#49 Fathers Do Not Neglect Your Own Household

It is the duty of good parents to instruct their children from childhood in the fear of God on the basis of sound literature of Christian women. Here we see that a pig will train a pig, but that human parents do not know anything. Such a man is not even pagan; he is beastly. Matrons, Paul wants to say, have no need to wear themselves out with foolish and self-chosen works. They have tasks at home to keep them busy, but they turn away from these to pilgrimages and the like. It has been truly said that a father will find eternal life in his offspring; that is, a father has plenty of opportunity in his household to practice his piety, and if anything is left over, to distribute it to his neighbor. But let him see to it that he does not neglect his own household. (Luther’s Works, v. 29, p. 54 on Titus 2:8)

Posted in 2019 Teaching Children.