[354] Exodus 20: Honour your father and your mother

1 Then there came to from Jerusalem Pharisees and Scribes, saying:
2 Why is it your disciples overstep the tradition of the men of former times? For example, they do not wash their hands when about to eat a meal.
3 In reply he said to them: Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition?
4 For example, God said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Let him that reviles father or mother end up in death.'
5 But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother: Whatever I have by which you might get benefit from me is a gift dedicated to God,
6 he must not honor his father at all.' And so you have made the word of God invalid because of your tradition.
7 you hypocrites, Isaiah aptly prophesied about you, when he said,
8 This people honors me with their lips, yet their heart is far removed from me.
9 It is in vain that they keep worshiping me, because they teach commands of men as doctrines (Matthew 15).

12 Honor your father and your mother in order that your days may prove long upon the ground that your God is giving you [the congregation of the church and the ] (Exodus 20).

15 And one who strikes his father [physically and violently, not a slap] and his mother is to be put to death without fail.
16 And one who kidnaps a man and who actually sells him or in whose hand he has been found is to be put to death without fail.
17 And one who calls down evil upon his father and his mother [The account of Balaam and Balak is an exercise in this commandment] is to be put to death without fail (Exodus 21).

But who really is your father and your mother?

This commandment does not cover mother-in-laws etc! Although of course Christians do love and honour all our relatives whether genetic or through baptism or through faith in God.