Is Discipline Punishment?

I've got a couple of trains of thought, HP, on what the two words mean in relationship to each other.

Right now, however, I have got to go to bed. :sleeping_2: I can barely keep my eyes open. :sleep:

I'll jump in the discussion after church tomorrow. :wavey:

 

I have always thought of discipline and punishment as two separate issues. But then again, I think as an educator. I know that you are trying to spark a discussion from a different standpoint. So I decided to look up the etymology of the words. Here's what I found on the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.

• Discipline - from the Latin "disciplina" meaning teaching and learning and from the Latin "discipulus" meaning pupil. Note that the word disciple has the same root - "discipulus"
• Punishment - from the Latin "punire" and from the Latin "poena" meaning penalty

I find that these roots coincide with my interpretation of the two words.

Here's my thinking and my opinion.

Discipline, being instruction, is proactive. Pertaining to the christian, it's the instruction of God's Word imparted to us from preachers, bible teachers, parents, Godly laymen and laywomen, and our own personal pursuit of God and His standard of living in the form of prayer, praise/worship, obedience, bible reading, boldly seeking the way of escape God promises us, and submitting to His authority.

God disciplines us by giving us His Word to read and obey.
Jesus disciplined us while on this earth by being our example for the standard of living and fulfilling the law of God.
The Holy Spirit disciplines us by convicting us of our sin.

Discipline may forewarn of penalties, but does not penalize in itself. It may guide the christian away from sin, but does not protect from the consequences of sin. Discipline may be rigorous and feel like spiritual
"boot camp", but it is not punitive. Discipline may introduce principles for obedience, but it does not promote legalism.

I feel that for myself and I am sure for many other christians, we bear too many consequences of sin and too many penalties of sin because we have not approached our christian walk in a proactive or disciplined manner.

Punishment, on the other hand, is reactive in nature. Pertaining to the christian, its primary penalty is death. All of humanity will physically die because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. Punishment, for the christian, can also include bearing the natural consequences of specific sins. We cannot smoke, overeat/eat the wrong foods, refuse to forgive others, neglect our bible reading, live self-centeredly, or mock those less fortunate than us by ignoring them or considering them unworthy and expect to bear no consequences.

Punishment may remind one of missed opportunity for discipline. In other words, punishment can be a teaching/learning experince all its own. Punishment, from God to the christian, is supposed to be a learning experience. It is supposed to turn His child back to Him. For the unbeliever, God's wrath in the form of punishment may not necessarily be tempered with lovingkindness. It may indeed include the finality of never knocking on their heart's door again.

So, to me, discipline and punishment are two different things.

Sometimes parents and teachers, just like the church, are way too focused on the punishment when discipline was never offered. That's not fair to children and it's not fair to the church.

But for the individual christian, God never punishes us without having offered His discipline first. If as christians, our bibles aren't read and our prayers aren't said and our praises aren't offered, it isn't because God hasn't and isn't calling us to do these things......it's because we are too lazy and self-centered to allow Him to discipline or instruct us. And we deserve whatever penalty that God, in His loving chastisement of us, deems fit for us.