Many parents believe that spanking is a biblical concept. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most American parents cite 5 verses in Proverbs and insist that this alone constitutes the Bible condoning or commanding the use of corporal punishment in parenting. The fact of the matter is that the teaching of "biblical spanking" is a man-made teaching.
One popularly cited rod verse is Proverbs 13:24 KJV:
He that spareth his rod hateth his son: bur he that loveth him chasteneth him betumes.
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 here to the rod of correction, namely a switch. This verse, and those like it, ultimately refers to the 40 minus 1 lashes, as a sentence for a crime. It was unlawful then for a Jew to strike another Jew outside of the context of a courtroom. It was unlawful then to strike a minor child under Jewish law under any circumstance. This judicial punishment was seen as a last warning before an errant son was put to death.
Christ died and Rose on the Third Day in order to repeal the harsh punishments of the Old Testament. Christ abolished corporal punishment by enduring it unjustly before being placed onto the cross. The Early Christians never used corporal punishment as a form of church discipline, with church scofflaws instead being excommunicated from the Early Christian Churches of God.
The biblical teaching of "biblical spanking" is a man-made teaching. The Bible nowhere legitimately condones or commands the use of corporal punishment in parenting. However, the Bible does touch in 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 not simply to spanking your child, or simply punishing your child altogether for that reason. The Bible here prohibits any entitlement in parents, leading to offense in children. Offense in children consists of a parent refusing to apologize for hurting their child's feelings, at minimum. With that said, if you ever lose your cool with your child, 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 hurting your feelings with my temper", and then commit never to lose your cool with your child 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 ccustom 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 Bible is an anti-spanking document. All 88 books of te Bible - from Genesis to Revelation - were written by anti-spanking Jews, with spanking a child always being a violation of Jewish law. All of the biblical writers also wrote parenting manuals advocating attachment parenting. Even King Solomon himself wrote an attachment parenting manual. It just so happens that these parenting manuals were not translated into English until the 1960s. Before then, this level of parenting knowledge was known only to the Jewish world.
The Early Christians were pretty much solidly anti-spanking, shunning the punitive treatment of children as pagan. However, the Roman Catholic Church made many errors when translating the Bible into Latin. There is no excuse for this mistranslation of God's Law. Most all of our versions of the Bible, including English-language versions of the Bible, come from the Latinate Bible. God's Infallible Word is not in any of the English-language versions of the Bible, with the original Greek and Hebrew - as understood in context - being the God's Infallible Word.
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 desend 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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