Proverbs 15:10 ESV
There is severe discipline for him who forsakes the way; whoever hates reproof will die.
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We’re all sinners. I sin, you sin, your kid sins, your parents sin, and the president of the United States sins (though I don’t know what we expected from that last one). On this earth, we all do evil things. We place our desires above God’s law, walk in the way of wickedness, and generally spit on God by defiling His image. It’s not a pretty state of affairs, but anybody who thought humans were all sunshine and roses really hasn’t paid attention to politics or toddlers or the last time we started killing each other en masse. How does God respond to this evil we do? He brings judgement, and He brings discipline. These two are both unpleasant, but they are not the same. We must understand the difference.
Judgement is the simpler of the two. When God inflicts suffering and destruction upon the wicked, He does so in express retribution for their evil deeds (Ez. 33:10). This suffering is, in a sense, a warning, but man is stubborn. Without His grace, man will not listen (Ps. 119:28) and so this very warning is a furthering of judgement, for him to whom much is given, from him is much required (Luke 12:48). To put it in plainer terms, the more gifts you have at the start, the worse it is when you end up in the pit of fire because you squandered so much more.
This judgement sometimes seems harsh, sometimes seems insufficient. Why should a man who hasn’t beaten his wife, raped a child, or tortured puppies to death spend an eternity in hell? Why should the woman who has committed adultery and murdered swathes by proxy and advocated for the deaths of literal millions, the mutilation of nearly as many, why should she be wealthy, punished only by whatever dim flickers of conscience still remain? Thus, on the one hand, it seems impossible to reconcile infinite punishment with a finite crime, and on the other it seems just as impossible to reconcile invisible punishment with historic wickedness.
The constant truth of God’s judgment, however, is its absolute, eventual justice, justice without mercy. To take the easier case first, consider the wicked who lives in comfort on this earth. He lives so only on this earth- and even here, God torments him by his own vice (Rom. 1:28-32). When the time comes, whether in this life or in the next, he will fall down into deepest darkness (Ps. 73:18-19). This time of apparent prosperity is for the wicked only a reprieve, a reprieve which, if it is not used to repent and turn to Him, will condemn him all the more throughout eternity.
As for the man who seems so decent and yet goes to hell, the problem here is not impatience but perspective. This man has not done great evil in the sight of man, perhaps, but he shows himself deserving of hell all the same, in two ways. First, does not James say that to break one part of the law is to break its whole (2:10)? He is therefore as condemned by his small burst of anger as the murderer and the thief and the adulterer and the tyrant are by their sins. We must remember the sin which lies at the heart of every sin, the fundamental sin: he has placed himself above God, has idolized and worshipped another than Him (Ex. 20:3). He cannot plead even ignorance, for all men know in their hearts the path of righteousness, however much we detest it (Rom. 1:18-21). Second, if he has heard the Gospel, he has committed the sin of unbelief, the sin many would argue is the ‘unforgivable sin’ (Matt. 12:32) (although this is still a matter of debate; take this as an indication of gravity, not doctrine). He has turned from salvation. In light of these two facts, we know that he has chosen hell, preferring its suffering to submitting himself to God.
What of discipline, then?
To the wicked God gives judgement, and they hate Him for it. To His people, though, God gives a hard gift. To us is given His chastisement. We, on this earth, still sin (1 John 1:10). We cannot become perfect in this life. We sin, therefore, and He punishes us for that sin. Yet this punishment is not as that which is given to the wicked.
Remember what James said. To break any part of the law is to break its whole. If I, apart from Christ, were in the midst of an otherwise blameless life to steal a mustard seed from my brother, it would damn me as surely as if I had killed his entire family in front of him (though we can all guess the option said brother would prefer). Each of our sins, petty or vigorous, deserves His eternal wrath.
On the other hand, Christ died on the cross for our sins. He took our sin; He gave us His righteousness. He, as Isaiah says, “clothed [us] in the garments and salvation; He has covered [us] in the robes of righteousness” (61:10). We do not die eternally for our sins because He whom death could not hold died in our place, and we with Him, so that with Him we might also be raised (Rom. 6:4-5). We are saved, therefore, but God does not leave it at that. He gives us as a part of our salvation a heart which desires Him and His righteousness; more, He preserves us and sanctifies us, makes us more holy.
Becoming holy, however, is for the sinful man a very painful process. When a child disobeys his father, he must be disciplined, not order to bring him pain, as in judgement, but in order to teach him of the gravity of his misdeed. When we disobey Him, therefore, He likewise disciplines us, brings suffering and pain upon us, very often by the agency of our own misdeed. Thus He brings us through the fire in order to remove the slag from us, refine us as gold for His crown (Zech. 13:9).
There are three important differences between judgement and discipline which we should remember: God’s intent, their relationship with mercy, and our response.
God’s intent in judgement is to bring just retribution for the evil which has been done. On this earth, as its time is finite, that judgment is never complete; very often it is delayed. Yet, once eternity is reckoned, justice is fulfilled. In discipline, contrariwise, God’s intent is not retribution but healing. We, though regenerated with hearts of flesh (Ez. 36:26), are sinful still, broken and loving of evil. Discipline hurts, but it brings healing in the end by turning us from darkness to light.
Judgement is justice without mercy. Judgement is the giving of what each man deserves. Conversely, discipline is mercy within justice. His mercy is just, for He has wreaked the rightful judgement upon His own Son (Is. 53:12-13); His mercy, built on this foundation, is to bring us eternal joy, though its fullness may only be found by walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.
Finally, and what this proverb hints at, the reason I got onto this topic from Proverbs 15:10, while both judgement and discipline are in a sense reproof, their subject ultimately responds differently. The man who is judged, at the root of his being, hates God (Ps. 14:1-3). He hates God’s reproof, and it is to him death. The child of God who forsakes the way of righteousness, though, is different. He often dislikes the discipline; it’s not meant to be pleasant. He may even buck against it for a time. In the end, however, he will heed God, will heed His reproof. He will even learn to love that reproof as a sign of His love (Heb. 12:5-11). He will in so doing find true life, where the reprobate finds only death. Discipline is, to the Christian, our Father’s loving hand.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
