Bible Translations, Corporal Punishment,
and the Armstrongist Legacy:
Samuel Martin’s Critique of Modern Scripture and Child-Rearing
Samuel Martin is the son of the late Dr. Ernest L. Martin (1932–2002), a key figure in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). Ernest Martin served as a minister, taught at Ambassador College (including as Dean of Faculty at the Bricket Wood campus in England), and headed the theology department. He participated in important archaeological work in Jerusalem alongside Professor Benjamin Mazar. In 1974, Ernest Martin left the WCG and founded independent biblical research organizations, including the Foundation for Biblical Research and later Associates for Scriptural Knowledge (ASK). He became known for his unconventional but rigorous studies on topics like the Temple Mount and biblical chronology.
Samuel, born in England and raised largely in the United States within this environment, absorbed the WCG’s culture firsthand. That culture placed heavy emphasis on strict, literal interpretations of Old Testament wisdom literature—especially the “rod” passages in Proverbs—as divine mandates for child-rearing. This was not abstract theology; it shaped daily family life for many members.
Martin’s June 2026 piece (at end of this review) argues that even after 150 years of advances in biblical scholarship, many popular English translations still create confusion for ordinary Christians. This confusion, he believes, helps perpetuate the practice of corporal punishment, which carries serious individual and societal costs.
He focuses on Proverbs 23:14 (“Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” in the King James Version). Martin walks readers through how different translations handle the verse:
- The KJV uses “hell,” which Martin calls a mistake because the Hebrew word Sheol does not refer to eternal torment by fire.
- The ASV (1901) and RSV (1952) switch to the untranslated Sheol and improve clarity in places (the RSV uses “save his life” instead of “deliver his soul”).
- The NASB keeps Sheol but returns to “soul.”
- The NIV translates Sheol helpfully as “death” but changes the original singular masculine “him” to the plural “them.”
- The Amplified Bible stands out positively by keeping Sheol while immediately explaining it in parentheses as “the nether world, the place of the dead.”
Martin’s critique gains extra power because of his background. In the Worldwide Church of God, corporal punishment was explicitly promoted as biblical truth. Garner Ted Armstrong, Herbert W. Armstrong’s son and a prominent early leader, wrote the widely distributed booklet The Plain Truth About Child Rearing (1963). It defended physical discipline as essential, countered psychological objections of the era, and gave practical guidance on when and how to spank.
Church leaders such as Rod Meredith, a longtime member/minister, embodied the movement’s strict, authoritative style. This “heavy-handed” approach to doctrine and church government often extended into expectations for family discipline. Many former members recall an environment where Proverbs was applied literally and firmly, sometimes with lasting negative effects on families.
Samuel Martin’s rejection of corporal punishment represents a deliberate break from that heritage. His work reframes the rod passages not as timeless commands for physical beating, but as ancient wisdom literature best read in context—often carrying broader meanings of guidance, protection, or authority—while giving priority to New Testament principles of grace, gentleness, and protecting children from harm.
Martin excels at making complex translation issues accessible. Directing readers to compare multiple versions themselves is effective. His point about Sheol versus “hell” is biblically sound; most modern scholars agree the word refers to the grave or underworld in this context, not eternal conscious torment. Highlighting how some translations prioritize readability or inclusivity at the expense of literal form is a fair observation shared by many textual critics.
His personal history lends credibility. Few critics of spanking come from inside a tradition that so strongly endorsed it. By grounding his arguments in both Hebrew study and lived experience, Martin bridges scholarly and pastoral concerns.
The newsletter’s strength—its tight focus on one verse—also limits it. Translation differences matter, but the deeper debate involves hermeneutics: How should Christians apply ancient proverbs today? What weight do we give Old Testament wisdom literature alongside Jesus’ teachings on children and non-violence? Martin explores these themes more fully in his books (especially the Thy Rod and Thy Staff, They Comfort Me series), but the newsletter stays narrower.
Some readers may feel the piece overstates translation “deficiencies” as the main cause of continued spanking. Many Christians who support measured physical discipline use modern translations and still cite the same passages. The real divide often lies in differing views on biblical authority, cultural context, and child development research.
Samuel Martin’s newsletter is more than a technical discussion of Bible versions. It is part of a larger story: the journey of someone raised in Armstrongism who used careful study to challenge one of its most consequential practices. By connecting translation choices to real-world outcomes for children, he invites Christians of all backgrounds to examine whether our Bibles are truly helping us “get this right” when it comes to the next generation.
In an era when debates about parenting, faith, and authority remain heated, voices like Martin’s—rooted in personal transformation and serious scholarship—offer a valuable contribution. Whether one ultimately agrees with his conclusions about corporal punishment or not, his call for clearer, more responsible engagement with Scripture is difficult to dismiss.
Martin excels at making complex translation issues accessible. Directing readers to compare multiple versions themselves is effective. His point about Sheol versus “hell” is biblically sound; most modern scholars agree the word refers to the grave or underworld in this context, not eternal conscious torment. Highlighting how some translations prioritize readability or inclusivity at the expense of literal form is a fair observation shared by many textual critics.
His personal history lends credibility. Few critics of spanking come from inside a tradition that so strongly endorsed it. By grounding his arguments in both Hebrew study and lived experience, Martin bridges scholarly and pastoral concerns.
The newsletter’s strength—its tight focus on one verse—also limits it. Translation differences matter, but the deeper debate involves hermeneutics: How should Christians apply ancient proverbs today? What weight do we give Old Testament wisdom literature alongside Jesus’ teachings on children and non-violence? Martin explores these themes more fully in his books (especially the Thy Rod and Thy Staff, They Comfort Me series), but the newsletter stays narrower.
Some readers may feel the piece overstates translation “deficiencies” as the main cause of continued spanking. Many Christians who support measured physical discipline use modern translations and still cite the same passages. The real divide often lies in differing views on biblical authority, cultural context, and child development research.
Samuel Martin’s newsletter is more than a technical discussion of Bible versions. It is part of a larger story: the journey of someone raised in Armstrongism who used careful study to challenge one of its most consequential practices. By connecting translation choices to real-world outcomes for children, he invites Christians of all backgrounds to examine whether our Bibles are truly helping us “get this right” when it comes to the next generation.
In an era when debates about parenting, faith, and authority remain heated, voices like Martin’s—rooted in personal transformation and serious scholarship—offer a valuable contribution. Whether one ultimately agrees with his conclusions about corporal punishment or not, his call for clearer, more responsible engagement with Scripture is difficult to dismiss.
The image above visually captures the heart of this story: the movement from rigid, fear-based interpretations tied to a specific religious past toward clarity, healing, and gentler guidance informed by better understanding of the original text.
Samuel Martin continues this important conversation from Jerusalem. His free resources at biblechild.com remain available for anyone wanting to explore further.
Silent Pilgrim
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Samuel's letter:
The Deficiencies of Modern Bible Translations and the Effect on the Issue of Corporal Punishment of Children
A Newsletter from the New Foundation for Biblical Research
June 2026
In last month’s newsletter we discussed the problem of the use of the word “Hell” in the Old Testament. We saw that this matter has a direct link to the issue of corporal punishment of children.
This month, we need to continue this discussion because it is important for all Bible students to understand the while great academic advances have taken place concerning Bible scholarship and translation in the last 150 years, serious problems and deficiencies remain, and these issues directly are linked to the subject of the corporal punishment of children.
Make no mistake, this is not the only issue negatively affected by these deficiencies, but it is one of the most important due to the negative impact that violence directed towards children causes globally each year.
This is a problem which is so staggering in its scope, reach and affect, it is really hard to fathom.
A frequently cited 2014 ODI/ChildFund Alliance report estimated the global economic costs of physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children at up to US$7 trillion annually (roughly 8% of global GDP at the time), or in lower scenarios 2–5% of GDP. This includes direct costs (e.g., health, legal, child protection services) and indirect costs (e.g., lost productivity, long-term health impacts).
Violence against children is wrong, and it hurts society on individual and collective levels.
What is certain is that the matter of corporal punishment of children is a major part of the whole issue of violence directed towards children because the phenomenon is so widespread.
In regard to this whole matter of Bible translation, I think it is essential that Christians use some of the modern tools that we have available to see for themselves the state of Bible translation and to see how serious deficiencies exist concerning how the English Bible has been translated over the last 125 years.
For more information in this regard, I would urge any student of the Bible who wishes to try to understand better this issue and the confusion that exists in most of the modern English translations to open www.biblegateway, search for Proverbs 23:14 and look at how this verse is translated in more than 25 different English versions.
What you are going to find, unfortunately, is a confusing mess and it is high time that this matter needs to be sorted out.
This is a serious matter because Christians who do not have the training in biblical languages are forced to rely on English translations provided by Bible scholars and used in churches and in the lives of Christianson a daily basis. If there are serious issues or problems with English Bible translations that affect virtually all of the modern scholarly Bible translations, this becomes a very concerning matter for lay Christian non-experts trying to understand what it is that one is to do or not do or to believe or not believe. We are here entering in the field of systematic theology. This also is not a minor issue, especially when it comes to matters of children, who are relying on parents to get this right. As we have seen, the economic and heath costs are high on the individual and societal levels.
Where all of this becomes very important among many key subjects concerns the matter of the corporal punishment of children and what many modern Christians believe and practice concerning this issue. If there are deficiencies found in modern Bible translations, is it possible that these deficiencies are wrongly influencing Christian practice today concerning what many Christians believe God wishes them to do concerning how children are to be raised and guided?
Most parents know that raising children under the most ideal circumstances is not easy, but in a faith environment, doesn’t it make sense that we have access to the best tools possible to understand what it is that God wants us to do versus what not to do? To me this seems to be a very reasonable idea.
So let us consider a specific example which is 100% linked to the ongoing discussion about corporal punishment of children and how modern Bible translations affect what lay Christian think about what the Bible is teaching.
In this regard, let us return again to the text that we discussed in last month’s newsletter: Proverbs 23:14, which in the King James Version, says:
The Deficiencies of Modern Bible Translations and the Effect on the Issue of Corporal Punishment of Children
A Newsletter from the New Foundation for Biblical Research
June 2026
In last month’s newsletter we discussed the problem of the use of the word “Hell” in the Old Testament. We saw that this matter has a direct link to the issue of corporal punishment of children.
This month, we need to continue this discussion because it is important for all Bible students to understand the while great academic advances have taken place concerning Bible scholarship and translation in the last 150 years, serious problems and deficiencies remain, and these issues directly are linked to the subject of the corporal punishment of children.
Make no mistake, this is not the only issue negatively affected by these deficiencies, but it is one of the most important due to the negative impact that violence directed towards children causes globally each year.
This is a problem which is so staggering in its scope, reach and affect, it is really hard to fathom.
A frequently cited 2014 ODI/ChildFund Alliance report estimated the global economic costs of physical, psychological, and sexual violence against children at up to US$7 trillion annually (roughly 8% of global GDP at the time), or in lower scenarios 2–5% of GDP. This includes direct costs (e.g., health, legal, child protection services) and indirect costs (e.g., lost productivity, long-term health impacts).
Violence against children is wrong, and it hurts society on individual and collective levels.
What is certain is that the matter of corporal punishment of children is a major part of the whole issue of violence directed towards children because the phenomenon is so widespread.
In regard to this whole matter of Bible translation, I think it is essential that Christians use some of the modern tools that we have available to see for themselves the state of Bible translation and to see how serious deficiencies exist concerning how the English Bible has been translated over the last 125 years.
For more information in this regard, I would urge any student of the Bible who wishes to try to understand better this issue and the confusion that exists in most of the modern English translations to open www.biblegateway, search for Proverbs 23:14 and look at how this verse is translated in more than 25 different English versions.
What you are going to find, unfortunately, is a confusing mess and it is high time that this matter needs to be sorted out.
This is a serious matter because Christians who do not have the training in biblical languages are forced to rely on English translations provided by Bible scholars and used in churches and in the lives of Christianson a daily basis. If there are serious issues or problems with English Bible translations that affect virtually all of the modern scholarly Bible translations, this becomes a very concerning matter for lay Christian non-experts trying to understand what it is that one is to do or not do or to believe or not believe. We are here entering in the field of systematic theology. This also is not a minor issue, especially when it comes to matters of children, who are relying on parents to get this right. As we have seen, the economic and heath costs are high on the individual and societal levels.
Where all of this becomes very important among many key subjects concerns the matter of the corporal punishment of children and what many modern Christians believe and practice concerning this issue. If there are deficiencies found in modern Bible translations, is it possible that these deficiencies are wrongly influencing Christian practice today concerning what many Christians believe God wishes them to do concerning how children are to be raised and guided?
Most parents know that raising children under the most ideal circumstances is not easy, but in a faith environment, doesn’t it make sense that we have access to the best tools possible to understand what it is that God wants us to do versus what not to do? To me this seems to be a very reasonable idea.
So let us consider a specific example which is 100% linked to the ongoing discussion about corporal punishment of children and how modern Bible translations affect what lay Christian think about what the Bible is teaching.
In this regard, let us return again to the text that we discussed in last month’s newsletter: Proverbs 23:14, which in the King James Version, says:
“Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.”
We saw last month that this text does not in any way teach that a beating will save a child from ever burning hell fire.
What is interesting though and is one of the problems that scholars are pointing out concerning the deficiencies of modern Bible translations is illustrated very well in how this text has been translated in modern more scholarly Bible versions.
Look at what modern scholars have done in their English translations of this verse.
In this regard, it is good to follow a chronological orientation to this issue. Note first what the American Standard Version (ASV) produced in 1901 says:
“Thou shalt beat him with the rod, And shalt deliver his soul from Sheol.”
Notice the difference. It is one word. Instead of “Hell” the translators opted for the Hebrew word Sheol. Does this approach make sense that Bible scholars who are producing a translation into English from the original Hebrew text to take this Hebrew word “Sheol” and not even translate it into English?
To me this makes no logical sense at all. This matter is just the beginning.
Look at the Revised Standard Version (RSV), which was published in 1952, which says:
“If you beat him with the rod you will save his life from Sheol.”
Once again, you can see this is very similar to what the KJV and the ASV say, but it is a little more modern language getting rid of the Old English term “Thou” opting for the more modern “you”, but overall it is quite similar, but once again, notice that they did not choose to provide an English translation of the Hebrew word “Sheol.”
A little credit here is due to the translators of the RSV because they did not use the word “soul” (which most Christians are going to think refers to the spiritual part of a person and is the part that is saved eternally) and opted for the formulation “save his life” which really is a better translation of the Hebrew original.
Let us remember that in the King James Version, the Hebrew word which was translated as “Hell” is “Sheol” in Hebrew and the translators opted for an English translation of this Hebrew word. While their translation of Hell was a mistake, it is still important to note that in one way of looking at it, at least providing an English translation of the original Hebrew for the non-expert is a more correct way of translating a Hebrew text into English.
Look now at another modern version, the New American Standard Version, which was first published in 1960 and has gone through several revisions since then (1995 and 2021).
“You shall strike him with the rod And rescue his soul from Sheol.”
Now, here again is a more academic Bible translation made from Hebrew into English, yet they chose not to translate the Hebrew word “Sheol” into English. They also reverted back to using the English translation “soul”, which is a mistake. For more information on this point about the use of the English word “soul” in the Bible, see my free ebook, which can be downloaded here which explains this – www.biblechild.com.
Why is this? What is the reason for this? Why would you not want to make this matter clear to the non-expert? Why are scholars not helping the non-expert understand what the original Hebrew means in this verse?
These are all reasonable questions to any Christians who is trying to understand what it is that God wants him or her to do or not to do. This is all quite important also because it concerns a matter of supreme importance of how children are raised and socialized in Christian society.
Should Christians have access to proper academic tools that can help us understand what it is the Bible is teaching us? To me, the answer to this question is a resounding YES.
Not only do we have translation problems related to individual terms and words, but there are issues with singular and plural and gender. Look at what the New International Version (NIV), first published in 1971, did in translating this verse into English.
“Punish them with the rod and save them from death.”
Now this verse is very different in meaning than the previous translations we have mentioned herein. But there is a problem.
The problem concerns the fact that the translators of the NIV did indeed offer a more correct English translation of the Hebrew word “Sheol” by translating that word by the English word “death” but look at what else they chose to do.
If you look at all of the translations quoted before, you will note that the translators chose to introduce a plural neuter word “them” in place of the original Hebrew “him”, which is singular masculine. Hebrew, by the way, does not have a neuter gender.
Does this action help the reader to understand what the Hebrew text says much less what it means? In fact, while in some ways the NIV translation is better in one way, it digresses and makes changes to the gender and tense of the verse with no seeming rationale in an academic sense.
Christians have to ask themselves: “Does this translation make spanking children easier?”
This is known among Bible scholars, and some have pointed out these issues in academic articles.
This is just one basic example that illustrates what scholars are calling into question. Where the Bible is ambiguous as to meaning, this can be pointed out in the translation to the English reader, but where the Hebrew text is clear, there is no reason to resort to transliterating Hebrew words and changing the gender and tense in verses where the gender and the tense of the verse is clear and unambiguous.
We can note that some translations follow this idea in texts where the meaning of the original Hebrew is obscure, so footnotes will often indicate this to the reader.
Fortunately, there is a good translation of Proverbs 23:14 found in the Amplified Bible, which says:
“You shall swat him with the reed-like rod And rescue his life from Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead).”
While the translators still retained Sheol, they did the right thing in clarifying what it means directly in the text, which for the lay Christian must be considered an appropriate strategy to present them access to the original text so that they can have accurate information on which to base their beliefs.
For more information about who this text in Proverbs 23:14 is directed to, please see my free ebook which can be downloaded from www.biblechild.com.
Samuel Martin
New Foundation for Biblical Research
P O Box 21543
Jerusalem Israel
www.biblechild.com
Email: info@biblechild.com
"Do you understand what you are reading?" — Acts 8:30
© Samuel Martin 2026
For more on the biblical case against corporal punishment, see my six books at https://www.amazon.com/stores/Samuel-Martin/author/B00HP94ZZA or visit www.biblechild.com to download my first book free.
If you're struggling with these issues, you're not alone. Email me at info@biblechild.com - I've corresponded with parents working through this, and I'm here to help.
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