As a Father Disciplines his Son - Hebrews 12:5 (Monday with Mounce 135)

We talk about semantic ranges, and that a word in one language does not have the same range of meaning as a word in another language, which is one reason translation can be so challenging.

There is perhaps no other word that epitomizes this as much as παιδεία, generally translated “discipline.”

The author of Hebrews has been encouraging his people to persevere during this time of trial and persecution. In the first verse in the paragraph he writes, “And have you forgotten the word of encouragement that speaks to you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor lose heart when corrected by him.’”

“Discipline” in English in this type of context carries the connotation of being disciplined for something wrong, and therefore it carries the notion of punishment. The KJV uses “chastening.” At first glance, this may seem right in Hebrews. After all, the people were considering abandoning their faith in order to avoid persecution.

But “discipline” and παιδεία do not share the same semantic range. Thankfully.

BDAG give this full definition. “1. the act of providing guidance for responsible living, upbringing, training, instruction, in our lit. chiefly as it is attained by discipline, correction.” The second definition is, “2. the state of being brought up properly, training.”

παιδεία occurs six times in the New Testament. Four in our passage (12:5, 7, 8, 11), and in Eph 6:4 (“And  fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in the discipline [παιδείᾳ] and admonition of the Lord”) and 2 Tim 3:16 (“All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correcting, for training [παιδείαν]  in righteousness”).

The overall historical context of the word’s use is apparently the proverbial wisdom of a Father raising up his son. For example, Prov 3:11 says, “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline (παιδείας) or be weary of his reproof.” In other words, there is no necessary indication in the word that the child has done something wrong, morally or any other way. 

Context would make it clear if the child had done something wrong and needed to be disciplined in the sense of “chastised.” The cognate verb παιδεύω can mean to teach in general. Paul was educated by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). Moses was educated in the wisdom of Egypt (Acts 7:22). But criminals can be punished, as Pilate offered to do to Jesus in order to placate the Jewish leaders (Luke 23:22).

It is therefore important that the author of Hebrews makes it clear that the discipline was a sign that they were God’s legitimate children (Heb 12:7) and was to their benefit, “so that we may share his holy character” (Heb 12:10).”

When difficult times come upon us, God is at work in the midst of the struggle and pain as any loving father would, not necessarily punishing his children but “disciplining” us so that we learn and grow. Yes, sometimes we need to be chastised. Other times we just need to be shaped and molded and directed. The presence of pain does not necessarily indicate the presence of sin. Certainly the book of Job has removed that disgusting notion from the thinking of any responsible Christian.

If you have been following my blog for very long, you may have surmised that I and my family went through a difficult situation in connection with the church, and experience that is almost universal among pastors. In fact, I am sitting just a few blocks away from this greatest source of pain in my life, and it is still hard. But I was teaching Hebrews this past week in New Testament Survey, and it hit me more than at any other time that the pain is a part of the natural, maturing process for any believer. It is a tool in the Father God’s arsenal to mold and shape us, changing us from one degree of glory into the next so that we will look more like his Son.

Sometimes παιδεία is painful because we have done something wrong and our loving heavenly Father would not dream of allowing us to live in our sin. At other times παιδεία is painful because we need to learn and grow, but not because we have done anything wrong.

Please don’t read the negative part of the semantic range of “discipline” into παιδεία as if it is always there. Sometimes it is; sometimes it isn’t. But God is our loving Father who treats us as his true children, and that means he cares enough to use the situations of life to change us.

And so he stands there watching, sorrowful for the pain in our lives, and yet loving us enough to walk with us through the pain. And in all that, we are confirmed to be his children.

William D. [Bill] Mounce posts about the Greek language, exegesis, and related topics at  Koinonia. He is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Basics of Biblical Greek, and is the general editor for Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words. He served as the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version Bible translation, and is currently on the Committee for Bible Translation for the NIV. Learn more and visit Bill's other blog on spiritual growth, Life is a Journey, at www.billmounce.com