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Those who would defend sin often
use Hebrews chapter 12 to prove that if you are under chastisement
for your sins, then this confirms you are a child of God. One verse
says:
In your struggle against sin you
have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (v. 4)
The
other is:
For whom the Lord loves, he
chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. (v.6)
These
passages help support their flawed cliché of, “I sin every day in
thought, word, and deed.”
This prompts me to ponder the nature of the chastisement
one experiences daily, especially when one claims to sin regularly. How
does God chastise them? By what means does God bring about correction?
Furthermore, upon deeper reflection, it appears that their entire
existence might revolve around a cycle of sin and correction. Is there
a future day when sin will cease, bringing an end to the chastisement?
If the purpose of this is to impart a lesson, what lesson is learned if
one continues to sin? Is it necessary for me to sin daily as a
testament to being a child of God? Does abstaining from daily
transgressions imply that God's love is absent?
Sin
supporters will say that if you fail to confess your sins you will
certainly be chastised (using Heb. 12:6) over your disobedience and
as a result run the risk of being prematurely
killed by God for
shaming His holy name. But I have to wonder. Why did God never kill
Paul for his supposed willful and defiant behavior since he is
considered the chief of
sinners even after
conversion?
For
that matter, if all our future sins are really “paid for in
advance” and guarantees us eternal salvation regardless how we live
afterward (after all, one cannot go a day without sinning), then is
not a confession
of ongoing sin really purposeless since God is now morally blind to
any sins we commit now and in the future? Furthermore, how could God
possibly KILL (chastise) us over sins that are “paid for” by the
provision of Calvary, and charge them against us again? It would be
absurd that God would kill us over sins He has already forgiven!
Dear reader, can you recognize the absurdity of these notions
when we employ some basic reasoning to unscriptural beliefs?
From
Genesis to Revelation, it is clear that we must forsake
our wickedness, purge
our heart of evil, and seek
the mercy of God.52
Would not living and encouraging holy living as instructed in
scripture be a better option? This certainly means the difference
between life and death (eternal consequences).
Chastisement
When
people look at the word “chastisement” they automatically think
“punishment.”
When Isaiah says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the
chastisement
of our peace was upon
him” (Isa.
53:5),
people automatically read it as, “He was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the
punishment of
our peace was upon him.”
Punishment
has to do with retribution. Wilson’s
Old Testament Word Studies
points out that there are two words in Hebrew that are translated as
“chastisement.” One as punishment,
chastening; and the
other as, to discipline,
to correct, to chasten.”53
Since Jesus is not punished, the latter definition in Isaiah, to me,
is more appropriate.
Indeed
chastisement is for believers.
If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? (Heb. 12:7).
In the NET reads:
Endure your suffering as
discipline;
God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does
not discipline?
However, is it over sin? No
believer should be living in deliberate rebellion. If one is living
in willful, blatant sin, they can no longer be considered a child of
God. Sin has a non-negotiable penalty, which is death.
Notice the passage in Heb. 12:4
where it states:
You have not yet resisted to the
point of bloodshed in your struggle against sin.
Notice
it does not say “In your struggle against YOUR
sin…” Has anyone ever accomplished drawing blood from striving
against their own sins? Should striving against our own sin come to
the point of shedding our own blood?
Let
us look at the context and draw its meaning:
Therefore, since we are
surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of
every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with
endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him
he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat
at the right hand of the throne of God. Think of him who endured such
opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary
in your souls and give up. You have not yet resisted to the point of
bloodshed in your struggle against sin. (Hebrews 12:1-4)
The
verse is not talking about our own sin, for we should not have any in
our life. It has to do with persecution,
the sin of others.
And
who should we think of when we come under such persecution? Think of
Jesus:
Think of him who endured such
opposition against
himself by
sinners, so that you
may not grow weary in your souls and give up.
This
has to do with the “sinners against us;” the sinful acts they
commit against us as they did against Christ.
If
we read Hebrews chapter 11, we find the early saints resisted unto
the shedding of blood, not because of some besetting sin they had in
their own life, but from the sin
of others (Heb.11:36-38).
Those saints went under much persecution.
We
are informed that those who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall
suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Hebrews 12 is not telling us
that the believers are chastised, as in punishment, for their own
sin. This is not about God the Father playing the big bully who beats
His children to instill fear in them not to sin. Rather, Hebrews 12
is preparing the
believers for persecution. We
learn obedience through suffering. The same was true of Jesus:
Although he was a son, he learned
obedience through the things he suffered. And by being perfected in
this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey
him… (Hebrews 5:8-9)
Jesus
also endured the discipline of His Father through
suffering under
the sin of others. This is intended to encourage us as we undergo
persecution as well.
Those
who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. For some of
us, it may not be to the point of bloodshed at the hands of others.
People may simply lie about us, spread rumors, insult us, etc..
Jesus
said:
Blessed are you when people
insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil
against you because of me.
It
should be expected that people are going to insult us and falsely say
all kinds of evil against us because of Jesus.
What
about the verse that says, “We must get rid of every weight and the
sin that clings so closely?” First note that it does not say, “we
must get rid of every weight and the sins we are committing.” The
true meaning is, just as we would put aside a weight, we would also
put aside
persecution and
not allow it to
hinder our running the race
that is set before us.
We
have to lay aside every weight. (see also 1 Peter 5:7) We cannot let
it distract us. If we allow it, it certainly can hinder us. We may
feel like giving up. “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad,” Jesus
said.
The
Lord Jesus wants us to rejoice. I am reminded of the story in Acts 5.
The council came together and ordered the apostles to be flogged, and
they were told not to speak in the name of Jesus and then released.
These men were whipped! They suffered not only from verbal
accusations but physically as well. And what did they do? They did as
Jesus said:
So they went on their way from
the presence of the Council,
rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for
His name. And every
day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on
teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.
We
are in a time where all the brothers and sisters in Christ will need
to edify and encourage one another in times of persecution. For some
of us, it will be to the point of our own blood shed by the hands of
others. This is happening today in other countries. For others, it
will not be so extreme. (Matt. 5:43-45; John 16:1-4; 1 Peter 4:12-13)
Remember
what Jesus said:
And all nations will hate you
because you are my followers. But everyone who endures to the end
will be saved. (Matt. 10:22)
All men will hate you because of
me. (Luke 21:17)
If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me first. (John 15:18)
Remember
the words of Paul:
Therefore, when we could stand it
no longer, we decided to remain alone in Athens and send Timothy, our
brother who works with us for God in the gospel of the Messiah, to
strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that
no one would be shaken by these persecutions,
for which you are aware that we were destined. In fact, when we were
with you, we told you
ahead of time that we
were going to suffer
persecution. And as
you know, that is what happened. (1 Thess. 3:2-4)
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