It’s almost the witching hour. I find myself awake, and I’m running on a log in my mind – changing my mind about a lot of things. Changing your mind about God is what is meant by repentance. Maybe changing my mind about spanking and discipline is growth…processing, and not just instability due to what I went through as a child. Perhaps disciplining without spanking does not reveal a lack of authority in our household.

I am having one of those thoughts again. I’m out in the field of golden wheat with the glorious horizon before me. The wind is blowing. And I’m standing beside a lot of Christian friends. But then…I run out toward the sun, while they remain. It’s a Joseph moment (of the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame) – a vision you have or, a revelation that may not be happily received, if you share it.

Here it is: I don’t see anywhere in the New Testament where Jesus Christ is using disciplinary physical touching. I do realize that we don’t see a picture of Jesus Christ raising a child either.

But we do see Jesus Christ referring to Himself as the Good Shepherd and referring to people, including adults, as sheep. You might say that sheep are even needier than human children for the authority and leadership that is equivalent to parenting.

Yet, I don’t see Him encouraging disciplinary physical touching, or teaching that. Instead, what I recall is Christ telling the crowds not to stone the woman. I remember James and John wanting to call down wrath like Elijah upon the Samaritans that did not want to host them as they headed for Jerusalem and the Lord Jesus telling them that they didn’t know of what kind of spirit they were. Because He had come to give life and not to destroy lives. I remember Him imploring God the Father from the cross to forgive those who had sought to kill him as they mocked Him, refusing to esteem Him as the Son of God.

I do remember Him warning anyone who would lead children who believed in Him to stumble, and I recall Him commanding us to love others as He loved us. But I do not see anything in the New Testament about disciplining children.

And concerning those who believe in His name, including children, I contend that the Old Testament moral law of discipline taught in Proverbs is moot (Hebrews 8; II Corinthians 3:10-18) in light of God having laid our iniquity on Jesus Christ. He was oppressed and afflicted and brought as a lamb to the slaughter – the perfect sacrificial offering for all sin, for all time, for all who will believe. Sin has consequences, yes – earthly, generally unavoidable consequences, like gravity. But sin has no heavenly consequences for Christians or, the offering of Christ was in vain.

The world will make you pay for law-breaking and its judgment of your immorality. However, Christians are to forgive even as we are forgiven in Christ.

The Lord disciplines, but what does that look like given what we know of Jesus Christ – that He never was rough with anyone, even in words, except 1) when it came to interfering with worship in the temple; and, 2) when dealing with the self-righteous, who felt they had no need for forgiveness and grace? What is the model of discipline that leads us as Christian parents to believe disciplinary physical touching is required?

We often see the mixing of the Old Covenant Written Law with New Covenant Grace and Truth: We are forgiven, and the consequences of sin were laid on Jesus Christ, yet…sin and its consequences remain. Sin is a principal, desiring to deceive and consume us, yes. But Christians are dead to sin and alive to God. We are not under Law, but Grace. Still, I mixed the old and new wine (or, if you prefer, sewed a new piece of cloth onto an old garment) earlier today in the newsletter I write for this blog (SEE, Luke 5:36-38.)

I put 2 pictures side by side – one from Ephesians 4:32. Below you will see the graphic I originally intended to put beside it and send out in the newsletter.

This picture is one of the things that woke me up at 2 am. I realized that in using this graphic, I was, like James and John, not knowing of what kind of spirit I am. I was reaching back to the Old Covenant destruction as a consequence of my sin (read: my bad behavior or, behavior inconsistent with my identity in Christ). But I live after the cross. I have life and freedom through faith in the name of Jesus Christ, who came to bring life – abundant life, not destruction. He came so that I and all people would be drawn to Him as He was lifted up, not so I could fall. Jesus Christ did not come to earth from heaven so I could stumble. To fall, for me, would be to fall from Grace to something lower – self-righteousness. Old wine. The blood of the Lord Jesus is the new wine – wine of the New Covenant.

And yet, perhaps the lesson to be learned isn’t that spanking is destructive; maybe disciplinary touching can be used – to teach something greater.

Writing about things is better for me than talking about them because I process and chew on ideas like cud. Conversations and research help me get to solid ground. But that takes time. In seconds, words can come out and make a mess. As I’ve turned over this idea, I’ve had the chance to have conversations that have shifted me. Maybe that’s why we have 1 mouth and 2 ears, right? I happen to have 2 hands and 10 fingers, too. As I write the conclusion of this post, I think spanking is probably a realistic way of getting attention, and we should use that attention to teach our kids the truth. Jesus used miracles to draw the world’s attention up to heaven. Maybe moms and dads and leaders use spanking to do the same thing – to get kids’ attention before pointing to God…