Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 5
The teacher chose to read Sirach and Tobit from the Septuagint and treated them as bearing moral authority about honoring parents. If early Christians were shaped by these texts and assumptions, how might their everyday family obedience (and expectations of children) have looked different than many Protestant/evangelical homes today?
Another way to ask: If early Christians learned from Sirach and Tobit about honoring parents, how might their daily family life and child obedience have looked different from many Protestant/evangelical homes today?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript suggests that, for the speaker, Sirach and Tobit strengthen a strong culture of honoring parents as a lifelong duty, not merely a childhood stage. If early Christians leaned on these texts, family obedience may have been framed more explicitly as spiritual “treasure,” lifelong honor, and concrete acts like burial and care, rather than mainly personal choice or independence.
- He reads Sirach 4:4–6 (Septuagint): honoring mother is “as one that layeth up treasure,” and obedience brings blessing and being “heard” in prayer.
- He highlights that these verses include fathers too and says, “don’t overlook that…important.”
- He reads Tobit 4:3–4: “despise not thy mother…honor her all the days of thy life…grieve her not…bury her.”
- He treats these as showing “how important mothers are in God’s order of life and why we ought to honor our mothers.”
- He connects this with New Testament continuity: “God’s mind has not changed on it” (Eph. 6).