Theophylact of Ohrid, on Heb 12:7

“Persevere under discipline. God dealeth with you as with his sons; for what son is there, whom the father doth not correct?”

“Using the example of those whom they thought were abandoned by God, he shows them that they were an object of God's care. For if you were free from afflictions, it would turn out that you are illegitimate children, and not sons. For what father concerns himself with the upbringing and chastity of illegitimate sons? But since you are subjected to oppression, your life is therefore chaste and temperate — just as all the aforementioned were evidently righteous, who were also called sons of God: evidently, it does not contradict this that God treats you as sons and cares for you, so that you, being undisciplined, would not fall away, and so that He would not deprive you of your inheritance on account of this.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.