Does God chasten with sicknesses and deaths?

When the New Testament, which was written in Greek, speaks of chastening, for example, in Hebrews 12, it is referring literally to "child-training". The Greek word used for "chasten" in the New Testament is "paideuo", from which we get "pediatrics" and "pediatrician".

Biblical chastening or child-training is always done in love and for the good of the child (Hebrews 12:6,10,11). Also, when a father chastens his child, he is actually showing the child that he is his legitimate son, and not a bastard (Hebrews 12:7,8).

While it is clear that God does chasten His children (Hebrews 12:5-13), the question that has divided Christians is if He does it by inflicting physical pain, sicknesses, accidents, deaths and other tragedies.

In other words, does God put cancer on your body to teach you long-suffering and faithfulness? Does He cause you to get into a terrible car accident to teach you to drive with more patience?

Hebrew permissive tense

Many Christians believe that God does author and carry out such acts to chasten His people. To support their argument, the usually quote Old Testament verses such as:

Deuteronomy 28:27
27 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.

Deuteronomy 28:28
28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:

Deuteronomy 28:35
35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

They usually quote from the Old Testament because the New Testament portrays God as a very willing healer and life giver.

Healings

Luke 13:16 -- And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

Matthew 8:16
16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

Matthew 12:15
15 But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all;

Mark 1:40,41
40 And there came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 41 And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.

Luke 6:19
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Acts 10:38
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Raising the dead

Mark 5:41
41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

Luke 7:14,15
14 And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
15 And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.

John 11:43,44
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

In fact, most of Jesus' miracles had to do with healing. Notice how many times "healed all" appears in the above verses. Also, in Acts 10:38, we see that

1. sickness was an oppression of the devil,

2. Jesus was "doing good" by healing people, and

3. God was with Jesus, that is, God was pleased with Jesus healing the sick.

Anyone who has read all of Jesus' healing miracles with an open heart will know that it is God's will to heal the sick.

How then, do we reconcile the earlier verses of Deuteronomy 28? Does God give sicknesses and kill in the Old Testament, but heal and give life in the New Testament? Here is the good news:

Dr Robert Young, author of Young's Analytical Concordance and Hints To Bible Interpretation, points out that in the original Hebrew (the Old Testament was written in Hebrew), the verb is in the permissive rather than causative sense.

So, Deuteronomy 28:27 should have been translated something like, "The Lord will allow/permit these plagues to be brought upon you..."

The original Hebrew of these scriptures was in the permissive tense, but because the English language has no corresponding permissive tense, the verbs were translated in the causative tense.

There is thus no contradiction. The God of the Old Testament and New Testament is the same God that "healeth thee" -- Jehovah Rapha (Exodus 15:26). He does not change (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8).

Sicknesses, accidents and deaths come from Satan (John 10:10), not God. God may lift His hand of protection and allow these things to come upon His children, but He is not the instigator of them. God is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33).

Neither is God a child-abuser. He does not chasten or child-train His children with such horrible things. He chastens them with His Word to their spirits (see With His Word, to our spirits).

Redeemed from every type of sickness

Under the Old Covenant system of law, God blesses His people if they obey His laws, but allows terrible curses to come upon them if they don't (Deuteronomy 28:1,15).

In Deuteronomy 28, there are 11 verses of blessings (verses 3 to 13) and 53 verses of curses (verses 16 to 68). Since there are more curses than blessings here, it behoves the Christian to study what these curses are, lest he calls something a blessing when it is a curse!

One of the curses is:

Deuteronomy 28:61
61 Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the LORD bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

Notice it says "every sickness, and every plague". This means that any and every sickness or disease is a curse, never a blessing as some Christians believe. So, if you say that your sickness is a blessing from God, you are contradicting Deuteronomy 28:61, which implies that any sickness is a curse.

But praise God that because of Christ's work on the cross, we have been redeemed from the curses of the law, including Deuteronomy 28:61.

Galatians 3:13
13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

In other words, healing is part of Christ's redemptive work. Healing is part of the atonement (Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 8:17 and 1 Peter 2:24) (see Health and healing).

So, how can we say that God chastens His children with diseases? If that were true, God would be going against the work of His Son! Neither can we say that God chooses to heal some and not others because the fact is that healing is offered to all through the cross. If we say that God is willing to heal only some people, it is like saying that God is willing to save only some people.

Does God punish Christians?

God does not punish Christians for their sins because their sins have already been perfectly punished in the body of Christ when He hung on the cross (Isaiah 53:5). If God still punishes Christians for their sins, then He is not being "faithful and just" to Christ and His finished work. Any lawyer or judge will tell you that the same crime cannot be punished twice. Do you pay twice for a speeding fine?

1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John 19:30
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

In fact, how can God punish us for our sins when He does not even keep an account of them?

2 Corinthians 5:19
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Romans 4:8
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

Hebrews 8:12
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Hebrews 10:17
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

When we confess Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, all our sins -- past, present and future -- are forgiven once and for all. That only our past sins are forgiven, hence the need to confess and receive forgiveness for "new" sins, goes against common spiritual sense (see 1 John 1:9 and true confession of sins).

Does God punish non-believers?

So, God does not punish Christians for their sins, but neither does He punish non-Christians for their sins, because God's grace is for every man, not just Christians.

When Christ suffered on the cross, He was carrying the sins of all men who would ever live, not just Christians, for there were no Christians yet! He died for sinners, which would mean every man, for all men have sinned (Romans 3:23).

1 Timothy 1:15
15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Since Christ was punished by God for the sins of the world He was carrying, God cannot punish the world again for their sins, or He is not being faithful and just to Christ and His finished work (1 John 1:9). Again, the same crime cannot be punished twice.

In 2 Corinthians 5, it says that Christ died for all, and that because of His perfect sacrifice which more than satisfied all of God's requirements (God raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand -- Hebrews 8:1, Hebrews 12:2), God has reconciled the world (not just Christians) to Himself, and is not even counting the sins of the world (not just Christians) against them.

Paul calls this a ministry of "reconciliation", as opposed to a ministry of condemnation, or hell fire sermons and doom-and-gloom prophecies.

2 Corinthians 5:15
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

2 Corinthians 5:18,19
18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

 

Don't blame God

But if God has reconciled the world to Himself and does not even remember their sins let alone punish them for it, who is doing all the "punishment" -- the earthquakes, accidents, deaths, diseases, terrorist attacks and so on?

It is Satan, not God. The Bible clearly says that Satan destroys, but God gives abundant life.

John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

So, if your loved one has cancer or Aids, then his health has been stolen from him and his body is being destroyed. He is being killed slowly and painfully. This is clearly the work of the devil, not God, who heals and gives abundant life.

Chastening, God's style

How then, does God chasten His children? Perhaps the best teaching on this can be found in Hebrews 12.

Hebrews 12:5-13
5 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:
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

We can learn many wonderful truths from this passage.

• As mentioned, if you look up the Greek word for "chastening", it literally means "child-training". Now, ask yourself if you would child-train your little ones with sicknesses, accidents and deaths. Would you burn your son's fingers to teach him not to play with matches? Would you put cancer on his tongue to teach him not to use foul language? Would you break his legs to teach him not to play on the roads? So, how dare we think otherwise of our heavenly Father! Earthly fathers, evil as they are, know how to give good things to their children, how much more our Daddy God (Matthew 7:11, Luke 11:13).

• We are not to despise chastening from our Father, for we can only benefit from it (Job 5:17, Psalms 94:12 and Revelation 3:19). Also, the fact that God chastens us is His proof to us that He loves us. It is His assurance to us that we are His legitimate sons, not bastards. It is His assurance to us that He is our Abba Father.

• Our earthly fathers chasten us for their own pleasure and for a while, but God does it faithfully and for our profit. In other words, our heavenly Father, being God, does a much better job than our earthly fathers.

• Our earthly fathers correct our "flesh", but our heavenly Father corrects our "spirit" (see With His Word, to our spirits).

• Chastening is obviously not a joyous thing, but the results are good -- peace, health, holiness and spiritual maturity. You don't lose a leg, end up bedridden or die from God's chastening, as some have taught! How can a dead person learn anything, or apply and teach others what he has learned?

He does not 'spare the rod'

Hebrews 12:6
6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Paul is quoting from Proverbs 3:12:

Proverbs 3:12
12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Notice that the last phrase is markedly different from what Paul had written. It says "even as a father the son in whom he delighteth" and not "and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth".

The Septuagint (Greek version of the Old Testament) records it as the former while the Masoretic Text (Hebrew version of the Old Testament) records it as the latter. Why the difference, I do not know.

The problem is that many Christians would take Hebrews 12:6 -- "and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth" -- as proof that God does punish His children with physical pain, such as accidents and diseases.

But the word "scourgeth" means to "flog". I believe that if left in the passage's context of child-training, it just means that God does not spare the rod on his children. Does the Bible support fathers caning their children as part of child-training? Yes, very much so.

Proverbs 13:24
24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Proverbs 19:18
18 Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

Proverbs 22:15
15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

Proverbs 23:13
13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

Proverbs 29:15
15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

 

With his Word, to our spirits

But how does God "cane" or chasten His children? What is His "rod" of correction? If He does not use pain, sicknesses, accidents or deaths to child-train us, how does He do it?

He does it with His Word and to our spirits!

Hebrews 12:9
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?.

The verse above says that our earthly fathers are fathers of our flesh, while our heavenly Father is the Father of our spirits. In other words, our natural fathers correct our soul (mind, will, emotions) and body, whereas God corrects our spirit. And He uses his Word to do it.

Hebrews 12:5
5 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:

Psalm 94:12
12 Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law;

Proverbs 6:23 (NIV)
23 For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life,

2 Timothy 3:16,17
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The rebuke of our Lord may come via a preacher’s sermon, reading of the Bible, our spouse, a friend or directly from the Lord. At that time, we may not like what we are hearing — perhaps it requires us to apologise to someone we dislike, or to change certain habits or attitudes. But if we yield and obey, we will profit from God’s chastening.

Hebrews 12:11
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Still not convinced?

Christians who still insist that God chastens with sicknesses and deaths to teach us important lessons such as faith, faithfulness, long-suffering, patience and self-control should consider carefully these points:

• Faith is a grace gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). We can't "earn" it by going through sicknesses and sufferings. Faith comes by hearing repeatedly the words of Christ (Romans 10:17), not by being more and more sick.

• Faithfulness, long-suffering and patience are fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), not fruit of our sufferings and illnesses. The more we walk in the Spirit and in the revelation of God's Word -- not in sickness -- the more fruit we bear.

• If sickness is a lesson from God, then the Christian who has been sick for many years is obviously a slow learner. And instead of praying for his healing, we should be telling him: "Better buck-up bro, or you're not gonna make it!"

• And if the sick Christian dies eventually, it would mean that he failed to learn God's lesson. And what lesson was so important that it cost him his health, his savings, his marriage and, eventually, his life? What lesson was so important that it made a child fatherless or a wife without a husband? What lesson was so important that it brought chaos, worry, fear, sorrow and mourning to his loved ones? Does God need to resort to all that?

• Many Christians who argue that it is God's will for them to be sick still see the doctor, rest and take medication, contradicting God's "will" for them. This is because in their heart, they actually long to be healthy. Their spirit is actually crying out for healing, because that is God's truth and will for them.

• Why pray for the sick (Matthew 10:8, Mark 16:18, James 5:14-16)? How do we know we are not contradicting God's will in each case?

• If the temple of God under the Old Covenant was not decrepit, why should His New Covenant temple, which is our bodies (1 Corinthians 3:16,17, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 6:16), be weak and sickly?

• 1 Corinthians 3:17 says that "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are". Now, would God contradict himself by putting leprosy on you? Or a cancer that eats away your internal organs?

• If Christ is the head of the body of the church, which is us (Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 5:23, Colossians 1:18), why would He want His "arms" and "legs" or us to be diseased and ineffective?

• Jesus said that "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9-11). If we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus, who is the "express image" of God (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus never gave sickness or death to anyone. Of the 35 miracles He performed, 23 (or two-thirds) were healings and three, raising the dead. So, if God chastens with sicknesses and deaths, why is this facet of God not reflected in Jesus' earthly ministry? Did Jesus miss out something?

• Christians are always talking about "following" Jesus or being like Him. Well, Jesus went about healing the sick (Matthew 4:23, Matthew 9:35, Acts 10:38). So, Christians ought to be out there healing the sick. But how can they have the faith to do that if they also believe that God authors sickness? There will be confusion.

• 1 John 4:17 says that "as he is [now], so are we in this world [this life]". Today, our glorified Lord is sitting at the right hand of the Father -- without sickness. So, why would God contradict His own Word by making many of us sick? How can "so are we" be true if God wants many of us sick?

• If sickness is sometimes God's will, then when we pray "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Luke 11:2), we are actually saying that there is a lot of sickness in heaven.

• How can one of the names of God be Jehovah Rapha -- "I am the LORD that healeth thee" (Exodus 15:26) -- if He is also "the Lord who makes you sick"?

• Why would God say in Proverbs 4:22 that His words are "life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh" if He wanted many of us to be sick? If this were true, then Christians who believe that God is making them sick should not read the Bible.

• How can the Psalmist say that our Lord "healeth all thy diseases" (Psalm 103:3) if God does not want to heal some of our sicknesses?

Conclusion

God chastens His children with his Word to their spirits. He does not chasten with pain, diseases, accidents or deaths. His chastening brings forth good fruit in our lives for our own good and spiritual growth, and we live to reap the benefits. We don't die from His chastening or end up in a wheel chair.

Finally, God chastens us to show us how much He loves us. It is one of His assurances to us that we are His legitimate children, and He, our heavenly Abba Father!

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