Although I’ve written this before, I’d like to outline how I understand the differences between discipline and punishment. (These understandings have been built up through the teachings of others, so I’m not offering anything new in this definition.)
To me, punishment is receiving a consequence for breaking a rule. Punishment is a function of justice, that says lawbreakers must experience a penalty for wrong behavior. Hopefully, punishment (when applied fairly) works as a deterrent, but if that isn’t successful, it reminds offenders that what they did was wrong.
On the other hand, while discipline is also meant to reduce rule-breaking (i.e., like punishment), discipline is composed of crafted circumstances that bring a wayward person back into a healthy, righteous, or loving state. Discipline is a function of love, where someone loves a person who is wandering away from the good (and getting into things that is harmful – whether to them or to others) enough to bring that wanderer back to something better. (This is related to another use of the word “discipline”, when we proactively exercise self-discipline to keep ourselves from getting into an unhealthy situation in the first place.)
Even with God’s mercy (to not always punish us immediately for our sins) and His grace (to give us good things that we do not deserve), there are times when God’s love requires that He discipline His children.
Consider the following passage from Hosea.
“Will they not return to Egypt
and will not Assyria rule over them
because they refuse to repent?
A sword will flash in their cities;
it will devour their false prophets
and put an end to their plans.
My people are determined to turn from me.
Even though they call me God Most High,
I will by no means exalt them.Hosea 11:5-7 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/hos.11.5-7.NIV
In the time of Hosea the prophet, the Israelites’ ongoing unrepentant / unfaithful behavior to God was going to result in consequences for them.
- Returning to Egypt could be literal, but definitely sounds like being enslaved again. Per a commentator, this may refer to Israel seeking an alliance with Egypt to protect them from other nations, thereby yielding their independence again (voluntarily, this time).
- Being ruled over (by Assyria in this case) is a loss of their independence and authority that God had previously given them (in the former land of the Canaanites and others).
- The sword – enemies killing them – targets the false prophets who led the people astray (or, per a commentator, the people’s own city defenses). As we learn elsewhere in the Bible, false teaching is perhaps even worse than those who follow the false teaching, but neither group is necessarily spared from punishment or discipline. Whether sooner or later, God’s truth will prevail over all false teachings.
Now, I’m not sure if the consequences listed in this passage from Hosea are discipline or punishment, but I wonder, is the Israelites’ behavior here representative of the human condition, “determined to turn from” God (ref. v7)? Are we naturally inclined not only to walk a selfish path (one that is different from what God calls us to), but also to intentionally resist Him? I don’t know about you, but I have felt like that is the case for me.
If that is the case, then we should understand how much God loves us. Sometimes, what we may perceive as punitive punishment is actually the discipline of a God who wants to bring us back to the best place that we can possibly ever be: with Him in a healthy relationship. When God is blocking your path towards destruction, don’t get angry and call Him vengeful or a “killjoy”. Peek past His kind protection, and appreciate what He is saving you from! After all, it’s a lot better to be restored through the kindness of discipline, than it is to be punished for continuing in a life of unrepentant sin.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for March 5, 2023
References:
- The Lookout, March 5, 2023, © 2022 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Minor Prophets Volume 1 – Hosea-Micah, by Harold Shank. © 2001 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 