2 Samuel 12:14-18 – Discipline Not Punishment
If the boy’s death isn’t atonement for David’s sin – is it punishment for his sin? No. Certainly, the boy’s death is a result of David’s sin. But it’s not a punishment for it. Charles Spurgeon once began a sermon with these words: ‘God’s people can never by any possibility be punished for their sins’. Spurgeon goes on: ‘God has punished them already in the person of Christ. Christ, their substitute, has endured the full penalty for all their guilt, and neither the justice nor the love of God can ever exact again that which Christ has paid’. But even though God doesn’t punish his people, he does chastise them. Calvin makes the same distinction: “When [God] rejected Saul he punished in vengeance; when he deprived David of his child, he chastised for amendment”. That’s not just playing with words. It describes the difference between God acting as a judge, and God acting as a Father. The Christian is in a totally different relationship to God from the non-Christian, because the Christian is a member of God’s family. As a son he will be disciplined for wrongdoing. But that’s very different from a sentence handed out by a judge. God punishes his enemies. But he doesn’t punish his children. He only ever disciplines them. They’re different things with different aims. God’s punishment isn’t sent for the good of sinners, but for the honouring of God’s law and the upholding of his justice.Whereas God’s chastisement – however painful – is sent for the well-being of his children. As part of God’s ongoing chastisement and discipline of David, his son dies.
That opens up a number of questions. One very real question might come from someone reading this who’s lost a child and who says – does this mean that my child died because of me? Are we saying that God might kill a child because of something its parents have done? I’m not saying that God never sends physical chastisements on us because of something we’ve done. But God is a loving Father. He’s not out to get us. Nor is what God does here the normal way that he acts. But even if God were to bring some physical chastisement into our lives as a direct result of some sin we had committed, he would make that crystal clear, just as he does here with David. He wouldn’t leave us guessing. Our God isn’t a God who will leave his people torturing themselves as to whether he’s brought something into their lives because of their sin. So what I would say to someone in that position is that unless God has made it as clear to you as he made it to David here that it’s your sin which has brought something about, then that’s not why it has happened.
Question
- What is the difference between punishment and discipline?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that God is a loving and good Father.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.