This is a correct statement, as proved by 1 Cor 11:27-32, where God allowed unruly believers to get sick because they did not reverence the Lord's Supper. Sickness can be outright punishment for the ungodly and disobedient. See the discussion Sickness as chastening and judgment in the New Testament for vivid details.

The problem is when we apply this to believers who are walking in the light. The usual "proof text" that God sends sickness as chastening on regular believers is the passage below, which we must examine critically to see if this is really what it is saying:


Hebrews 12:5-13:

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
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.
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

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.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

The usual conclusion reached here is that chastening must refer to bodily affliction, since the last two verses refer to physical problems. Also, the word scourging refers to physical punishment. If this is so, all of us should expect to get sick as part of God's divine training. In that case, God is using something from which he says we are redeemed to train us. He is putting something on us that Jesus already bore for us in our place. This is ridiculous, but we should answer this objection on its own territory, which is the passage quoted above. The hinge issue is what chastening refers to here.


First, we are not to faint at his chastening or when we are rebuked. Rebuke is a verbal warning, not a physical punishment. God rebukes us through his Word. In fact, the same Greek word for chastening above is translated instruction in 2 Tim 3:16 ("All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for...instruction in righteousness"). Paul did not say that Scripture was profitable to make you sick. The same Greek word is translated nurture in Ephesians 6:4: "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." Paul was not telling the Ephesians, "Fathers, make your children sick to teach them lessons." Yes, chastening refers to training, which can include punishment (and is used as such in some Scriptures), but it does not imply sickness.


James gave instructions on what to do if (!) any (!) among you is sick! Thus, chastening cannot be sickness, because according to the verses above, we are all partakers of God's chastisement. If sickness is God's normal method of chastisement for a believer, James could well have said, "Is any among you not sick?" According to the passage, God chastens everyone that he loves, and if he doesn't chasten you, you aren't really a believer. If chastening is sickness, we have a new theology -- if you don't get sick, you aren't saved! In fact, you might be healthier serving the devil, since there are unbelievers who live normal lives and do not get seriously ill. Should we persuade them to get saved by telling them that our wonderful God will make them sick because he loves them, and they can enjoy poorer health so that they can learn God's ways? Yeah, right. Just see how many people want Jesus if you tell them that!


You know that you are supposed to discipline your children. Would you put cancer on your child to punish him for talking back to you? Would you kill your child with AIDS because he didn't do his homework last night? That would be considered child abuse, not nurture, discipline or instruction. God is not a child abuser.

The fact that the last two verses of the passage refer to healing has led people to conclude that God is talking about getting healed of the sickness with which you were chastened. This is clearly not the case when talking about hands hanging down and feeble knees being strengthened. This verse is quoted from Isaiah 35:3-6, where it clearly refers to fear, not illness. The hanging hands and feeble knees are due to fear, not sickness. This goes along with the exhortation at the beginning of this passage to not faint when God rebukes you. In other words, do not get into a fretful kind of fear of God just because he corrects you. Pick yourself up and run your race!


As for the verse about lame feet, there is no clear indication that this is literal. It would seem not to be, given that most of Hebrews 12 is exhortation to continue running the race (Heb 12:1) God is not exhorting you to literally run in the next 5K race in your town, although that would not be a sin. It would seem to me that the allegory has continued into the verse about the lame feet, and that God is still talking about running the race set before you, as he is elsewhere in the chapter. The immediate context is that you make straight paths for your feet, which would be an unusual way of getting literally healed. The idea is that you walk the straight path so that what is weak (lame) will not get even worse by running on a crooked path that you should not be on. Your lame legs (allegorically) will be healed as you run on the straight path instead of the wrong path.


It is sad that any sick person could use these verses as an excuse to go on a "witch hunt" for "secret sins" when he knows of none, thinking that sickness is God's punishment on him. These verses say that God rebukes you and corrects you with his chastisement. When God chastises you, he tells you where you're off and tells you what to do! He doesn't dump a disease on you for no apparent reason. Why should God use the devil's trash when he has his Word to rebuke and correct you?

Besides, we all know that unbelievers catch the same diseases that are going around at church. There is nothing special or godly about them. They are not God's method of training you. The only lessons I have learned from getting a cold are that I don't like colds and that I need to be more diligent in believing God's healing covenant!


If you say that God uses sickness to chastise you, you should tell us exactly what sins you are being chastised for when you are sick. At the first sign of a sore throat, please explain to us exactly what God is speaking to you about through it. No decent earthly father would "scourge" his child without explaining what it was punishment for. God would not "punish" you without telling you why. So cite to us your sin and the lesson you learned, or quit saying that God uses sickness to chastise you.

The explicitly stated results of God's chastening are the peaceable fruit of righteousness and being a partaker of God's holiness! Was that the result the last time you got a stuffy nose? Did having to breath through your mouth and use up boxes of tissues and keep your spouse awake half the night make you holy and give you the peaceable fruit of righteousness? If what you're going through doesn't produce these results, it definitely isn't the chastening of the Lord, because the chastening of the Lord produces these results!


God tells us how he really reproves us -- and he doesn't use sickness to do it:


2 Timothy 3:16-17:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

God wants us to grow by reading his Word (1 Peter 2:2), not by getting sick!

God uses his Word to correct the obedient believer. If you have to get sick before you learn your lessons, it is because you are not paying attention to the Word. God wants to train you with Scripture to make you ready for every good work.