Question:
Eph. 6:1-3, and Eph. 5:22-23 says that children and wives should obey their parents and husband respectively. As a child under my parent what is the biblical counsel if my parents are idol worshippers and they deprive me from practicing my faith as a Christian, in fact they force me to partake in the worship of idol. as a wife also if my husband tells me to do things that are against the scripture.
Answer:
Ephesians 6:1 says, “Children, obey your parents IN THE LORD: for this is right.” A child cannot obey his parent, if that parent instructs him to go kill someone, or steal from someone. God’s Law is always the highest Law that we must obey. Exodus 20:13-15 says, “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.”
It is the same with husband and wife relationships. Ephesians 5:22 says, “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, AS UNTO THE LORD.” If a husband instructs a wife to drink liquor, or to steal for him, then she cannot obey him, but she must obey the Lord.
If your parents instruct you to worship idols, you cannot obey that command, because to do so, you would be disobeying God. Exodus 20:3-6 says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
Our love for God must be first and foremost in our lives. Matthew 22:36-38 says, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.”
Most of the time, when children disobey their parents, and when wives are not in subjection to their own husbands, it is simply that they are rebellious, and do not want to obey or submit. We need to obey those in authority over us, unless it truly does make us disobey God in the process.