The fifth of the ten commandments says “honor your father and your mother.” We teach our young children that honor here means obey, and that is, indeed, Paul’s application in Eph. 6:1-3. Obedience is one form of honor, the honor that young children owe to their parents. But when children have grown to adulthood and parents have grown old, the emphasis of Scripture shifts from obedience to financial support.1 Jesus tells the Pharisees that they have violated the fifth commandment when, using a religious pretext, they have failed to support their parents (Mark 7:9-13). And the Apostle Paul, dealing with...