Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) 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 was 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. The parents who punished their children were charged with kidnapping, with "kidnapping" being defined under the Law 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 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 in his secular writings. Paul may not have gotten along with the women of the church, but he sure loved children, and even took in a few orphaned children during his time as a deacon.
Sweden was the first country to ban all punitive parenting in modern times, with Sweden officially banning all punishment of a child, including corporal punishment, in 1979. However, certain ancient cultures banned all punitive treatment of a child. The Early Church prohibited all forms of punitive parenting, including corporal punishment. Roman law mandated that a parent discipline their children using punitive means. However, Christian parents then obeyed God over men, and refused to punish their children at all. In Ancient Israel proper, attachment parenting was the norm, with the only corporal punishment being for adults, in the form of the 40 minus 1 lashes. Christ did away with the harsh punishments in the Old Testament through His work on the cross.
Modern Israel banned punitive parenting in 2000. The 2000 ban on all punitive parenting was to allow for the secular courts to enforce child abuse law, extending to the parents the law by way of allowing the police to both make arrests and collect children when the family courts - who were sectarian in nature - refused to enforce existing law. Israel, ever since its 1948 founding, has never had a legal defense for punishment or force in parenting.
Since the ban, Israel passed a law against domestic violence, and included in that law any punishment or reprimands towards a child. The law was the first law in the region to prohibit all forms of domestic violence, including domestic violence against children. Any violence or force in a family home is now considered domestic violence in the context of that home.
The depraved and entitled parents who provoke their children to anger through punitive parenting will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast forever 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!
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