11:31-32 What do we learn from what Paul says here?
11:31-32 What do we learn from what Paul says here?
We learn from this how God chastens His children. It is not by inflicting sickness or calamity upon them, or by allowing them to be overcome by their circumstances in life, as so many Christians in the contemporary church believe. He chastens them by His word (CP V28 and 2Cor 13:5).
Christians are chastened by God when they judge themselves by His word for any sins they may have committed. God's word judges us; it convicts us of sin and it causes us to repent of the sin and confess it before God (CP Psa 32:5; Pr 28:13; 1Jn 1:9).
This is what Paul means in 1Cor 11:32 when he says but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord. The word chastening refers to the activity directed toward a child to influence conscious will and action. It means to instruct, to educate, to correct (CP 2Ti 3:16 with Psa 94:12; He 12:3-11 and Rev 3:19).
Because sickness and calamities are generally thought to be God's chastening of His children, a great many Christians' faith to believe implicitly in God's word has been seriously undermined, and as a result they are unable to receive healing or overcome their circumstance in life.
Christians must never sit under any teaching that would cause them to question the authority of God's word, which teaches that God does not inflict evil upon His children for any reason. He only gives His children good things (CP Mt 7:9-11 with Jas 1:12-17).
See also comments on 2Ti 3:16-17 and He 12:5-11.