Suffering can be a bit dicey to define. But I think seeing suffering as misfortune is very practical. Mis- is a prefix that means “bad” or “wrong,” and fortune means a “good outcome.” Outcome is the result or consequence of an action. So, whenever I do something and the result turns out wrong or bad, I am suffering.
If I want to toast bread for breakfast and end up burning it, that is suffering–at least insofar as my intended result (an edible slice of bread) goes wrong. In the same way, if I get married in hopes that I will have a lifelong companion until I am old and grey, but it doesn’t turn out that way–say ten years into the marriage, my spouse dies–then I did not get the result I intended. This too is suffering. One more, one less, but all is suffering!
Beyond Misfortune – A Biblical Definition
But is misfortune the only way to define suffering? Or does the Bible give Christians another lens by which to see their suffering? I think it does in Matthew 16:24: “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’”
Notice what Jesus is doing in this short sentence. He is presenting to us what the call to Christianity is really about. He says it is a cross-bearing call, and this is exactly how it was for Him. As our forerunner, He was the first to take up His cross of suffering, so that whoever would follow Him should follow the same path (1 Peter 2:21).
The gospels record for us the difficult life of our Lord. That though He was His Father’s beloved Son, that did not spare Him from suffering. So that all Christians would know and learn what it means to be the Christ of the world, and consequently to be Christ-like.
What is Christ-likeness
To be Christ-like –Christianity (Acts 11:26)– then is to be like Him, especially in His suffering.
1 Thess 1:6 (NLT)– So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. (The imitation of the Lord and of other Christians was in their suffering.)
Philippians 3:10 (NIV)– “I want to know Christ–yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.” (You see it, don’t you? To “know Christ”, that is to be a Christian, is to know resurrection power and suffering.)
Philippians 1:29– For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake (We received both faith and suffering when we believed).
Yes, everyone suffers–Christians, unbelievers, newborns, the old, the middle-aged–because of the curse of Adam’s sin. However, I don’t know if you can see it, these passages and so many others like them, are teaching us that when we become Christians, though suffering does not go away immediately (it will at the consummation), but it isn’t the same as the suffering you had before you became a Christian. Not in the type of suffering, no, but in its definition. For Christians, suffering takes on a new definition and a new purpose.
Sharing in Christ’s Sufferings
Allow me to use 2 Corinthians 4:6 to make this point. The verse says that receiving the gospel is receiving “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Immediately, verse 7 adds that this great treasure of the gospel (the light of the knowledge of the glory of Christ) is left in “earthen vessels,” our bodies, which will be afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. And these sufferings happen, you may not believe it, precisely because the treasure is left in earthen vessels. And it was left in earthen vessels precisely to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. So, no one is confused about who is powerful to live the Christian life. So therefore, we can conclude that the definition of receiving the gospel, becoming a Christian, is “carrying around in our body (the earthen vessel) the death of Jesus (suffering), so that the life of Jesus (eternal life, fellowship with the Triune God, the gift of the Spirit), this all-surpassing power, may also be revealed in our body” (v. 10).
It is this understanding of the relationship between Christianity and suffering that encourages Paul, who, like Christ, and like some of us, suffered in many ways, to say to us, “We do not lose heart.” (v16)
Peter says the same in 1 Peter 4:12–13: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.”
Do you see that Peter also says that our suffering, which he says shouldn’t surprise us, is just “sharing in Christ’s suffering” insofar as we have a share in Him (John 13:8).
The Mysterious Wisdom of God– Why He Allows Suffering
Friends, God knows the different ways suffering makes you feel. Paul himself admits in 2 Corinthians 4:16 that suffering wastes away our bodies. Oh, the exhaustion, the mental anguish, the sorrow, the silent tears. Suffering wears us down. Yet, at the same time, “our inner self is being renewed day by day.” (v16b)
So why does God allow it to continue? Because of the good it produces. Christianity is not an initiation into purposeless suffering. This is the mystery of God’s wisdom. So, let me mention two purposes of suffering in this article.
- To Humble Us (2 Cor. 1:9; 4:7)
The gospel treasure is in weak vessels “to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” (2 Cor 4:7). If our weakness is not regularly displayed, we would easily overestimate our own virtues. Paul explains, “Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death (suffering). But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God.” (2 Cor 1:9). So, to curb our arrogance, God, in sheer mercy, Calvin says, afflicts us with disgrace, childlessness, and other troubles. And we, for our part, quickly crumble before such blows -oh! how we crumble; in complaining, in murmuring, in anxiety, and much more- being far from able to withstand them.
- To Refine Our Faith (1 Peter 1:6–7)
Here, Peter tells us that every Christian suffering is necessary: “So that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
God did with many of the saints of old, especially with Abraham, when he asked him to sacrifice Isaac. Gen. 22:11–12: “But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.””
Calvin comments: God himself acts justly when he ordains circumstances that excite the virtues he has given to Christians, so that those virtues don’t escape notice or indeed, remain unused and waste away. This is then a good reason for the difficult circumstances in the lives of the saints.
What Now?
Hezekiah’s confession is helpful: “Behold, it was for my welfare that I had great bitterness; but in love You have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” (Isaiah 38:17). Like the psalmist (Ps. 119:71), Hezekiah acknowledges that suffering is good for the believer. Yet he also shows that our Father, who allows suffering, is able, willing, and eager to deliver. But notice: Hezekiah sings this song of thanksgiving only after fervent prayer.
Paul makes the same point in 2 Corinthians 1: God comforts us (v. 3), through Christ we share abundantly in comfort (v. 5), God raises the dead in suffering (v. 9), delivers, will deliver, and will deliver again (v. 10), and this He does through prayer!
James echoes it: “If anyone suffers, let him pray.” (James 5:13). This is the way of escape God has provided for the suffering he allows in our lives (1 Cor 10:13)
Conclusion
Christianity is not an initiation into purposeless suffering. The suffering God allows has a deliberate purpose: to humble us, to refine us, to conform us to Christ.
This is why Paul and Peter both insist: do not be surprised, do not lose heart. Your suffering is not strange. It has a new name, definition, and purpose, and in it, God is shaping you into Christlikeness.
