Hebrews 12:5-6: Why this passage is not a pro-spanking passage

Many parents think that the Bible condones or even commands spanking a child. This is a common attitude amongst American parents. Most pro-spanking parents cite 5 passages in the book of Proverbs and 1 passage in the book of Hebrews as their "proof" that spanking is biblical. However, the main passage holding  together the case for "biblical spanking" is Heb. 12:5-6. But, this "proof" in Hebrews sits on shaky ground. The fact of the matter is that the passage in Heb. 12:5-6 refers to enduring hardship, not the spanking of a child.

God's Word on trials and tribulations is spelled out in Hebrews 12:5-6 KJV:

And ye have forgotten the exhortation that speaketh unto you as unto children, My on, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

This passage, when understood correctly, can be comforting to me. The Greek root word translated "scourgeth" is μαστιγόω (Latin: mastigoó) and can have a figurative meaning to it, as is the case here. This passage consists of a metaphor known as rod language. When a Christian man got home from a long day at work, he instead said "God whipped me hard today". God obviously does not reach down from the Heavens and whip His children. However, God punishes His children, like only He can, sending trials and tribulations the way of His children that He loves the most. However, God only punishes His children when it does not harm them, whereas earthly parents only punish their children when it does, in fact, harm them.

The teaching of "biblical spanking" is a man-made teaching. The Bible nowhere 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 just to a spanking, or even to punishing a child altogether for that matter. This passage prohibits entitlement in parents, leading to offense in children. Offense in children consists of hurt feelings that parents refuse to apologize for, at minimum. With that said, 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 hurting your feelings with my temper", and then commit never to lose your cool with your child, as any 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 measures 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 the 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 staple punishment in the broader Greco-Roman world was an open-handed spanking to a bare bottom. This sort of punishment was seen by the Early Christians as pagan in nature. There existed church infiltrators then that brought with them their pro-spanking attitudes. Paul would have none of it, and sent anti-spanking commandments to the parishes at Colossae and Ephesus respectively. 

Contrary to popular belief, the Early Christians were not well-integrated into Rome. Instead, the Early Christians lived in urban 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.  

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!