Hebrews 12:10

Hebrews 12:10. And this deeper reverence is reasonable. For they (our earthly parents) for a few days (for the time of youth, and with special reference to it, whether successful or not, it came to an end) chastened us according as it seemed good to them (their rule being their own view of what was right, or sometimes their own temper or caprice); but he for our profit (not a question of seeming but of actual fact), for the purpose that and to be continued until (literally, unto) we share in his holiness, and then the discipline and our need for it will cease. The contrast here is perfect between seeming and reality between their pleasure and God's noble purpose between the few days of our youth, whether it succeed or not, and the continuance which is unbroken till the result is achieved. ‘His holiness' is, no doubt, a holiness completely like His own. The original word represents it rather as a gift or a result of His discipline than of our own culture or effort (ἁγιότης not ἁγιωτύνη is found only here, compare 2 Corinthians 7:1). The word rendered ‘share' or, in the English version, ‘be partakers of,' is not the same word as in Hebrews 12:8. It means rather to share in what is not within our reach; it implies willing acceptance rather than personal acquisition, though shared with others, even with the blessed God Himself. He sits as a Refiner of silver, and He applies the heat and removes the refuse till He sees in it His own image.