Hebrews 12:7

7 if chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten?

Hebrews 12:7 Meaning and Commentary

Hebrews 12:7

If ye endure chastening
In faith, with patience, with courage and constancy, with humility and reverence: there are many things which may encourage and animate the saints to endure it in such a manner; as that it is but a chastening, and the chastening of a father; it should be considered from whence it comes, and for what ends; that it comes from the Lord, and is for his glory, and their good; the example of Christ, and of other saints, should excite unto it. The Jews have a saying ^F17, that

``the doctrine of chastisements is silence;''

that is, they are to be patiently bore, and not murmured at. The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read the words as an exhortation; the former of these renders it, "persevere in discipline"; the Syriac version, "endure correction"; the Arabic version, "be ye patient in chastisement"; and the Ethiopic version, "endure your chastening": but then the word, "for", should be supplied in the next clause, as it is in the Syriac and Ethiopic versions, making that to be a reason, enforcing this,

for God dealeth with you as with sons:
chastening is owning of them for his children, and it discovers them to be so, and shows that they continue such; he does not chasten them but when it is necessary; and whenever he does, it is in love and mercy, and for good, and in the best time, seasonably, and in measure:

for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
no one can be named, not the Son of God himself; he had the chastisement of our peace upon him; nor the more eminent among the children of God, as Abraham, David, and others; nor any in any catalogue, or list of them, such as in the preceding chapter; not one in any age or period of time whatever, in any bodies, societies, or communities of them, either under the Old or New Testament.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 62. 1.

Hebrews 12:7 In-Context

5 and ye have forgotten the exhortation that doth speak fully with you as with sons, `My son, be not despising chastening of the Lord, nor be faint, being reproved by Him,

6 for whom the Lord doth love He doth chasten, and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth;'

7 if chastening ye endure, as to sons God beareth Himself to you, for who is a son whom a father doth not chasten?

8 and if ye are apart from chastening, of which all have become partakers, then bastards are ye, and not sons.

9 Then, indeed, fathers of our flesh we have had, chastising [us], and we were reverencing [them]; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of the spirits, and live?