"Biblical spanking": Why the rod verses in the book of Proverbs are repealed verses

Many parents spank their child when they are misbehaving. Most parents believe that the Bible endorses or even commands spanking. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. However, most parents need an attitude adjustment in this regard. The Bible does not endorse punitive measures imposed on children at all. Instead, the Bible prohibits punitive parenting in all of its forms.

The phrase "spare the rod, spoil the child" is nowhere found in the Bible. However, 5 verses in the Bible are commonly cited as rod verses that endorse or even command spanking. One commonly cited rod verse is Proverbs 13:24 KJV:

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

The Hebrew root word translated "son" is ben and refers here to a mature adult son. The Hebrew root word translated "rod" is shebet, and refers to, in the context of the book of Proverbs, the rod of correction, namely a switch. This passage ultimately refers to the 40 minus 1 lashes, administered to the bare back of the errant son, within the context of a courtroom, as a sentence for a crime. Striking a fellow adult Jew outside of the context of a courtroom was considered physical battery, with striking a minor Jew being prohibited regardless of the crime, with children then being immune from prosecution. The reason for this commandment was that, otherwise, Jewish parents would have shielded their adult sons from guilt. The 40 minus 1 lashes was a final warning before an errant son was executed. 

Christ died and Rose on the Third Day so that we would be free from the harsh punishments of the Old Testament. Christ repealed the verses depicting the rod by enduring corporal punishment unjustly before being nailed to the cross. In the Early Church, corporal punishment was never used as a form of church discipline. The Early Christians instead shunned Roman flogging and executions.

The teaching of "biblical spanking" is a man-made teaching. The Bible nowhere legitimately condones the corporal punishment of children. The rod verses in Proverbs are nowhere repeated in the New Testament, with Heb. 12:5-6 instead referring to trials and tribulations sent by God the way of the believer. However, the Bible does touch on the spanking issue, and then some. 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 here to offenses or damages, namely the slightest of personal offense perceived by a child, stemming from entitlement. It is one thing to stop spanking your child. However, it is not enough to stop spanking your child, or even stop punishing your child altogether for that matter. You need to avoid offense in children. Avoiding offense in children is the same as avoiding offense in other adults. Just like hurt feelings are inevitable in relations between adults, hurt feelings are also inevitable in children when dealing with them. Thus ,in order to avoid offense in children, you need to be willing to give a meaningful apology whenever you hurt your child's feelings. Usually, all that is necessary is a reassurance of good intent coming from parents, in the form of an informal apology, whenever you hurt your child's feelings with limits not set out of anger, such as "I'm sorry, but I had to set X limit for Y reasons". However, if you ever lose your cool with your child as a parent, including while setting limits, you definitely need to give a formal apology for hurting your child's feelings with your anger, such as "I apologize for losing my temper with you", and then commit never to lose your cool ever again, as any parent anger directed towards a child is entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. 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, which is a Latin term roughly translating to "power to the parent", namely the power to impose punitive sanctions on children, such as spanking or other forms of punishment of children. However, this commandment was ultimately was received by the parish at Colossae as prohibiting any offenses in children as perceived by a child, at minimum. Paul, contrary to popular legend, was anti-spanking, and opposed any and all punitive parenting in his secular writings. Attachment parenting was banned under Roman law, but the Early Christians did it anyway, obeying God over men.

All 88 of the books of the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were written by anti-spanking Jews, with most Jews throughout history being anti-spanking. All of these biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals advocating attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual, with the rod in Proverbs referring to a form of judicial corporal punishment that does not apply today. The rod verses in Proverbs are repealed verses, meaning they were only binding on the Jewish people then.

The Hebraic understanding of attachment parenting is new to the Christian world. The attachment parenting manuals in the Bible were not translated into English until the 1960s. Before then, this knowledge was only known to the Jewish world. Around the time that these parenting manuals came about, pastors and priests coined a false context known as the Revised context, with the intent to scare men in particular from learning about the Hebraic context of the Bible. The Hebraic context of the Bible does not endorse intergenerational marriages of any kind, with marriages then needing to be equal in nature, meaning the bride had to be the same age as the groom or up to 4 years older than the groom. Mary was 14 when she married Joseph, but Joseph was 13 at the time of the marriage. There is nothing to be feared of the Hebraic context of the Bible. 

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!