Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Deuteronomy 8:5 Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
Proverbs 19:18 Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.
Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
Proverbs 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
Proverbs 29:17 Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
Proverbs 23:13-14 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
2 Samuel 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the chi…
Job 34:31-32 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 12:4-17
Here the apostle presses the exhortation to patience and perseverance by an argument taken from the gentle measure and gracious nature of those sufferings which the believing Hebrews endured in their Christian course.
I. From the gentle and moderate degree and measure of their sufferings: You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin, Heb 12:4. Observe,
1. He owns that they had suffered much, they had been striving to an agony against sin. Here, (1.) The cause of the conflict was sin, and to be engaged against sin is to fight in a good cause, for sin is the worst enemy both to God and man. Our spiritual warfare is both honourable and necessary; for we are only defending ourselve…
In Heb 12:7-8 the need of "chastening" or "discipline" is inculcated; in Heb 12:9, the duty of those to whom it is administered.
If--The oldest manuscripts read, "With a view to chastening (that is, since God's chastisement is with a view to your chastening, that is, disciplinary amelioration) endure patiently"; so Vulgate. ALFORD translates it as indicative, not so well, "It is for chastisement that ye are enduring."
dealeth with you--"beareth Himself toward you" in the very act of chastening.
what son is he--"What son is there" even in ordinary life? Much more God as to His sons (Isa 48:10; Act 14:22). The most eminent of God's saints were the most afflicted. God leads them by a way…
If ye endure chastening - If ye submit to his authority, humble yourselves under his hand, and pray for his blessing, you will find that he deals with you as beloved children, correcting you that he may make you partakers of his holiness.
God dealeth with you as with sons - He acknowledges by this that you belong to the family, and that he, as your Father, has you under proper discipline. It is a maxim among the Jewish rabbins that "the love which is not conjoined with reproof is not genuine."
The Church Fathers
Fathers are in the habit of disciplining their true children, and if they see them caned by the teachers, they do not worry; they see the fruit coming from the discipline. But they despise illegitimate children and do not accord them equal attention. So if you also avoid discipline, you are of the number of the illegitimate.
Although the same word, indeed, is employed in a different sense, where any one suffers evils for his sins, that he may be corrected. Whence is that in the Epistle to the Hebrews, "For what son is he to whom the father giveth not discipline?" And this is still more apparent in the same epistle: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
"Ye endure chastisement" (he says); not for punishment, nor for vengeance, nor for suffering. See, from that from which they supposed they had been deserted of God, from these he says they may be confident, that they have not been deserted. It is as if he had said, Because ye have suffered so many evils, do you suppose that God has left you and hates you? If ye did not suffer, then it were right to suppose this. For if "He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth," he who is not scourged, perhaps is not a son. What then, you say, do not bad men suffer distress? They suffer indeed; how then? He did not say, Every one who is scourged is a son, but every son is scourged. For in all cases He scourges His son: what is wanted then is to show, whether any son is not scourged. But thou wouldest not be able to say: there are many wicked men also who are scourged, such as murderers, robbers, sorcerers, plunderers of tombs. These however are paying the penalty of their own wickedness, and are not scourged as sons, but punished as wicked: but ye as sons.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Adoption — The giving to any one the name and place and privileges of a son who is not a son by birth. (1.) Natural. Thus Pharaoh’s daughter adopted Moses (Ex. 2:10), and Mordecai Esther (Esther 2:7). (2.)…
Adoption · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Afflictions · Exhibit the love and faithfulness of God — Exhibit the love and faithfulness of God
Chastisement · FROM GOD — FROM GOD
Parents · Their duty to their children is: To correct them — Their duty to their children is: To correct them
Perseverance · 1:10,22,23;2:7; — 1:10,22,23;2:7;
Reproof · God gives reproof to his own children — God gives reproof to his own children
Resignation · 12:12; — 12:12;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Hebrews 12:7
If ye endure chastening,.... In faith, with patience, with courage and constancy, with humility and reverence: there are many things which may encourage and animate the saints to endure it in such a manner; as that it is but a chastening, and the chastening of a father; it should be considered from whence it comes, and for what ends; that it comes from the Lord, and is for his glory, and their good; the example of Christ, and of other saints, should excite unto it. The Jews have a saying (q), that
"the doctrine of chastisements is silence;''
that is, they are to be patiently bore, and not murmured at. The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read the words as an exhortation; the f…
Hebrews 12:4-8
4. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
4. Nondum ad sanguinem restitistis adversus peccatum certando.
5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
5. Et obliti estic exhortationis quae vobis tanquam filiis loquitur, Fili mi, ne disciplinam Domini negligas, et ne deficias dum ab eo argueris:
6. For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
6. Quem enim diligit Dominus castigat, flegallat omnem filium quem suscipit.
7. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for wh…
disciplined by its father: Fathers from Greco-Roman as well as Jewish families were involved in day-to-day aspects of raising their children. Discipline was seen as a necessary, healthy, and important component of preparing the child for adulthood. A lack of fatherly discipline—in this case, a lack of hardships in life—is a mark of illegitimacy, not a blessing.
