The Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health has renewed calls for smacking to be banned in England. Aaron Edwards opposes a ban
For an alternative view see here
What does society say about corporal punishment?
It’s not an easy thing to talk about corporal punishment. Many British parents are wary even of broaching the subject with one another, let alone normalising it. For many people, the potential for justifying abuse is too high. Anyone defending a genuinely Christian view of corporal punishment should never justify abuse. But in our zeal to combat abusive forms of corporal punishment, we also risk eradicating this biblical practice altogether, forgetting that, when practised in love, it is intended for good not evil.
As Dr James Dobson has said: “It is my opinion that parents today are more confused than ever about effective and loving discipline. It has become a lost art, a forgotten skill.” Discipline in general is an area in which parents need far more help within churches. Leaders are often reticent to teach on this topic openly lest they be misinterpreted, leaving many parents unsure and more likely to be swayed by more secular norms.
Some of the reticence to talk about corporal punishment publicly is the fear of being investigated by Social Services. Several years ago, someone reported my wife and I simply because they found out we use moderate corporal punishment with our children. A number of uncomfortable conversations with the school headteacher and social worker followed which were distressing, especially for my wife. The atmosphere of suspicion over corporal punishment can unsettle relational trust very easily.
Despite the fact that most parents of my generation likely received some form of corporal punishment growing up, the societal shift in parenting philosophy over recent decades means parents who still use it are now viewed as slightly strange creatures who apparently wish to harm their children. Although in theory just over 50% of UK parents still believe in reasonable corporal punishment, that number is decreasing, and is increasingly rare among younger parents. Quite often when this debate comes up in the media, you’ll hear people talk as if they can’t quite fathom that it’s still legal in England today, as though the current law was a vestige of some ancient barbaric practice.
A recent BBC article reported: “Currently, smacking is unlawful in England, except in cases where it amounts to a ‘reasonable punishment’.” This is technically correct but rhetorically misleading, akin to saying: “Currently, locking someone up against their will for several years is unlawful in England, except in cases where the person is a convicted criminal”. The opening sentence of the same article is even more misleading, making the bizarre claim that there is “no evidence [smacking] has any positive effect” on the wellbeing of children. Really? None at all? How many Christians did they ask?
One recent case that sparked fresh calls for a total ban was the tragedy of the 10-year-old girl Sara Sharif who was tortured and killed by her father and stepmother in 2024. Sharif’s father told police he had “legally punished” his daughter but had simply “beaten her up too much”. Even speaking in terms of “beating up” is already worlds apart from how any faithful Christian would ever think about corporal punishment. Progressive lobbyists speak as if horrific cases like this happen due to “vagueness” in the current law. But the law isn’t vague. What Sharif did was already highly illegal and morally despicable. The instinct to reform the law via extreme cases is often emotionally manipulative.
Efforts to undermine biblical principles on corporal punishment go hand in hand with the anti-authoritarianism of the 1950s and 60s, as with Michael Croft’s 1954 novel, Spare the Rod (made into a film in 1961). Here, the protagonist—a progressive teacher—challenges excessive and sadistic corporal punishment in a school. The moral was that we should “spare the rod” for the good of the child, a precise inversion of the biblical principle that to spare the rod is to “hate” your child (Proverbs 13:24).
What does the Bible actually say?
Surprisingly, the well-known phrase, “spare the rod, spoil the child” is not actually a biblical proverb. However, it does harmonise various proverbs which speak of parental discipline specifically mentioning “the rod” (Proverbs 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15). The tenor of these proverbs is not harm, but nurture: “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.” (23:13). Some people read such verses today and assume “the rod” must be symbolic of discipline in general. But it’s hard to imagine the writer is thinking of an ancient-world equivalent of the naughty step.
The rod appears frequently in proverbs alongside Mosaic laws for corporal punishment in general (e.g. Deuteronomy 23:1-3). But why couldn’t the rod be both literal and symbolic? To be for corporal punishment is not to recommend it for all situations, just that there are contexts where the Bible calls for it with a variety of good intentions: to drive folly from the heart of your child (22:15), to truly love them (13:24), to give them wisdom and save them and others from shame (29:15), and to guide them away from a long-term pathway to hell (23:14).
We have found the reasonable use of corporal punishment so helpful for establishing the base line of authority and virtue in our family from an early age
We see this same tenor in Hebrews 12 regarding God’s discipline, showing us we’re his beloved children, like our earthly fathers who “disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them” (Hebrews 12:10). Whilst not specifying “the rod” here, it is hard to imagine that the discipline the writer commends from the fathers of his own generation was not heavily informed by the proverbs and thus was undoubtedly “corporal” in some form. This is hinted at in the next verse: “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” (12:11). This may jar with the shorter-term therapeutic mindset of much “gentle parenting” in our time, particularly regarding the constructive use of “pain”. But the Bible calls parents to look not to short-term pleasantries but to the long-term “peaceful fruit of righteousness”. This is also why any Christian parent practicing corporal punishment is also bound by wider biblical constraints, such as not doing it in anger, for “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20) and ensuring a holistic environment of loving and gracious encouragement, not one of exasperation or abuse (Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:4).
Paul speaks of the denial of bodily comfort and the acceptance of bodily pain for the higher goal of faithful godliness (1Corinthians 9:27; 1Timothy. 4:8). We must remain wary of any who might twist such verses to underwrite genuine abuses. But I believe the Bible is clear that parents who refuse to discipline their children “bodily” are denying them a key aspect of their nurture. The gradual diminishment of corporal punishment across western society does not appear to have produced better fruit of good character but rather the opposite. Despite this, it seems that many modern parents believe that virtually all the Christian parents before the late twentieth century were automatically wrong to use any form of it, however lovingly intended. The scientific case is sometimes presented as a kind of “upgrade” which allows us to supersede biblical norms, as if the secular psychologists knew something about children that God doesn’t.
Short-term pain to avoid long term-harm
Contrary to exclusively negative depictions, loving corporal punishment can help children by causing temporary short-term pain to avoid more permanent long-term harm. We have found the reasonable use of corporal punishment so helpful for establishing the base line of authority and virtue in our family from an early age. On this foundation, other forms of discipline become more effective within the wider vision of honouring God by honouring father and mother. This is what Paul calls “the first commandment with a promise…that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land” (Ephesians 6:2-3). Corporal punishment works in tandem with this promise, showing children that it is precisely because God cares about our bodies that we should be taught as early as possible that our rebellion and/or our honour carry both spiritual and physical consequences.
Disclaimer: Abuse or violence against children is always wrong and Premier NexGen does not endorse it. This article has been edited in conjunction with the author to make that clear. We recognise Christians hold a variety of views on smacking. You can read an alternative perspective here.
