Hebrews 12 SERIES - Verse 4-8

  Commentary of Charles Spurgeon, Adam Clarke & Matthew Henry

 

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou 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. 

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Vs.4-8

Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, - It has hardly come to blows and bruises yet — certainly not to bloody strokes. Ye have not lost blood yet for Christ.

 

Striving against sin - Προς την ἁμαρτιαν ανταγωνι ζομενοι· 

--- An allusion to boxing at the Grecian games. 

--- In the former passages the apostle principally refers to the foot races....Every Christian is enlisted under Christ's banner, to strive against sin.

 

And ye have forgotten - Or, have ye forgotten the exhortation? 

This quotation is made from Proverbs 3:11, Proverbs 3:12, and shows that the address there, which at first sight appears to be from Solomon to his son.

Despise not thou the chastening - Do not neglect the correction of the Lord.
Nor faint - Do not be discouraged nor despair. 

 

For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth - Here is the reason why we should neither neglect correction, nor faint under it.

And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth - Μαστιγοι δε παντα υἱον, ὁν παραδεχεται . This is a quotation, literatim from the Septuagint, of Proverbs 3:12, of which place our version is.

 

If ye endure chastening - If ye submit to his authority, humble yourselves under his hand, and pray for his blessing, you will find that he deals with you as beloved children, correcting you that he may make you partakers of his holiness.

 

Then are ye bastards - This proceeds on the general fact, that bastards are neglected in their manners and education; the fathers of such, feeling little affection for, or obligation to regard, their spurious issue. But all that are legitimate children are partakers of chastisement or discipline; for the original word παιδεια does not imply stripes and punishments, but the whole discipline of a child, both at home and at school.

 

(1.) The best of God's children need chastisement. They have their faults and follies, which need to be corrected.

(2.) Though God may let others alone in their sins, he will correct sin in his own children; they are of his family, and shall not escape his rebukes when they want them. 

(3.) In this he acts as becomes a father, and treats them like children; no wise and good father will wink at faults in his own children as he would in others; his relation and his affections oblige him to take more notice of the faults of his own children than those of others.

(4.) To be suffered to go on in sin without a rebuke is a sad sign of alienation from God; such are bastards, not sons.

 

 

Whenever we are under the scourging hand of God, how we ought to be cheered with the thought that this is a part of the heritage of the children. 

There are Elis who spoil their children. God is not one of them.