Spare the rod…
(From Tim Thornborough at the Good Book Company UK:)
I was always in trouble at school. The punishments I received varied from lines to detentions, and being thwacked by a whole variety of implements: the cane, slipper, ruler and the hands of my parents. That was then.
Corporal punishment in school was fully outlawed in 1998, and this week, the Government edged closer to protecting children from being smacked too hard at home. When the Children Bill was debated in the House of Lords, peers backed a compromise amendment to outlaw any smack that causes harm (such as bruising or cuts)—although they rejected a total ban.
Some Christians believe that we have a biblical mandate to administer physical punishment. In fact, the original ban on corporal punishment was challenged two years ago in the High Court by a coalition of independent Christian schools, which argued that corporal punishment was actually doctrine of our faith. A ban, they said, would erode our Christian rights. The case failed.
The biblical evidence for their defence relies mostly on a handful of proverbs (Prv 23.13, 29.15 and 13.24), which they insist must be interpreted literally as a cane for physical chastisement, and not simply as a metaphor for discipline. Elsewhere, however, the rod is a symbol for protection and guidance. Psalm 23, for example, describes how the shepherd's rod and staff will comfort and guide his sheep, and it's an image that recurs many times.
Such arguing about the meaning of texts tends to be counterproductive, however. Far better for us to concentrate on the complete Biblical context of the family. Our contemporary culture is based on rights; some exhort the rights of the parents to smack, while others defend the child's right to be protected. Stalemate.
The Kingdom of God, however, is about right relationships—and the obligations they carry, to love God and each other. Children, therefore, must obey their parents; but fathers, equally, must not “exasperate [their] children” (Ephesians 6.4). Punishment should do many things, but ultimately it should seek to restore an offender to their community or family, not to alienate or physically harm them. If we ever lose sight of that goal, we are simply making a rod for our own backs.