Discipline vs. Punishment
Posted 11/17/2011 | By: R W Glenn
The Bible is clear that our heavenly father brings storms into our lives to discipline us in the way of godliness. Hebrews 12:7-11 says,
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he [= the Father] disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
As you read this passage, keep in mind that the word "discipline" has negative connotations in our culture. And it might seem as if it's used just as negatively here, described as "painful rather than pleasant." But in reality God disciplines us all the time, sometimes in response to our disobedient behavior and other times in response to our obedient behavior (think of Job). That's how discipline works. It's both the discipline of the gym and the discipline of chastisement. But neither of them represents God's punishment for our sins. This would make God unjust.
The only just punishment for your disobedience to the Lord is to suffer under his wrath forever in hell. And what's more, Jesus has already been punished in your place. Therefore, if you are a Christian, you will never be punished for your sins. Jesus has taken the just punishment that was due them. Period.
So what this means is that the trials you're facing - even those trials that the Lord has brought into your life due to your unwillingness to repent - the trials you're facing are never God punishing you. They are God disciplining you. I love how the Puritan Samuel Bolton puts it:
That which the believer suffers for sin is not penal, arising from vindictive justice, but medicinal, arising from a fatherly love. It is his medicine, not his punishment; his chastisement, not his sentence; his correction, not his condemnation.
So take heart! Your heavenly father loves you. He loves you so much that he sends storms of grace to confirm the depths of his love, forming you into the image of Jesus.