In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
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 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.
Hebrews 12:4-11 ESV
In Exodus 4:22-23, Yahweh expressed His deep affection for His people by giving Moses these words to declare to Pharaoh:
Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’
All throughout the plagues, God miraculously displayed His love for Israel by shielding them in Goshen from the judgment that He afflicted upon the rest of Egypt. But though He was delivering them with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, He also increasingly began to test them. He began with the tenth plague, which was only withheld from the Israelites if they obeyed God’s command to mark the doorposts of their homes with lamb’s blood. Then after leaving Egypt, He locked them between the sea before them and Pharaoh’s chariots behind them, forcing them to trust in His miraculous protection. Earlier this year, we studied how God began to lead His people through the wilderness, bringing them to bitter water (and no water) and without food, so that they would be forced to trust in His provision. Indeed, we focused upon God’s shepherding hand over His grumbling people, yet we should also note how God Himself frames the wilderness journey of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:2-5:
And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.
Back in Hebrews 2, we saw the blindingly brilliant truth that Jesus, the Son of God, has called us His brothers and is the captain of our salvation who is leading us as adopted sons into the glory of His Father. Here in Hebrews 12, the author now instructs us of the beautiful yet bitter truth that being God’s children means also means being disciplined by Him. Indeed, it is bitter because discipline is never pleasant in the moment but often painful. Yet it is beautiful because it is a sign of our sonship. Through discipline, God is treating us as sons.
IN YOUR STRUGGLE AGAINST SIN // VERSES 4-5
Even though we covered verse 3 as the conclusion of last week’s text, the ESV is right to place it at the start of this paragraph. It certainly gave a pointed application of the author’s instruction from verses 1-2, but it also leads directly into our present text. “Consider [Jesus] who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” As we each run the marathon of our faith, the only way we will keep from growing weary or fainthearted is by looking to Jesus and by considering Him as both the accomplisher of our salvation and the perfect example of a life of faithfulness.
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. This is the first of two soft rebukes (we have seen the strong rebukes that the author is capable of making!) that the author begins our passage with. We should begin by noticing that even though the original audience were very likely dreading the renewed persecution from Rome upon the horizon, the author is not framing their situation as a conflict between Christians and Caesar. Instead, he reminds them that their ultimate struggle is against their sin, which is the great enemy that Christ Himself suffered to defeat. We should keep this in mind as we move through the rest of our text: every hardship in our lives is ultimately a struggle against sin, for by our suffering God is mortifying our sin.
As for the actual rebuke, R. Kent Hughes writes:
Jesus, of course, had suffered death because of his decision to stay on track—all the way to the cross. And some of the heroes of the faith so memorably praised at the end of chapter 11 had paid the ultimate price as well. But though the Hebrew church had experienced severe persecution early on, under the Emperor Claudius, no one had yet been martyred. The parallels with the modern church in the West are plain to see. The tides of neo-paganism are rising, but none of us have resisted to the point of spilling blood.
Then, like now, was no time to be discouraged—especially considering the great examples of those who have remained steadfast amidst far greater hardships. “Cut the melodrama,” the writer seems to be saying, “I don’t see any bodies lying around.”[1]
If that sounds a bit harsh, we should hear the paternal tone of the author coming through. Yes, they previously had their properties blundered and experienced the brazen reproach of their neighbors; however, none of them had yet been martyred, which meant that things could have become much, much worse. And notice that the author says not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood, which implies that a time for resisting sin to the point of shedding blood may very well be upon the horizon of the future. In order to faithfully endure even martyrdom, they need a clear-eyed vision of how their previous sufferings have really been. Calvin wonderfully notes:
But let us bear in mind whom he is here addressing, even those who had joyfully suffered the loss of their goods and had endured many reproaches; and yet he charges them with sloth, because they were fainting half way in the contest, and were not going on strenuously to the end. There is therefore no reason for us to ask a discharge from the Lord, whatever service we may have performed; for Christ will have no discharged soldiers, but those who have conquered death itself.
Let us also take this rebuke to heart. As Hughes noted, we may indeed see some parallels between ourselves and the original audience as we watch the intensity of current events rising more and more each day. Yet this rebuke applies directly toward us as well. Yes, evil is praised as good and good as evil. But we too have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. If we treat our present circumstances as worse than they actually are, we will be unprepared for future challenges that are actually worse. Indeed, this is also why the author was so harsh about their immaturity back in chapter 5. Life, both spiritual and physical, keeps moving and the challenges keep getting greater. Thus, if you neglect God’s discipline now, it will only be more severe later.
By the way, this is also why my wife and I give so much of ourselves to disciplining our children in their early years. For example, contrary to popular belief, tantrums are not just a phase. If they are not worked through as children, they just come out in other ways as adults. Difficulties in life only ever compound over time; therefore, get at them as soon as possible.
The second rebuke might be easily missed while reading through this text: And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? Since the author uses this question to launch into an Old Testament passage from Proverbs, I hear it as carrying notes of his rebuke from 5:11-6:3, where he rebuked their slothful intake of the Scriptures and their diminished maturity in the faith. Indeed, by framing his citation from Proverbs with this question, the author is making the subtle point that we cannot be exhorted by what we have forgotten, especially when forgotten through neglect.
Again, we should take this to heart. God’s Word is a lamp for our feet and light for our path (Psalm 119:105). Every word of it is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The law of the Lord is perfect,
Psalm 19:7-11
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
But we only benefit from the Word whenever we are diligent to actually read and hear it.
THE LORD DISCIPLINES THE ONE HE LOVES // VERSES 5-7
Author’s citation of Proverbs 3:11-12 and his brief explanation in the first half of verse 7 give us the central idea of our passage:
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.
Verse 5, which is citing Proverbs 3:11, warns us against two wrong reactions to receiving God’s discipline. The first to regard it lightly, that is, not to give it the gravity and weight that it rightfully deserves. The second is to be wearied by it. Of course, weariness should be familiar to us since the author just warned us against that very thing so long ago in verse 3.
Verse 6, which is also Proverbs 3:12, connects God’s discipline with our status as His children. In verse 7, the author takes that point and connects it to what he has been teaching. We must endure trials and hardships because God is disciplining us, which should ultimately be encouraging because it means that God is treating you as sons.
Of course, before we go any further into our passage, we should probably pause for a moment to explain what exactly is meant by the word discipline. For most people today, discipline probably brings two things to mind. First, in the context of a parent and a child, we tend to think of discipline as punishment, such as spanking or time-out. Second, we may also think of discipline in the context of working out. Now both of those contexts would fall under what is meant by discipline here, but also much, much more.
The Greek word that the author is using here is paideia, which was often used to mean correction or chastisement but also carried with the whole concept of ideally educating one’s child. Paideia, therefore, did not simply refer to getting punished from time to time; rather, it was the wholistic shaping of a child toward a goal. Particularly, Greek and Roman nobility would often spare no expense in placing the son who was to inherit their goods under the best tutor that they could find. Philip of Macedon famously did that with his son, Alexander, who was tutored by the philosopher Aristotle until the age of 16. They did this because “the future of the father’s name and estate would rest with the son (Gal. 4:1-2). Meanwhile, illegitimate children, since they did not bear their father’s name nor stand to inherit his property, might be left without moral discipline.” And here is the big point: “To be spared God’s painful discipline is indicative not of his favor but of his indifference and rejection.”[2]
Again, there is no aspect of our lives that is not encompassed by this paideia, by this discipline of the Lord. Since Christ has paid the price of our adoption and reconciled us to God through His own blood, this is now what it means to be treated as God’s children. He must prepare us for the inheritance that we are to come into. Each day as we walk with Christ through the instruction of His holy Word we are being formed more and more into His likeness. We are being taught to resemble our Father. And just as all things were made by God and for His own glory, so too is there no realm of our lives will not be brought under the shaping of His loving discipline.
Indeed, Paul uses this same word (paideia) in 2 Timothy 3:16 when he says that the Scriptures are profitable for training us in righteousness. He uses it again in Ephesians 6:4, saying, “Father, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Both of those examples are all encompassing. There is no aspect of our lives in which we do not need to be trained in God’s righteousness. Likewise, it is a Christian father’s responsibility to ensure that his children are being given, not a Greek, Roman, or American paideia, but a paideia of the Lord.
It is also worth noting, therefore, that discipline is not synonymous with punishment. The ultimate goal of discipline is not to punish sin but to correct the heart. Discipline takes us off the path leading to destruction and back onto the path leading to eternal life. It corrects us out of love, calling us toward repentance. Punishment is simply about satisfying justice, but discipline is about teaching, instructing, and correcting. Although they may look similar on the surface, punishment is simply an act of justice, but discipline is an act of love, mercy, and grace. This is a crucial distinction that we will explore more thoroughly in the following verses.
THREE ENCOURAGEMENTS TOWARD DISCIPLINE // VERSES 7-11
Having given us two quick rebukes and then presented us with the central truth that God’s discipline is evidence of our sonship, the author goes on to give us a series of reasons for being encouraged by and rejoicing in God’s discipline.
The first encouragement picks up directly from the author’s main point that through discipline God is treating us 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. As we noted earlier, in the ancient world, a father’s illegitimate children were often left without any discipline in the full corrective, educational, and ethical sense of that word precisely because they were not considered true sons. We still know this to be true today. In one sense, it does indeed take a village to raise a child, for there is wisdom, instruction, and even correction that ought to come from beyond a child’s parents. However, the responsibility to bring up children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord falls squarely upon the parents, particularly the father. The very fact that I will use the rod of correction upon my children marks them as being my children. Indeed, I would argue from texts such as this one that the rod of correction should only be applied to one’s own children.
This encouragement ought to help us reframe how we view the afflictions of God’s people and the prosperity and ease of the wicked. The Greek child who was being forced to memorize the Iliad would have very likely looked at the other kids playing outside with envy, even though he was the one being prepared to receive the inheritance of his father. Again, in the ancient world, “it was not a sign of favor when a child was not disciplined by his father, but of neglect or rejection. Fatherly love and discipline go together, and this awareness ought to transform the way Christians think about our trials.”[3] For so it is with us. We may look at the ease and prosperity of those who outright reject God and live the life of the wicked, but we should not grow envious of them. Remember in Romans 1 the thrice repeated phrase of God giving sinners over to their own sin and debauchery as being a judgment upon them in itself. Being left to one’s own devices and without correction is a sign of not belonging to the household of God. Those who are without God’s discipline are those that God has given over to their sins, either temporally or ultimately.
The second encouragement continues that line of thought, saying:
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 disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
This is another argument from the lesser to the greater, which the author has already employed before. Here he is arguing that if we came to respect our earthly fathers for the discipline that they gave to us, though it was only for a short time and as it seemed best to them, how much more ought we to submit ourselves to our heavenly Father, who does indeed always discipline us for our good! Augustine’s Confessions is a wonderful example of this. Although he does not have much respect for his pagan father (which seems to be too harsh on Augustine’s part), more than half of the book is an extended exercise of Augustine tracing the disciplining hand of God over his life before believing in Christ. He is constantly recounting God’s fatherly hand of providence over every hardship and sin in his life, working all things out for our good.
And so should we consider God’s fatherly discipline. Unlike earthly fathers who easily err in discipline, God always disciplines for our good and that we may live. Of course, we often use the phrase that God does things for His glory and our good; however, we ought to notice how the author defines our good here: that we may share his holiness. Since God is holy, our growth in holiness means becoming like our Father. We are disciplined by Him so that we may bear closer resemblance to Him. Indeed, just as the purest metals are those that have passed most through crucible’s fire, the godliest Christians are almost always those who have endured much suffering. And what could be a greater good than to become more the almighty Creator who is altogether good? Indeed, sometimes God disciplines us specifically because of our sin, yet we should not be dogmatic about searching for particular sins as the root cause of our trials. Instead, we use every trial as a God-given opportunity to kill our sin and grow in righteousness.
The third encouragement again continues the author’s flow of logic: 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. Discipline is almost never fun in the moment but produces fruit down the line. This is true whenever children begin to learn anything new for the first time. Learning to read can be difficult and frustrating, but afterward comes the pleasure of reading a good book. No one loves to practice exercises over and over again on an instrument, but it is necessary for learning to play and make music that you love. It isn’t pleasurable to try saying something in another language and need to be constantly corrected, but that’s how you learn to speak another language. The same with true with sports and grammar and math and science and art and anything else worth doing well. You try. You fail. You get corrected. You try again. That’s how discipline works. It’s painful for a moment, but fruit will come later. Conversely, not being disciplined seems pleasant for a moment, but only pain is harvested. Indeed, I would argue that almost all of the downward trajectories of western society is the fruit of a large-scale lack of discipline.
Yet again if the ordinary discipline of life is painful for the moment but fruitful to come, how much more the discipline that God brings upon us as His children? Of course, there is no suffering that is pleasant, yet God uses it for our good, which is to share His holiness. Indeed, Paul says that this truth should enable us to rejoice in our suffering:
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
Romans 5:1–5
Through Christ, we rejoice in our hope that we will see and know the glory of God; however, we also rejoice in our suffering because our suffering, through producing endurance and character, also produces that same hope in us. As with the Israelites in the wilderness, our Father uses trials to expose our sins and make us more like Himself. Therefore, brothers and sisters, when you endure trials, afflictions, and suffering, rejoice because God is disciplining you through them as His sons and daughters.
Indeed, as we come to the Lord’s Table, let us hear the words of Hebrews 2:9-11 again:
But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,
Brothers and sisters, because Jesus has tasted death and suffered the punishment for our sins, there no longer remains any punishment or condemnation for we who have been adopted into the household of God through Him. This bread and cup testify to us that Christ bore the full penalty for our sins upon Himself, and He did it once for all. No, God will not allow us to continue in our sins, but in Christ, we are never punished for our sins, only disciplined for our good, that we may share in His holiness. Through these elements before us taste and see the goodness of God: because Christ has suffered fullness of God’s wrath in our place, there is never even a drop of God’s wrath placed upon us. Even as we endure severe suffering, God only ever disciplining us with fatherly love. And it is for that discipline that we must endure, for God is treating us as sons.
[1] R. Kent Hughes, Hebrews, 396.
B. C. Newton 