Does God punish us when we sin?
God is not indifferent to sin in the lives of those who belong to Him, but the way He deals with it is not the way a judge deals with a criminal. The Bible's answer turns on who you are to Him — a defendant facing sentence, or a child under a Father's hand.
Christ Already Bore the Penalty
The word "punishment" carries the idea of a penalty being paid. For the believer, writers point out, that account was settled at the cross, which changes the character of everything God sends afterwards.
C. H. MackintoshWe 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.
This is why confession is not an attempt to talk God out of a sentence. It rests on a judgment already carried out.
C. H. MackintoshI judge myself on the ground that Christ has been already judged before God for the very thing which I confess in His presence. If it were not so, my confession would be of no use... And most assuredly, God will not execute judgment twice for the same thing.
But He Will Not Leave Sin Alone
Removing the penalty does not mean God shrugs at sin. Two things hold Him: He will not let go of His child, and He will not let the child stay comfortable in wrong.
VariousThe Father cannot cast him off, because he is His child... He cannot therefore cast him off, but being a holy God, neither can He let him go on in sin. Therefore He must chasten him down here; "for if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."
Note the reason given for the discipline: it is the alternative to being condemned with the world, not a step towards it.
Two Different Things: Wrath and the Rod
The same event can look identical from outside and mean opposite things. The difference lies in the relationship behind it.
William KellyBut how wide the contrast between the chastenings of the Father, which flow from love, and are sent in order "that we may be partakers of his holiness," and that "wrath" or "anger," which rests upon unbelievers, and from which we are once and finally delivered, when the eye rests in faith on Christ and on His precious blood!
One writer presses the point that the rod itself is proof of the relationship, not a threat to it:
Julius A. Von PoseckDoes "scourging" look like "receiving"? or "chastening" like "loving"? Certainly not in any other relationship, but it is just that which characterises the love of the father for his son. First of all, it is true, came the Father's kisses of welcome; then the best garment, then the ring and the sandals; then the fatted calf, and the music and dancing; and afterwards — the rod. The rod does not taste like the kiss, but the same love that applied the kiss wields the rod.
Not Every Hardship Is a Response to Sin
It is a mistake to read every trouble as a reply to something you did. Commentators distinguish several purposes behind God's dealings.
F. B. HoleIn the light of the New Testament, chastening may be sent for retribution... But on the other hand it may not be, as we see in Paul's case — where the thorn in the flesh was preventive; lest he should be puffed up and fall. Yet again, it may be neither retributive nor preventive but educational, as Hebrews 12 shows. The Father trains and disciplines His children, and even scourges them; but all is in pursuance of His objective — "that we might be partakers of His holiness."
Writers differ slightly on terms here: some treat "chastening" as the broad word for training that can include punishment, while others reserve "scourging" for correction aimed at definite wrongdoing.
Forgiven, Yet Still Reaping
Forgiveness and consequences are not the same thing. God may forgive fully and still let the results of an action run their course.
J. N. DarbyDavid is pardoned, for he confesses his sin; but as to His government, God shows Himself to be inflexible, and while sparing the king — for he deserved death — He announces to him that the sword shall never depart out of his house.
Yet this rule has a boundary, and it is worth knowing where it stops:
C. E. StuartFull and everlasting forgiveness, however, does not exempt the subjects of it from divine dealings with them in government... Governmental dealing, however, ends with this life. God's favour to us, based on the sacrifice of Christ, lasts for ever.
The Way to Spare Yourself the Rod
Scripture offers a genuine alternative to being disciplined, and it is something you do, not something you wait for.
Raymond K. CampbellThe only way of restoration is to judge ourselves before the Lord and confess to Him our wrong... When we judge ourselves we take sides with the Lord against ourselves and against what is displeasing to Him and have the promise that He will forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we do not practice self-judgment, God must chasten and judge us "that we should not be condemned with the world."
Summary
- Paid — Everything penal fell on Christ; God does not execute judgment twice for the same sin.
- Kept — Because He cannot cast His child off and cannot let him go on in sin, the Father corrects him here and now.
- Loved — The hand that wields the rod is the same hand that gave the welcome; discipline proves sonship rather than threatens it.
- Varied — Some trouble is correction, some is prevention, some is pure training; not every hardship is a reply to a specific sin.
- Chosen — Judge yourself and you need not be judged; refuse, and the Father will do the work Himself, so that you are never condemned with the world.