Hebrews 12:5-8: Why this is not a spanking passage

Many parents punish their children. Most American parents support punishing a child. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents use the Bible as an excuse for punitive parenting. The passage that holds the pro-spanking argument together is Hebrews 12:5-8. However, this passage is not a command to punish or reprimand a child.

It says in Hebrews 12:5-8 KJV:

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: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons, for what son is he who the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

The Greek root word translated "scourgeth" is μαστιγόω (Latin: mastigoó) and is a reference to the 40 minus 1 lashes imposed on young adults in the Old Testament by fathers when the young adult was convicted of a criminal offense, with the whipping taking place within a courtroom - the rod verses, when literally understood in context, speak of judicial corporal punishment, not domestic corporal punishment. The Early Christians did not carry on the legal tradition of the 40 minus 1 lashes. The mention here of God whipping His children is a metaphor for trials and tribulations. In the Hebraic languages, instead of saying "I had a hard day at work" you would say "God whipped me hard today". This passage was specifically intended by the Apostle Paul to comfort the Hebrew Christians in their persecution by the Romans.

God whips His children, like only He can. God only whips His children when there it doesn't harm children. Earthly parents only whip their children when it does harm them. Earthly parents instead should use natural parenting, meaning attachment parenting, in bringing up children. The passage in Heb. 12:5-8 is not a spanking passage, but instead comfort for a long day at work. There are passages in the Bible that deal with proper Christian parenting. See Ephesians 6:1-4 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers here to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and submission of parents. Children are to rest securely in the sacrifice of parents, just as parent believers rest securely in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul to lift up the customary law that commands a secure attachment between parents and children in the family home. This secure attachment comes from parent submission, where parents are to submit to their children as their enemy, from beneath yet from above, expecting absolutely nothing in return.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to wrath" is παροργίζο (Latin: parorgizo) and refers to damages or offenses, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, including, but not limited to, the slightest of offensive touch or speech perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. This commandment was intended by the Apostle Paul, and understood in its original context, as a moral statute prohibiting all forms of punitive parenting, including, but not limited to, any punishments, reprimands, or other controlling demeanor towards children. In the Old Testament, punitive parents were put to death by way of bloodletting, after punishing their children one last time. Parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined as the slightest of damages or offenses stemming from hostage-taking - child punishment was seen as holding your child hostage merely for things that they did wrong, thereby treating your child as a quartered slave. Paul here was lifting up the Law in order to convict a group of Greek Christian parents in the parish at Ephesus who brought their pagan custom of spanking and punishing children into the church. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punishment of a child.

The Greek root word translated "nurture" is παιδεία (Latin: paideia) and here refers to, in context, modeling Christian discipline to children. The Christian standard of discipline is deserving of absolutely nothing, therefore grateful for absolutely everything, coming from a sinful nature, with this discipline leading to a chastened up example for children to follow. Christian parents in the Early Church centered their entitlement in view of their children, with their children following in their footsteps. Children in the Early Church were caught being good, instead of caught being bad. Whenever a child emulated the Christian example of parents, they were given lavish praise and encouragement to "keep headed down the straight path". Boys were rewarded with manly praise when caught being good, and girls were given hugs and snuggles when caught being good. Sometimes, children needed direct advice from parents. The Greek root word translated "admonition" is νουθεσία (Latin: nouthesia) and refers to the advice and counsel of parents, meaning parents could only either give advice to their children or counsel them. Parents of dependent children were prohibited from issuing lawfully binding orders to children, with parents being under the divine authority of children.

For the first 6 years of a child's life, children were in constant closeness to mothers, meaning that wherever the mother went, so did the child. The Early Christians practiced birth nudity, with mother and child in the nude next to each other, in skin-on-skin closeness and intimacy. When children cried, mothers cooed while picking them up, then holding the upset child to her bosom in mammary closeness. When out and about in public, mothers swaddled their children next to their bosom in swaddling blankets. Come nightfall, children co-slept next to the child in skin-on-skin comfort and sustenance. Children continued to sleep next to their children until the onset of puberty, when they wanted a place of their own to sleep.

For the last 7 years of childhood, children were turned over to the providing custody of their fathers, for religious instruction. Fathers left out a Bible for a child to find, and hopefully, take interest in. When children were caught reading Scripture, they were lavishly praised and encouraged in their religious vocation. Fathers bonded with children by way of following any sexual thoughts about them to the end by way of masturbatory fantasy. Righteous masturbation centered the parent attraction of fathers in a certain place, away from the child. This led to the parent attraction coming out as a male nurturing instinct. It is a myth that fathers corrected sexually - any sexual relations between adults and children was considered a capital offense on the part of the adult (see Lev. 18:17; 20:13).

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to wrath through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Let them forever be cast into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath day and night forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!