WLC 127

Q127. What is the honor that inferiors owe to their superiors?

The honor which inferiors owe to their superiors is, all due reverence in heart, word, and behavior; prayer and thanksgiving for them; imitation of their virtues and graces; willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels; due submission to their corrections; fidelity to, defense and maintenance of their persons and authority, according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places; bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may be an honor to them and to their government.

Proof texts

• Mal. 1:6 — [6] “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’
• Lev. 19:3 — [3] Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
• Prov. 31:28 — [28] Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
• 1 Pet. 3:6 — [6] as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
• Lev. 19:32 — [32] “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
• 1 Kings 2:19 — [19] So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.
• 1 Tim. 2:1-2 — [1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
• Heb. 13:7 — [7] Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
• Phil. 3:17 — [17] Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
• Eph. 6:1-2,5-7 — [1] Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. [2] “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), [5] Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, [6] not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, [7] rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man,
• 1 Pet. 2:13-14 — [13] Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, [14] or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.
• Rom. 13:1-5 — [1] Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. [2] Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. [3] For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, [4] for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. [5] Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.
• Heb. 13:17 — [17] Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
• Prov. 4:3-4 — [3] When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, [4] he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.
• Prov. 23:22 — [22] Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
• Ex. 18:19,24 — [19] Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, [24] So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
• Heb. 12:9 — [9] Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
• 1 Pet. 2:18-20 — [18] Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. [19] For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. [20] For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.
• Titus 2:9-10 — [9] Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, [10] not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.
• 1 Sam. 26:15-16 — [15] And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. [16] This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”
• 2 Sam. 18:3 — [3] But the men said, “You shall not go out. For if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.”
• Esth. 6:2 — [2] And it was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
• Matt. 22:21 — [21] They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
• Rom. 13:6-7 — [6] For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. [7] Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
• 1 Tim. 5:17-18 — [17] Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. [18] For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
• Gal. 6:6 — [6] Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.
• Gen. 45:11 — [11] There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’
• Gen. 47:12 — [12] And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their dependents.
• Ps. 127:3-5 — [3] Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. [4] Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. [5] Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
• Prov. 31:23 — [23] Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.

For discussion

1. The Assembly cited Mal. 1:6 in support of this answer. Read it in context — how does it bear on what is claimed here?
2. 30 passages are cited here. Which does the most work, and is anything claimed that the proofs do not obviously carry?
3. WSC Q45 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?
4. HC Q92 treats the same ground. What does it add, and why might it put things differently?

Read alongside

WSC Q45 · HC Q92