John Calvin Commentary 1 Corinthians 11:32

"But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." — 1 Corinthians 11:32 (ASV)

But when we are judged—here we have a consolation that is extremely necessary. For if anyone in affliction thinks that God is angry with him, he will be discouraged rather than encouraged to repentance. Paul, accordingly, says that God is angry with believers in such a way that He is not, in the meantime, forgetful of His mercy. Furthermore, it is for this particular reason He punishes them—that He may care for their welfare.

It is an inestimable consolation: that the punishments by which our sins are chastened are evidence, not of God’s anger for our destruction, but rather of His paternal love, and at the same time contribute to our salvation, for God is angry with us as His sons, whom He will not leave to perish.

When he says, that we may not be condemned with the world, he indicates two things.

The first is that the children of this world, while they sleep quietly and securely in their delights, are fattened up, like hogs, for the day of slaughter (Jeremiah 12:3). For though the Lord sometimes also invites the wicked to repentance by His chastisements, He often passes them over as strangers and allows them to rush on with impunity until they have filled up the measure of their final condemnation (Genesis 15:16). This privilege, therefore, belongs exclusively to believers: that by punishments they are called back from destruction.

The second thing is this: that chastisements are necessary remedies for believers, for otherwise they too would rush on to everlasting destruction if they were not restrained by temporal punishment.

These considerations should lead us not only to patience, so as to endure with equanimity the troubles that are assigned to us by God, but also to gratitude, so that, giving thanks to God our Father, we may resign ourselves to His discipline with willing submission.

They are also useful to us in various ways. For they cause our afflictions to be beneficial for us, as they train us for mortification of the flesh and a pious humility; they accustom us to obedience to God; they convince us of our own weakness; they kindle fervency in prayer in our minds; and they exercise hope, so that eventually whatever bitterness is in them is all swallowed up in spiritual joy.