How do preachers or teachers explain this?

[Godsgood]

Once again, you go against God's written word, the Bible. No idea there that God is the only pastor or teacher. He equipped His churches with pastors and teachers:

NKJV Eph 4:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

I would agree that if a man takes to himself the office of pastor, that is wrong, but God Himself gives pastors and teachers to His chjurches.

Yes, it is true that we should not call mere men our masters or fathers, as honorific titles. It cannot mean that Christians are not permitted to call anybody "father", because many times the Bible refers to male parents as "fathers". For example:

NKJV Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Eph 6:2 "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with promise:
Eph 6:3 "THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU AND YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH."
Eph 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.

What do you call a male parent?

Because your understanding of the Word of God extends only to the literal and physical, it is clear to you that what the Lord is referring to is your biological parents.

However, we who know the one true God do not understand His words literally, in accordance with the Lord’s command in Ephesians 6:2. Rather, we first ask Him who He is referring to when He speaks of the “father and mother” whom we are commanded to honor.
Because we know that He is speaking parables, or using a “dark saying,” when referring to the father and mother.

I know you have already read this. But why did you not understand the example given by the Lord Jesus?

On one occasion, He was preaching, and His mother, the Virgin Mary, came along with the Lord Jesus’ brethren.
But in what the Lord revealed, His mother and brethren were those who were listening to His preaching.
LUKE 8:19-21
19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
20 And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
How can you say now that the Lord is referring to your biological father and mother?

That is the evidence that your understanding of God’s Word comes only from human reasoning or from your own understanding. If you truly knew the one true God, then your understanding of God’s Word would surely be a gift from God.
PROVERBS 2:6
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

 

[Godsgood]

I agree. Besides, it wasn't salvation, but God Himself giving pastors and teachers to His churches, that was under discussion. If they are God's gifts, how can they possibly be stolen goods?

If they are truly God’s gifts, then why do they have different understandings, different ways of teaching salvation, and, above all, why are four different understandings of who the Lord Jesus is being preached by them? That is why they cannot agree with one another, and their debates never seem to end, because each one claims to have the truth.

Is that what the Lord taught them?

 

[OMC]

Because your understanding of the Word of God extends only to the literal and physical, it is clear to you that what the Lord is referring to is your biological parents.

However, we who know the one true God do not understand His words literally, in accordance with the Lord’s command in Ephesians 6:2. Rather, we first ask Him who He is referring to when He speaks of the “father and mother” whom we are commanded to honor.
Because we know that He is speaking parables, or using a “dark saying,” when referring to the father and mother.

I know you have already read this. But why did you not understand the example given by the Lord Jesus?

On one occasion, He was preaching, and His mother, the Virgin Mary, came along with the Lord Jesus’ brethren.
But in what the Lord revealed, His mother and brethren were those who were listening to His preaching.
LUKE 8:19-21
19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
20 And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
How can you say now that the Lord is referring to your biological father and mother?

That is the evidence that your understanding of God’s Word comes only from human reasoning or from your own understanding. If you truly knew the one true God, then your understanding of God’s Word would surely be a gift from God.
PROVERBS 2:6
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Ephesians 6:2 is not a parable, not a dark saying, and not symbolic language.
Paul is quoting the literal Decalogue — “Honor your father and mother” — exactly as written in Exodus 20:12.
Nothing in the context signals metaphor, allegory, or spiritual substitution.
You are taking Jesus’ specific statement about spiritual kinship in Luke 8 and using it as a universal decoder to override plain‑speech commandments everywhere else, even though Jesus never said His biological mother was not His mother; He simply added a second category: those who hear and do God’s word.
Scripture keeps both categories intact: biological parents (Ex 20:12; Eph 6:2) and spiritual family (Luke 8:21).
You collapse them into one symbolic layer and then accuse others of “literal understanding,” but the command in Ephesians 6:2 is not symbolic, and Proverbs 2:6 says God gives wisdom — not that wisdom replaces the plain meaning of His commands with allegory.
Your method treats every text as a parable, even when the text itself is not a parable, which is why your interpretation cannot stay anchored in the command God actually gave.

 

[Godsgood]

Why are you asking about stolen things? God says in His word that He gave pastors and teachers to the churches. Are you suggesting that God gave stolen property to His churches? Acts talks about God making some men overseers of the flock - another way of saying "pastors":

NKJV Act 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

We are not discussing something which one human being gives to another human being here, but almighty God giving pastors and teachers to His churches.

As I told you, the Lord said in John 3:12, “I have spoken to you about earthly things so that you may understand heavenly things.”
If you are unwilling to believe the example concerning earthly things, then it is not surprising that you will also not believe the heavenly things.

If you believe that they are chosen by God, even though they were merely chosen by men, you are free to follow them.
And when the proper time comes, you can then find out whether you made the right choice.

What I have shared with you about what happened to the man who died at the same time as Lazarus the beggar is already sufficient.

 

[OMC]

If they are truly God’s gifts, then why do they have different understandings, different ways of teaching salvation, and, above all, why are four different understandings of who the Lord Jesus is being preached by them? That is why they cannot agree with one another, and their debates never seem to end, because each one claims to have the truth.

Is that what the Lord taught them?

Disagreement among pastors does not mean the gifts aren’t from God.
Scripture never says God gives pastors perfect understanding;
it says He gives them for the church’s growth (Eph 4:11–13),
which means they are still learning, still being corrected, still maturing.
The New Testament shows gifted men disagreeing (Acts 15), needing correction (Gal 2:11‑14), and growing in doctrine (Acts 18:26).
Their differences prove they are human, not that their gift is fake.
Unity is the goal the gifts work toward, not the automatic condition of everyone who receives them. The standard is the Word, not the teacher, and the fact that teachers vary only shows why God gave the church teachers in the first place — to bring us toward unity, not to guarantee they already possess it.

 

[DavidLamb]

Because your understanding of the Word of God extends only to the literal and physical, it is clear to you that what the Lord is referring to is your biological parents.

However, we who know the one true God do not understand His words literally, in accordance with the Lord’s command in Ephesians 6:2. Rather, we first ask Him who He is referring to when He speaks of the “father and mother” whom we are commanded to honor.
Because we know that He is speaking parables, or using a “dark saying,” when referring to the father and mother.

I know you have already read this. But why did you not understand the example given by the Lord Jesus?

On one occasion, He was preaching, and His mother, the Virgin Mary, came along with the Lord Jesus’ brethren.
But in what the Lord revealed, His mother and brethren were those who were listening to His preaching.
LUKE 8:19-21
19 Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
20 And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
21 And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it.
How can you say now that the Lord is referring to your biological father and mother?

That is the evidence that your understanding of God’s Word comes only from human reasoning or from your own understanding. If you truly knew the one true God, then your understanding of God’s Word would surely be a gift from God.
PROVERBS 2:6
6 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

You keep saying that God's word never means the literal and the physical. But that leads to ridiculous things. Just take the very first verse of the Bible:

NKJV
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

If you say that is not literal, then we have no actual beginning, no literal God, no act of creating the heavens and the earth.

The Bible is that through which God communicates to mankind, not some complex set of writings that never mean what they say. You say that Ephesians 6:2 is a dark saying. Why should the apostle Paul write a letter to the believers in Ephesus with dark sayings in it? The verse says:

Eph 6:2 "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with promise:

Paul is quoting the ten commandments. Are they "dark sayings" in your opinion? You ned to give biblical support for your strange idea that all of the Bible is parables and dark sayings.

 

[DavidLamb]

If they are truly God’s gifts, then why do they have different understandings, different ways of teaching salvation, and, above all, why are four different understandings of who the Lord Jesus is being preached by them? That is why they cannot agree with one another, and their debates never seem to end, because each one claims to have the truth.

Is that what the Lord taught them?

What do you mean, "if they are truly God's gifts"? The Bible says they are.

 

[Godsgood]

Ephesians 6:2 is not a parable, not a dark saying, and not symbolic language.
Paul is quoting the literal Decalogue — “Honor your father and mother” — exactly as written in Exodus 20:12.
Nothing in the context signals metaphor, allegory, or spiritual substitution.
You are taking Jesus’ specific statement about spiritual kinship in Luke 8 and using it as a universal decoder to override plain‑speech commandments everywhere else, even though Jesus never said His biological mother was not His mother; He simply added a second category: those who hear and do God’s word.
Scripture keeps both categories intact: biological parents (Ex 20:12; Eph 6:2) and spiritual family (Luke 8:21).
You collapse them into one symbolic layer and then accuse others of “literal understanding,” but the command in Ephesians 6:2 is not symbolic, and Proverbs 2:6 says God gives wisdom — not that wisdom replaces the plain meaning of His commands with allegory.
Your method treats every text as a parable, even when the text itself is not a parable, which is why your interpretation cannot stay anchored in the command God actually gave.

Even other religions that do not believe in the Lord Jesus or in the Bible honor their parents. Even without being commanded by the Lord, it is natural for people to honor their parents. Therefore, there would be no need for the Lord to command it if He were referring to biological parents.

But because the Lord was speaking in a dark saying, He was not referring to biological parents. Only He can reveal who the parents are whom we are commanded to honor.

Therefore, as people who know the one true God, we first ask Him, and we do not rely on our own understanding of His words.

And it is clear to us that honoring our biological parents is not the fulfillment of the Lord’s command in Ephesians 6:2. For the Lord has revealed to us the truth that there is a distinction between physical life and spiritual life.

Honoring our biological parents is for physical life only.
As for honoring our parents in spiritual life, the Lord Jesus is the One who knows who they are and how they should be honored.

 

[Godsgood]

What do you mean, "if they are truly God's gifts"? The Bible says they are.

The point here is that those whom God has given, as referred to in Ephesians 4:11, are gifts from God.

What we are discussing here is what you believe to be chosen by God according to Ephesians 4:11, when in fact, they were not chosen by God but by men.

 

[Godsgood]

You keep saying that God's word never means the literal and the physical. But that leads to ridiculous things. Just take the very first verse of the Bible:

NKJV
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

If you say that is not literal, then we have no actual beginning, no literal God, no act of creating the heavens and the earth.

The Bible is that through which God communicates to mankind, not some complex set of writings that never mean what they say. You say that Ephesians 6:2 is a dark saying. Why should the apostle Paul write a letter to the believers in Ephesus with dark sayings in it? The verse says:

Eph 6:2 "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with promise:

Paul is quoting the ten commandments. Are they "dark sayings" in your opinion? You ned to give biblical support for your strange idea that all of the Bible is parables and dark sayings.

Remember this: Even if the things written in the Holy Scriptures happened in a literal, physical sense, God’s purpose is to convey His spiritual message, which is called the truth and which brings salvation not merely the literal, physical events that took place.

Everyone who reads and believes in the Holy Scriptures believes what you said in Genesis 1:1. However, what they believe is not the basis for their salvation. As for us who know the one true God, our belief in Genesis 1:1 comes from God. Therefore, we understand its spiritual message.

That is why it is clear to us that Genesis 1:1, as our testimony concerning Ecclesiastes 1:9 and Matthew 24:35, is still being fulfilled by the Lord spiritually and not in a literal, physical sense.

 

[Godsgood]

You keep saying that God's word never means the literal and the physical. But that leads to ridiculous things. Just take the very first verse of the Bible:

NKJV
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

If you say that is not literal, then we have no actual beginning, no literal God, no act of creating the heavens and the earth.

The Bible is that through which God communicates to mankind, not some complex set of writings that never mean what they say. You say that Ephesians 6:2 is a dark saying. Why should the apostle Paul write a letter to the believers in Ephesus with dark sayings in it? The verse says:

Eph 6:2 "HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER," which is the first commandment with promise:

Paul is quoting the ten commandments. Are they "dark sayings" in your opinion? You ned to give biblical support for your strange idea that all of the Bible is parables and dark sayings.

Paul is quoting the ten commandments. Are they "dark sayings" in your opinion? You ned to give biblical support for your strange idea that all of the Bible is parables and dark sayings.

Yes, the 10 Commandments are parables and dark sayings. And this is not my opinion; it was the Lord God Himself who said it Psalms 78:2 & Ezekiel 20:49.

Look at one example. The Jews followed the commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” in a literal physical sense. That is why they wanted to punish Mary Magdalene when they caught her committing adultery literally and physically, because it was strictly forbidden among them. Yet despite this, the Lord said to them, “This adulterous nation.”
MATTHEW 12:39
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

MATTHEW 16:4
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Because only the Lord knows what it means to be adulterous.

 

[Dino246]

Because your understanding of the Word of God extends only to the literal and physical

You don’t know that.

However, we who know the one true God do not understand His words literally

You have said it yourself; you don’t understand the plain text.

Because we know that He is speaking parables, or using a “dark saying,” when referring to the father and mother.

You assume but don’t know.

That is the evidence that your understanding of God’s Word comes only from human reasoning or from your own understanding. If you truly knew the one true God, then your understanding of God’s Word would surely be a gift from God.

That is not evidence of anything except that you have e a strange concept of evidence.

 

[Dino246]

If they are truly God’s gifts, then why do they have different understandings, different ways of teaching salvation, and, above all, why are four different understandings of who the Lord Jesus is being preached by them? That is why they cannot agree with one another, and their debates never seem to end, because each one claims to have the truth.

Is that what the Lord taught them?

Your concern is unrelated to God’s provision… as in irrelevant.

 

[Dino246]

Paul is quoting the ten commandments. Are they "dark sayings" in your opinion? You ned to give biblical support for your strange idea that all of the Bible is parables and dark sayings.

Yes, the 10 Commandments are parables and dark sayings. And this is not my opinion; it was the Lord God Himself who said it Psalms 78:2 & Ezekiel 20:49.

Look at one example. The Jews followed the commandment, “You shall not commit adultery,” in a literal physical sense. That is why they wanted to punish Mary Magdalene when they caught her committing adultery literally and physically, because it was strictly forbidden among them. Yet despite this, the Lord said to them, “This adulterous nation.”
MATTHEW 12:39
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

MATTHEW 16:4
4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.

Because only the Lord knows what it means to be adulterous.

Wow. Your self-delusion apparently has no limits.