Good day, Minister.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your labor in God’s vineyard. God bless you. My questions are:<\/p>\n
There are several Hebrew and Greek words that are translated as “punishment.” One of the more common words is ‘awon<\/em>, which means “iniquity.” It is derived from the idea of bending or twisting something that is good into something wrong. The same word for sinful behavior is also used to refer to the punishment imposed for that sin (Genesis 4:13; Job 13:26). Sin, guilt, and punishment are seen as connected ideas. Another\u00a0Hebrew word commonly translated into English as “punishment” is\u00a0paqadh<\/em>. It means to visit, to attend to, or to pay attention to. The word emphasizes that God doesn’t overlook sin. He takes note of it and does something about it (Exodus 32:34).<\/p>\n In Greek,\u00a0kolazo<\/em> and\u00a0kolasis<\/em> derive from a word meaning “to prune” and refer to physical punishment, perhaps in the sense of cutting off continued bad behavior. The word\u00a0timoreo<\/em> refers to avenging one’s honor by punishing the misdeed (Acts 22:5; 26:11).<\/p>\n The idea is that sin is punished as a penalty. Sometimes it includes the idea of encouraging a correction in behavior, but not always.<\/p>\n In Hebrew, yasar<\/em>, means to instruct or rebuke (Deuteronomy 4:36; 8:5). It emphasizes that the goal is to improve behavior. Another Hebrew word is\u00a0musar<\/em>, which means discipline, instruction, warning, or chastisement.\u00a0It is a derivative of the Hebrew word yasar<\/em>. It covers both positive instruction and negative correction.<\/p>\n Paideuo,<\/em> in Greek, is sometimes translated as “punishment,” but it means to train, teach, correct, or chastise. It is most commonly used in connection with raising children (Titus 2:12; Hebrews 12:6). In the sense of punishment, it conveys the idea of teaching someone to refrain from misbehaving. But it also includes teaching children to be disciplined in their behavior and learning.<\/p>\n Thus, discipline is imposed to improve a person and may not always be due to misbehavior.<\/p>\n As with many of God’s operations in the world, we might suspect God’s hand behind what is happening, but we are rarely certain since God doesn’t tell us what He is doing.<\/p>\n Regarding mercy, grace, and faith, see “Grace and Mercy<\/a>,” “Mercy and Grace<\/a>,” and “Salvation by Grace Through Faith<\/a>.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Good day, Minister. Thank you for your labor in God’s vineyard. God bless you. My questions are: Is there a difference between punishment and discipline in the Bible? At what point can one say “I am being punished by God” in today’s dispensation? Do you have any write-up or material that explains what exactly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[106,669],"class_list":["post-93795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-discipline","tag-punishment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17126,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-corporal-punishment-be-allowed-in-schools\/","url_meta":{"origin":93795,"position":0},"title":"Should corporal punishment be allowed in schools?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 30, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Many parents who use corporal discipline at home are opposed to its use in a Christian school. They feel that only the parent should administer this type of discipline when needed. I have always believed that the school should have the authority to paddle when needed. What are your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1854,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-a-husband-have-the-right-to-spank-his-wife\/","url_meta":{"origin":93795,"position":1},"title":"Does a husband have the right to spank his wife?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 12, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does a husband have the right to spank his wife? Answer: Spanking is a form of discipline used by parents to correct their children, such as \"He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly\" (Proverbs 13:24). The rod is a reference\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":586,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-we-start-biblical-discipline-when-our-children-are-already-older\/","url_meta":{"origin":93795,"position":2},"title":"How do we start biblical discipline when our children are already older?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question related to child discipline. I have a 13-year-old son and an 8-year-old son. My wife and I have recently realized the problems we caused by following non-biblical consequences with our boys. My oldest son has been lying, and my youngest has problems with obedience. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16981,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-30-year-old-man-ask-for-a-spanking\/","url_meta":{"origin":93795,"position":3},"title":"Should a 30-year-old man ask for a spanking?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your site with interest and as a Christian, I go to if often for advice. I wonder if you might be able to help me. I am 30 years old and have recently got into trouble at work and I seem to be having real discipline problems,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10748,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-rebuttal-to-when-is-a-child-too-old-to-spank\/","url_meta":{"origin":93795,"position":4},"title":"A rebuttal to “When is a child too old to spank?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to comment on your article entitled: How do we start biblical discipline when our children are already older?\u00a0I agree with most of what you have written. I believe that corporal punishment can be very effective if it is done in love, not impulsively and not as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12271,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-okay-to-leave-the-number-of-swats-open-ended\/","url_meta":{"origin":93795,"position":5},"title":"Is it okay to leave the number of swats open-ended?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: He finally pushed it too far. Even though he is eleven and never had a spanking, he swore at his mother one too many times and I decided something had to change. My problem is that he struggled as I started to spank him. I told him that if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93795\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Discipline<\/h3>\n