This is a brief overview of the Bible’s teaching on suffering. As such, it can’t come with the sensitivity to people’s own circumstances and the horror of suffering that is warranted. It is rather an attempt to provide some pegs for our thinking – and, with it, confidence as to the end of all suffering in Christ. It is intended for mature Christians who have already considered these things to some degree, are used to coming to the Bible for answers, and already have some sense of the majesty and mystery of God’s ways.
Suffering must in some sense be part of
God’s purpose in history.
1) God created humanity to enjoy an
everlasting life free from sin, disease, disability, disaster and death. This
is our start in Genesis 2 and our end in Revelation 22. This is the context for
all else. This is God's ultimate intent in human history.
2) God's intent in creation is however
broader than this. He chose us before the creation of the world to be
recipients of his grace through Christ, who will one day reign over all things.
So, God’s purpose in creation was that he would have a people who have experienced
redemption from sin and its consequences, and so praise him for his glorious
grace. Therefore sin, and the suffering that followed it, must have always been
part of his ultimate purpose - and in this sense intended by him (Eph 1v3-12).
3) Sin or evil is not however created by or
pleasing to God. It is the opposite of his righteous and good character. For
his ultimate ends, he creates a world and allows the circumstances in which
moral beings choose such things, but it is they who choose them. So, sin and
evil are created in every decision to rebel against God, as Satan, Eve and Adam
did. In this sense God does not intend sin or its consequences. We might say
they are a reluctant necessity in the fulfilment of his overall purposes (Gen
3v1-6, Lam 3v32-33).
Talking of God willing suffering nevertheless
needs careful thought.
4) The penalty for sin, is to be handed
over to a world of suffering, sickness and sinful desire. These things must
also therefore have been intended in the sense that they are necessary to the
ultimate fulfilment of God’s purposes, but not in the sense that they please
him. They result from God's general judgment on all humanity because of the sin
of Adam and Eve that we share in and perpetuate. From conception every human
being therefore enters into a world of evil, death and the toil, hardship, aging
and sickness that goes with it (Gen 3v22-24, 5v1-32, Rom 1v18-32, 5v12-14).
5) The randomness of suffering may find
some explanation here, as it displays a world shut off from the order that God
brings. We may find an explanation for the viciousness of animals here too.
Although there is nothing inherently bad about carnivorism (Ps 104v21), in our
more literal translations Genesis 6 speaks of “all flesh” becoming “corrupt”
after the fall, in a context where “all flesh” refers to all creatures (Gen
6v9-17). This is why it was fitting to destroy creatures in the flood too. Our
struggles with the callous way that animals toy with their prey therefore find
some resolution in understanding the fall.
6) Revelation 6v7-8 presents the risen and
reigning Jesus unlocking death in the form of sword, famine, plague and wild
animals, with a heavenly being calling it out, and the inference that God has
given these things power until Christ returns. Although we cannot in confidence
say that a specific war, drought, disease or accident is a specific judgment of
God for certain sins, we can say that they reflect his general judgment on
humanity for its sin. Indeed, we must say that this general judgment is now an
expression of Christ's current rule, and must be held in our minds alongside
his evident compassion at those who suffer these things. He exercises judgment,
but does it through tears (
7) This general judgment of God is
expressed in numerous ways – and here there is much mystery and the need of
much faith.
a)
Occasionally God
does cause someone to suffer, be sick, or die as a specific punishment for their
sin (Acts 5v1-11, 1 Cor 11v29-32). So, it is entirely appropriate if we suffer
acutely to examine ourselves and ensure we have truly repented (Jam 5v14-16, Rev
2v22, 9v20).
b)
Sickness should
not, however, be seen that way all the time (Jn 9v1-3). Usually, it is just a
reflection of life in this present age.
c)
Nevertheless, God
does sustain the biological processes that keep people active and that carry
disease and disability, when he does not have to. He could direct them in a different
way or instantaneously heal those who are sick (Heb 1v3).
d)
God also allows
Satan a degree of power in the world – though constraining him too. And where
Satan might seek to attack someone by bringing sickness or suffering on them, or
tempt someone to do evil, God shows that he may permit or even direct Satan’s
actions when he doesn’t have to, and for reasons that could remain unknown to any
victims (Job 1-2, 42).
e)
Moreover, God
presents his own interaction with human evil as one where he permits people to
do what’s wrong by following their own inclinations, whilst he at times limits
or orders them. However, he also reveals that at times he provokes people to
evil acts for the sake of certain goods he wants to achieve. A river flows of
its own accord, but only as the skilled landscaper determines, whether by
permitting or directing its natural course. In a similar way, human beings are
responsible for all they do, but do only as God in this sense determines. All this
should be factored in to our understanding of human acts contributing to sin,
sickness or suffering (Gen 50v20, Is 45v1-7, Acts 4v27-28, Prov 20v24, 21v1).
f)
When we read that
every aspect of every life is ordained or decreed by God in advance, we
shouldn’t therefore think this means God is directing us at every moment like
puppets. It’s much more complex. Knowing all things, he has chosen and so
ordained exactly what will be, but he has done this knowing how we would
exercise our own choices in every circumstance we face – circumstances that he
will either allow or direct into being, and choices that he will permit, limit
or even provoke. This means that our experience of freedom and
self-determination is a real one, as is our interaction with God (Ps 139v16,
Eph 1v11).
g)
Everything
mentioned in (a)-(f) above must be consider in understanding some bold
declarations God makes about himself. He doesn’t hesitate to say that he is the
one who has made the deaf deaf and blind blind (Ex 4v11), who brings “both
calamities and good things” (Lam 3v38), and who brings “prosperity and creates
disaster” (Is 45v7). Although they are hard, we really have to include these truths
in our knowledge of God if it is not to be an idolatrous sentimentalizing of
who he actually is.
h)
Most especially
however, we must be clear that he takes no delight in such things (Ezek 18v32).
Jesus showed so clearly that God feels deep compassion for those who suffer. In
this sense he doesn’t bring suffering about “willingly” (Lam 3v33). But the
verses above show that he is quite prepared to say that he does nevertheless bring
it about. He is totally sovereign. So, nothing happens apart from his “intent”
or “purpose” - given the careful nuance and understanding we’ve sought to
outline.
i)
We must remember
too, that in Jesus God the Son experienced the most severe suffering, and God
the Father in giving him to it. They are therefore not removed from our
personal suffering, but can empathise with us, and grant us by the Holy Spirit
what we need to endure it.
j)
Moreover, God
entered into this suffering in order to redeem us from suffering. So, suffering
is in no way his ultimate purpose for his people. Nevertheless, we must accept
that Jesus teaches a degree of suffering beyond death for unbelievers in hell,
that is proportional to their sin. This is most hard to consider, and can only
be held to when mindful of his care and action for those who suffer, his
readiness to act for their salvation, and how much greater the wisdom of our
creator must be to any understanding we can aspire to. Jesus wept over the
refusal of the Jews to embrace him because of the judgment it meant he would
have to bring on them, yet he could have opened their eyes so that they repented
instead (Lk 19v41-44, Mat 11v27).
God brings immense hope in and through
suffering.
8) It is only an acceptance of this
absolute rule of God, even over such terrible things, that enables us to be
certain that they are never arbitrary or lacking some sense of purpose in God’s
mind. And he is clear that his purpose in suffering and so sickness is not
confined to judgement. In mercy, he also intends it to bring people to
repentance (Rev 9v2). Here, Ecclesiastes 3v1-14 seems to imply that God brings
people through good and bad seasons so that they feel their own lack of control
over life and “fear him.” This may explain a purpose in the apparent randomness
of suffering and fact that even Christians suffer horrors. It keeps everyone on
their toes. As C S Lewis so famously put it: Suffering is “God’s megaphone to
rouse a deaf world.”
9) God also gives grace to all people,
whether they love or hate him, by making humanity in his image, and so with
skill in medicine and government, and a conscience that urges them to use these
things to tackle sickness. We should not underestimate quite how much sickness
God has providentially relieved by this means throughout history, and to an
increasing degree as Christ now reigns over all things. We should add that all
without exception deserve not one day of happiness on earth because of sin, but
should rightly pass straight to judgment. Hard as it may be to see, even those
who suffer therefore experience many blessings from God in the everyday things
of life. We therefore have no right to blame him for our lot, but should rather
give thanks that it is not much worse.
10) Most supremely, however, in Christ God
has decisively dealt with the curse of Eden, enabling a full redemption from
all its effects, including resurrection in new immortal bodies to fullness of
life, free from evil, disability, disease and death, in a renewed world (
11) Healing is therefore available for the
Christian in a similar way that sanctification is. They have been freed from
both sin and death, and so are no longer subject to them as elements of
condemnation. Nevertheless, while the Christian still inhabits their current
body, they are still bound to this world and so impacted by the fall of Adam
and Eve. They are no longer enslaved to sin, but will struggle with it until
their bodies are done away with (Rom 6v6). Similarly, they may experience
healing from sickness, but will continue to experience the sufferings of this
world, including sickness, until their mortal bodies die and they are raised to
life. Life free from sin, sickness and suffering is therefore described as “hope”
– and something we “do not yet have” but “wait for patiently” (Rom
8v18-23).
God’s has great purpose for suffering in
the Christian.
12) The difference for the Christian,
however, is that there is now no sense of judgement at all in their suffering or
sickness, as Christ has paid the penalty for their sin (Rom 8v1). They are not
being punished when they suffer. Instead, God uses suffering in other ways: to
hone their character and build their longing for their future hope (Rom 5v3-4);
to prove and display their faith, bringing them assurance and drawing others to
praise God (1 Pet 1v6-7); and to display his power in their weakness (2 Cor
12v9). This is the way of the “the crucified God.” And some have noted that
this pattern seems written into the creation that was made “through him.”
Throughout nature we see how death serves the purpose of life.[i]
14) It is critical to understand that
suffering was used in Christ’s life in these same ways. His obedience to the
father was drawn out and displayed more acutely because of what he had to
suffer (Heb 2v10). It displayed God’s power at work in him, causing us to
marvel and praise God for it. Suffering in its various forms is therefore a key
part of what it means to be a disciple who follows the way of the cross through
a life of suffering to glory. It is God’s discipline to train not punish; a
necessary aspect of being children that he as Father is developing (Heb
12v7-11). And it is something the Christian undergoes knowing that God
understands, having experienced it himself in Jesus.
15) Life until the return of Christ is
therefore lived with this tension between suffering and glory. The Christian’s
focus is on what will be when Christ returns, and they rejoice to be filled with
the Holy Spirit who is the life and power of the world to come. Yet they
recognize that they are called to live and serve for a time in this present
age, displaying the resurrection power of Christ in how they cope with its
trials and hardships.
God is ready and able to heal on
occasion from suffering.
16) This tension means that the Christian
cannot presume that God will heal them from sickness because he may have some
purpose in it for them - or for others through them. And this purpose may
remain unknown to them as it did Job. Like Paul, in suffering they would want to
say: “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be
ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be
exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” (Phil 1v20).
17) Nevertheless, knowing that Christ has
redeemed them from death and granted them access to the Father, encourages the
Christian to boldly pray for healing, recognizing Jesus has the power to heal
them, and that, although he has purpose in suffering, God hears his people’s
prayers, which are powerful and effective.
18) Prayer for healing might be from the
individual or church community, but God especially commends asking elders of
the church to pray, or looking to those he may have given a particular gift of
healing to (Jam 5v13-18, 1 Cor 12v9).
19) And if Jesus does heal, it may simply be
because he has compassion on the Christian’s predicament. However, his own
ministry implies it should also be seen as a sign of the sickness-free kingdom
he has established, and that will soon be displayed in fullness (Acts 2v19,
22). It is therefore something to share with others as a witness to the
truth of the gospel.
20) It is this gospel purpose that makes it
especially appropriate to pray for healing for non-Christians too – provided
this is done sensitively and without presumption.
God displays the heights of his love in
the depths of suffering.
21)
What follows from all this, is that the worse the evil and suffering
experienced in the world the more serious we recognise humanity’s sin to be,
and the more justified and weighty God’s justice and anger at it. We are
appalled at God permitting or bringing such things on human beings, rather than
at how bad sin must be for him to do so. We blame God, when we should blame
ourselves.
22)
Yet the more serious sin is and the more extreme God’s reaction to it, the more
incredible it is that he is willing to forgive and do so by sending his only
Son to suffer that evil and suffering. We conclude then that the worse the evil
and suffering in the world, the more God’s love is ultimately magnified because
the degree of suffering reflects the seriousness of sin and the extremity of
his anger that he is willing to overcome.
23)
Moreover, whatever other higher purposes God may have in evil and suffering,
one purpose certainly is that it displays the glory of his justice and by
consequence his mercy (Rom 11v30-32). As Paul again puts it, all is therefore
“to the praise of his glorious grace” (
24)
What follows is that although it would take a strong faith and clear biblical
understanding, when we ourselves endure horrific evil and suffering, a key way
of processing it, is to reflect on the fact that, although it is not a direct
punishment on the Christian, it does bring home to us the seriousness of our
sin and that of others, the weight of God’s justice and anger, and so the
wonders of God’s love displayed in Christ that deals with all that. It
therefore humbles us, and keeps us from trivialising sin or becoming complacent
about God’s grace.
25)
Moreover, not to teach all this for fear of offending others, is to prevent
perhaps the key purpose God has in evil and suffering – for it to lead people
to wonder at his mercy. To keep quiet then is to hide God’s glory, and give the
sense that there is a total pointlessness to our pain.
26)
Of course, there are instances of such extreme evil and suffering, that all
this hard to accept. But we must remember there is just so much we don’t know
when it comes to God’s purpose. However, we do know God. We know his wisdom,
his power, his goodness and compassion, seen most especially in Jesus. And so,
we can acknowledge the limits to our understanding, and echo Paul's words in
Rom 11v33-36:
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths
beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been
his counselor?” “Who has ever given to
God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are
all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen."
[i] If, as many hold, death
and so suffering occurred even before the fall in a world declared “very good”
(Gen 1v31), then we must conclude God’s means of shaping his creation and creatures
into their final state has always been through suffering – just as we see creatures
adapted by their environment. Romans 8v19-22 may hint at this. The “bondage to
decay” the creation has been subjected to is described as birth pangs – the
necessary precursor to the joy of the new life. And the sense is that when
humanity bear the glory of God’s image, the whole creation will experience the
freedom it would have experienced if Adam and Eve’s descendants had filled and
subdued it without sinning. Indeed, it is striking Paul speaks of all creation
being “subjected” to decay by God as opposed to being “subject” to humanity.
However,