{"id":52938,"date":"2022-09-05T21:49:55","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T02:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=52938"},"modified":"2022-09-05T21:49:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T02:49:55","slug":"when-does-someone-stop-being-a-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-does-someone-stop-being-a-child\/","title":{"rendered":"When does someone stop being a child?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Ephesians 6:1-2. &#8220;Children&#8221; has no absolute age-associated concept to it, does it? If it was only used in the sense of <b>young <\/b>children, well then. But it refers all over scripture to offspring generally. When does the principle of a child as a minor actually come into play here?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>Children (not adults) are to obey parents &#8220;<em>in the Lord<\/em>&#8221; (Ephesians 6:1-2). If a parent&#8217;s demand conflicts with righteousness, then the Lord is obeyed over the demands of a parent. The word for &#8220;children&#8221; is <em>tekna<\/em>. It is the same word used in Matthew 18:1-6, which clearly indicates a young human. It is sometimes applied to adults because we are children of God (spiritually, we are not fully mature). It can at times refer to descendants, such as in I Timothy 5:4.<\/p>\n<p>Notice in the same context that Ephesians 6:4 tells fathers to bring up their children. The Greek word <em>ektrepho<\/em> means to &#8220;bring up from childhood.&#8221; At some point, a child is no longer a child and has been raised (past tense). Thus, children (young humans) are to <strong>obey<\/strong> their parents. And people (regardless of age) are to <strong>honor<\/strong> their parents. Notice that Ephesians 6:2 doesn&#8217;t use the word &#8220;children.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Ephesians 6:1-2. &#8220;Children&#8221; has no absolute age-associated concept to it, does it? If it was only used in the sense of young children, well then. But it refers all over scripture to offspring generally. When does the principle of a child as a minor actually come into play here? Answer: Children (not adults) are&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,1028],"tags":[665,971,29,107],"class_list":["post-52938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","category-parenting","tag-child-rearing","tag-ephesians","tag-parenting","tag-raising-children"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33626,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-telling-children-to-obey-their-parents-enable-abusers\/","url_meta":{"origin":52938,"position":0},"title":"Doesn&#8217;t telling children to obey their parents enable abusers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I completely disagree that you would teach\u00a0obeying parents\u00a0to children or people at your church.\u00a0 Honor does not mean \"obey\" and if a child or adult is being abused by their parent, they should\u00a0not\u00a0obey. You may want to rephrase your messages on your website unless you are enabling abusers within\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25388,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-parents-be-held-accountable-for-the-video-games-their-children-play\/","url_meta":{"origin":52938,"position":1},"title":"Will parents be held accountable for the video games their children play?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Will parents be held accountable for the video games their children play? What if one is a step-parent? Answer: Whether a child genetically comes from you or not, the fact that you have taken on the role of a parent means you are responsible for the raising of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":59959,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/that-piece-of-clay\/","url_meta":{"origin":52938,"position":2},"title":"That Piece of Clay","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Forrest D. Moyer A little child has often been likened to a piece of clay that can be molded into whatever type of pottery that the potter (parent) has in mind. A little child is so pliable, so willing to be molded and so trusting. This can either be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2004\/03\/moldingClay.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":55257,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/five-smooth-stones-of-parenting\/","url_meta":{"origin":52938,"position":3},"title":"Five Smooth Stones of Parenting","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Sewell Hall In Goliath, David faced what seemed an indomitable foe. David's goal was not so much to kill the giant as to protect the children and honor God. He took five smooth stones from the brook to achieve his purpose. In the pervasive humanism of our society, parents\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/five-smooth-stones-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29496,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-adults-need-to-honor-their-parents-by-obeying-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":52938,"position":4},"title":"Do adults need to honor their parents by obeying them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your take on the commandment\u00a0Honor thy father and thy mother and noticed that you used the word \"child\" and \"children\" quite a few times. So is your interpretation\u00a0to obey isolated to children who have not reached independent legal adulthood or does it imply that even the adults\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10270,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-children-contribute-to-the-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":52938,"position":5},"title":"Should children contribute to the church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My daughter is now eleven years old. When we, in the church, lay by in store on Sunday she has always put in her small amount. I have encouraged this to teach her to give. However, some oppose this with the view that giving is for adults, for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52938\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}