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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJames Hastings Dictionary of the NT: Chastisement
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The subject of chastisement and chastening is frequently mentioned in the OT and the NT. The NT terms are ðáéäåýù and ðáéäåßá , which correspond to éָñַø and îåּñָø of the OT. In classical usage these words refer to the whole of the education of the ðáῖò , including the training of the body. Sometimes they are used of the results of the whole process. They do not contain, however, the idea of chastisement. In the OT, Apocrypha, and NT this idea of correction, discipline, chastening, is added to that of the general cultivation of mind and morals: the education is ‘per molestias’ (Augustine, Enarr. in Pss., 119:66); see Luk_23:16, Heb_12:5; Heb_12:7-8, Rev_3:19; cf. Lev_26:18, Psa_6:1, Isa_53:5, Sir_4:17; Sir_22:6, 2Ma_6:12 (see Westcott on Heb_12:7; Trench, NT Syn.8, 1876, p. 23; Milligan, Greek Papyri, 1910, p. 94). In Act_7:22 there is found the only NT instance of the verb in its general Greek sense. In 2Ti_3:16 the noun is used for disciplinary instruction, the correction of mistakes and curbing of passions, that virtue may be increased. Pilate uses the verb in speaking of the terrible scourging of Jesus (Luk_23:16; Luk_23:22; cf. Deu_22:18), but it is a very mild term for the fearful flagellatio.
Chastisement, as part of the moral discipline of character, is the positive duty of a father (Eph_6:4). In this passage, ‘chastening’ is substituted by Revised Version for Authorized Version ‘nurture,’ which is too weak a word, but ‘discipline’ might be better still. The same idea of parental correction of the faults of children is found in Heb_12:9, where the fathers are described as ðáéäåõôáß (cf. Plato, Dialogues, translation Jowett, 1892, index, s.v. ‘education’). In this fatherly fashion God Himself chastens His children for their ultimate good (Heb_12:4-11; cf. Pro_3:11 f., Rev_3:19). The evils with which God visits men are rods of chastisement (1Co_11:32, 2Co_6:9; cf. Pro_19:18; Pro_29:17, Wis_3:4 ff; Wis_11:10 ff., 2Ma_6:16; 2Ma_10:4). Such treatment is not a sign of antipathy or rejection, but an evidence of true love. God does not leave His wayward children to their fate, but strives to bring them to becoming reverence and reformation. Sometimes the chastisement is of such a terrible character that the one who suffers is said to be ‘delivered unto Satan’ (1Co_5:5, 1Ti_1:20; cf. Job_2:6, Psa_109:6 m, Act_26:18). But even in these cases the ultimate object is the recovery of the sinner, ‘that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus’ and ‘that they might be taught not to blaspheme.’ The ‘thorn in the flesh’ afflicted St. Paul so grievously that he called it ‘a messenger of Satan’ (2Co_12:7 ff.; cf. Luk_13:16, Jub. x. 2), But it saved him from being ‘exalted overmuch’ and became a means of such abundant grace that he was led positively to glory in his weakness. This same grace of God, which brings salvation to all who receive it, does not always appear in gentle instruction, but sometimes takes the form of stern chastisement; in a word, whatever means is necessary for the perfect redemption of the soul, that means will grace employ (see Tit_2:11 ff.). To those who submit to this process of chastening, the rewards are immense and enduring. Compared with them the ‘affliction’ is ‘light,’ and the pain of the present moment is transformed into ‘an eternal weight of glory’ (2Co_4:16-18).
As to the relation between ðáéäåßá and íïõèåóßá , ‘chastening and admonition’ of Eph_6:4, T. K. Abbott (Eph. and Col. [International Critical Commentary , 1897] 178) maintains that ðáéäåßá is, as in classical writers, the more general, íïõèåóßá the more specific term, for instruction and admonition. On the other hand, Grotius, followed by Ellicott, Alford, and many others, declares: ‘ ðáéäåßá hic significare videtur institutionem per poenas; íïõèåóßá autem est ea institutio quae fit verbis.’ The Vulgate translates ‘in disciplina et correptione.’ The probability is that the former word refers to training by ‘act and discipline,’ the latter to training by ‘word.’ See also Admonition and Discipline.
Literature.-H. A. A. Kennedy. Sources of NT Greek, 1895, p. 101; R. C. Trench, NT Synonyms8, 1876, p. 107f.; H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John2, 1907, p. 63; the Commentaries on Ephesians, esp. J. Armitage Robinson, 1903; Expository Times xiv. [1902-03] 272; see also articles ‘Chastening’ and ‘Nurture’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) .
H. Cariss J. Sidnell.