Hebrews 12:5–8

They no longer counted it one of the special blessings of the better covenant they stood in that God disciplines His people in grace. He does so because of the family relationship that now binds them to Himself in Christ. They had forgotten the exhortation which spoke to them as children. Inwardly they had in practice left the familiar nearness of adoption. As a natural result, they misread the way God was dealing with them. Through lack of faith they had fallen into the serious error of judging God by how His dealings looked rather than by His words.

It is one thing to enjoy by faith your blessed and sure portion and relationship as "children of God," in the sense of John 1:12-13. The true rendering there is "children," not "sons." It is quite another thing to remember and heed the "exhortation, which speaks to you as sons."

"Chastening," however, carries the general thought of discipline and training. It includes punishment, but that is only a part of it, and possibly a small part of it.

The scourging may be more God's governmental dealing with us, rebuking and correcting us for actual failure. The chastening need not be because of any sin. Its purpose is to develop in us what agrees with the nature of God, so that we may share His holiness.

We can despise the chastening of the Lord — we may think it a trifle, and throw it off. A man may say, I don't care for people's opinion — that is nothing to me: he may brave it out, in his own strength. He is "despising" the chastening of the Lord. He does not have to go to God about it. It cannot be a severe chastening that does not bring us to God. On the other hand, some "faint" when He rebukes them. They are overwhelmed, their hands hang down, and they lose heart.

It will not be without a cause in me; it will never be without love in God. So I am not to despise it, because there is a cause in me that makes the holy God of love act this way. And I am not to faint, because it is His love that does it. It is correcting a son in whom his Father delights.

We do not like the term "punishment" as applied to the dealings of our loving Father. There is nothing penal, in the strict sense of the word, even in His wise and faithful correction. Christ our blessed Substitute exhausted on our behalf all that was penal. God chastens His children to make them partakers of His holiness, as we learn in Hebrews 12.

The Father's discipline may or may not be corrective, but its aim is always to purify us. To chasten is to purify. This has always been God's way with His children, as Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:11-12. Solomon, like the writer here, sees discipline as both purifying and corrective.

Notice this: God is not dealing with us as sinners again, but as sons. … Now study this whole subject of fatherly chastening. Is not this chastening really perfect in its place, and applied to every son? I thank my Father for all the chastening I have known, for these forty years.

The Lord chastens those He loves. … The word draws two conclusions from this truth. … It will not be without a cause in me; it will never be without love in God. So I am not to despise it, because there is a cause in me that makes the holy God of love act this way; and I am not to faint, because it is His love that does it. It is a Father correcting a son He delights in.

This passage uses three words: chastening, rebuking, scourging. The last does of course mean a whipping, and the second means a reproof. But the first, though it may sometimes mean a beating, mainly means discipline in the sense of child-training. And note this: each of the other two words appears only once in these verses, while this one appears eight times. This is the main thought of the passage. We ARE children of God, and so we come under His training.

The Apostle speaks of chastening and scourging. The scourging may be more God's governmental dealing in rebuking and correcting for actual failure. The chastening is not necessarily for any sin, but rather to develop in us what is according to the nature of God, so that we may share in His holiness.

In the light of the New Testament, chastening may be sent as repayment, as we see in 1 Corinthians 11:30. But it may not be. In Paul's case — 2 Corinthians 12:7 — the thorn in the flesh was preventive, in case he should be puffed up and fall. Or again, it may be neither repayment nor prevention but education, as Hebrews 12 shows. The Father trains and disciplines His children, and even scourges them. But it is all in pursuit of His goal — "that we may share His holiness."

Does "scourging" look like "receiving"? Or "chastening" like "loving"? Certainly not in any other relationship, but it is exactly what marks a father's love for his son. First, it is true, came the Father's kisses of welcome. Then the BEST robe, then the ring and the sandals. Then the fattened calf, and the music and dancing. And afterwards — the rod. The rod does not taste like the kiss, but the same love that gave the kiss wields the rod.

It is very interesting to notice the character of these chastisements. They are persecution, scorn, hatred, the reproach of man. You say, if God would only lay me on a bed of sickness, I could bear it. If it were God who had done these things — but it is just the wretched malice of man. I cannot see Him in it. Well, faith sees God in it. … We bear these things. However much they seem to come from spite, envy, or hatred, we know they also come from a Father's heart, who permits them for our blessing.

Worldly prosperity and celebration, even when it is the fruit of God's care behind the scenes, is not always a sign of His approval. And affliction is not a sign of His disapproval. Job's case shows this even more clearly.

The sense is: not for harm but for good, for chastening you endure. It is the sure lot and mark of God's family here on earth. So the challenge follows: what son is there whom a father does not discipline? To be without such dealing, which all have shared in, would point instead to being false sons, not true ones.

Notice one special thing here, as this unfolds God's ways with His children. He takes up "the contradiction of sinners" — the opposition and persecution we may meet in the path of faith — and uses them as needed chastisement. This Scripture does not speak of the direct dealing of God's hand. It speaks of the trials and difficulties that come with a believer's path through this world. God still uses them as instruments for our needed chastisement and blessing.

Why did they suffer? Because they were God's sons. Men, the instruments of their sufferings, might seem to be dealing with them as they chose. It was not so. God indeed allowed it. He had His own purposes in it all for the rich blessing of His saints. Behind the hand that struck them was the Father, permitting it in His love to them and for their profit.

As a loving father who loves his children, He chastised them. They were not to forget this — that He speaks to them not as to sinners, but as to sons... God, as Father, permits trials and tribulations to come to believers for their own good. Such experiences are not evidence of divine displeasure, but evidences of sonship.

Enduring here is therefore neither despising nor rebelling, but taking it as from the hand of God. Only in this spirit can we enjoy the privileges that belong to us as sons of our God and Father. Only then do we gain the benefit of His dealings with us... But if someone found no testing of faith after claiming to be a believer, it would show he was not a son of God at all.

Walking down the street one day, a bishop saw two boys quarrelling. As he watched, he saw that one of the two was mostly to blame. Then a man came running out of a house, seized the boy who was least to blame, and began to punish him. The bishop stepped in and said, "Why do you beat that boy? It is the other who deserves it most." "That may be," the man replied, "but this is my son." So it is; God chastises His children.

God puts us in the place of children, and we must look at what His thoughts about us are... My will may have to be broken. Tendencies I never knew about may have to be uncovered in me, to humble me... He hates the evil and loves the good, and is breaking us down, subduing the evil, wearing it out. He is bringing us nearer to Himself. God is educating us as children.

The sense is this: you endure it as chastening — not for harm, but for good. It is the unfailing portion and token of God's family here below. Therefore the challenge follows, What son is there whom a father does not chasten? To be without such dealing, which all have shared in, would instead be reason to conclude that you are false sons, not true ones.

They had received a family token: they had come to know the rod of discipline. None were exempt from this except those who wrongfully claimed the title of children. For it is in the nature of a Father to control His children for their good. Because He loves them, He is not indifferent to their ways.

According to Hebrews 12:8, a bastard is not a "son." The relationship is abnormal and illegitimate. Such a "child" can only say "father" because he is tolerated.

Bishop Fuller has illustrated this truth by an incident. Walking down the street one day, he saw two boys quarrelling, and watching them he saw that one of the two was mostly to blame. Then a man came running out of a house, and grabbing the lad who was least to blame, he began to punish him. The bishop stepped in and said, "Why do you beat that boy? It is the other who deserves it most." "That may be," replied the man, "but this is my son." So it is. God chastises His children… Asaph did not understand this truth, and so says, "I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind." But of himself he says, "All the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning."

God never chastens or scourges us unless there is something in us that needs it. With this truth in our minds, we shall not complain about our sorrows or trials. Instead we shall at once seek, in the presence of God, to find out what secret sin or evil habit we have let pass unjudged. That is what has made it necessary for God to come in with His rod.

Fighting against sin in an evil world brings suffering, and that suffering is not in itself chastening. But the two may overlap, and sometimes do. In every case we wrong Him who watches over us in love, if we make light of His hand or complain under it. How often He calls us to suffer in order to guard us from what would grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and not because we have sinned! And it is happy for us when it is so.

The word "chastening" has a very broad meaning: discipline. There is discipline in an army, but only a very small part of that discipline is punishment. David was chastened because of sin; Job, so that he might learn what he was; and Paul, so that he might be better fitted for God's service. We are not necessarily chastened for failure. God sees certain tendencies in us, and He disciplines us to keep us from what would lead us astray. … Someone is going on well, and God says, "I will help you to go on better."