"Biblical spanking": Why the rod verses in Proverbs are repealed verses

Many parents think that they have the right - maybe even the duty - to spank or punish a child. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents use the phrase "spare the rod, spoil the child" to support punitive parenting. This phrase, in and of itself, sums up 6 verses that mention the rod. However, most people do not know what these verses actually mean.

One notable rod verse is Proverbs 13:24 KJV:

He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

The Hebrew root word translated "son" is ben and refers to a mature adult son. The Hebrew root word translated "rod" is shebet and refers to a switch in the context of the book of Proverbs. This verse refers to a form of judicial corporal punishment known as the 40 minus 1 lashes, administered to the bare back, as a sentence for a crime. Striking another Jew outside of a courtroom setting was considered unlawful, with striking a minor child being completely unlawful then. King Solomon instead recommended attachment parenting for minor children in his secular writings. The reason for this commandment because, otherwise, fathers would refuse to whip his son. 

All 6 verses of the book of Proverbs that mention the rod are repealed verses. Christ did away with the harsh punishments of the Old Testament by way of His Work on the cross. One of these punishments done away with by Christ was the 40 minus 1 lashes.

The book of Proverbs does not refer to any "biblical spanking". However, God does weigh in on the spanking issue, and expands upon it. See Colossians 3:21 KJV:

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 offenses or damages, 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, with this entitlement including any parent anger directed towards children. It is not enough to stop spanking or punishing children - you need to avoid offense in children. However, hurting a child's feelings is inevitable in parenting, and thus you should be willing to give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt their feelings. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent from parents. However, if you ever lose your cool as a parent, you should definitely give a formal apology whenever you lose your cool with your child, and then commit to never losing your cool with your child ever again, as losing your cool alone is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement even then. This commandment cross-references the Eighth and the Tenth Commandments, with the Apostle Paul here convicting a group of Greek Christian parents who brought into the church their pagan custom of patrias potestas, and is a Latin phrase roughly translated to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking or other forms of punishment. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

The most common form of child punishment in Ancient Greece was an open-handed spanking to a bare bottom. Spanking was a pagan tradition then, and the Apostle Paul would have none of it in the churches that he oversaw as deacon. However, Paul used the word ερεθιζο as a root word for provoking a child to anger, meaning offending a child at all in the Christian tense of offending a child. When Rome took over, the pagan custom of spanking children was absorbed into the Western Church.

Any anger in parenting was banned in the Early Church. Anger at a child was seen as akin to a viper lashing out at its prey. Parenting then was not motivated by anger, but instead was motivated by worry and concern. Most Christian parents then did not get angry with their children ever, and when they did everyone took the side of the child, mobbing the parents for their entitlement whenever it spilled over into public.  

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!