For Our Good

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“We must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time.”

Download discussion questions:  Hebrews 11:39-12:13
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I encourage you to look at the passage in Hebrews before you read this Blog entry.  What do you see in the text yourself?  What questions come to your mind?  How would you interpret what the writer says?  After even a few minutes examining and thinking about the text you will be much better prepared to evaluate the comments in the Blog.

A Developing Theme

A good beginning observation for an inductive study of a passage is repetition.  What ideas did the writer keep coming back to?  In this passage the pastor mentions “endurance” four times (v. 1,2,3,7). “Discipline” occurs nine times (v.5,6, twice in 7,8,9, twice in 10,11).  The writer explicitly connects the two terms in verse 7:  “It is for discipline that you endure.”

The sermon written to the Hebrew congregation has already emphasized that endurance is essential.

    • Earlier the pastor repeatedly warned against deepening dangers.
    • In Hebrews 6:11 the pastor expresses his desire for their diligence as the antidote to sluggishness.
    • In Hebrews 10:32-36 the pastor reminded the people of their earlier endurance. He exhorted them to continue in that perseverance.
    • In Hebrews 11:23-27 the pastor pointed to the example of Moses and his endurance as evidence of his faith through difficult times.

Now, in this passage, he introduces the topic of discipline as the purpose for endurance.

“It is for discipline that you endure.”

As a member of our group pointed out, the writer immediately provides an encouraging clarification.  He has just described the shocking possibilities of suffering for those who are faithful followers of Christ.  The exhortation to endurance is bolstered by the affirmation that those circumstances are “evidence of sonship.”  F. F. Bruce agrees.

These words [Proverbs 3:11f] remind a man who would be truly wise that when hardship is his lot he should accept it as God’s method of training and disciplining him, and as a token that he really is a beloved son of God.[1]

Another person commented that a lack of discipline, the absence of hardship or trials, would be a cause for worry: “then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (v. 8b).  Then someone pointed out additional reassurance: “He disciplines us for our good” (v. 10b).  That good is summarized by the writer, “so that we may share in His holiness.”

The pastor is not suggesting that endurance is an end it itself.  The purpose behind endurance is discipline.  “The endurance called for in Christians has discipline as its aim.”[2]

How we understand discipline becomes very important.

The divine purpose is unquestionable, but at the same time the efficacy of the discipline depends on the spirit with which it is received.  Patient endurance alone converts suffering into a beneficent lesson.[3]

How should we understand that “beneficent lesson?”  As someone asked in our discussion, is the discipline a response from God when we get into trouble?  Or is the discipline intended to keep us out of trouble?

Defining Discipline

When we hear the word “discipline” what is our immediate impression?  Do we assume it means punishment?  Or do we think of training?  Is there a difference?  Are the trials and difficulties we experience God’s punishment because of sin in our lives?  Or are hardships meant to strengthen our “staying power” in following Christ?

The distinction is important.  The writer, quoting Proverbs in the voice of a parent, emphasizes that the question of discipline must not be minimized or ignored.  “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord” (Hebrews 12:5b; Proverbs 3:11).  The difference between punishment and training profoundly affects the Christian life.  That difference in interpretation makes a very practical difference in the application of this passage.

Christians often interpret this passage as a threat of punishment.  That position is common when the verses are viewed in isolation, without the context of the rest of the sermon.  The typical reaction is fear of not meeting some expectation, usually in the form of spiritual disciplines – chapters of Scripture read or verses memorized or time spent in prayer.  The joyful anticipation of drawing near to a loving God is overshadowed by the fear of the awful consequences if we fail to measure up.

That view of discipline as God’s punishment can lead only to pride or despair.  When life is going well, we pridefully assume we must be “getting it right.”  Times of hardship or suffering must be signs of God’s displeasure at our failure, leading to hopelessness of never doing enough.[4]

Training offers a positive perspective, “for our good, so that we may share His holiness” (v. 10b).  Even difficult discipline does not decline into despair but to “peaceful fruit of righteousness” (v. 11).  The word group[5] used multiple times in Hebrews 12:5-11 has an educational emphasis,

which was used of the whole training and education of children. It speaks also of whatever in adults cultivates the soul, especially by correcting mistakes and curbing the passions. It speaks also of instruction which aims at the increase of virtue. The word does not have in it the idea of punishment, but of corrective measures which will eliminate evil in the life and encourage the good.[6]

The training aspect of the word is seen in several other New Testament uses:

    • Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22)
    • [Paul] was educated under Gamaliel (Acts 22:3)
    • with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition (2 Timothy 2:25)
    • [Scripture] for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)

“Discipline” as training continues the athletic image of a race from the beginning of this section of the sermon a few sentences earlier (Hebrews 12:1).  Most athletic training indeed is “not joyful” in the moment.  But the endurance built during the training makes all the difference in the race.  A member in our group commented that we need to remember that we are always learning and growing in our conformity to Christ.  Viewing our circumstances as training exercises helps that perspective.

Someone else mentioned that most athletic training involves a coach, someone who can recognize areas of weakness or incorrect form or specific skills that need improvement.  Then the coach prescribes the discipline that will improve future performance. My own brief (and inauspicious) experience in high school football includes the memory of at least one exercise that made absolutely no sense at the time. Only later did I realize that the workout strengthened particular muscles to avoid injury in a game.

Likewise, the difficulties we face often seem to make no sense.  Another comment from our group noted that the training can be difficult, even harsh or painful, citing Moses who was denied the Promised Land as an example (Numbers 20:12).  Some versions translate the word as “chasten” (KJV, NKJV, etc.) or even “punish” (GNT, NLV, etc.)[7]  Someone else added that the pastor writing this sermon to the Hebrew congregation never mentions discipline as God’s punishment.  Even the harsh language of Proverbs 3:12 (“He scourges every son whom He receives”) does not change the positive picture of training.  “It seems necessary in this context to stress the positive notion in the verb μαστιγοῦν [mastigoun, whip – mw]; the punishment is ‘corrective’ in character.”[8]

Both the context of Hebrews 12 and the model of Christ’s endurance support the positive aspect of training as the purpose of endurance.

By putting the phrase ‘as discipline’ first in the Greek sentence the pastor drives home the point that their sufferings are to be received as God’s formative ‘discipline’ and appropriately endured for what they are.[9]

Only if we recall that we are in the process of training can we accept God’s “formative discipline” as a “beneficent lesson.”

We must not be surprised if we are in for a rough time. When a man turns to Christ and seems to be getting on pretty well (in the sense that some of his bad habits are now corrected) he often feels that it would now be natural if things went fairly smoothly. When troubles come along – illnesses, money troubles, new kinds of temptation – he is disappointed. These things, he feels, might have been necessary to rouse him and make him repent in his bad old days; but why now?  Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level:  putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving, than he ever dreamed of being before.[10]

Training for What?

Once we understand that the discipline in Hebrews 12 is primarily about training, the natural question is, “Training for what?”  Granted the fact that we are not guaranteed an explanation, it still may be helpful to think about the end goal of our training.  Someone with experience in competitive swimming mentioned the grueling practices motivated by the anticipation of the upcoming championship.

Much of our discussion considered the effect of living as “aliens” (Hebrews 11:9) or “strangers and exiles” (v. 13), people who are looking for a “better country” (v. 16) we know God has prepared for us.  But like anyone in a foreign land, we are influenced by our surroundings.  Someone commented that the more we grow in Christlikeness the more we are out of step with our culture.  We face constant pressure from others and from our own desires to fit in, to adapt, to compromise.  We need training, discipline, endurance to maintain our faithfulness to Christ.  Another comment suggested that enduring that pressure is training us to face the increasing alienation as we continue to grow in Christ and as our culture continues to turn away from Him.

The writer’s stated purpose of our training is to “share in His holiness” (v. 10b).  That sharing brought our conversation back to the relational nature of the discipline or the training.  Even difficult or painful experiences have that relational purpose.

We cannot count on God to arrange what happens in our lives in ways that will make us feel good.
We can count on God to patiently remove all the obstacles to our enjoyment of Him.[11]

The passage quoted from Proverbs is addressed to a son, and the whole passage is based on the loving training a father offers to a cherished child, for the good of the child.  This discipline is more relational, more intimate than a coach with his team.  That intimacy makes possible the trust that the training is indeed a “beneficent lesson,” it really is for our good if not always for our immediate comfort.

The C. S. Lewis illustration begun above concludes with another image of that intimacy.

Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense.  What on earth is He up to?  The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.[12]

Perhaps our experiences and difficulties are intended as training to overcome the obstacles and diminish the distractions that lure us or drag us away from wholeheartedly following Christ.

Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel.[13]

God has forgiven us in Christ, as emphatically expressed earlier in the sermon to the Hebrews.  There are no obstacles from His perfect point of view.  But most of us have experienced the hesitation, the reluctance to draw near to God because of our shame or sense of sin or half-heartedness.  Those obstacles on our side of the equation diminish our ability to experience the joy He intends for us, “spirits born for bliss.”[14]

When we sin, we alienate ourselves from God; and if we are ever to be happy in His presence again, it is something in us that has to be altered – not anything in Him.[15]

To use Narnian imagery, perhaps the training God has for us is intended to remove the barriers to our happiness in Him, our genuine joy.  Training is necessary because, in Aslan’s words, “You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be.”[16]

The Apostle Paul had the perspective of enduring training with a glorious goal in mind.

we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh….Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:8-11, 16-18)

Paul saw his “momentary, light affliction” (afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, struck down, delivered over to death) as not worthy of comparison to the unseen eternal glory of joy in God’s presence.  May we help each other to develop that trust in God’s love, wisdom, and sovereignty in ordering all our circumstances “for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.”

[1] F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964), 357.

[2] Harold W. Attridge, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Philadelphia:  Fortress Press, 1989), 362.

[3] Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistle to the Hebrews:  The Greek Text with Notes and Essays, (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), 400.

[4] For a much more thorough discussion of this truth, see Larry Crabb, The Pressure’s Off:  There’s A New Way to Live (New York:  Waterbrook, 2018).

[5] παιδεία (paideia), v.5,7,8,11; παιδεύω (paideuō), v. 6,7,10; παιδευτής (paideutēs), v. 9)

[6] Kenneth S. Wuest, Hebrews in the Greek New Testament, Word Studies in the Greek New Testament; Volume II (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), 217-218.

[7] https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Hebrews%2012:7

[8] William L. Lane, Hebrews 9-13, Word Biblical Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan, 1991), note ff, 401.

[9] Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan:  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2012), 623.

[10] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins, 2000), 204-205.

[11] Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams (Colorado Springs, Colorado:  WaterBrook Press, 2001), 114; original emphasis.

[12] C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York:  HarperCollins, 2000), 204-205.

[13] John Piper, God Is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself (Wheaton, Illinois:  Crossway Books, 2005), Kindle Edition, location 451, emphasis added.

[14] Jean Hollander & Robert Hollander, Purgatorio (New York:  Anchor Books, 2003), 101.

[15] Dorothy L. Sayers, Introductory Papers on Dante:  The Poet Alive In His Writings – Volume 1(Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006), 80, original emphasis.

[16] C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia Book 7) (New York:  Collier Books, 1973), 183;
C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia Book 7) (p. 93). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition, location 2106.

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