Hebrews 12:6 says, “because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Disciplines. Chastens. Some translations substitute “scourging” or “punishing” for chastens. It sounds so harsh.
We don’t usually go into Greek or Hebrew words in these tips, but I found something about this verse that tells us how God’s discipline is none of the above – and ours shouldn’t be either.
The Greek word that is translated as chasten or scourging or punishing is mastigoo which literally means “to scourge” like when Jesus was scourged before He went to the cross.
But the book of Hebrews was most likely written not in Greek, but in Hebrew and then translated to Greek. The Hebrew word is biqqoret and it has a similar but different meaning. It has an original and older meaning “to inquire deeply into.”
How did it go from “inquire deeply into” to “scourging?” Well, think about what happens when you scourge someone. The whip goes deeply into the flesh. Words evolve over time.
Ok, enough gross stuff about the flesh. Let’s talk about the true meaning of discipline. It really means “to inquire deeply into.” Even if we have consequences, our goal is not to inflict pain but rather to facilitate deep repentance.
What is repentance? Simply agreeing with God. As we discipline, we inquire deeply into the hearts of our children in order to help them learn to agree with God.
God disciplines us so we will look deep into our hearts and decide to change our beliefs. Our discipline with our children should have the same goal.
