What Is The Discipline of God In Hebrews 12:7?

The writer of Hebrews pen’s the following words in Hebrews 12:3-7

Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says,

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” 

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children.

To discover the meaning of the discipline of God in Hebrews 12:7, we must first understand the context of the verse. To understand the context, we must understand the author's purpose in writing the letter.

The author is writing to the Hebrew people to convince them that God has replaced the old covenant of law with the new covenant of grace.

Hebrews 9:15 says:

Christ is the mediator of a new covenant...

Hebrews 10:9 says,

He sets aside the first (old covenant of law) to establish the second (new covenant of grace).

The first covenant was a temporary covenant of law based on the book of Leviticus where the blood of bulls, goats, and lambs was sacrificed as an atonement (to temporarily cover the sins of people until the full payment was made by Jesus) for the sins of the people. In addition, various ceremonial washings were temporarily instituted as a way to make men outwardly clean. However, these sacrifices and washings could never permanently forgive sin or make people internally clean before God. They were only external shadows of the real blood of Jesus that would internally and eternally forgive people their sins, washing them totally clean.

About this, Hebrews 10:1-4 says,

The law (the priests, the blood sacrifices, foods, drinks, and ceremonial, washings) is only a shadow of the good things that are coming (the blood of Jesus, the new covenant of grace, complete and eternal forgiveness, holy and perfect before God, writing his love on our hearts) - not the realities themselves (Jesus' blood, complete and eternal forgiveness and righteousness, writing his love on our hearts)...it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.

Hebrews 9:10 says,

They (regulations and sacrifices required by the old covenant of law) are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings - external regulations applying until the time of the new order (new covenant of grace).

Hebrews 9:12 says,

He (Jesus) did not enter (the Most Holy Place where the shed blood of bulls, goats, and lambs were taken as a atonement for people's sins) by means of goats and calves (as did the high priest); but he entered the Most Holy Place (the actual presence of God in heaven) once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption (the complete, final, and everlasting payment for forgiveness of our sins through his blood)

Through the death and blood of Jesus, the new covenant of grace fulfilled and replaced the old covenant of law (see also Matthew 26:28 and Luke 22:20)

Hebrews 9:15-16 says,

Christ is the mediator of a new covenant...a covenant is in force only when somebody dies; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.

Day after day and year after year the priests stood and made sacrifices and offered them to God to cover (atone for) the sins of the people. However, their work was never done. Yet, Jesus offered his own blood for all people at one time when he sacrificed himself and carried his blood poured out for our sins into heaven itself as the complete, final, and eternal payment for our sins. Jesus' work was completely done!

Hebrews 9:24 says,

For Christ...entered Heaven itself (to present his blood for our sins before God), now to appear for us in God's presence.

Hebrews 10:11-12 says,

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest (Jesus) had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down (finished) at the right hand of God.

For about fifteen hundred years, the Hebrew people had lived under the law. Now, through the blood of Jesus, God had replaced the the old covenant of law with the new covenant of grace.

The Hebrew people had a choice to make. Whose blood would they now place their faith in...the blood of animals or the blood of Jesus? Would they show unbelief in Jesus and disobedience to God (Hebrews 3:12-4:11) by continuing to live under the old covenant of law through sacrificing animals and participating in ceremonial washings (this was the deliberate sin of Hebrews 10:26)? Or would they believe in Jesus by placing their faith in his shed blood?

Placing their faith in Jesus would result in severe persecution from sinful men opposed to the new covenant of grace that could possibly cause some to shrink back into the old covenant of law in fear, rather than step forward into the new covenant of grace by faith.

Hebrews 10:38-39 says,

But my righteous one will live by faith (in Jesus' sacrifice for sin). And if he shrinks back (into the old covenant of law) I will not be pleased with him. But we are not of those who shrink back (into the old covenant of law) and are destroyed, but of those who believe (in Jesus, the new covenant of grace) and are saved.

Remember, we are seeking to understand God's discipline in Hebrews 12:7 by looking at the purpose the letter of Hebrews was written.

The author’s purpose was to convince the Jewish (Hebrew) reader the new covenant of grace had replaced the old covenant of law so they would leave behind the law by placing their faith in Jesus.

Again, Hebrews 12:7 says:

Endure hardships as discipline; God is treating you as sons.

Now that we have looked at the author's purpose for writing the letter to the Hebrew people, let's take a look at the immediate context of Hebrews 12:7.

The immediate context is the perseverance of those who would be persecuted (struggle against sinful men who opposed the new covenant of grace and that Jesus was the Christ and their struggle against their own willful rejection of the new covenant) if they accepted the new covenant of grace by putting their belief and faith in Jesus . In the face of this persecution, they were on the verge of deliberately rejecting the blood of Jesus as the payment for their sins (this was the sin they were struggling with), the new covenant of grace, and returning (shrink back) to sacrificing bulls and goats for forgiveness of sins under the old covenant law (Hebrews 10:26-34).

As a result, they were being encouraged by the writer of Hebrews to persevere by faith in the face of these persecutions or hardships. He was encouraging them not to allow the persecutions and hardships to cause them to deliberately reject the truth of Jesus (this is the sin they were struggling with and were on the verge of commiting) they had been enlightened to by stepping back in fear, but to see these persecutions and hardships as opportunities to step up in faith and be saved by believing in Jesus.

Hebrews 10:35-39 says,

See to it that you do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God (embrace the new covenant of grace through belief, faith) you will receive what he promised...But we are not of those who shrink back (into the old covenant of law) and are destroyed, but those who believe (in the new covenant of grace, namely Jesus) and are saved.

In Hebrews 11, to encourage these who were on the brink of rejecting Jesus through unbelief because of persecutions and hardships, the writer of Hebrews gives examples from the history of Israel of those who stood their ground by faith when faced with hardships and persecutions.

The lesson the writer wanted them to learn was that if they persevered and endured by placing their faith in Jesus in the face of persecutions and hardships and did not reject Jesus because of fear, they would experience all that God had for them (richly rewarded). The writer then encouraged them to endure the current persecutions and hardships they were facing in the present because God had so many good things he wanted them to experience in the new covenant of grace (Hebrews 10:39).

These people from Israel's history who, by faith, stood their ground in the face of persecution and hardships, are called a great cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1. In view of the faith of these great cloud of witnesses, the writer of Hebrews encourages these Jewish people to throw off the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for them.

The sin that so easily entangles in the book of Hebrews is the sin of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:12 says:

See to it, brothers (my Jewish brothers, not Christian brothers), that none of you have a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God (by rejecting the new covenant of grace).

A sinful heart in the book of Hebrews is unbelief in Jesus (Hebrews 3:7-4:3).

Many of the Jewish people who initially thought Jesus was the Messiah were now turning away from him by rejecting Jesus' payment for their sin. They were holding on to the old covenant of law (Hebrews 10:1-4) even though the blood of Jesus ushered in the new covenant of grace (Hebrews 9:15-17, 10:5-20).

By continuing to sacrifice bulls and goats, they were crucifying Jesus all over again (Hebrews 6:6) and trampling under foot the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:29).

In Hebrews 4:2, they were refusing to enter into by faith the "rest of the new covenant of grace." Instead, they were remaining in the works of the old covenant of law. This was the deliberate sin of Hebrews 10:26. As a result, they were entangled in unbelief by rejecting the new covenant of grace just like their ancestors did when their ancestors refused to enter into the Promise Land because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:7-19).

Just as their ancestors were entangled in the sin of unbelief, by not entering the Promise Land, the current generation of Jews the author of Hebrews was writing to was about to be entangled in the sin of unbelief as well by refusing to enter into the Promise Land of the new covenant of grace.

To those who were about to shrink back into the old covenant of law because of fear, in light of persecutions and hardships, the writer of Hebrews encourages them to throw off the sin of unbelief and run with perseverance the race marked out for them and modeled by their ancestors and Jesus himself. The race marked out for them is faith. The race of faith was marked out for them by the great cloud of witness of Hebrews 11 and Jesus on the cross.

Perseverance in the book of Hebrews is this: in the face of hardships and persecutions, embrace the new covenant of grace, which is the blood sacrifice of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, rather than shrink back in fear into the old covenant of law, knowing, as they embrace grace, they would experience all that God had for them through Christ.

Jesus himself modeled perseverance by faith in the face of persecution from sinful men by enduring the shame of the cross for the joy set before him. Those considering shrinking back from the new covenant, the cross, were encouraged to not grow weary and lose heart. To not grow weary and lose heart in the face of ongoing persecution, the writer encouraged these Jewish people to consider and follow the endurance of Jesus in his own struggle against the sinful opposition or persecution from sinful men who rejected him, calling for his crucifixion (Hebrews 12:2-4).

These Jewish people who were being pressured to reject Jesus as the Christ and the new covenant he established, had not resisted those who opposed them to the point of shedding their blood as Jesus had done.

The writer of Hebrews was encouraging the people not to be ashamed of the cross or the blood of Jesus when faced with persecution from those who rejected the blood of Jesus and who saw the cross as something of which people should be ashamed.

Putting all this together, the sin that so easily entangles in Hebrews 12:1 is the sin of unbelief in the new covenant of grace ushered in by Jesus through his blood. This unbelief in many of the Jewish people was caused by the sinful opposition and persecution by those who were against the new covenant of grace and that Jesus was the Christ (they were anti-Christ and anti-cross).

The writer of Hebrews 12:7 then encourages these Jewish people to endure the hardships and persecution associated with embracing the new covenant of grace (the cross and blood of Jesus) by placing their faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, just as Jesus did when he went to the cross in the face of persecution.

By embracing the new covenant of grace, the Jewish people would be acknowledging that Jesus was indeed the Christ, which is why the writer of Hebrews writes chapters one and two of Hebrews.

Two titles for the Christ was Son of God, meaning fully God, and Son of Man, meaning fully human. In Hebrews 1, the writer seeks to convince the Jewish reader that Jesus is fully God. In Hebrews 2, the writer seeks to convince the Jewish reader that Jesus is fully human.

Those who rejected Jesus rejected he was the Christ. In their minds, how could the Christ experience such shame by being nailed to a Roman cross…such humiliation.

To embrace Jesus as the Christ, and to embrace the new covenant of grace, would cause tremendous hardships on the Jewish believers at that time.

The struggle of sin (unbelief) the Jewish reader was facing was to accept the new covenant of grace and acknowledge Jesus was the Son of God and Son or man or reject Jesus as the Christ and the new covenant he established in his blood.

If they accepted Jesus as the Christ and the new covenant he established by his blood on the cross, they would experience tremendous hardships.

The author of Hebrews encouraged these believers to view those hardships as discipline from God.

They were not being disciplined for sins of immorality in their lives. God was using the current hardships and persecutions to discipline or grow them in their faith.

The discipline of God in Hebrews 12:7-13 is not punishment or discipline for sins, but rather training that would result in the growth of their faith and development of their character as they persevered by faith in the new covenant of grace in light of the hardships and persecutions they were experiencing from those who rejected it.

This discipline is similar to the book of James in chapter 1:2-4 when he wrote to the Jewish people scattered among the Gentile nations. James writes,

Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its course so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-4)

Hebrews 12:7 is also similar to 2 Timothy 2:3 when Paul writes to Timothy about enduring hardships in light of the persecutions he would experience because he embrace grace. Paul writes,

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

So what is the discipline of God in Hebrews 12:7?

In Hebrews 12:7, rather than God's discipline being punishment for sins (which would be completely against the theme of Hebrews), the discipline of God is when God used the hardships and persecutions the Jewish people were experiencing because of their belief in Jesus as the Christ and in the new covenant of grace, which is the finished work of Christ, to train them and develop their character so they could share more abundantly in all he had for them (Hebrews 12:11).