Discipline is probably the most difficult—and divisive—area of parenting, even among Christians. At some point every parent wonders: Are we disciplining our children enough? Or perhaps too much? Are we too lenient? Or perhaps too strict?
Our society usually equates discipline with punishment—a response to bad behaviour. But the Bible’s definition is much broader than that. Understanding biblical discipline begins with knowing God, the only perfect Father, who lovingly disciplines his children for their growth in godliness. In the light of this, the Bible describes parental discipline in terms of a loving, intentional, wholistic and long-term process that involves modelling, encouraging, teaching, training and correcting our children to help them mature towards godliness.
In this episode we speak with author and mum of five, Jocelyn Loane, taking a deep-dive into what biblical discipline really means.
We talk about:
- What is discipline, according to the Bible?
- Why do parents need to discipline their children?
- How can discipline go wrong?
- Is it OK for Christian parents to smack (or not to smack) their children?
- How should we understand the ‘rod of discipline’ described in Proverbs?
- How can we best respond to our children’s bad behaviour?
This conversation will be valuable for any Christian parent who wants to better understand the what, why and how of biblical discipline.
Further reading:
Parenting in God’s Family: Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Issues, which contains a chapter on ‘Discipline as discipleship’ by Harriet Connor.
Motherhood: How the Gospel Shapes Our Purpose and Priorities by Jocelyn Loane, which has two chapters devoted to the topic of discipline.
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You can also find our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other platforms.
Mothers Union Sydney runs an annual seminar about Christian life and parenting. Listen to talks from previous seminars on Soundcloud.
