Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
Ver. 9. And we gave them reverence] Pater est, si pater non esses, &c., It is my father, &c. This cooled the boiling rage of the young man in Terence. Nicolas of Jenvile, a young French martyr, when he was condemned and set in the cart, his father coming with a staff would have beaten him; but the officers, not suffering it, would have struck the old man. The son crying to the officers, desired them to let his father alone, saying he had power over him to do what he would.
And live] For corrections of instruction (and God never chastiseth but withal he teacheth, Psa 94:12) are the way of life, Proverbs 6:23; Proverbs 15:31. See my Love Tokens.