Many parents think that the Bible has no concept of child abuse apart from obeying the law of the land. Most American parents support the present-day child abuse definitions under state and federal law. However, God's Law is above the law of the land. The Bible has its own definition of child abuse - whatever the child victim perceives as abuse.
The Greek root word denoting parental entitlement in the New Testament is πλεονέκτης (Latin: pleonektés) and is defined as, officially speaking, wanting things from children, to the point of imposition. Unofficially speaking, parental entitlement consists of a parent being sorely disappointed when they don't get the well-behaved child that they feel that they deserve. Parents are deserving of absolutely nothing in relation to children just for being parents. Even any parent anger directed towards children is parental entitlement, and was seen as entitlement in the Early Church. Whenever this sense of entitlement in parents then was perceived by a child as offensive or damaging, it was deemed child abuse. See also 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. Child abuse in the Bible, as a legal concept, consists of entitlement in parents, leading to offense in children. The key to not abusing your child is to avoid offense in children. If you hurt someone else's feelings, you need to apologize. It works the same way with children when dealing with them. Thus, in order to avoid offense in children, you need to apologize to your child for hurting their feelings. One thing that hurts children's feelings the most is parent anger directed towards children. If you ever lose your cool with your child as a parent, including while settting limits, you definitely need to give a formal apology for hurting your child's feelings with your anger, such as "I apologize for hurting your feelings with my temper", and then commit never to lose your cool with your child ever again, as anu parent anger directed towards a child alone 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 received by the parish at Colossae as prohibiting causing 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.
The Greek root word translated "they be discouraged" is αθυμέω (Latin: athumeo) and refers here to long-term damages, namely childhood trauma. The ancients in the Bible had a basic concept of childhood trauma. If a child grew up to be atheist, shame fell on the parents, meaning not the child. An atheist in the Early Church was seen as an abused child, not a "lost soul" to be "won over"
The ancients in the Bible even had a concept of child sexual abuse. The Greek root word translated "fornication" in the New Testament is πορνεία (Latin: porneia) and refers here to anything out of the sexual norm in the Early/Church. This included any sexual relations or advances outside of the context of a Christian marriage between one adult man and one adult woman, with this commandment needing to be equal in terms of chronological age. Intergenerational marriage was banned in the Early Church. A groom was only allowed a bride his age or up to 4 years older. Most child sexual abuse in the biblical context happened in the form of father-child incest, with daughters being the usual victims. Fathers with parent attractions spent away their sexual desires for their children by way of righteous masturbation, meaning masturbation without pornography. Even all pornography was banned in the Early Church, meaning anything intended as such. Child sexual abuse was rare in the biblical context, meaning it was next to non-existent. Attraction to children was out in the open in the Early Church. Most men then had an attraction to their daughters, and masturbated to sexual thoughts of their daughters, being a man of few words when asked of his fantasies, including by his daughter. Whenever a man tried to hide his parent attractions when asked of such attractions, he was seen as suspect of child sexual abuse. Children then who were being sexually abused knew what was happening, and self-reported their own abuse that they suffered. Whenever child sexual abuse was found out, it was a huge moral outrage, with the given community being outraged by the abuse that the child suffered.
Contrary to popular belief, the Early Christians were not well-integrated into Rome. Instead. the Early Christians lived in enclaves in major Greco-Roman cities, shunning the broader Greco-Roman world, and the world at large. The Early Christians even had their own court system, with these courts being binding into the end of the 1st Century.
Child abuse was prosecuted in the Early Church by way of internal church investigation. This investigation usually started with a child confiding into a church clergyperson about their home life. From there, the parents were summoned to appear before a council of 3 church elders, who would preside over the investigation. If the parents at all got defensive in court, they were swiftly excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God, as well as any witnesses called to testify on the behalf of the parents.
The Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of the Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were written by anti-spanking Jews, with spanking a child - then and now - being prohibited under Jewish law. All of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals that advocated attachment parenting. Even King Solomon wrote an attachment parenting manual, with the rod in Proverbs referring to the 40 minus 1 lashes, as a sentence for a crime. It just so happens that these attachment parenting manuals only being translated into English in the 1960s. Before then, this level of parenting knowledge was known only to the Jewish world.
The Bible is America's book. America is a Christian nation, founded on Judeo-Christian values. We as a society glean from the Bible and its context as to how to live and treat each other with respect. Even our legal codes are based off of biblical teaching. However, the criminal defense of "reasonable chastisement" is based off of dated biblical teaching. It is about time that we repeal the "reasonable chastisement" defense, and redefine child abuse as whatever the child victim perceives as abuse.
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!
