God’s punishment is for unbelievers, while His discipline is for believers. The Bible says discipline is to correct, while punishment is to repay and fulfill justice.⁰ If Jesus forgave us, bore our punishment, and remembers our sins no more, we can be confident that God will not try to get even with us.¹ Discipline is a form of punishment, because it is a consequence for doing something bad. But a disciplinary consequence is only meant to correct sinful behaviors, not vent anger or repay. The ways God disciplines haven’t changed in the new and old covenants, because both covenants saved through faith, which removed God’s wrath and punishment for believers.²

          According to the Bible God can be angry at believers when He disciplines them.³ For example Israel represents God’s chosen people in the Old Testament, and after many rebukes, He severely disciplines them by exiling them to Babylon.⁴ But He also tells them that it will only last 70 years (a relatively short time in the entire history of Israel).⁵ He also promised to bless them in Babylon, if they did what He said.⁶ The discipline of Israel is a little tricky to understand, because while Israel generally represents believers, and so we can expect God to do the same types of things with us, there were also many unrepentant, unbelieving Israelites.⁷ So while Israel as a whole represented believers, God also used them to show what His wrath looks like on those who don’t believe and don’t repent.⁸ So on the one hand, their consequences were temporary, and He even blessed them in the land of their discipline, but on the other hand He said He was venting His anger on them and would not relent from the horrors the Babylonians brought.⁹

          Another example of discipline is when Miriam grumbled with Aaron against Moses, and God shamed her in front of all Israel by making her sit outside the camp for seven days, saying it was like a father spitting in her face.¹⁰ She would have been disciplined with leprosy, but they pleaded for mercy.¹¹ So shame and disease can be forms of discipline. Moses represented Jesus, and any sin against God is a reason we might be disciplined.¹²

          Another example is when David sinned with Bathsheba. They were given a future consequence of having someone sleep with David’s wives publicly. This was a unique discipline, as God spoke through the prophet Nathan, his sins were forgiven, but a consequence must be given to show the enemies of God that He doesn’t tolerate sin (the ESV doesn’t mention the enemies of God, which is in the Masoretic text).¹³ So in David’s case, he had to dread what would come. That would certainly motivate him not to repeat the matter and make things worse. In this situation David’s discipline looks surprisingly similar to a punishment. He had to endure his son Absalom sleeping with his wives, then like his killing of Bathsheba’s husband, he also had to flee for his own life.¹⁴ I think the reason David’s discipline was so severe was to publicly make an example of him for others to learn from.

          There is also a severe discipline in the New Testament, where a man and his wife are killed for lying to the Holy Spirit.¹⁵ In both these severe cases of discipline, there is a theme of public discipline for public sins. I also remember how when Peter said to Jesus, “May it never be that you die.” Jesus turned and saw His disciples, so He rebuked Peter saying, “Get behind me Satan.”¹⁶ I think if Jesus had turned and saw no one, He would have corrected Peter more gently.

          When an earthly father disciplines he makes sure the child knows why he’s being punished, and in the same way God will let us know why we are being disciplined. I don’t see any reason why a good father, who loves his children, would want them to be paranoid that he, at any point, might spank them for something in the past.¹⁷ God specifically told David what would take place, so he knew it was a form of discipline, but in most cases God and our parents discipline us right after we do wrong. Because the point of discipline is to motivate us not to do it again, not to get even with us, or cause pain without telling us why. David writes in the Psalms, “Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O LORD!”¹⁸

          It’s important to remember that not all hardships are from doing something wrong. God also gives us trials, which He said are meant to refine us and build our character.¹⁹ Even Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered, so not all hardships are God’s discipline.²⁰

          Another principle is, God’s discipline is proportional to the amount of warnings and the greatness of the sin.²¹ The nature of any parent’s discipline is to set rules, and have warnings for unintentional or infrequent breaking of those rules. But when a child continues to break rules after adequate warnings, then discipline is meant to be more painful than any pleasure that came from breaking the rule. The point is to create an adequate motivation to not break the rule again.²² And any future breaking of the same rule might result in greater consequences, if greater motivation is necessary to help the child obey.

          Another principle to God’s discipline is, He is compassionate and slow to anger, so we can expect ample warnings and plenty of light spankings, if the sin is not horrific.²³

          Another principle is that a good, loving parent (which God is) will only give punishments as severe as the wrong done needs. In other words, a willful attempt to burn down a house by an older child will result in a more severe consequence than if a young child was playing with matches.²⁴

          Another principle of God’s discipline is He relents if we repent.²⁵ If a child tearfully repents and clearly is set on never doing a wrong again, the punishment might be lessened or even eliminated altogether. But if the child is showing no sign of changing his ways, the punishment might be amplified, so as to give the child a motivation to change.²⁶

I have found that many times God’s discipline came in the form of allowing a demonic hardship to occur. This is the last step in church discipline, “to hand someone over to Satan.”²⁷ In that example, implying to kick them out of the church, and into the world, which is Satan’s domain.²⁸

          God’s discipline is not meant to be permanent, but our sins can have lasting results, like scars, missing limbs, divorce, etc.²⁹ Hebrews says, “do not grow weary when disciplined,” but “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees lest what is lame may be put out of joint.”³⁰ I believe God is saying repent and the discipline will let up, as it says, “the Lord wounds and He also heals.”³¹ Because God is loving, His discipline won’t be excessive, but just enough to motivate us.³² His purpose is to help us out of sin, not destroy us.²⁹ I will say though, I wouldn’t be surprised if God’s discipline became part of a season of trials. In other words we might sin during a refining season of life, and God might use the hardships that came from our sins, instead of some other hardships He had planned.

          There are many disturbingly similar cases to discipline throughout the Bible, which are actually punishments for unbelievers; like when God puts a curse on Cain for killing Abel.³³ But that case, the Bible makes it clear that Cain was not right with God.³⁴ He killed his brother because Abel’s deeds were righteous, and his were evil.³⁴ The Bible says God punishes the wicked on earth, and there are many examples where God’s punishment is just as harsh as the crimes committed.³⁵

          I noticed that God’s earthly punishment to the wicked is proportional to how we see their earthly wrongs, while His eternal punishment for the sins of the wicked is proportionate to how He sees their wrongs. In other words earthly punishments make sense to us here, but His eternal punishments will only make sense to us when He opens our eyes to see sin as He sees it.

It’s important to remember that even if a sin caused a permanent result in our life, God still promised to “work all things for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”³⁶ Solomon was one of the natural outcomes of David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, but God chose to use and mention all their names in the lineage of Jesus.³⁷ I have personally seen God use the consequences of my worst sin for good.

          It’s never good to choose sin, because God’s in charge of the pleasure and pain we receive here on earth, and He will never let us sin and win, or obey and lose. It might temporarily feel like sin is better, but the Scripture says “we will reap what we sow,” and again, “If the righteous are repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner.”³⁸

          Thankfully God is loving and full of mercy. David says, “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him.”³⁹

          Because of God’s mercy, if we repent, turning away from sin, we can expect His forgiveness and compassion, and hesitancy to give harsh consequences.⁴⁰ Often knowing I hurt the Lord I love has been the only discipline for my sin.⁴¹

          In summary we cannot necessarily predict what God will do, if we choose to sin, but we can certainly expect warnings, patience, forgiveness, and mercy if we repent. But we can also expect repeated, deliberate and defiant sins to get more severe consequences. Because Jesus took our punishment, we can expect God’s discipline to only be severe enough, and last long enough to give us the needed motivation to stop sinning.⁴²

⓪ 2 Thessalonians 1:8–9; Romans 2:5–6; Revelation 3:19; Proverbs 3:11–12; Hebrews 12:5–11 ① Hebrews 8:12; 1 Peter 2:24 ② Genesis 15:6; Ephesians 2:8–9 ③ 2 Kings 24:20 ④ 2 Chronicles 36:15–16 ⑤ Jeremiah 25:11 ⑥ Jeremiah 29:7–14 ⑦ Galatians 6:16 ⑧ 2 Chronicles 36:16–17 ⑨ Jeremiah 42:18; Jeremiah 32:37 ⑩ Numbers 12:14–15 ⑪ Numbers 12:10–13 ⑫ Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 ⑬ 2 Samuel 12:11–15 ⑭ 2 Samuel 15:14 ⑮ Acts 5:1–11 ⑯ Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33 ⑰ Psalm 103:13; Psalm 103:10 ⑱ Psalm 25:7 ⑲ James 1:2–4; 1 Peter 1:6–7 ⑳ Hebrews 5:8 ㉑ Proverbs 29:1; Luke 12:47–48; Hebrews 10:29 ㉒ Ephesians 6:4 ㉓ Psalm 103:8; Exodus 34:6 ㉔ Hebrews 12:5–6, 10–11 ㉕ 1 Corinthians 4:5 ㉖ Joel 2:13; Numbers 12:11–15 ㉗ Proverbs 13:24 ㉘ 1 Corinthians 5:4–5; 1 Timothy 1:19–20 ㉙ John 12:31 ㉙ Lamentations 3:31–33 ㉚ Hebrews 12:3–12 ㉛ Job 5:17–18; Deuteronomy 32:39 ㉜ Ephesians 6:4 ㉝ Genesis 4:11–13 ㉞ 1 John 3:12; Hebrews 11:4 ㉟ Judges 1:7 ㊱ Romans 8:28 ㊲ Matthew 1:6 ㊳ Proverbs 11:31; Galatians 6:7–8 ㊴ Psalm 103:8, 10–11; Psalm 25:7 ㊵ Micah 7:18–19 ㊶ Psalm 51:17 ㊷ Hebrews 12:10–11