Punishment delivered by God can be divided into individual and group punishments but must also be distinguished from chastisements. Chastisements are corrections given lovingly from a father to his son (If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Heb. 12:7-8). Punishments, may have the same effect, namely turning an individual or group away from their sin and toward their savior, prompting repentance or conversion (David’s first son with Bathsheba in 2 Sam. 11-12) the difference, however, between a punishment and a chastisement is the cause. Punishments are caused by express and unrepentant sin.

It is impossible for the individual to know why they are being punished unless God reveals his motives and activity through His Word or a prophet. Christians can expect to be chastised so that their faith will grow and this occurs through suffering but not through punishments. The difference between suffering and being punished is this: suffering comes through living out the faith (being shunned or killed for your confession of Christ) punishments result because of sin (a destroyed family line because of your unfaithfulness). Suffering is not turned away from repentance because it is an effect of faith. Punishments are turned away by repentance because they are the fruit of sin.

Scriptural Teaching

Old Testament

• The Fall is Punishment – Genesis 3
• Joseph being sent to Egypt is suffering – Genesis 37:12-36
• The Plagues of Egypt are Punishments – Exodus 11:9-10
• The destruction of Nineveh is an averted Punishment – Jonah 3:1-10
• The destruction of Rehoboam is Punishment and we only know this because of revelation 1 Kings 12:20-24
• The life of Job is an example of suffering and demonstrates our inability to know why such things occur

New Testament

• The man born blind is suffering – John 9:1-3
• The man at the Pool of Bethesda is being Punished – John 5:11-15
• The sufferers at the Tower of Siloam are suffering – Luke 13:1-5
• Lazarus is suffering – John 11:9-15

The cause of these sufferings or punishments cannot be known without God’s revelation

The narratives in 2 Samuel 11-12 and 1 Kings 12:20-24 as well as the Plagues of Egypt teach us that we cannot know why something is occurring unless God directly reveals it to us. Job is another effective example of being unable to discern why misfortune is befalling you without God’s express revelation. All suffer and you may rightly say that all suffer because of sin. However, the suffering of the Christian that we call “bearing the cross” is a different suffering. It is one that is brought upon us by our Christian faith and makes us more like Christ. Christians also suffer because of their sin, but we cannot know what sins we are suffering for unless that information is revealed to us or the suffering is a direct result of the sin (jail for murder). To claim knowledge about self-suffering or another’s suffering, or to claim that it is because of a certain sin, is condemned by God when he says:

Job 42:7-9 NKJV – And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me [what is] right, as My servant Job [has]. “Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you [according to your] folly; because you have not spoken of Me [what is] right, as My servant Job [has].” So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite [and] Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job.

This condemnation falls upon Eliphaz who argued that Job suffered only because he committed some wickedness:

Job 4:7, 9 NKJV – “Remember now, who [ever] perished being innocent? Or where were the upright [ever] cut off? … By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.

The attitude that we should learn from this is a repentant humility before God. That we repent always of our sin and turn always back to our Savior.

Teaching from the Church

Book of Concord

In AP XII, Melanchthon points out that the bad things that befall us do not always have to do with our being punished by God but often are designed to keep us in the faith. He writes, (in section 160),

Therefore troubles are not always penalties for certain past deeds, but works of God, intended for our profit, that the power of God might be made more manifest in our weakness.

He further notes, in a previous section (157),

[61/158] Job is excused though he was not troubled by past evil deeds [Job 2:3–10]. Therefore, troubles are not always punishments or signs of wrath. Indeed, terrified consciences should be taught that there are more important purposes for afflictions [2 Corinthians 12:9], so that they do not think God is rejecting them when they see nothing but God’s punishment and anger in troubles. The other more important purposes are to be considered, that is, that God is doing His strange work so that He may be able to do His own work, as Isaiah 28 teaches in a long speech. [62/159] When the disciples asked about the blind man who sinned, Christ replies that the cause of his blindness is not sin, but that “the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:2–3). In Jeremiah it is said, “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it …” (49:12). So the prophets, John the Baptist, and other saints were killed [Matthew 5:11]. [63/160] Therefore, troubles are not always punishments for certain past deeds, but they are God’s works, intended for our benefit, and that God’s power might be made more apparent in our weakness.

Following the first quote and citing Gregory the Great:

So Paul says God’s strength “is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Because of God’s will, our bodies should be sacrifices, to declare our obedience, and not to pay for eternal death. God has another price for that: the death of His own Son. [64/161] Gregory interprets David’s punishment in this sense, when he says:

If God had threatened that David would be humbled this way by his son because of that sin, why did He fulfill that which He had threatened against him when the sin was forgiven? The reply is that this forgiveness was made so that man might not be hindered from receiving eternal life. The example of the threatening followed, in order that the piety of humanity might be exercised and tested even in this humility. So because of sin, God inflicted upon humanity the death of the body. After the forgiveness of sins, He did not remove the affliction for the sake of exercising justice, namely, so that the righteousness of those who are sanctified might be exercised and tested.

Augustine On Free Choice of Will, Book 1, 1

EVODIUS: Please tell me: isn’t God the cause of evil?
AUGUSTINE: I will tell you once you have made clear what kind of evil you are asking about. For we use the word ‘evil’ in two senses: first, when we
say that someone has done evil; and second, when we say that someone has suffered evil.
EVODIUS: I want to know about both.
AUGUSTINE: But if you know or believe that God is good—and it is not right to believe otherwise—then he does no evil. On the other hand, if we
acknowledge that God is just—and it is impious to deny it—then he rewards the good and punishes the wicked. Those punishments are certainly evils
for those who suffer them. Therefore, if no one is punished unjustly—and we must believe this, since we believe that this universe is governed by divine
providence—it follows that God is a cause of the second kind of evil, but in no way causes the first kind.
EVODIUS: Then is there some other cause of the evil that God does not cause?
AUGUSTINE: There certainly is. Such evil could not occur unless someone caused it. But if you ask who that someone is, it is impossible to say. For there
is no single cause of evil; rather, everyone who does evil is the cause of his own evildoing. If you doubt this, recall what I said earlier: Evil deeds are
punished by the justice of God. They would not be punished justly if they had not been performed voluntarily.

Conclusion

From this study, we must conclude that God punishes evil, rewards good, and gives Christians suffering to improve their faith. It must not be concluded that we can know from what cause our punishments arise unless the cause is revealed by God or the direct result of our sin. Both punishments and chastisements are designed to return individuals to the faith so that they may be forgiven of their sins and live forever with Christ in paradise.