The Most Shared Verses in Their Context (Dt. 6:6-7)

Last year I looked at the Top 10 Most Shared Bible Verses from 2013 in their context. They have recently posted their 2014 list and to my surprise there are ten new most shared verses, so I figured I’d look at these ten popular verses in their context again this year. Today we will look at Deuteronomy 6:6-7, which is the seventh most shared verse of 2014.

The Verse:

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV)

The Context:

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is known as the Shema. The word means “to hear”. According to Jesus (Mark 12:28-30) this is the greatest commandment. It is the greatest commandment because it marks out God alone as Israel’s God. To follow this commandment, then, is to have unrivaled dedication to God. We are to love him with all of our being.

Verses 6-9 outline how such a faith will survive. In the midst of the polytheisitic world of the Canaanites it will always be tempting for the Israelites to bow a knee to the more practical and tangible gods of the world.

First, this exclusivity of ones devotion to God should be on the heart. It cannot be merely an intellectual belief but one which demands entire devotion of the entire self.

Secondly, because of their propensity to drift away from holiness and devotion to God the Israelite should consistently remind himself and those under his care (our children) of his devotion to YHWH alone.

The Meaning:

I’m a bit curious as to why we’ve chosen these two verses out of the Shema. I’d be a bit less surprised if it at least included verse 9. I imagine that it’s only verses 6 and 7 because of what this says about parenting and that parents are the primary disciple makers of their children.

Here in America, many Christians are waking up to the fact that we’ve all but lost the “culture war” that we fought for a few decades. In response I see many retreating from the culture war and putting their energies into influencing their children with their faith. (Which is perhaps where we should have been directing our energies in the first place). As such verses like Dt. 6:6-7 have been influential in showing the importance God places on the family as the primary sphere of spiritual development.

But is this true of the church? The nature of the church is not the same as the nation of Israel. As such, are parents still the primary disciple makers or does this responsibility now fall on the church?

When Deuteronomy 6 was written it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that the role of the parents was almost as exclusive disciple makers of their children. If they didn’t disciple their own children then there wouldn’t be many other places for them to be instructed. There weren’t rabbinic schools, no temple as of yet, and no synagogues.

Some Christians, I believe, take this near exclusivity and extend its application too far. We don’t live in the era of Deuteronomy 6. While the family is a place of great importance the New Testament seems to give the place of ultimate importance to the blood-bought followers of Jesus, known as the church. The gates of hell might prevail over a family but it will never prevail over the church.

But even this is perhaps an overstatement. The right view of Deuteronomy 6 and the relationship between church and family is more of a both/and than an either/or. This passage outlines the role that parents should taken in discipling their children. But extending it in such a way that diminishes the importance of the local church is wrong. Likewise, any view which sees the church as a replacement for the family is not giving Deuteronomy 6 the weigh they ought.

Conclusion

To this end, I believe we can apply Deuteronomy in much the same way as the Israelites would have. We should be devoted to the Lord in our own hearts and this devotion should intentionally bleed over into the lives of our children. We should actively teach our children the way of Jesus.

Local churches and families are partners in spreading the kingdom of God. Separating the two betrays either a terrible theology of the family or an inadequate view of the church. Deuteronomy 6 shows us the importance of being absolutely devoted to Christ and sharing that devotion with others, especially our own children.