Chastening From The Lord

There are people who believe that God disciplines/chastens us with sickness and/or afflictions as they read Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12:5-6 is where most people have a problem with it.

Hebrews 12:5-6 is taken from Proverbs 3:11-12. In the original quotation, the word “scourges/chastises” was not recorded.

Therefore, we need to look into the broad context of the nature of God first; followed by the context of the book of Hebrews (likely written by Paul, but some say that it’s Barnabas), before we finally look at the passage. Because a verse taken out of context can become a pretext for a proof text.

1) The nature of God

Since Christ is the exact representation of God (Heb 1:3; John 1:18; Heb 10:9), God’s nature must be consistent with Christ. If we don’t see it in the life of Christ, we cannot judge God’s nature otherwise. In other words, we need to re-evaluate and interpret the Word based on His consistent nature revealed in the Person of Jesus.

2) The book of Hebrews was written under severe persecution where the Jewish Christians were thinking of going back to Judaism because of the tremendous tribulation/persecution that they were going through.

The writer wrote many reasons why they should stick to the better covenant — Christ alone.

3) Next, we come to the passage in Hebrews 12:5-6

Verse 5 is easier to interpret because the word “disciplines” in the Greek also means “educate, train, instruct.” God does this primarily through 2 Tim 3:16-17. For His Word is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Verse 6 says that God ‘scourges’ whom He loves. In the Greek, it refers to the flogging. Jesus went through flogging because of severe persecution.

The Jewish Christians, in the context of Hebrew, were under severe persecution. 2 Tim 3:12 says that those who would live godly will suffer persecution. It’s a promise. Blessed are you when you are persecuted.

Through their persecution, God the loving Father used that as a form of discipline (training up).

In a nutshell, God does not chastise us for what Christ has already paid on the Cross. It would render His works ineffective and disregard His perfect sacrifice.

However, Christ did not redeem us from persecution. It’s what we will experience as part of godly living. And God can discipline (train up) us through persecution.

The rule of interpretation is this: the explicit should interpret the implicit and not vice versa.