The father teaches the children about family life and about what a home should look like. He does this by word and by example. He teaches the children about how to treat a wife. He teaches them about fairness and honesty in human relationships. He teaches them about how to respect other people, how to listen to their thoughts, and how to influence rather than coerce. It should be obvious to even a casual observer that the husband loves his wife and that the father loves his children. Affection should be flowing out of the Father continually. "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost." Because the family is the basic unit of the Church, just above the individual in simplicity of order, The Father teaches the entire family how to see the living Christ in every other member of the family, and he does this both by teaching and by example. The wife is his suitable helper in this process. Both offices, the husband/father and wife/mother are vital. Neither one is more important. They are both necessary.

The father may not have had a father of his own who showed him a good example, but the father, then, must not follow the example of his own father. Jesus is in the business of restoring that which has been lost. He has a simple method. He speaks to us through the Bible, a still small voice, a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, a word of testimony, a word of prophecy, or a word of encouragement, a vision, dream, the patterns of order of the creation, or any other means by which He chooses to speak to us. One of the main ways in this time is through the members of the Body of Christ. “You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute [incapable of articulate speech] idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:2-3) When we discern the Body of Christ, we are discerning Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:12 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ." So, when we discern, when we see, Christ in His Body, we are seeing Him as He is. When we see Him as He is, we become like Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons [Greek: teknon tek'-non, literally, little children] of God, and it doth not yet appear [Greek: phaneroo, literally, something hidden that is revealed] what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear [Greek: phaneroo, literally, something hidden that is revealed], we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:2) This verse is often applied to the final resurrection, but it has a real meaning to the here and now. If we don't experience His coming in the abiding presence in the believers, we will not want to experience Him when He returns in His full glory. So we hear God's voice. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the utterance of God. (Rom. 10:17) It is this faith of God, not human faith, that gives us access to God's grace.  It is God's grace that does the righteousness through us if we will just yield to Him. (Rom. 5:17) So the father in the home must acknowledge Christ as He leads and yield Himself to Christ's leading. All the bad childhood experiences, bad examples, and false teachers make no difference if a man will turn from them and follow Jesus. In addition, Christ will lead a man to godly friends and associates, who will provide a good example. Christ will lead a man away from bad friends.

The choices of the father in the home will affect generations to come. The impact is huge. We can choose to avoid even the appearance of evil or we can choose to do what satisfies our own fleshly desires. We know that it is Christ who does the work in us as we yield to the Spirit of God. Righteousness is a free gift after all.