What should you do if you’re a Christian but your parents are not? Today, Stephen Nichols offers biblical advice to help us honor our parents as we bear witness to the gospel. Read the transcript: https://ligonier.org/podcasts/ask-ligonier/how-can-i-love-honor-and-witness-to-my-non-christian-parents/ Submit a biblical or theological question of your own by calling 1-800-607-9386 or by emailing an audio recording of your question to [email protected]. You can also receive real-time answers through our online chat service at https://ask.ligonier.org/. A donor-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries. Donate: https://donate.ligonier.org/ Explore all of our podcasts: https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts
Full Episode
How can I properly love, honor, and witness to my non-Christian parents? This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, we're joined by the president of Reformation Bible College, Dr. Stephen Nichols. He also serves as a teaching fellow at Ligonier Ministries. Dr. Nichols, how can a Christian love, honor, and witness to their unbelieving parents? Hmm. That's a great question.
Of course, if God has opened your eyes to the truth of the gospel, you want that for the people in your life. You want that for your loved ones. You want that for your siblings and your parents and your friends. So I can really appreciate where the question is coming from. Fortunately, we have help because Scripture helps us on this. In 1 Peter chapter 3, Peter writes.
Now, he's not talking about children to their parents and sons and daughters to their parents. He's talking about wives to their husbands. But I think it applies. And Peter says, likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word. So what we're talking about here is wives who find themselves with husbands who are not believers.
And Peter uses that expression, who do not obey the word, to represent unbelievers. So wives married to unbelieving husbands, Peter says to them, Be subject to your own husbands, even if they don't obey the word, so they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. He goes on to say, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. So this is where we need to begin.
with respect, and we'll see later, Peter's going to use the word to talk to unbelievers and non-Christians of reverence, but with respect, and then also to back up our message, as it were, with the lifestyle and with the conduct. So what is true for these believing wives of unbelieving husbands is also true for believing sons and daughters of unbelieving parents.
Your question was framed so well that, yes, you need to love and you need to respect. God has ordained the family. It is a part of the natural law, the natural order of things that we talk about. And whether they're Christians or non-Christians, all children are to obey their parents and to honor their parents. It's part of the Ten Commandments, which is a codification of natural law.
And so having family relationships that are loving, that are kind, that are respectful are required of all of us as Christians and non-Christians, but especially required of us as Christians. And that's not contingent on those other family members being Christians. The other place where we can get some insight is a little bit later in 1 Peter 3.
Now here, Peter is not talking at all about family relationships. He's just talking about Christians and non-Christians. And so Peter says at 1 Peter 3.15, "...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." Yet, he adds, do it with gentleness and respect.
Well, first let's look at the activity there. Peter says you need to be ready. If you get asked, why do you have this hope? Why are you a Christian? You need to be ready to give an answer. So you need to be prepared. So you ask, how do I witness to my parents? Well, anticipate some of the questions they might ask. You know them. You know what objections they might have.
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