This "perfecting for ever" is in nowise altered or minimized because the epistle

proceeds to urge each to "go on unto perfection", or because it associates perfecting with

suffering and obedience. When therefore we read that this discipline has in view the

partaking of His holiness, we do not understand that any amount of scourging can

sanctify, but that the believer, already perfectly sanctified in Christ, is now trained and

encouraged to walk in harmony with such a blessed position.

While the apostle urged the believer to treat with all due reverence the chastening of

the Lord, he assumed no stoic indifference. There is something intensely human in the

admission: "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous,

nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which

are exercised thereby" (Heb. 12: 11).

Three items in this verse demand attention.  First, the words "Nevertheless,

afterward". While mother-love is immediate and protective, father-love is concerned

with the future. The one sees the babe that is now. The other visualized the man that is

to be. The underlying thought is very close to that of II Cor. 4: 16-18, which hinges

upon the words, "while we look not at the things which are seen".

Then the Greek expression translated "The peaceable fruits of righteousness". We

understand this to mean in English, "the peaceable fruits, namely, righteousness".

Holiness in Christ is manifest, and imputed righteousness has produced its peaceable

fruit. The chastening and the discipline has had the effect of pruning; it has produced

fruitfulness. Here is a parallel with Phil. 1: 11 which speaks of bringing forth the fruits

of righteousness.

All, however, turns upon the third expression:  "To them which are exercised

thereby", just as the prayer in Philippians urges the need for discernment and trying the

things that differ.

Watch the effect of discipline upon two of the Lord's children. One becomes mellow,

the other hard and sour. The one is going on unto perfection, the other drawing back unto

perdition. Look at Israel in the wilderness. After their first experience at Marah one

would have thought that the next problem concerning water would, at once, have thrown

them back on the memory of the Lord's earlier intervention on their behalf, and that they

would have trusted in quiet confidence. But no, so far as they were concerned, the

discipline of Marah was wasted upon them; they were not "exercised" thereby. O let us

not pass through trials and reap no reward! Let us ever seek to be "exercised" by the

discipline of our pathway, and then it will turn to our profit and the Lord's glory. This

"exercise" is the mark of the "perfect"; "But strong meat belongeth to them that are

perfect, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good

and evil" (Heb. 5: 14). A baby has senses, a man has senses exercised. A true son of

God is exercised by the chastening of the Lord: he is unworthy of the name if he is

indifferent or hardened.