Chastisement and Cross Carrying

by A.W. Tozer

 

For the Christian, cross carrying and chastisement are alike but not identical. they differ in a number of important ways. The two ideas are usually considered to be the same and the words embodying the ideas are used interchangeably. There is, however, a sharp distinction between them. When we confuse them we are not thinking accurately; and when we do not think accurately about truth we lose some benefit that we might otherwise enjoy.

 

The cross and the rod occur close together in the Holy Scriptures, but they are not the same thing. The rod is imposed without the consent of the one who suffers it. The cross cannot be imposed by another. Even Christ bore the cross by His own free choice. He said of the life He poured out on the cross, “No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10: 18). He had every opportunity to escape the cross but He set His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem to die. the only compulsion He knew was the compulsion of love.

 

Chastisement is an act of God; cross carrying an act of the Christian. When God in love lays the rod to the back of His children, He does not ask permission. Chastisement for the believer is not voluntary except in the sense that he chooses the will of God with the knowledge that the will of God includes chastisement. “If te endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12: 7).

 

The cross never comes unsolicited; the rod always does. “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16: 24). Here is clear, intelligent choice, a choice that must be made by the individual with determination and forethought. In the kingdom of God no one ever stumbled onto a cross.

 

But what is the cross for the Christian? Obviously it is not the wooden instrument the Romans used to execute the sentence of death upon persons guilty of capital crimes. The cross is the suffering the Christian endures as a consequence of his following Christ in perfect obedience. Christ chose the cross by choosing the path that led to it; and it is so with His followers. In the way of obedience stands the cross, and we take the cross when we enter that way.

 

As the cross stands in the way of obedience, so chastisement is found in the way of disobedience. God never chastens a perfectly obedient child. Consider the fathers of our flesh; they never punished us for obedience, only for disobedience.

 

When we feel the sting of the rod we may be sure we are temporarily out of the right way. Conversely, the pain of the cross means that we are in the right way. But the Father’s love is not more or less, wherever we may be. God chastens us not that He may love us but because He loves us. In a well-ordered house a disobedient child may expect punishment; in the household of God no careless Christian can hope to escape it.

 

But how can we tell in a given situation whether our pain is from the cross or the rod? Pain is pain from whatever source it comes. Jonah in flight from the will of God suffered no worse storm than did Paul in the center of God’s will; the same wild sea threatened the life of both. And Daniel in the lion’s den was in trouble as deep as was Jonah in the whale’s belly. The nails bit as deep into the hands of Christ dying for the sins of the world as into the hands of the two thieves dying of their own sins. How then may we distinguish the cross from the rod?

 

I think the answer is plain. When tribulation comes we have but to note whether it is imposed or chosen. “Blessed are ye,” said our Lord, “when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake” (Matthew 5: 11). But that is not all. Three other words He added: They are “because of me.” These words show that the suffering must come voluntarily, that we must be chosen in the larger choice of Christ and righteousness. If the accusation men cry against us is true, no blessedness follows.

 

We delude ourselves when we try to turn our just punishments into a cross and rejoice over that for which we should rather repent. “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God” ( 1 Peter 2: 20). The cross is always in the way of righteousness. We feel the pain of the cross only when we suffer for Christ’s sake by our own willing choice.

 

I think that there is also another kind of suffering, one that does not fall into either of the categories considered above. It comes neither from the rod nor from the cross, not being imposed as a moral corrective nor suffered as a result of our Christian life and testimony. It comes in the course of nature and arises from the many ills flesh is heir to. It visits all alike in a greater or lesser degree and would appear to have no clear spiritual significance. Its source may be fire, flood bereavement, injuries, accidents, illness, old age, weariness or the upset conditions of the world generally. What are we to do about this?

 

Well, some great souls have managed to turn even these neutral afflictions to good. By prayer and self-abasement they wooed adversity to become their friend and made rough distress a teacher to instruct them in the heavenly arts. May we not emulate them?

 

From A.W. Tozer’s book:

The Radical Cross: Living the Passion of Christ

Wing Spread Publishers

Camp Hill, Pennsylvania