Discipline or Punishment: What Did Christ Accomplish On The Cross?
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
Rom 8:4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
There are sincere Christians who are promoting a teaching that I would like to lovingly, and Biblically disagree with. When the Bible speaks of discipline, some equate it with the same word as punishment. This teaching has been spreading since the early 1900’s predominately and while I understand the reason, scripture appears to disagree.
Discipline(paideia) in the Greek means to educate or train, instruct in order to correct. This is what God does at times to those who are born again Christians through faith in His Son. It’s the word the Bible uses in speaking of His children, all who are born again.(Hebrews 12:7) The root word of the word discipline is disciple.
Punishment in the original language, is defined as a suffering or pain that is or loss that serves as retribution. It gives a negative consequence. This is what we would have had Christ not died on the Cross, this is what we had before we trusted Christ as our Lord and Savior. This is what those who are lost have and why they need the good news of the gospel, then to receive it. Jesus Christ being the only way.(Romans 3:23-26)
Punishment is given in righteous anger, discipline is out of love, Jesus taking upon himself God’s wrath meant for us. Remember the hymn Jesus Paid It All?
The name of this blog is Ministry of Reconciliation. Reconciliation is what Christ accomplished on the Cross, and what only God can do.
The Bible says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8). The fact is that God is a Holy God, and while love is one of His attributes, it’s not His only attribute. He is also a Holy God, a word that we as human beings have no idea what that means on God’s terms. To us Holy means good, perfect, but it’s even more than that. It’s a word that is beyond our comprehension. God cannot stand to look on even one speck of sin. As a result of God’s holiness, God’s wrath is on all those who do not believe in Christ.(John 3:36). God is angry with the sinner(those without Christ), continually. (Psalm 5:5, 7:11, 10:3).
There is only one reason that Christ can be the only way, and that is He has to be God, and He has to live a perfect life. That is exactly what He did. Hebrews 4:15 says:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Now notice that I use the word sinner and equate that to the lost, those without Christ. The reason? Though we as born again Christians do sin, we are no longer known as sinners in God’s eyes, but we are now righteous. You see it has nothing to do with how good we are, that we follow the ten commandments to a T, that we help the poor, teach a SS class, or any other good deed one can mention. A lost person is capable of doing this too. There are people who are bound for hell, but in the world’s eyes, in our human form, we think will be in heaven. But there is only one way, and that way is through Jesus Christ. (John 14:6).
Romans 5 tells us that we are justified through faith. Not works, but faith in Christ Jesus. That is how we are made righteous. Christ took the penalty of our sins onto Himself, as a result sinners were made righteous.(Isaiah 53:11,2 Corinthians 5:21)
Matthew 1:21 tells us that Jesus is the Christ who came to save the world from their sins.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Jesus, who is the eternal God, was able to be a substitute for my sins, for your sins, if you are a born again believer. (John 6:37-39). The great divide, the chasm, between God and man was removed through Christ’s shed blood on the Cross. (Romans 5:8-10) In Christ we are brought back to God because Christ’s righteousness was imputed to us. It’s Christ God sees when He looks at us. It’s Christ that is the reason God can look at us, even when we as believers sin. It’s Christ and His work that is the reason we no longer have to fear God’s wrath for our sin, but can now come boldly before the throne of God, even crying out Abba(daddy), because we are made sons and daughters through adoption. (Galatians 4:4, Hebrews 2:10).
This is how we can glorify God and enjoy Him completely, which is what we are to do. It’s how we can give the gospel, and how it is good news.
Now there will be those, even Christians who do not understand what Christ fully accomplished on the cross who will think what I have said here foolishness.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
1Co 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
1Co 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
1Co 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
1Co 1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
1Co 1:29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
1Co 1:30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1Co 1:31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Christ took the punishment that was due us. We no longer fear being punished by God. Not now, not in the future, not ever. Never. Not because of what we have done or will do, but because of what Christ did in His perfect life, and on the Cross.
It’s not that we never sin, it’s that we grieve over our sin. Something that did not happen before Christ was Lord of our lives. We are sensitive to sin because of the new creations we are, not for fear of punishment. Punishment is not a word in the Christian vocabulary. We no longer live under the law, we are now under the New Covenant of grace and mercy because of what Christ did, not us. The emphasis in scripture is always Christ, Christ, Christ.
We suffer illness, death, troubles of any kind to perfect us. For God’s glory. At time it is to discipline us, but Paul suffered in his ministry, Christ suffered, John the Baptist, Peter was crucified upside down. Hebrews 13 is not because the saints were being punished for their sin.
The punishment for our sin was taken by Jesus Christ for us. I emphasize this throughout this post because so many Christians do not know this. For some this is new teaching, yet it is old as the Bible, it is in the Bible.
May God through the Holy Spirit impart this teaching into your thoughts and then into your hearts according to the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians in chapters 1 and 3. Don’t take my word for it, search the scriptures and see if this isn’t so. It will change everything. The way you read the Bible, the way you relate to Christ, the way you relate to God. No longer will you not come boldly before the throne because you see God as punishing you. For the Christian we always have access, 1 John 1:9, and Christ. When the Bible speaks of the righteous, it is not meaning a perfect person, but a redeemed person. You and me. My next post will be on the question of sin, does this give license to sin? Paul says no, of course not.
Please give this something to think about.
Just curious, but who is pushing or advocating punishment? I have missed that.
I’m glad you asked that question Tim.
It’s certainly a teaching I was brought up with. As a matter of fact I heard a minister just the other day teach punishment for the Christian. I know it’s surprising, and I won’t assign motives. I think these are well meaning Christians who do not want Christians to think they can just go out and sin. I understand that. Also not knowing the difference in definitions between discipline and punishment, thinking them to be the same thing. It’s what happens when modern definitions are put into first century writings. It has however, burdened people down, even if not done with that intention.
I just think we need to be sure of what the Bible says on this subject. Paul speaks of this not being a license for us to sin in the book of Romans for example, where he asks in 6:1,
Paul’s answer is of course, no.
I have not heard it put that way. I do not believe we as Christians are in the position of “punushing”, however, in the local church, we are to discipline. I firmly believe this calls for a calling to repentance, assisting in restoration, and building defense against the sin re-occurring. I also believe that should a person resist the call to repent, the local church is to follow through with Matt 18. In fact, we practice this and have seen God do incredible things. Only twice have I seen people refuse to repent and be restored. I think I have seen at least 15, repent and be restored.
I would add, that restoration does not remove some of the consequences in some of the situations were the Bible speaks (Deacons, Pastors, and such).
Tim: I agree with you. I believe in church discipline, and believe the church is called to do this. You bring up a good point. The goal in church discipline is to restore. I’ll possibly open a can of worms and say that those who do not see their sin and repent may be those who were never regenerate to begin with.
Would you clarify your meaning in the last paragraph? I’m not quite following you here.
The purpose of this post is not in the direction of church discipline but more in the order of bad things that happen to Christians seen as punishment. God does not punish us who are Christians. Christ took the punishment that was due us on the Cross. Bad things happen to us because we live in a fallen world, and it is to mature us, to grow us, strengthen us. It is not punishment, even if we have sinned somewhere along the way. This is what Job’s friends were telling him when Job went through his troubles. That he must have done something to deserve it, God was punishing him. Yet, we who are the readers know this was not true. God had a specific purpose in mind for allowing Satan to bring on Job’s sorrows.
This is an interesting topic. Brings to mind how and why I discipline my kids… sometimes, I admit, it has noting to do with correcting them or showing them a better way, it’s just the consequences of their actions. In other words, I warned them that if they disobeyed, they would get a spanking. And then when they so, I follow through with the consequences. Then there are other times when there are natural consequences that I allow to take place and I remind them to let those consequences dictate a different path in the future.
Being a practical man, I am not sure I see the difference in punishment and discipline. Feels the same to me…
Debbie,
Often punishment and consequences can be used interchangably and other times not. Take the qualifications of a Pastor. The consequence to a man not living correctly would disqualify. Some would view that as punishment when enforced. Others would say it is a consequence. I would say it is both. Like Alan stated, sometimes it is the same.
I do realize that there are those who try to “punish” in their “aid” to God so to speak or they are just plain legalistic. But there abuse should not distract from the point stated above. Cults are known to champion the abuse side often. Evangelical Christians however seldom see this. Though it does happen occassionally.
I think this is the tough part for those who want the regenerate church issue to be highlighted in SBC churches. Often, people will have a difficult time calling this movement “punishment” when it is not. Yet there are going to be those who view it as abusive (especially those on the outside or those who have adopted the “love at all cost” philosophy to ministry.
Tim: I understand what you are saying and tend to agree with you to a point. I disagree that in the Evangelical world abuse happens occasionally. That is simply not true. It happens a lot. There are wounded innocent people to prove this. When it comes to a Christian I don’t think the word punishment can be used. Ever. If God does not ever punish us, why should any other Christian or a church? Discipline yes, punishment no. There is a big difference Biblically. There is a big difference in method. There is a reason the Bible uses the exact word discipline. In fact, you could use the words training and correcting in place of the word discipline, and that would be Biblically correct.
Look at my definitions to see where I am coming from. However church discipline can easily turn into punishment if not handled correctly, people do love scandals, tend to judge harshly, and, I also believe we are to have a love at all cost ministry. Both are true. Isn’t that what Paul was saying in Ephesians for example?
Alan: You bring up a good example of children. This is what I see scripture as saying to that. We should never punish. It should be discipline. In other words, It should never be done in anger, sometimes the natural consequences of our actions is enough to bring us back on the right path, and, we should always discipline our children with the goal of correcting them, teaching them. Just as God does us. Sometimes spanking them is done out of anger, and as a quick fix. That should not be the case. Now. Was I perfect at this, no. I do sin, and I had to confess to my children and God quite frequently. At the same time, I was learning as a parent. I had to relearn things that I previously thought were right in raising my children. I had to confess that too.
I always appreciate your honesty Alan. That is refreshing.
Tim-
I am unable, by conscience (and possibly the Spirit), to post what I really think about the SBC – but suffice it to say, I believe she (and her churches who are towing its line) have lost all authority to be involved in any kind of discipline. Perhaps she can come back to her original intentions of bringing people into the Kingdom and then maybe she’ll gain her authority back.
Debbie,
I really agree with the point you are making here. It is extremely important that we understand this it seems to me. Otherwise we will miss the point of what is transpiring when things DO happen AND we might tend to deal with people in a way other than merciful since we generally do replicate in relationships how we believe our is with God.
The way I say it is that God’s wrath against sin was accomplished in the cross work of christ. The mercy seat is now ever present with the blood applied [covering the law that would bring punishment] and our High Priest there doing His work. It is the applied blood covering the law that is the reason we are to never see anything that happens to us as punitive.
What a great post you have done. Thanks.
Thank you Paul. As the saying goes: “You nailed it.”
Paul,
I like the way you wrapped up your comment with the line “…we are to never see anything that happens to us as punitive”
That is a great line that hits the point I was making!