Hebrews 12:11

Heb_12:11

Afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness

Sweet fruit from a thorny tree:

When our heavenly Father puts His hand into the bitter box and weighs out to us a portion of wormwood and gall in the form of bodily pain, we very naturally ask the reason why.

Nature suggests the question at times in petulance, and gets no answer; faith only asks it with bated breath, and gains a gracious reply.

I. PAIN TEACHES US OUR NOTHINGNESS. Health permits us to swell in self-esteem, and gather much which is unreal; sickness makes our feebleness conspicuous, and at the same time breaks up many of our shams. We need solid grace when we are thrown into the furnace of affliction; gilt and tinsel shrivel up in the fire. The patience in which we somewhat prided ourselves, where is it when sharp pangs succeed each other, like poisoned arrows setting the blood on flame? The joyful faith which could do all things, and bear all sufferings, is it always at hand when the time of trial has arrived? The peace which stood aloft on the mountains summit and serenely smiled on storms beneath, does it hold its ground quite so easily as we thought it would when at our ease we prophesied our behaviour in the day of battle? When nought remains but the clinging of a weeping child, who grasps his fathers hand; nothing but the smiting on the breast of the publican, who cries God be merciful to me a sinner; nought but the last resolve, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him--no real loss has been sustained, say, rather, a great gain has come to the humbled heart.

II. HEAVY SICKNESS AND CRUSHING PAIN SHUT OUT FROM US A THOUSAND MINOR CARES. We cannot now be cumbered with much serving, for others must take our place, and play the Martha in our stead; and it is well if then we are enabled to take Marys place as nearly as possible, and lie at Jesus feet if we cannot sit there. The Lord must do all, or it must remain undone. The weary head could only exaggerate the need; the sinking spirits could not suggest a supply. All must be left; yes, must be left. The reins drop from the drivers hands, the ploughman forgets the furrow, the seed-basket hangs no longer on the sewers arm. Thus is the soul shut in with God as within a wall of tire, and all her thought must be of Him, and of His promise and His help; grateful if but such thoughts will come, and forced if they come not just to lie as one dead at the feet of the great Lord and look up and hope. This cutting loose from earthly shores, this rehearsal of what must soon be done once for all in the hour of departure, is a salutary exercise, tending to cut away the hampering besetments of this mortal life, and make us freer for the heavenly race.

III. SICKNESS HAS CAUSED MANY WORKERS TO BECOME MORE INTENSE WHEN THEY HAVE AGAIN BEEN FAVOURED TO RETURN TO THEIR PLACE. We lie and bemoan our shortcomings, perceiving fault where it had in healthier hours escaped observation, resolving, in Gods strength, to throw our energies more fully into the weightiest matters, and spend less of force on secondary things. How much of lasting good may come of this! The time, apparently wasted, may turn out to be a real economy of life if the worker for years to come shall be more earnest, more careful, more prayerful, more passionately set upon doing his Lords business thoroughly. Oh that we could all thus improve our forced retirements! Then should we come forth like the sun from the chambers of the east, all the brighter for the nights chill darkness, while about us would be the dew of the Spirit, and the freshness of a new dawning.

IV. PAIN, IF SANCTIFIED, CREATES TENDERNESS TOWARDS OTHERS. Alone it may harden and shut up the man within himself, a student of his own nerves and ailments, a hater of all who would pretend to rival him in suffering; but, mixed with grace, our aches and pains are an ointment supplying the heart, and causing the milk of human kindness to fill the breast. The poor are tender to the poor, and the sick feel for the sick when their afflictions have wrought after a healthful fashion. Grief has been full oft the mother of mercy, and the pangs of sickness have been the birth-throes of compassion. If our hearts learn sympathy, they have been in a good school, though the Master may have used the rod most heavily, and taught us by many a smart.

V. PAIN HAS A TENDENCY TO MAKE US GRATEFUL WHEN HEALTH RETURNS. We value the powers of locomotion after tossing long upon a bed from which we cannot rise, the open air is sweet after the confinement of the chamber, food is relished when appetite returns, and in all respects the time of recovery is one of marked enjoyment. As birds sing most after their winters silence, when the warm spring has newly returned, so should we be most praiseful when our gloomy hours are changed for cheerful restoration. Gratitude is a choice spice for heavens altar. It burns well in the censer, and sends up a fragrant cloud, acceptable to the great High Priest. Perhaps God would have lost much praise if His servant had not much suffered. Sickness thus yields large tribute to the Kings revenue; and if it be so, we may cheerfully endure it. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The effects of sorrow

It is of sorrow I would speak. None can escape it. A man unacquainted with suffering would be a monstrous exception. You have doubtless seen the famous painting of a modern artist, The Call of the Condemned, during the Reign of Terror. The prisoners, already sentenced by the revolutionary tribunal, are there, huddled up together in the vast hall and beneath the low arches of the Conciergerie. In the background, the door stands open, and the jailer, behind whom the fatal chariot is visible, reads the names written upon the list of death. All listen; some have already risen and press the hands of their friends in a farewell grasp; others, whose countenance is ghastly and full of anguish, wait; others veil their feelings beneath stoical scorn; they seem to say, To-day or to-morrow, what matters? It is but a question of time. Thus it is with each of us; we are doomed to suffer; none of us is forgotten on the roll of the elect of affliction. Well! here is a strange fact: this question of suffering, the most universal and individual, the most ancient and actual of all questions, remains one of those which natural reason is absolutely incompetent to elucidate. Interrogate the ancient world, the Greek or Roman societies with their most illustrious philosophers, and you will find that every one of them, in presence of suffering, has but one of two counsels to give man: dissipation with Epicurus, or indifference with the stoic Zeno. I cannot, however, forget that some few more clear-sighted souls have seen in affliction a mysterious instrument of Providence, a means of education for man; but these were only stray gleams, like flashes of lightning illumining the darkness of ancient philosophy. This is what Seneca writes to a mother who had lost her son by death: Prejudice, which causes us to mourn so long, leads us further than nature commands. See how vehement are the regrets of dumb animals, yet how short is their duration! Cows that have lost their offspring moan but two or three days; mares pursue their wild and wandering course no longer. When the savage beast has followed the traces of her young and scoured the forest in every direction, when she has returned time after time to the den ravaged by the hunter, her fierce grief is very soon appeased. The bird that whirls with startling cry round her empty nest is quieted in an instant, and resumes her wonted flight. No animal long regrets its young; man alone loves to nurse his sorrow, and grieves, not by reason of what he feels, but in proportion as he has determined to grieve (Consolation to Marcia, ch. 7.). Having read this page, open the gospel and, with adoration, acknowledge the debt of gratitude you owe to Jesus Christ. According to Holy Writ, suffering is neither a simply natural phenomenon nor an effect of the primordial will of the Creator. According to Scripture it is an anomaly. God did not ordain it; in the beginning God beheld His work, and lo, it was good. Suffering is the logical, inevitable consequence of the false relation in which man has placed himself with God (Hos_14:2). But, if Scripture lays down this grand general principle that suffering is the consequence of sin, it affirms, none the less clearly, that in our earthly life sin and suffering are never fully equivalent; it forbids our drawing from exceptional affliction the inference of exceptional guilt; it interdicts our taking the Divine balance into our own hands and interpreting the judgments of God according to our imperfect knowledge of things. Such, in a few words, is the teaching of Scripture on what we might call the theoretical side of the problem of suffering. But if, looked at in this light, this teaching appears to us measured and limited; everything changes when we look at it from a practical point of view. Here light abounds: when we endeavour to demonstrate the providential action of suffering, its salutary effects upon souls, the various and often sublime ends to which God makes it serve, we feel that lessons gush forth from every detail, and that we are verily at the school of the Divine Educator. Let us, first of all, lay down a principle: Suffering in itself is not good. Suffering is what we make it. It can produce humiliation or revolt, it regenerates the heart or renders it a thousand times more vile; it is the pensive and gentle angel that brings us back to the true life, or the demon that beholds with a cynical sneer the nothingness of all hope; it causes the sacred source of repentant sorrow to gush forth, or, like a consuming fire, it parches and withers in the depth of the soul all the germs of the future. It is blessed or accursed, it raises to a new life or it kills. The two wretches agonising upon Calvary, one on Christs right hand and one on His left, are both crucified, but the one believes whilst the other blasphemes; the one repents whilst the other hardens his heart. In consequence, the point to be solved is, not only if we suffer, but if we accept affliction as coming from God. For those who bear suffering in this spirit I would show what it may be and what are the fruits it may yield. In the first place, I say that affliction gives us a fuller understanding of religious truth, Not that it teaches us anything which is absolutely new, but it makes realities of those beliefs which are often in danger of being considered by.us as pure abstractions. You will be convinced of this if, for a moment, you examine the notion which sorrow gives us of God, of others, and of ourselves. As regards the truth concerning God. For many God exists only as a cardinal notion, in truth, but as a mere notion nevertheless. What is required that He may reveal Himself to such, as a living and present Being, that truly religious faith may be joined, henceforth, to purely intellectual faith? A profound thinker (Schleier-reacher) has told us, Man must feel that he is dependent upon Him. Religion comes into existence together with the sentiment of dependence. Now, what is most sure of producing this sentiment within us? Affliction. Just as the darkness of night unveils to our gaze the splendours of the starry heavens, even so it is in the gloom of trial, in that night of the soul, that the eye of faith most clearly discerns the glories of Divine love. As regards the truth concerning men. This demands no proof. At all times it has been said: We know men only when we have suffered. As regards the truth concerning ourselves. Does a man know himself when he has not suffered? Does he take a serious view of evil when he has not felt its pangs? Can he have a correct idea of his weakness when he has not been vanquished? If death is the wages of sin, suffering is its humiliating earnest, and we may well discern in it the cruel effigy of the master to whom we have sold ourselves. Therefore affliction gives us a fuller understanding of the truths concerning ourselves, our fellow-men, and God. It does more, it acts upon conscience, it subdues the will. Would the idolatrous Canaanite ever have thought of coming to Christ if her heart had not been rent by the fearful spectacle of her demon-possessed daughter?

Would Jairus, ruler of the synagogue, have called the Saviour if he had not seen his child in the agony of death? Count those who followed Jesus during His ministry upon earth, question the innumerable multitudes which compose His retinue throughout the ages, and you will see that most of His disciples went to Him because they suffered. And as suffering has begun the work of their salvation, it serves also to continue and perfect it. Without it, pride, self-will, guilty passion would spring up again like vivacious roots, but the hand of the Divine husbandman passes and cuts them off, and the sap of life, which would spread with so much vigour in wrong directions, is forced to rise and spread itself out in holy affections. Thirdly, I have indicated the action of suffering upon the heart. We must consider this side of our subject for a few moments. There is a fact which we may observe daily; it is this: when a man is for the first time smitten with disease, for the first time also he thinks that others suffer like himself; this is for him a sort of discovery; he knew the name of the disease which lays him low, but he did not really believe in its existence. We have heard of deaf and blind individuals, of persons who have suddenly become poor; we have felt for them a sincere sentiment of superficial commiseration, but if we are unexpectedly threatened with one or other of these terrible trials, then the image of those whom it has before smitten starts up before our eyes, we are surprised to find they are so many, we reproach ourselves with having too long ignored them. From this experience flows sympathy, that Divine sentiment which signifies that we suffer with others, and which has become the mightiest power of consolation the world has ever known. It is to the afflicted that God has entrusted the sublime mission of consolation; the terms widow and deaconess originally signified one and the same thing, and, in the order of joy, as in the order of mercy, it is the prerogative of the poor that they are called to enrich others. What is it, in reality, that has produced the Church and transformed the world? A unique, incomparable, inexpressible grief which has found its consummation in the sacrifice of the Cross. Finally, I have said that affliction is the means which God makes use of to awaken and entertain within us the sacred life of hope. Hope is that virtue of the soul by which we affirm that the future belongs to God. Christian hope lies not at the souls surface, it dwells in its innermost depths, and appears, radiant and strong, in the hour when all things fail us. Now, is it not evident that hope is the daughter of affliction? It is not those that are satisfied who hope. Those that are satisfied find their reward here below, as Jesus Christ tells Mat_5:5-16), and that is the manifest sign of their condemnation. See the Jewish nation under the old dispensation: two nations mingle in this one nation. Throughout the history of the Church I find these two nations; if the Church is still standing, if she has not died, dishonoured by the ostentation, pride, and pollution of her representatives on the earth, by so many crimes perpetrated in the name of Jesus Christ, we owe it to those of her children who from age to age have maintained the sacred tradition of voluntary suffering and of sacrifice, and who have never ceased to expect the reign of God in righteousness and in truth. There exists, in the Roman Catholic religion, an institution which has always impressed me strongly: it is what is called perpetual adoration: in certain monastic orders, nuns relieve one another day and night, so that there are continually some praying before the Holy Sacrament. (E. Bersier, D. D.)

Chastisement--now and afterwards

I. First, we have very clearly in the text SOME CHASTISEMENTS.

1. Keeping literally to the words of the text, we observe that all which carnal reason can see of our present chastisement is but seeming. No chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. All that flesh and blood can discover of the quality of affliction is but its outward superficial appearance. We are not able by the eye of reason to discover what is the real virtue of sanctified tribulation; this discernment is the privilege of faith. How very apt we are to be deceived by seemings! Understand that all that you can know about trial by mere carnal reason is no more reliable than what you can discover by your feelings concerning the motion of the earth. Nor are our seemings at all likely to be worth much when you recollect that our fear, when we are under trouble, always darken, what little reason we have. I remember one so nervous that, when going up the Monument, he assured me that he felt it shake. It was his own shaking, not the shaking of the Monument; but he was timid at climbing to an unusual height. When you and I under trial get so afraid of this and afraid of that that we cannot trust the eyesight of the flesh, we may rest assured of this, that things are not what they seem. Besides, we are very unbelieving, and you know how unbelief is apt always to exaggerate the black and to diminish the bright. Added to this, over and above our unbelief there is a vast amount of ignorance, and ignorance is always the mother of dismay and consternation. In the ignorant times in this country men were always trembling at their own superstitions.

2. The text shows us that carnal reason judgeth afflictions only for the present. No chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous. It judges in the present light, which happens to be the very worst in which to form a correct estimate. Suppose that I am under a great tribulation to-day--let it be a bodily affliction--the head is aching, the mind is agitated, am I in a fit state then to judge the quality of affliction with a distracted brain?

3. This brings me to observe that since carnal reason only sees the seeming of the thing, and sees even that in the pale light of the present, therefore affliction never seemeth to be joyous. If affliction seemed to be joyous, would, it be a chastisement at all?

(1) It never seems to be joyous in the object of it. The Lord always takes care, when He does strike, to hit in a tender place.

(2) Nor is it joyous in the force of it.

(3) Nor as to the time of it.

(4) Nor as to the instrument.

4. Nay, more, the text assures us that every affliction seemeth to be grievous. Perhaps to the true Christian, who is much grown in grace, the most grievous part of the affliction is this. Now, saith he, I cannot see the benefit of it; if I could I would rejoice. Instead of doing good, it really seems to do harm. Such a brother has been taken away just in the midst of his usefulness, cries the bereaved friend. A wife says, My dear husband was called away just when the children needed most his care.

5. But now let me add that all this is only seeming. Faith triumphs in trial. There is a subject for song even in the smarts of the rod. For, first, the trial is not as heavy as it might have been; next, the trouble is not so severe as it ought to have been, and certainly the affliction is not so terrible as the burden which others have to carry.

II. We have spoken of sore afflictions; well, now, next we have BLESSED FRUIT-BEARING.

1. I want you to notice the word which goes before the fruit bearing part of the text. No chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless. Now what does that mean? That this fruit-bearing is not natural--it is not the natural effect of affliction. Trials breed discontent, anger, envy, rebellion, enmity, murmuring, and a thousand other ills; but God overruleth and makes the very thing which would make

Christians worse to minister unto their growth in holiness and spirituality. It is not the natural fruit of affliction, but the supernatural use to which God turns it in bringing good out of evil.

2. And then observe that this fruit is not instantaneous. Nevertheless, what is the next word? Afterwards. Many believers are deeply grieved because they do not at once feel that they have been profited by their afflictions. Well, you do not expect to see apples or plums on a tree which you have planted but a week.

3. Well, now, you will note in the text a sort of gradation with regard to what affliction does afterwards. It brings forth fruit; that is one step. That fruit is the fruit of righteousness; here is an advance. That righteous fruit is peaceable; this is the best of all.

III. And now for the third point, and that is FAVOURED SONS. Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness in them which are exercised thereby. It is not every Christian who gets a blessing from affliction, at least, not from every affliction that he has. I conceive that the last words are inserted by way of distinction--those that are exercised thereby. You know there are some of the Lords children who, when they get a trouble, are not exercised by it, because they run away from it. There are others who, when under trouble, are callous and do not yield; they bear it as a stone would bear it; the Lord may give or take away, they are equally senseless; they look upon it as the work of blind fate, not as the fruit of that blessed predestination which is ruled by a Fathers hand. They get no benefit from tribulation; it never enters into them, they are not exercised by it. Now, you know what the word exercised means. In the Greek gymnasium the training master would challenge the youths to meet him in combat. He knew how to strike, to guard, to wrestle. Many severe blows the young combatants received from him, but this was a part of their education, preparing them at some future time to appear publicly in the games. He who shirked the trial and declined the encounter with the trainer received no good from him, even though he would probably be thoroughly well flogged for his cowardice. The youth whose athletic frame was prepared for future struggles was he who stepped forth boldly to be exercised by his master. If you see afflictions come, and sit down impatiently, and will not be exercised by your trials, then you do not get the peaceable fruit of righteousness; but if, like a man, you say, Now is my time of trial, I will play the man; wake up my faith to meet the foe; take hold of God; stand with firm foot and slip not; let all my graces be aroused, for here is something to be exercised upon; it is then that a mans bone and sinew and muscle all grow stronger. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The good fruits of afflictions

I. WHAT ARE THOSE FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH THE DIVINE CHASTENINGS ARE SENT TO PRODUCE.

1. The mortification of our sinful lusts.

2. A more warm and active zeal and diligence in all the great duties of life and religion.

3. Another good fruit of affliction is manifest in the visible growth and improvement of those particular virtues and graces in which we have been too deficient.

(1) One great design of affliction is to revive our regards to God; and to engage us to seek our happiness from and fix our dependence only upon Him.

(2) Another Christian virtue which afflictions are very proper to cultivate is humility.

(3) Patience is another grace that is often much improved by afflictions. For without them it could have no exercise or trial.

(4) Another Christian grace which afflictions are sent to exercise and strengthen is faith.

(5) Submission and resignation to the will of God is another Christian grace that is often much improved by affliction.

(6) An increase of heavenly-mindedness is another good fruit that is often produced by afflictions. And to produce this indeed they have the directest tendency. For when the soul is well weary of this world it will naturally begin to look out, and long for a better.

II. WHY THESE ARE CALLED THE PEACEABLE FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

1. Because they will help us to bear afflictions with the most quiet and peaceable temper of mind whilst we are under them.

2. Because they give it an habitual peace and serenity afterwards,

III. WHO THEY ARE ON WHOM AFFLICTIONS HAVE THIS HAPPY EFFECT.

1. It is most certain that all who are under afflictions do not receive benefit by them.

2. It is not every good man that reaps all those advantages by his afflictions I before mentioned.

3. The meaning is that the Divine discipline has this design and tendency, that afflictions are in their own nature a powerful expedient to reform the mind and make the heart better, and to procure the greatest spiritual benefit to those who are exercised thereby. And

4. That they actually have this effect upon those who take a proper care to improve them. They take effect the same way that all other means do, that is, by being carefully used, attended to, and improved by us.

IV. WHAT IS NECESSARY ON OUR PART TO PROCURE THESE HAPPY FRUITS OF AFFLICTION, or in what manner we are to behave that they may actually yield to us the peaceable fruits of righteousness whenever we are exercised thereby.

1. The first thing necessary on our part in order to improve affliction is serious thought or deep self-reflection.

2. A constant watchfulness under our afflictions is equally necessary to our receiving real good from them.

3. Another means to get good by afflictions is frequent and persevering prayer.

Conclusion:

1. We hence learn that it is a great mistake to think, as some good Christians are ready to do, that all afflictions are sent in a way of anger, and are tokens of Gods.

2. From what hath been said upon this subject we may distinctly see what it is to have afflictions sanctified. Afflictions are then sanctified, and then only, when they increase our love to God, our humility, our patience, our faith, resignation, and heavenly-mindedness.

3. What reason have we to adore the wisdom and goodness of our heavenly Father in laying His children under those afflicting dispensations which are necessary to their true interest?

4. What hath been said may tend to prepare us to meet the future sufferings of life and teach us how to bear them.

5. How little reason have we to he very fond of a world so subject to vicissitude, anxiety, and sorrow! (John Mason, M. A.)

Beating out the air bubbles:

The first time I went to a potters house was in a very remote part of the Southern States. I do not know that what I witnessed there was a fair sample of the ruder forms of pottery, but I judge it was. I had never seen a vessel shaped on the wheel before, and I asked the potter to let me see him make one. He took a little lump of clay, but instead of putting it immediately on the wheel, he took it in one hand and began to give it very heavy blows with his fist. I almost thought he was angry with the poor clay before him, and I said, What are you doing with it? I thought you were going to make a vessel. So I am, when I get it ready. I am getting the air bubbles out of it. If I were to put it on the wheel as it is, it would be spoiled ill a few moments. One of those little bubbles would mar all my work. So I beat it and beat it, and in this way get all the air out of it. Ah! I thought, so does God have to treat us. The great difficulty with us is those little bubbles of self-conceit, of our own self-will, and sometimes of our self-righteousness--something that, in the process of Gods work, would wonderfully mar it. So He has to deal with us severely; but He is not angry with the poor clay before Him. He is not angry with us when He puts us through this process of adversity. He is only getting out of us all that would mar His blessed work. How wise it is, then, for us just to accept, with perfect simplicity, His will!

The use of a clouded sky

A sky never clouded would cause a barren earth. (Good Words.)

Experimental religion learned in sorrow:

Dr. Bushnell lost a son. When, a year or two after, he went into the country to preach for an old friend, the latter noticed an increased fervour in his preaching, and, in intimate talk, perhaps, alluded to it, when he said, earnestly, I have learned more of experimental religion since my little boy died than in all my life before. (Dr. Bushnells Life.)

Now and afterwards:

So it must ever be. Day out of night, spring out of winter, flowers out of frost, joy out of sorrow, fruitfulness out of pruning, Olivet out of Gethsemane, the ascension out of Calvary, life out of death, and the Christ that is to be out of the pangs of a travailing creation. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)

Advantage of adversity:

Of Anna, Lady Hacket, it was said that as a ball when forcibly struck down rebounds the higher, so what had beaten down her worldly hopes raised her faith to a more steadfast persuasion that God, who is the Comforter of those who are cast down, would still be her God and guide unto death. (H. Clissold, M. A.)

Afflictions winning the heart for God

I have been all my life like a child whose father wishes to fix his undivided attention. At first the child runs about the room, but his father ties up his feet; he then plays with his hands until they likewise are tied. Thus he continues to do, till he is completely tied up. Then, when he can do nothing else, he will attend to his father. Just so has God been dealing with me to induce me to place my happiness in Him alone. But I blindly continued to look for it here, and God has kept cutting off one source of enjoyment after another, till I find that I can do without them all, and yet enjoy more happiness than ever in my life before. (E. Payson.)

Affliction sanctified

Ulrich Zwingle was a convinced reformer, and a self-denying pastor, before the plague broke out in Zurich, but that visitation was to him as life from the dead. He had returned hastily, while still an invalid, from a watering-place where he was seeking health, to minister to the dying, till struck down by the scourge himself; but when he rose again, it was with such a sight of spiritual things, and such a power of ministry, as he had never had before, so that two thousand of his fellow-citizens were soon after converted by his preaching. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)

Uses of pain:

Robert Hall, although he had been admitted to membership in his fathers church at fourteen years of age, after a very distinct account of his being the subject of Divine grace, believed that his moral transformation was effected much later by means of the terrible discipline of pain which interrupted his ministry, and even for a time unhinged his reason. There can be no question that from this period he seemed more to live under the prevailing recollection of his entire dependence upon God, that his habits were more devotional than they had ever before been, his spiritual exercises more frequent and more elevated. (J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)

Divine harmony out of discord

As musicians sometimes go through perplexing mazes of discord in order to come to the inexpressible sweetness of after chords, so mens discords of trouble and chromatic jars, if God be their leader, are only preparing for a resolution into such harmonious strains as could never have been raised except upon such undertones, Most persons are more anxious to stop their sorrow than to carry it forward to its choral outburst. (H. W. Beecher.)

Divine tuning:

Men think God is destroying them because He is tuning them. The violinist screws up the key till the tense cord sounds the concert pitch; but it is not to break it, but to use it tunefully, that he stretches the siring upon the musical rack. (H. W. Beecher.)

The afterward of trial

The Rev. James Hog, of Carnock, an eminent minister, was long under deep mental distress. When he had lived in Holland for a considerable time, it pleased God unexpectedly to impart a great measure of light to his mind. Oh, how sweet, says he, the light was to me, who had been shut up in a dark dungeon! for sometimes I could do nothing but cry, Send out Thy light and Thy truth. After I had thus cried, not without some experience of a gracious answer, and expectation of more, I quickly found my soul brought out of prison, and breathing in a free and heavenly air; altogether astonished at the amazing mercy and grace of God.

The schemes of Providence but partially seen:

There is a striking passage in which a great philosopher, the famous Bishop Berkeley, describes the thought which occurred to him of the inscrutable schemes of Providence, as he saw in St. Pauls Cathedral a fly moving on one of the pillars. It requires, he says, some comprehension in the eye of an intelligent spectator to take in at one view the various parts of the building in order to observe their symmetry and design. But to the fly, whose prospect was confined to a little part of one of the stones of a single pillar, the joint beauty of the whole, or the distinct use of its parts, was inconspicuous. To that limited view the irregularities on the surface of the hewn stone seemed to be so many deformed rocks and precipices. That fly on the pillar, of which the philosopher spoke, is the likeness of each human being as he creeps along the vast pillars which support the universe. The sorrow which appears to us nothing but a yawning chasm or hideous precipice may turn out to be but the joining or cement which binds together the fragments of our existence into a solid whole! That dark and crooked path in which we have to grope our way in doubt and fear may be but the curve which, in the full daylight of a brighter world, will appear to be the necessary finish of some choice ornament, the inevitable span of some majestic arch! (Dean Stanley.)

After the tempest:

Keen students of nature, and especially of marine life in all its forms, often welcome the tempest, because after it they frequently get their choicest specimens. In the journal of the late Dr. Coldstream it is thus written: This morning, as the storm had subsided, I determined to go down to the sands of Leith, that I might revel in the riches that might have been cast up by the deep after the terrible storm. So it is with believers; their very richest experiences and the choicest tokens of Divine favour are often got in and after their stormiest trials.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 12:11. Πᾶσα, all) which is applied by both fathers of the flesh and the Father of spirits.—δὲ, but) This is the figure Occupatio.[75]—δοκεῖ, seems) For a feeling of pain and sorrow often prevents a sound judgment.—λύπης, a matter of grief) Those who chasten, seem to have for their object the grief or pain of those who are chastened; but this is not the case: 2Co 1:24; 2Co 8:8.—εἰρηνικὸν—δικαιοσύνης) LXX., καὶ ἔσται τὰ ἔργα τῆς δικαιοσύνης εἰρήνη, Isa 32:17. Εἰρηνικὸν, peaceful, Heb. שלם, LXX. εἰρηνικὸς, Gen 37:4, etc.: an antithesis to δοκεῖ, seems. He who chastens, shows that he has acted faithfully: he who is chastened, acknowledges that, and feels grateful; and hence peace.—γεγυμνασμένοις, to those who are exercised) Such as these have both a lighter burden, and whatever burden they have, they bear it with greater ease. They acquire experience by exercise.—ἈΠΟΔΊΔΩΣΙ) yields, viz. the fruit, which had been formerly kept back.—δικαιοσύνης, of righteousness) This explanation, after the language (the sentence) had kept the reader in suspense, is sweetly added at the end: the peaceable fruit, namely, of righteousness, with which a man being endued, approaches with joy to the Holiness of GOD.

[75] See App. Anticipation and refutation of an objection which may be raised.

Heb 12:11. Wherever in any other passage cleansing from sin is ascribed to the blood of Christ, it should be taken, according to the exigency (the bearing or relation) of the context, either morally or physically, or in both ways; for example, Heb 1:3; 1Jn 1:7. And the same remark applies to the victory, Rev 12:11.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb_12:11. The blessing of every chastening. Comp. Diog. Laert. v. 18 (cited by Wetstein): τῆς παιδείας ἔφη (sc. Aristotle) τὰς μὲν ῥίζας εἶναι πικράς, γλυκεῖς δὲ τοὺς καρπούς.

πᾶσα παιδεία] comprises the human and the divine chastening; yet the author in connection with the second clause (ὕστερον δὲ κ.τ.λ.) has no doubt mainly the latter before his mind.

πρὸς μὲν τὸ παρὸν κ.τ.λ.] seems indeed for the present (so long as it continues) to be no object of joy, but an object of grief; later, however (i.e. when it has been outlived), it yields to those who have been exercised by it (comp. Heb_5:14) the peace-fraught fruit of righteousness.

δοκεῖ] characterizes the opinion of man; since the matter is in reality very different.

δικαιοσύνης] Genitive of apposition: peaceful fruit, namely righteousness, i.e. moral purity and perfection. It is called a peaceful fruit because its possession brings with it peace of soul. δικαιοσύνης is not to be understood as a genitivus subjecti (Piscator, Owen, Stuart, Heinrichs, Stein, and others): a peaceful fruit which is yielded by righteousness; for surely παιδεία is mentioned as the subject producing the καρπὸς εἰρηνικός.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Heb 12:11 . πᾶσα δὲ παιδεία .… Another encouragement to endure chastening: if it is allowed to do its work righteousness will result. “Now all chastisement for the present indeed seems matter not of joy but of grief, afterwards however it yields, to those who are disciplined by it, the peaceable fruit of righteousness”. [ πᾶσα , as Chrys. says, τουτέστι καὶ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη καὶ ἡ πνευματική .] πρὸς τὸ παρόν , see Thucyd., ii. 22. οὐ δοκεῖ … λύπης , Chrys. καλῶς εἶπεν · οὐ δοκεῖ . οὐδὲ γάρ ἐστι λύπης ἡ παιδεία , ἀλλὰ μόνον δοκεῖ , see Bleek. Chastisement is here viewed as an opportunity for cultivating faith and endurance and to those who use the opportunity and are exercised and trained by it, διʼ αὐτῆς γεγυμνασμένοις , it necessarily yields, renders as the harvest due, ἀποδίδωσιν , as its fruit increased righteousness of life. But why “peaceful” εἰρηνικὸν ? Probably because the result of the conflict ( γεγυμνασμένοις ) and victory is peace in God and peace of conscience. It is a peace which can only be attained by those who have used their trials as a discipline and have emerged victorious from the conflict.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

joyous . . . grievous--Greek, "matter of joy . . . matter of grief." The objection that chastening is grievous is here anticipated and answered. It only seems so to those being chastened, whose judgments are confused by the present pain. Its ultimate fruit amply compensates for any temporary pam. The real object of the fathers in chastening is not that they find pleasure in the children's pain. Gratified wishes, our Father knows, would often be our real curses.

fruit of righteousness--righteousness (in practice, springing from faith) is the fruit which chastening, the tree yields (Phi 1:11). "Peaceable" (compare Isa 32:17): in contrast to the ordeal of conflict by which it has been won. "Fruit of righteousness to be enjoyed in peace after the conflict" [THOLUCK]. As the olive garland, the emblem of peace as well as victory, was put on the victor's brow in the games.

exercised thereby--as athletes exercised in training for a contest. Chastisement is the exercise to give experience, and make the spiritual combatant irresistibly victorious (Rom 5:3). "Oh, happy the servant for whose improvement his Lord is earnest, with whom he deigns to be angry, whom He does not deceive by dissembling admonition" (withholding admonition, and so leading the man to think he needs it not)! [TERTULLIAN, Patience, 11]. Observe the "afterwards"; that is the time often when God works.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous] Neither correction, wholesome restraint, domestic regulations, nor gymnastic discipline, are pleasant to them that are thus exercised; but it is by these means that obedient children, scholars, and great men are made. And it is by God's discipline that Christians are made. He who does not bear the yoke of Christ is good for nothing to others, and never gains rest to his own soul.

The peaceable fruit of righteousness] i.e. The joyous, prosperous fruits; those fruits by which we gain much, and through which we are made happy.

Exercised thereby.] γεγυμνασμενοις. To the trained. There is still an allusion to the Grecian games; and in the word before us to those gymnastic exercises by which the candidates for the prizes were trained to the different kinds of exercises in which they were to contend when the games were publicly opened.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Now no chastening, etc. This he adds, lest we should measure God’s chastisements by our present feelings; for he shows that we are like children who dread the rod and shun it as much as they can, for owing to their age they cannot yet judge how useful it may be to them. The object, then, of this admonition is, that chastisements cannot be estimated aright if judged according to what the flesh feels under them, and that therefore we must fix our eyes on the end: we shall thus receive the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And by the fruit of righteousness he means the fear of the Lord and a godly and holy life, of which the cross is the teacher. He calls it peaceable, because in adversities we are alarmed and disquieted, being tempted by impatience, which is always noisy and restless; but being chastened, we acknowledge with a resigned mind how profitable did that become to us which before seemed bitter and grievous.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(11) Now no chastening . . .—Better (the reading being slightly changed), All chastening seemeth for the present time to be not joyous, but grievous. The language, so far, would seem to be perfectly general, relating to all chastening, whether human or divine. The following clause may seem to confine our thought to the latter; but, with a lower sense of “righteousness,” the maxim is true of the wise discipline of earthly parents.

The peaceable fruit of righteousness.—Better, peaceful fruit, (fruit) of righteousness, to them that have been trained thereby. The “peaceful” fruit stands in contrast with the unrest and trouble which have preceded during the time of “chastening.” But there is more than rest after conflict, for the object of the conflict is attained; the fruit consists in righteousness. (Comp. Isa_32:17; Pro_11:30; Jas_3:17; Php_1:11.) It has been sometimes supposed that in the word “trained” the writer returns to the figure of Heb_12:4; but this is not probable.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. the peaceable fruit of righteousness] The original is expressed in the emphatic and oratorical style of the writer, “but afterwards it yieldeth a peaceful fruit to those who have been exercised by it—(the fruit) of righteousness.” He means that though the sterner aspect of training is never pleasurable for the time it results in righteousness—in moral hardihood and serene self-mastery—to all who have been trained in these gymnasia (γεγυμνασμένοις). See Rom_5:2-5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,.... These words anticipate an objection, taken from the grief and sorrow that comes by afflictions; and therefore how should they be for profit and advantage? The apostle answers, by granting that no affliction "seemeth" to be joyous, in outward appearance to flesh and blood, and according to the judgment of carnal sense and reason; in this view of afflictions, it must be owned, they do not appear to be matter, cause, or occasion of joy; though they really are, when viewed by faith, and judged of by sanctified reason; for they are tokens of the love of God and Christ; are evidences of sonship; and work together either for the temporal, or spiritual, or eternal good of the saints: and so likewise indeed "for the present time", either while under them, or in the present state of things, they seem so; but hereafter, either now when they are over; or however in the world to come, when the grace, goodness, wisdom, and power of God in them, in supporting under them, bringing out of them, and the blessed effects, and fruits of them, will be discerned, they will be looked upon with pleasure: but for the present, and when carnal sense and reason prevail, it must be allowed, that they are not matter of joy,

but grievous; or matter, cause, and occasion of grief; they cause pain and grief to the afflicted, and to their friends and relations about them; and especially, they are very grieving, and occasion heaviness, and are grievous to be borne, when soul troubles attend them; when God hides his face, and the soul is filled with a sense of wrath, looking upon the chastening, as being in wrath and hot displeasure; when Satan is let loose, and casts his fiery darts thick and fast; and when the soul has lost its views of interest in the love of God, and in the grace of Christ, and in eternal glory and happiness.

Nevertheless, afterwards it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby: who are used unto afflictions; "trained" up and instructed in the school of afflictions, as the word may signify; in which many useful lessons of faith and hope, patience and experience, humility, self-denial; and resignation of will, are learned: and to such afflictions yield "the fruit of peace"; external peace and prosperity sometimes follow upon them; and oftentimes internal peace is enjoyed in them; and they always issue to such in eternal peace and everlasting happiness; and this peace arises from the "righteousness" of Christ, laid hold upon by faith, which produces a true conscience peace, and entitles to that everlasting joy and rest which remains for the people of God. Moreover, the fruit of holiness may be designed, which saints by afflictions are made partakers of, and the peace enjoyed in that; for there is a peace, which though it does not spring from, yet is found in the ways of righteousness; and though this peace may not be had for the present, or while the affliction lasts, yet it is experienced "afterwards"; either after the affliction is over in the present life, or however in eternity, when the saints enter into peace; for the end of such dispensations, and of the persons exercised by them, is peace,

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

11 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.

Ver. 11. The peaceable fruit of righteousness] That crown of righteousness wrought out unto us by afflictions, 2Co 4:17, These are the preludes of our triumph, yea, a part of our salvation. Look therefore through the anger of God’s corrections, saith one, to the sweetness of his love therein, as by a rainbow we see the beautiful image of the sun’s light in the midst of the dark and waterish cloud. And look upon these afflictions as on so many wayward and touchy guests, which while they stay, watch every officer, but when they depart, they pay freely.

Unto them which are exercised thereby] Gr. exercised naked in the fencing school, as invincible champions. By suffering they are made more able to suffer, as well beaten soldiers, or porters to the cross. Thus David was better able to bear with Shimei, because he was under that great affliction of Absalom’s rebellion.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous - It does not impart pleasure, nor is this its design. All chastisement is intended to produce pain, and the Christian is as sensitive to pain as others. His religion does not blunt his sensibilities and make him a stoic, but it rather increases his susceptibility to suffering. The Lord Jesus, probably, felt pain, reproach, and contempt more keenly than any other human being ever did; and the Christian feels the loss of a child, or physical suffering, as keenly as anyone. But while religion does not render him insensible to suffering, it does two things:

(1)It enables him to bear the pain without complaining; and,

(2)It turns the affliction into a blessing on his soul. “Nevertheless afterward.” In future life. The effect is seen in a pure life, and in a more entire devotedness to God. We are not to look for the proper fruits of affliction while we are suffering, but “afterward.”

It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness - It is a tree that bears good fruit, and we do not expect the fruit to form and ripen at once. It may be long maturing, but it will be rich and mellow when it is ripe. It frequently requires a long time before all the results of affliction appear - as it requires months to form and ripen fruit. Like fruit it may appear at first sour, crabbed, and unpalatable; but it will be at last like the ruddy peach or the golden orange. When those fruits are ripened, they are:

(1)Fruits of “righteousness.” They make us more holy, more dead to sin and the world, and more alive to God. And they are

(2)Peaceable.” They produce peace, calmness, submission in the soul. They make the heart more tranquil in its confidence in God, and more disposed to promote the religion of peace.

The apostle speaks of this as if it were a universal truth in regard to Christians who are afflicted. And it is so. There is no Christian who is not ultimately benefited by trials, and who is not able at some period subsequently to say, “It was good for me that I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word.” When a Christian comes to die, he does not feel that he has had one trial too many, or one which he did not deserve. He can then look back and see the effect of some early trial so severe that he once thought he could hardly endure it, spreading a hallowed influence over his future years, and scattering its golden fruit all along the pathway of life. I have never known a Christian who was not benefited by afflictions; I have seen none who was not able to say that his trials produced some happy effect on his religious character, and on his real happiness in life. If this be so, then no matter how severe our trials, we should submit to them without a complaint. The more severe they are, the more we shall yet be blessed - on earth or in heaven.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

It is true all discipline, all corrections, and sufferings in this present life, are disagreeable to our nature, because they bring not joy, but trouble and grief with them; yet afterwards, they who have been exercised with them, will reap the most peaceable fruit of justice, eternal peace and happiness in heaven. (Witham) --- We must not judge of sufferings by the smart they occasion, but by the fruits of peace, justice, and eternal glory they produce in such as submit to them with patience.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: a further argument to persuade Christians not to despise nor faint under the Lord’s chastenings, is the good issue of them, subjoined to fortify them against the suggestions of flesh and blood, as if they could not be from love, nor for good, because they are smarting and grievous; therefore the Spirit asserts the truth as to both: All these chastenings and rebukes that the Father of spirits inflicts on his children, not one excepted, are, for all the time they are so inflicted, sensed by his children to be as they are; they feel them to have no joy in them, but a great deal of grief, pain, and smart; they are not pleasing of themselves, and God would not have them to be so, but his to feel the smart of his rod, when he corrects them with it.

Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby; yet have not his children any reason to despond or faint under them; for they are not always to continue, and there accrueth after them a benefit to them, that will make amends for them all the afterward following to eternity: this chastening rendereth and bringeth forth to all the corrected children, who labour to improve the smart, under God’s direction and blessing, a righteous compliance with the whole will of God, and a purging out of all sin, Isa 27:9; filling the soul full of joy and peace, and securing to the chastened a confluence of all that good that will abundantly reward them for their sufferings, setting them above them, and making them blessed, Isa 32:17; Rom 5:1-5; Jam 1:2-4.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Peaceable fruit—The word peaceable is used because the writer still retains the thought of persecuting trials. From these most unpeaceable chastisements a most peaceable result shall spring. Fruit consisting of righteousness; namely, of deeper faith, firmer trust, and loftier hope. But this peaceable fruit of a most turbulent tree will be yielded only to them which are exercised, that is, trained and educated, thereby. Trial yields bitterness and hardness to the wrong spirit.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now no chastening seemeth for the present to be joyous, but grievous (literally, not of joy, but of grief): nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which have been exercised thereby. This is a general statement with respect to all chastening, though the expression of its result at the end of the verse is suggested by the thought of Divine chastening, to which alone it is certainly, and in the full sense of the words, applicable. Of righteousness" is a genitive of apposition; dikaiosunh is the peaceable fruit yielded by paideia . And the word here surely denotes actual righteousness in ourselves; not merely justification in what is called the forensic sense: the proper effect of chastening is to make us good, and so at peace with our own conscience and with God. It is by no means thus implied that we can be accepted and so have peace on the ground of our own imperfect righteousness; only that it is in the fruits of faith perfected by discipline that we may "know that we are of the truth, and assure our hearts before him" Jam_3:18, "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace;" also Isa_32:17, "And the work of righteousness shall be peace".

Discipline in its endurance and in its results. "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, etc. Two aspects of discipline, distinct yet vitally related, are here set before us.

I. DISCIPLINE IN ITS ENDURANCE. "All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous, but grievous." All life"s discipline, while we are enduring it, is painful. It is so even to sincere and saintly Christians, for:

1. The Christian is not insensible to pain. Christianity offers no encouragement to stoicism. It does not call upon us to repress or to blunt the natural susceptibilities of our nature. We are summoned in the Christian Scriptures to feel for others and with others. "Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep." Insensibility is neither manly nor saintly, virtuous nor blessed. Our Savior was deeply moved by the afflictions and griefs of others. (cf. Mar_7:34 8:2 Luk_19:41Jo Luk_11:33, Luk_11:35, Luk_11:38) And he felt acutely the sorrows and sufferings which fell to his own lot. (Joh_12:27 Mat_26:38 Mat_27:46 Heb_5:7, Heb_5:8)

2. Pain or trial is an essential element of discipline. Our text speaks of discipline as "chastening," and that is painful. If we speak of it as correction, that is not easy to bear. It may be administered in various forms, but in every form it carries with it trial or suffering of some kind. Take away the trying element from the experience, and you take from it the character of discipline.

3. The endurance of discipline demands the strenuous exercise of spiritual powers. The writer speaks of those who have been exercised by the chastening. This exercise is not an amusement, but an arduous putting forth of mental and moral powers. Suffering sorely tests our submission to the Divine will. Tribulation tries our patience and piety. Enigmas of providence and dark passages in our own experience test our faith in the Divine Father. Remember how God"s servant Job was "exercised." And St. Paul. (2Co_4:8-12 2Co_11:23-30 2Co_12:7, 2Co_12:8) And the Christians in Smyrna. (Rev_2:9, Rev_2:10) If we did not feel the pain of the discipline, we could not derive any profit from it. If the chastening were not grievous for the present, it could not result in any blessing hereafter.

II DISCIPLINE IN ITS FRUIT. "Yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness." It is a well-attested fact of human experience that trial borne in a right spirit, and sanctified by God, results in rich benefits. But notice:

1. The condition of the fruit of discipline. "It yieldeth fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby." The chastening must have been felt, and recognized and accepted as discipline, in order to the reception of its fruits. Suffering is the condition of the deepest serenity. The pain of moral conflict must precede the glory of moral conquest.

2. The season of the fruit of discipline. "Afterward it yieldeth," etc. Not while we are passing through the painful experiences do we reap the rich result of them, but "afterward." Time is required for the fruit to form and to ripen. There are beautiful pictures which cannot be truly seen when we are near to them. So viewed, they appear to be inartistic and rough daubs. But, viewed from the right angle and from a suitable distance, their beauty captivates the eye and delights the soul. We must leave our disciplinary experiences and travel into the "afterward," before we can discover their true significance and their gracious uses.

3. The character of the fruit of discipline.

(1) The fruit of righteousness. Alford: "The practical righteousness which springs from faith." "Before I was afflicted I went astray," etc. (Psa_119:67, Psa_119:71)

(2) The fruit of peace. "Peaceable fruit." Alford: "This fruit is called peaceable in contrast to the conflict by which it is won." Ebrard: "Exercise in hard bitter conflict brings peace as its fruit." Tholuck: "Fruit of righteousness to be enjoyed in peace after the conflict." Generally the deepest and most constant peace is possessed by those who have passed through the sharpest sufferings or the severest struggles. Our afflictions are not for naught. They are the fruitful seed of future glories. They are blessings in disguise. They are meant for good, and are productive of good. They are like the early processes of the garden, when the soil is broken up and weeded, in order that fair flowers may at length adorn it. q-hey are the quarrying and chiseling of the marble before the living statue can stand out in symmetrical proportions. They are the instruments, without which no harmony can be secured in the ultimate concert. They are the medicine of our convalescence, the drudgery of our education, the spring pruning of our vine trees, without which we can never be healthy or happy, fit for heaven, or qualified to bring forth fruit whereby our Father may be glorified.

In conclusion, our subject should encourage us to be:

1. Patient under our discipline. Discipline is like a tree; it requires time and seasonable influences to produce the ripened fruit of peace and righteousness. Wait patiently for the "hereafter." "Behold, the husbandman waiteth," etc. (Jam_5:7)

2. Resigned under our discipline. Let us not rebel against the suffering which is designed for our sanctification; but let us "be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live.

3. Hopeful under our discipline. The trial may be bitter, but it wilt be brief, and the fruit thereof will be blessed and eternal. W.J. (cf. Rom_8:18 2Co_4:17, 2Co_4:18)

Ver. 11. The fruit of discipline.

I. A LESSON FROM BOYISH EXPERIENCE. The discipline of earthly parents, while we are passing through it, is all pain and no pleasure. Even when exercised with wisdom and consideration, the discipline must be painful; and in many instances there is a needless harshness which increases the pain. Parents are apt to take the course of discipline which gives them the least trouble. But even harsh and stern discipline is better than indulgence, infinitely better than letting the child have its own way. What bitter pain men have had to suffer, because as children they suffered little or none! The boy at school finds it very hard to be kept at the desk and the book, when the sun shines bright through the window, and he hears the merry cry of other lads at play; and hard it must seem while he is going through it. But it will soon slip past and manhood come, and then how glad he will be for knowledge gained and for facility in the use of the knowledge! How he will then rejoice over the encircling rigor of the parental will!

II THE FALLACY OF PRESENT ESTIMATES. We are bad judges of the experiences through which we are passing. A schoolboy"s estimate of life is amusing to listen to, but when we come to reflect over it, the reflection makes us sad. For we know well how different things are from what he thinks them to be. And what changes there must be in his view of life before it can be, even approximately, a true one! Therefore, whenever we listen to the confident and artless prattling of boyish ignorance, let there be in it a warning for us, a fresh admonition to walk by faith and not by sight. What we know not now and cannot know, we shall know hereafter. We must not kick against circumstances, for they are doubtless the very safety of our life if we only knew it. It is the greatest folly to say that a thing must be bad for us because it is painful and straight opposite to the strongest inclinations of the moment.

III THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD NEED NOT BE GRIEVOUS. As a general rule discipline is grievous, always grievous to the child. And even to one who is sure of his position of sonship towards God, discipline comes as a hard thing. But what makes it hard is that the flesh as yet counts for more than the spirit. Only let the spirit have free course and be glorified, and then joy will spring up in the very midst of the discipline. The man who wrote this letter, whoever he was, had not yet himself got out of the era of discipline; but the grievousness of discipline must have been abundantly sweetened by all the divinely born hopes and assurances that would throng into his heart. All the considerations here pressed upon the suffering believer are meant to bring joy in the midst of discipline. Joy especially there should be in the certainty of fruit. Youthful discipline, however careful and however successful in appearance for the time, yet may show little of result in after life. Something that no discipline can avert spoils the manhood. But we have the joy of feeling sure that God"s discipline of us cannot fail if we work together with him in submissive docility and patience. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now all chastening - Whether from our earthly or heavenly Father, Is for the present grievous, yet it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness - Holiness and happiness. To them that are exercised thereby - That receive this exercise as from God, and improve it according to his will.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

righteousness

(See Scofield "1Jn 3:7").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Our apostle in these words seems to obviate an objection against a compliance with his exhortation to bear divine chastenings with silence and submission; and this is taken from the trouble and sorrow wherewith chastisement is accompanied; this he takes for granted is so, but takes off all the weight of the objection, by opposing the benefits of affliction thereunto.

Learn hence, 1. That all afflictions for the present are grievous to the flesh, and painful to human nature.

Learn, 2. That though afflictions are grievous, yet their fruits are gracious to a believer; God in his sovereign wisdom doth so dispose and manage his people’s afflictions, that he makes them end in an happy fruit even in the fruits of holiness and sanctification; and after affliction has done its work, and wrought kindly God comes in with comfort and joy, and cheering cordials follow bitter physic.

Observe farther, How the benefit of chastisement is expressed in a threefold gradation.

Affliction yieldeth fruit; it is no dead and dry thing, but this rod blossoms and brings forth almonds.

The fruit it yieldeth is the fruit of righteousness, namely, patience, submission to the will of God, weanedness from the world, mortification of sin, purity of heart, holiness of life, farther readiness and greater fitness for suffering; these are the sweet fruits which God enables his to gather from the sour tree of afflicton.

And this fruit of righteousness, which affliction yields, is peacable fruit, because it is a pledge and evidence of our peace with God, and because it brings peace into our own minds.

By these fruits of righteousness our hearts are quited, our minds composed, all tumults allayed, and we enabled to possess our souls in patience. O happy fruit of affliction! Blessed is the man whom thou chastisest.

Observe lastly, Who they are that are blessed with these special benefits of afflictions, only those that are exercised thereby. The original word is an allusion to those in the public games, who stripped themselves naked, and put forth all their strength for mastery. To be exercised by chastisements, is to have all our spiritual strength put forth, all our faith and patience tried to the utmost.

Learn hence, that a christian can never find any benefit in chastisements, unless he be exercised by them, that is, unless his graces be stirred up by them to an holy and constant exercise, for hereby alone do they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. Now no chastening, etc. It is never pleasant to endure the chastening, but it afterwards benefits by the holier life it insures. In sorrow we naturally cling closer to God.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

11. χαρᾶς. “A matter of joy”; the gen. of a property, or perhaps of the sphere to which a thing belongs. Winer, p. 244.

ὕστερον δὲ κ.τ.λ. The original is expressed in the emphatic and oratorical style of the writer, “but afterwards it yieldeth a peaceful fruit to those who have been exercised by it—(the fruit) of righteousness.” He means that though the sterner aspect of training is never pleasurable for the time, it results in righteousness—in moral hardihood and serene self-mastery—to all who have been trained in these gymnasia (γεγυμνασμένοις). See Rom 5:2-5.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11.] Recurrence to the common ground of ver. 8, in describing the attribute of all chastisement, divine as well as human. That this reference of the verse is right, I am fully persuaded. Delitzsch’s view, that divine chastisement only is intended, confuses the logical sequence, and would certainly require, after what has gone before, some distinctive mark to indicate such restriction of the sense. The sequence of οἱ μὲν.… ἐπαίδευον.… ὁ δὲ … (παιδεύει).… πᾶσα δὲ παιδεία could not be otherwise interpreted than by taking πᾶσα as including the οἱ μέν and the ὁ δέ. It is true that in asserting what he does of πᾶσα παιδεία, the Writer lets fall out of view the capricious nature and uncertain result of human chastisement, and regards it more as a type and representative of that which is divine: all παιδεία properly so called, and answering its proper purpose. This is brought out in the second clause: the first is equally true of every sort of παιδεία. Now (exactly gives the δέ, which resumes the general from the particular, introducing an axiom to which all will assent) all chastisement for the time present (πρός, as before, ver. 10, ‘during and in respect of:’ our ‘for’ exactly gives it. Cf. ref. Thucyd., ὁρῶν αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὸ παρὸν χαλεπαίνοντας) seems (καλῶς εἶπεν· οὐ δοκεῖ. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐστὶ λύπης ἡ παιδεία, ἀλλὰ μόνον δοκεῖ. Chrys.) not to be matter of joy (χαρᾶς is the gen. of category, and requires no ellipsis supplied: see on ch. 10:39, and cf. Thuc. iii. 70, βουλῆς ὤν), but of grief: but afterwards it yields (see reff. and Herod. i. 193, ἐπὶ διηκόσια μὲν τὸ παράπαν ἀποδιδοῖ) peaceable fruit of righteousness (the gen. is one of apposition; the righteousness is the fruit, the παιδεία being the tree. The words are otherwise taken, making δικαιοσύνης a gen. subjecti, and righteousness that which yields the fruit, by Thl. (making δικαιοσύνη to be God’s righteousness: δίκαιος ὢν ὁ θεός, τοὺς ἐν τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ λυπηθέντας ἐκεῖ ἀναπαύει), Jac. Cappell. (Calv. in Bleek, but he says, “Fructus justitiæ dicitur timor Domini:” which is rather the other way), Schulz, Kuinoel, Klee, al., who make δικαιος. an attribute not of God, but of the men spoken of: as in ref. Phil., πεπληρωμένοι καρπὸν δικαιοσύνης τὸν διὰ Ἰησοῦ χριστοῦ, and in Liban. Decl. i. p. 198 b, μηδὲ τοῦτʼ ἄδηλον, πότερον ὁ τῆς δικαιοσύνης καρπὸς ἢ τῆς πονηρίας ἀμείνων. But seeing that παιδεία καρπὸν ἀποδίδωσιν, it must be its own fruit, and not that belonging to righteousness, that it yields. And thus Estius, Schlichting, Calov., Bengel, Storr, Böhme, Bleek, De Wette, Lünem., Delitzsch, al. And this fruit, thus considered, is the practical righteousness which springs from faith, not the forensic righteousness which comes by faith (as in Rom 5:1). And this fruit is called εἰρηνικός, in contrast to the ἀγών by which it is won: it is, as Tholuck expresses it, “fruit of righteousness to be enjoyed in peace after the conflict.” This is far better than to understand it ‘salutaris’ because שָׁלוֹם, peace, is used also for salvation (so Castellio, Michaelis, Storr, Ernesti, Dindorf, Schleusner, Wahl, Bretschn., Kuinoel): or with Primas., Grot., Wittich, Braun, Lamb. Bos, to take it as = “gratissimum atque acceptissimum.” The same sounding words occur together in ref. James, but the reference is different: see note there) to those who have been exercised by it (viz. παιδείας. The γεγυμνασμένοις is a clear reference to the conflict alluded to in the former verses. τί ἐστι, τοῖς διʼ αὐτῆς γεγυμν.; τοῖς ἀνασχομένοις ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ καρτερήσασιν. ὁρᾷς πῶς καὶ εὐφήμῳ ὀνόματι κέχρηται; ἄρα γυμνασία ἐστὶν ἡ παιδεία, τὸν ἀθλητὴν ἰσχυρὸν ἐργαζομένη καὶ ἀκαταγώνιστον ἐν τοῖς ἀγῶσι καὶ ἄμαχον ἐν τοῖς πολέμοις. Chrys.).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

No chastening for the present seemeth [πασα μεν παιδεια προς μεν το παρον ου δοκει] . Lit. all chastening - doth not seem. Pasa of all sorts, divine and human. The A. V., by joining ouj not to pasa all, and rendering no chastisement, weakens the emphasis on the idea every kind of chastisement. Prov men to paron for the present. For the force of prov see on ver. 10. Not merely during the present, but for the present regarded as the time in which its application is necessary and salutary. Men indicates that the suffering present is to be offset by a fruitful future - but [δε] afterward.

To be joyous but grievous [χαρας ειναι αλλα λυπης] . Lit. to be of joy but of grief.

It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness [καρπον ειρηνικον αποδιδωσιν δικαιοσυνης] . Perhaps with a suggestion of recompense for the long - suffering and waiting, since ajpodidonai often signifies "to give back." The phrase ajpodidonai karpon only here and Revelation 22 2. Karpon fruit with didonai to give, Mt 13:8; Mr 4:8 : with poiein to make or produce, often in Synoptic Gospels, as Mt 3:8, 10; Mt 7:17; Luk 3:8; Luk 6:43, etc. : with ferein to bear, always and only in John, Joh 12:24; Joh 14:2, 4, 5, 8, Joh 16 with blastanein to bring forth, Jas 5:18. Eirhnikov peaceable, in N. T. Only here and Jas 3:17, as an epithet of wisdom. Quite often in LXX of men, the heart, especially of words and sacrifices. The phrase karpov eijrhnikov peaceable fruit (omit the), N. T. o, o LXX The phrase fruit of righteousness, Phi 1:11; Jas 3:18, and LXX, Pro 3:9; Pro 11:30; Pro 13:2; Amo 6:13 : comp. Psa 1:3; Psa 57:11. The genitive of righteousness is explicative or appositional; fruit which consists in righteousness or is righteousness.

Unto them which are exercised thereby [τοις δι αυτης γεγυμνασμενοις] . Who have been subjected to the severe discipline of suffering, and have patiently undergone it. For the verb see on 1Ti 4:7. Rend. "it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness." This preserves the Greek order, and puts righteousness in its proper, emphatic position.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.