CHASTENING, CHASTISEMENT, TRIBU- LATION. — The idea represented by the words chastening or chastisement tills a considerable space both in OT and NT. In Heb. it is usually expressed by the verb np;, n?:, and the substantive ifiD, with which n'jin and nnjin are frequently com- bined ; and in Gr. by the corresponding verb and subst. raiSei/ci) and TroiSeio. The etymological con- nexion of these last words with irais suggests that education, in the widest sense of the word, in- cluding reference to the means as well as the end of the process, is the main idea involved. And on the whole this is true. In one passage, Eph 6*, fathers are charged to bring up their children in the TratSc/^ /cai t'ou$i(ri^ KvpLov, where iratdela is the Christian discipline of character, as it ought to be enforced in the Christian family. The same idea is presented in He 12", where fathers are regarded in the character of vaiSevral — as those who exercise discipline over their children, and esp. over their f.aults, for their good. This same conception is applied without reserve to God. One of the most striking passages is Pr 3"'- ' My son, despise not the chastening (iraioeio) of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked {iXeyxofievos) by him ; for whom the Lord loveth he chastenetu {raiSeva), and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' This is quoted and enforced in He 12*"" and Rev 3". The idea insisted upon is that the troubles which befall the people of God are not to be read as signs of His hostility, but of His paternal care. ' What son is he whom the father 2hasteneth not?' In a larger sense, perhaps, than this, the grace of God is spoken of as having appeared in saving power, teaching ua (iraiStiio wa ) that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should hve soberly, righteously, and godly. ' Teaching ' here suggests too little, and probably 'disciplining' or 'chastening' is too narrow; but Ihe conception of the Christian life ofl'ered in this passage is that of education under a power which IS at once gracious and severe. The x°-P'^ which brings salvation to men employs resources of all kinds to put them in complete possession of it. Often the idea of painful correction is prominent, and in one place the severe word 'judgment' appears in the context. The abuses connected with the Lord's Supper at Corinth had produced much sickness and not a few deaths in the Church (1 Co ll*"). Men had been eating and drinking 'judgment' to themselves. Yet even under such judgments (it/jii'o/iei'oi), the apostle teaches, Chris- tians are not objects of God's hostility : He is seek- ing their good ; ' we are being chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.' Even in those peculiar passages where the chastisement seems so awful or e.xtreme that Satan, not God, is made the instrument of it, this holds good. The sinner in 1 Co 5 is delivered to Satan, lor the destruction of the flesh indeed (by death '.'), but that the 8j]irit may lie saved in the uny of the Lord Jesus. So in 1 Ti 1™ Hymcnseus and Alex- ander are handed over to the Adversarj', that they may be taught under his hands {iraiSeuOiiat) not to blaspheme. Compare also St. Paul's own case ; the thorn in the flesh is called an angel of Satan, yet it di.sciiilines him in the Christian grace of humility. The human mind, so long as it dwells in the human body, will not be able to avoid calling such things 'evils' ; no chastening for the present seems matter of joy : it is all grief and pain, and it is only aftenvard, when the fruit of righteousness ajipears, that we can see it is something to thank God for, a real indication of His love for His children. The large use made in the Apocrypha of the idea of 'chastisement' for the moral interpretation of experience is very Btriking. One of the chief passages is 'Wis 3''.
There we find the conception that sufferin" is a trial, which, when one stands it successfully, brings a sure reward : a reward too, as in 2 Co 4'"-, out of proportion to the sufl'ering, iXlya TaidevdipTei /K-ydXa eiepyen)0^<rovTai. The idea of purification also, as well as that of testing, is involved in the comparison of 'Wis 3' is xp'^i" i" x'^''^<^vf>iv iSonl- fmffev avToiis. The gracious and paternal aspects of chastisement are signalised in Wis II""-: the people of God are chastened in mercy, the wicked are judged and tormented in wrath ; His own He puts to the proof Cis Tarijp vovSerCiv, the others He condemns us ajroro/ios /3affi\ei/s. So again, in 2 Mac 6", though God ' chastens with calamity,' He never abandons His people. This is the main thought of the NT passages also : sutl'ering is the rod in a Father's hand, and the sole instrument by which the purposes of the Father's love can be etTected.
The word tribulation has come into our lan- guage from the Vul";. rendering, not of iraiSeuw, but of dXl^ai, exitpis. In NT none of the passages in which these words are used suggest explicitly that ' tribulation ' is disciplinary. It is said, indeed, that we must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom of God (Ac 14"), but they are rather barriers to be forced, dangers to be disregarded, than disciplines to be welcomed. In 2 Co 1° the idea occurs that one man may have to suffer in order to acquire the gift of administering con- solation to others. Once in OT (Is 26'") the ideas of ' tribulation ' and ' chastening ' are expressly combined : iy OXi^ci fUKp^ 7) Traioela aov ijfuv ; but as a rule 8\l\f/ii (affliction or tribulation) is used in a more purely objective way. It may be, in point of fact, an instrument of iratSela, but that is not the point of view to which of itself it leads.