To the fathers — and by implication, mothers — Paul says in this text that they must NOT “provoke their children to anger.” And yet, what does this mean?
The phrase provoke to anger is one word in the original. It literally means to irritate or to make very mad or angry. This is the same term used in Ephesians 4:26 of an anger that can give the devil “an opportunity.” As such, it references a repeated, ongoing pattern of treatment that gradually produces a rebellious and angry disposition. It implies the act of rearing a child in such a way that they become angry — at you and thus God.
Again, God lies directly behind the parent! It is the Lord whom our children must learn to reverence and obey. And thus it is the Lord whom the child disobeys when they rebel against their parent.
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