Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. (Ephesians 6:2–3)
The fifth commandment is remarkable because God attached to it an explicit promise. He did not merely tell his people to honor their parents. He added the assurance that their days would be long and secure in the land he was giving them. The word of God here reveals more than a rule for conduct. It establishes the principle that long life is a divine gift promised to those who live in fellowship with him. From the beginning, the promise of life and length of days has accompanied God’s instruction.
This promise carries forward across the covenants. It was not confined to Israel in the wilderness, nor was it abolished in the new covenant. Paul cites it to Gentile Christians in Ephesians 6, calling it “the first commandment with a promise.” He is not merely rehearsing history but affirming continuity. What God declared at Sinai, he reaffirms to the church in Christ. The promise of long life remains. The gospel does not erase it, but strengthens it, showing that God’s generosity extends even to the smallest details of human existence.
The testimony of Psalm 91 confirms this. There the Spirit promises that the one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will be satisfied with long life and kept safe from destruction. Plague will not approach him. Disaster will not overwhelm him. Instead, he will call upon God and be answered, delivered, and honored. The psalmist does not present this as a temporary benefit, but as a standing word for those who trust God. Long life is described as a crowning blessing for the faithful.
When Paul reapplies the promise in Ephesians, he does not confine it to the land of Canaan. He speaks broadly of life itself, declaring that it may go well and that believers may enjoy long life on the earth. This shows that the promise has been expanded, no longer tied to one nation in one land, but extended wherever God’s people live. Long life belongs to the Christian even more than it did to the Israelites. It belongs to the one who trusts in Christ.
The permanence of this promise also matches the teaching of Jesus. He said that not the smallest letter or stroke of God’s word would fall away until all is accomplished. He warned that those who diminish any part of God’s instruction and teach others to do so will be regarded as least in the kingdom of heaven. Even if the world exalts such a person as a scholar or leader, heaven calls him small. When it comes to the promises of God, we must never diminish them. Long life is still promised, and the word of Christ requires us to uphold it in full strength.
The same pattern appears in the other promises Christ gave. He declared that those who believe would lay hands on the sick and they would recover. He promised that prayer offered in faith would receive what was asked. He assured the disciples that the Spirit would give them words, that prophecy would build up the church, and that divine power would accompany the preaching of the gospel. These promises remain as real as the promise of long life. God does not speak idly. His word carries both command and promise, and his promise remains firm.
Some minimize these words, acting as if such promises expired with another age. They boast of being faithful to Scripture while discarding its most generous assurances. They build a name for themselves while treating God’s word as small. But the Lord himself says they are small, no matter how great their reputation. To deny that long life remains promised is to contradict Scripture. To deny that God still heals, answers prayer, and empowers the believer is to contradict Christ. Their denial cannot overturn what God has spoken.
For those who receive the promises, the effect is plain. They live in the assurance that their lives will not be cut short by accident, plague, or premature death. They expect God’s hand to sustain them and to satisfy them with years. They call upon the Lord and find him faithful to answer. They see health restored, prayers fulfilled, and power supplied. Their confidence rests not in wishful thinking but in the word of God that has been confirmed again and again.
Long life was promised at Sinai, celebrated in the Psalms, reaffirmed by Paul, and secured in Christ. God continues to attach life and health to his word. His people are meant to know this, confess it, and expect it. Scripture does not hold out vague hope but concrete promise. To live in faith is to live in expectation of this very blessing.
The promise of long life is bound up in the very nature of God’s word, which gives life to those who hear it. The one who trusts him will be satisfied with years. The one who calls on him will be delivered. The one who stands on his word will live long upon the earth. This is the testimony of Scripture before Christ and after Christ, confirmed by apostles and prophets, and fulfilled by the God who cannot lie.