Since having started seminary, I have never felt that any of my assignments were “busy work.” Every single one of them has been very practically oriented, dealing with life and faith issues that we all face daily. This past summer I took a class on the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles. Of the several papers that I had to write for it, I was given a list of choices to pick from, and one was on a Pauline perspective on suffering for the Christian. As soon as I saw it, it was my first choice! (more…)

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Last month I began to look at what the Bible has to say about suffering and the Christian. We looked briefly at how Jesus suffered, as well as the Acts account of Paul’s suffering. This month, I want to look at what Paul taught to Christians about this difficult subject. (more…)

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One of the more difficult issues we struggle with has to do with suffering and the Christian. How do we account for it? We know that, “…if God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). However, we can often feel as though God is either strangely absent or perhaps even directly opposed to us. From Paul’s numerous statements in Scripture, we understand that any Christian who chooses to live for the gospel will find persecution. To a world that has consistently shown itself hostile to the message, anyone who proclaims that gospel can expect the same treatment even now. (more…)

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For the last three months I have been discussing suffering from Paul’s writings, as well as Acts and the gospels. However, when studying a theology of suffering, an examination of Acts and of only Paul’s instruction on the matter is somewhat incomplete. For anyone who claims to be a follower of Christ though, these two resources leave no room to hold to the belief that suffering is not part of God’s plan for them. It is only after death that anyone can see an ultimate relief from suffering. Until then, every Christian must embrace the teaching that God not only will see them through it, but that He can accomplish much because of it. (more…)

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