in fact, a loving Father. But we rarely think in the other direction. Those who reject godly parents reject God Himself.

In the last days, more and more “children” will be apeithes, that is, the opposite of trusting, reliable or worthy. Why would we expect otherwise? If my culture teaches me that I am the center of my world, deserving of benefit simply because I am alive, then debt to others will hardly be a priority. Parents simply provided me with the opportunity to exercise my rights. Once used, then discarded. The way of the wicked counts loss as gain.

Topical Index: parents, goneusin, disobedience, apeithes, 2 Timothy 3:2

^[1] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1985). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (819–820). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.