Art Toombs Ministries
Online Bible Commentary
The Lord Disciplines those He Loves
Hebrews 12:4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. (NKJV)
The early Eastern Church (Dionysius and Clement, both of Alexandria), from the second century, claimed Paul was the writer of Hebrews. The Western Church later agreed.
Luke translated the letter to the Hebrews into Greek, according to Clement in the second century. Luke was with Paul during his second Roman imprisonment and was his amanuensis during Paul’s final days (2 Timothy 4:11).
It is likely that Luke was also Paul’s amanuensis for this letter. My conclusion is that this was Paul’s last writing, written in late 67-early 68 A.D.
In this letter, Paul is writing to Hebrews who have converted to Christianity from Judaism. Family and friends are likely pressuring them to return to Judaism, so Paul is writing to these Hebrew Christians to encourage them to remain steadfast in their faith and not to return to Judaism.
The book of Hebrews is divided into two main topics Through Hebrews 10:18 the topic is the superiority of Christ to Judaism. The rest of the book is devoted to exhortations to obedient living, a fitting conclusion to Paul’s writings.
Initially, in this second topic, Paul gave examples of great men and women of faith who were honored for their obedient living. Now, he turns to exhorting Christians to obedient living.
In this passage, Paul is encouraging the Hebrew Christians in their walk with God. Of course, these words are meant for all Christians, because we all face hardships in life.
God does not want the hardships of life to pull us away from Him. So, in this passage he gives us some insights into the nature of hardships and how we should respond to them.
Paul begins by writing “You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin” (v. 4). Paul is saying that we, as Christians, are striving not to sin. And yet, we have not yet died for our faith. Of course, Paul did, in fact, die for his faith soon after writing this.
Next, Paul writes “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons” (v. 5a). He reminds us of that “exhortation” to obedient living.
Paul continues with "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives" (vv. 5b-6). Verses 5b-6, are taken from Proverbs 3:11-12.
The literal Greek translation for these verses is as follows: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint while being corrected; for whom the Lord loves He disciplines; and whips every son whom He receives.” To us, this probably does not sound like encouragement. No one chooses to be disciplined, or whipped for that matter.
But this is a picture of God’s correction for His children. Our Creator knows us best and knows the discipline that will achieve the desired result.
He is not politically correct. God cares little for the rules of man, when they do not align with His word.
Here He endorses whipping as a correction for children. God’s age of accountability is about twelve years old, so this would seem to be the age that such discipline is no longer warranted.
Also, we should not despise the one who disciplines us because he only disciplines us because he loves us. Contrary to the thinking of the PC crowd, we show our love for our children by disciplining our children, not by refraining from discipline. Physical discipline should be a part of that discipline, but only until the age of accountability.
The Lord disciplines adults, as our Father in Heaven. But discipline of adults usually comes in other forms.
Physical discipline gives way to discipline of consequences. Adults face hardship, which is a consequence of sin.
Our hardship may be a result of our own sin or it may be a result of living in a sinful world. God allows hardships in our lives in order to discipline us.
He disciplines us in order to refine us, to make us better. Through hardship he shapes us into being a child of God.
Paul continues by writing “If you endure chastening”” (v. 7a). We should “endure” this hardship as “chastening”, or discipline.
We should understand that God is disciplining us. He is refining us. He is making us better, stronger.
Paul writes “God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?” (v. 7b). He is treating us as “sons”.
He is allowing discipline because He loves us, as His son, or daughter. Christians are children of God.
Paul concludes this passage by writing “But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons” (v. 8). The Greek wording here tells us that “all” sharers of the faith, Christians, will be disciplined.
On the contrary, God may not be interested enough to discipline non-Christians. He refers to non-Christians as “illegitimate, and not sons”.
Everyone has been created in the image of God. But only Christians are children of God.
Every Christian suffers hardships in their life. It is God’s way of disciplining us, and showing His love for us.
Hopefully, we learn from our hardships. Hopefully, we are wise enough to know that we must fall in line with God’s ways of doing things if we want things to turn out right.
But nothing is guaranteed. We do not know the amount of refining that God wants for each of us.
He may have different things in store for some, and choose to allow more refining of them. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord” (Isa 55:8).
Whatever the case, we should never resent God for His discipline. He allows it because He loves us.
No matter what, He is always there with us in the midst of our hardships. He has promised to never leave us, nor forsake us. And He always keeps His promises.