The writer has given great assurances of the comprehensive nature of the blessing under which the Church now lives. He has explained how the New Covenant has been inaugurated; that the Divine promises have been fulfilled; that the blood of Christ has provided a once and for all cleansing which is the guarantee of the New Covenant; that this same Jesus is none other than the great High Priest over the house of God, reigning at the right hand of the Majesty on high, who ever lives to intercede for us; and that our hope secured in the true Tabernacle in heaven, anchored there in eternity because of the person and work of Christ. In view of all these manifold blessings and godly assurances, from whence comes the suffering that the Hebrews are enduring? Is this suffering a sign of God's displeasure? It is judgment? Are they under his wrath? And, if so, what of the sacrifice of Christ and all the promises of God that this has secured? How, then, can suffering be squared with the great fulfillment that has indeed come?

One of the features of life marred by sin, and by guilty consciences in particular, is that the default position of men and women is the assumption that suffering must be punishment for sin. Our immediate questions tend to be What have I done for this to come to me? and How can I make it stop? Added to this perspective are the manifold experiences of discipline and punishment we carry from our own upbringing. Often earthly fathers have disciplined us with impure motives, and frequently we have experienced outbursts of anger disguised as discipline. Often-though our earthly fathers did not understand this, or even intend it-the discipline that we have received had more to do with their own sense of impotence and frustration than with the considered desire to shape the child for maturity.

In these circumstances it is difficult to conceive of a discipline that is not punishment. So ingrained is the relationship between penalty and punishment in the conscience that we automatically think our suffering is retributive. When such a mindset becomes settled, in a trice we stand with Job's comforters taking the view that Job's suffering must have been occasioned by some (albeit hidden) sin that requires extensive punishment. We can easily assume this is the case with others, and often unconsciously consider that this is the case with ourselves.

In the Greek of the New Testament there are a few different words used for discipline and punishment. We can get a sense of the range of meanings by contrasting some of the verses in which they appear. On the one hand, in Hebrews 12:5-11 the word paideia (or one of its forms) is used. This is from the same word that we derive paediatrics i.e. the care of children, and is related to other words such as paidion (a small child) or paideuō (to instruct, train or teach). Paideia or paideuō are also used in other places in the New Testament (e.g. Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 3:16; Acts 7:22; Acts 22:3; 2 Tim. 2:25; 1 Cor. 11:32; Rev. 3:19; etc.) and in the Greek translation of the Old Testament in such places as Prov. 3:11 and 15:5. Also, in Hebrews 12:5 another term is used (elegchō), translated ‘reprove' or ‘rebuke' (cf. Titus 1:9, 13; 1 Tim. 5:20; Matt. 18:15) which has a stronger meaning but which still is compatible with the discipline of godly upbringing for maturity. On the other hand, the word kolasis means punishment, with the associated idea of penalty or retribution. This is the word used in such places as Matthew 25:46; 1 John 4:18 and 2 Peter 2:9.

Among other things this means that God's discipline or chastisement of his people is not retributive. While it is possible to come under his correction-even to the point of death as in 1 Corinthians 11:32, or perhaps illustrated in the example of Ananias and Saphira in Acts 5-such discipline is not the destructive judgement of eternal retribution for sin. Indeed, it is the reality of the removal of sin once and for all from believers which lies at the heart of this letter, so the discipline of which the writer speaks is not because of sin which needs to be removed. Rather it is the evidence of the Father's love on those from whom he has removed sin and its consequent eternal judgement.

Moreover, the writer to the Hebrews allows the possibility (as indicated in the example of Jesus himself) that discipline may come to us without any reference to our sin. Jesus did no wrong, nor had any sin of his own, but still learned obedience through his sufferings to bring him to perfection (Heb. 2:10; 5:8-9). We have already made some comments on the concept of perfection in Hebrews (see the blog entry Dominion and the World to Come in this series), and know that to be perfect is to be fitted for the task assigned, matured to be and to do that which is ordained by God.

The aim of the Father's discipline, then, is to bring us to maturity. In particular, the maturity that we need is to rely on him, not on ourselves. In a time of suffering we find that we are weak and that we cannot look to ourselves to sustain or secure our lives or the inheritance that belongs to the promises of God. The inherent flaws of self reliance and related pride, self-justification and self-atonement that cling to fallen human flesh are therefore exposed and we turn from them in the light of the grace that has come to us in Christ. In so doing we are drawn to the Father's goal for his children that we would share in his holiness. The end point is not simply that we would be fitted to bear the treasures of eternal glory (compare with Romans 8:14ff.), but that in so shaping us and blessing us in the eternal inheritance for which we have been fitted by God's discipline, God himself is glorified as the Father of his family.