Proverbs 13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (promptly).”

Proverbs 22:15: “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”

Though some claim otherwise, these are talking about corporal punishment.

Proverbs 19:18: “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.”

Proverbs 23:13-14: “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.  Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.”

We should not be ashamed of what the Bible says.  When the Bible teaches parents to use their rod on their children, is it justifying parents who abuse their children?  Some believe that it does.  

When every Biblical principle is taken into account, including those which apply to life in general as well as those which are directly related to parenting, it is obvious that corporal punishment, as it is prescribed by the Bible, is not abuse.  And as we have seen already, inadequate discipline of children can be its own form of abuse.  

However, much corporal punishment is indeed abuse- and those who cite the Bible verses about using the rod on children to justify such abuse are hypocrites in great sin.  

We will look here at just a handful of Bible principles which should make it obvious enough when corporal punishment is abuse and when it is proper.

Those who are ruled by anger are ungodly and destructive.

When the Bible speaks of the importance of parents beating their children with the rod, it was intended as something to be done with other Biblical principles concerning good character and wise judgment taken into account and followed.

The Bible does not treat any and all anger as sinful.

Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath”.  

Yet the Bible does indeed warn against and condemn things such as walking in anger, misdirecting anger (in terms of who it is directed at and what it causes one to do), and it condemns just overall being impulsive and/or emotion-driven.

Proverbs 22:8: “He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.”

Proverbs 29:22: “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.”

Proverbs 19:19 (and note that these verses are from the same Bible book which advocates the rod to be used on children so directly): “A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.”

Along the same lines, the Bible instructs in James 1:19-20 to be slow to wrath for the wrath of man works not the righteousness of God.  

We’re told to be slow to wrath because fallen, mortal people reacting based upon anger does not accomplish righteousness like God’s wrath does when He expresses wrath in His perfect wisdom. 

Yet there are also times when God has delegated man to be an instrument of His wrath.  His appointment of civil authorities to punish duly convicted criminals, including murderers, is one example.  

We have to act based upon principle rather than emotion.  

This is true of other emotions; not just anger (though anger seems especially dangerous and destructive when a person lets it get the better of them).  

It is proper to be angry at several things.  It is never proper though for a person to let that anger control them or to let it cause them to act outside of the boundaries of God’s Law in any way.

You can find studies and observations that say that people who have ended up in prison are more likely to have had corporal punishment inflicted on them when they were growing up.  I don’t doubt that is so.  Yet those who have ended up in prison are probably more likely to have experienced every form of abuse disproportionate to the rest of the population.  

How would it be unreasonable to conclude then that the corporal punishment which those in prison experienced involved growing up (and I mean as more of the norm rather than the exception), involved someone operating in anger which the Bible condemns?  That is a reasonable and common sense conclusion.   And that is not to mention how there are many methods of corporal punishment which the Bible doesn’t even prescribe at all.  

Therefore, there is no good basis for attributing Biblical corporal punishment to be either a cause or a correlation to adverse effects upon those who grew up to be prisoners.  The same also goes for any other group of people adversely affected which experienced a particularly high rate of corporal punishment as children.

It is also worth mentioning how it is common sense that people who go to churches with a blatantly angry preacher which quotes the Bible verses on using the rod are going to be prone to allow that preacher to influence them to act in a way that is sinful towards their children.  

There are indeed many preachers, even quite well known ones on the internet, who do have obvious temper issues and a very evident ungodly hunger for god-like control over others.  Though such preachers are  not limited to the following circle by any means, in my opinion such preachers are the norm among the Independent Fundamental Baptist churches (IFB).  

We also read in Ephesians 6:4: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

One sure sign of an ungodly parent is that they spare their children from any form of significant discipline when they knowingly step out of line.  That would surely not be raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  

At the same time, another sure sign of an ungodly parent is provoking their children to wrath.  One obvious way that is done is by punishing them when they’ve done nothing wrong in a notable and knowing way.  Some parents do indeed take their anger out on their children.  That is proven by how there are days when the children could do nothing to avoid their anger.  The parent’s anger was going to be expressed upon their children no matter the children’s attitude and no matter how they behaved.  

Along the same lines, being inconsistent in discipline would also be a real provocation to wrath.  When the children get away with disobedience and bad behavior one day that they wouldn’t get away with on another day, they are being enabled in evil and provoked to wrath simultaneously.  Parents who discipline or don’t discipline based upon their own mood cannot be using the rod righteously upon their children.  Ir is also common sense that those who operate like this would also be strong candidates to be excessive in administering corporal punishment and/or to do other things to their children which would indeed justly qualify as child abuse.  

Another principle which can be derived from the previously quoted Ephesians 6:4 is that since parents are commanded to nurture their children, when they use the rod on them it should not be done in a way which injures them (I believe American states generally have laws which reflect Biblical principles in defining which corporal punishment is abuse and which it isn’t which reflect this principle- America has fallen a lot and is greatly wicked- yet there are still good things intact- and that actually means that it could still get a lot worse yet).

And by the way: We’re dealing here with corporal punishment by parents and legal guardians at home.  I think the Bible generally takes it for granted that kids would be home-schooled- yet it at least speaks of the use of the rod upon children to be the duty of their parents.  Nothing said here is promoting corporal punishment in schools. 

Children need to be taught that doing wrong has horrible consequences.  In relation to that, each person has to be taught not to be impulsive and to not pursue instant gratification. 

Excessive and/or illogical beatings do not teach these lessons.  Such just rather provoke in the opposite direction.  

It seems common sense that those who oppose all corporal punishment of children by their parents have not adequately learned these lessons themselves.  Applied with Biblical wisdom though, the use of the rod teaches these lessons.  

Biblical use of the rod is a form of correction and a merciful preventive measure to drive home the warning of the inevitable horrid consequences of evil choices before the child grows up and the stakes of their choices become higher.  

With that considered, in order for children to be raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord they have to be told what they did that was wrong which occasioned their being beaten with the rod as well as instructed what they should have done instead.  

Proverbs 29:15: “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”

It is foolish to think that parents who beat their kids with the rod don’t often fail to properly reprove them in doing so.

Using the hands or a belt to administer discipline is not the same Bible’s prescription of the rod.  Besides being much more likely to cause injury than the rod, the hands or a belt make it much easier for a parent to act out of anger.  A rod -like instrument stored in a place that is not easily accessible should help anyone who is serious about not punishing their kids improperly to have a chance to re-evaluate whether corporal punishment is really called for in the situation at hand and to make sure that they are calm in administering it.

 In Proverbs 22:6 (two verses before the Scripture which says “He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail”) we’re told: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

The use of the rod, consistent with other Biblical principles, is one aspect of Biblical raising of children.  There are many other aspects- including the parents themselves being wholehearted in pursuing Biblical truth and walking in the Bible’s wisdom themselves without compromise.  Some parents may erroneously come to think that just incorporating the rod into their parenting is a sure fix-all for their chaotic homes.  

Nevertheless, when you see someone contend against Biblical corporal punishment you’ll see someone with a lot of other issues with what the Bible says too.  

Those who refuse any true Biblical wisdom and won’t apply such to their mindset and conduct are given the following warning.

Proverbs 1:24-31: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought (nothing) all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.”

Aaron’s email is: gospeltruth768@yahoo.com

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