The Difference Between Punishment and Discipline

by Paul Tautges | October 14, 2013 8:46 am

Just as God marvelously designed the human body to heal a broken bone, so He has equipped the body of Christ with all that is necessary for every member to be involved in the process of restoring broken parts damaged by sin. As with the human body’s reaction to broken bone, restoration of sinning brethren should be the “normal healing cycle.” The goal of restoration to the Lord, which includes reconciliation with the family of God, is consistently taught by other Scriptures:

In all of these passages, the goal is the same. It is always restorative and never punitive. In particular, we conclude from the passage in Hebrews that God does not punish His children—He disciplines them. There is an enormous difference between punishment and discipline.

Punishment casts away, while discipline restores. Punishment is for subjects of wrath, while discipline is for children of God. Punishment requires payment for sin, while discipline corrects to protect and bless, because sin has already been paid for by Jesus. Punishment focuses on past sins, whereas discipline, while still dealing with sin, looks to the future blessing of obedience that follows true repentance. This is why punishment often provokes believers to wrath while biblical discipline works to produce sorrow leading to repentance.

Understanding the difference between judicial punishment and parental discipline is crucial to being effective in the discipleship process. God is our example. He never punishes His children. He does not give us tally marks for misconduct. Instead, He does the harder work of coming alongside offenders, confronting them in love, leading them to repentance and biblical confession, and restoring them to fellowship so that they may continue to be sanctified. The main reason why a punitive approach to sanctification does not work is because it fails to adequately address the issue of the heart—where true change begins. Most seriously, it risks undermining one’s comprehension of and confidence in the atonement of Christ, who took all our punishment on the cross. This is more than semantics! How discipline is handled in the discipleship process either affirms the theology of the cross or subtly replaces it with a performance-based approach to godliness that may feed a fear of man as the motivation for holiness rather than the infinitely superior drive of love for Christ: “and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf” (2 Cor. 5:15).

[Excerpted from Counseling One Another: A Theology of Inter-Personal Discipleship[1]]

Endnotes:
  1. Counseling One Another: A Theology of Inter-Personal Discipleship: https://www.cvbbs.com/products/counseling-one-another-a-theology-of-interpersonal-discipleship-tautges-paul?_pos=11&_sid=aa07fcd81&_ss=r
  2. Brass Heavens: Reasons for Unanswered Prayer.: https://www.wtsbooks.com/products/brass-heavens-reasons-for-unanswered-prayer-paul-tautges-9781936760633?variant=9795170009135?utm_source=ptautges&utm_medium=blogpartners
  3. HELP! My Toddler Rules the House: https://www.biblicalcounselingbooks.com/products/help-my-toddler-rules-the-house

Source URL: https://counselingoneanother.com/2013/10/14/the-difference-between-punishment-and-discipline/