Trouble Gonna Come

In the famous essay that gave the “New Perspective on Paul” its name, James Dunn argued that Paul replaced circumcision and other Jewish “identity markers” with faith as the “badge of covenant membership” in the people of God.

For my part, this way of framing things is wrong-headed. What Paul found wrong with Judaism was neither legalism nor ethnocentrism, nor simply that Judaism was not Christianity. Paul’s problem was not in fact with Judaism but with humanity. In light of the Christ event—the death and resurrection of the Messiah—Paul concluded that the human plight was much worse than he had imagined.

But if Paul thought in terms of a badge of covenant membership, of a sign that one belongs to the Messiah, he would, I think, have fingered something more physical, more obvious, more tactile than faith. He would have pointed, as he does in Galatians, to the stigmata of Jesus that he carried around in his body (6:17). It is these scars of suffering for Christ, not circumcision (6:12-13, 15), that mark him out as a follower of the crucified Lord, through whom, he claims “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world” (6:14).

The pattern shows up often enough to represent a deep (and puzzling) current in Paul’s thinking:

• In Galatians, Paul exclaims “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14); in Romans, Paul insists that we boast in our sufferings (Rom 5:3).
• According to Rom 8:17, “we are heirs with Christ if in fact we suffer with him.”
• Paul tells the Philippians that “it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Phil 1:29 NIV).
• Paul wants to know not only the power of Christ’s resurrection but also the “fellowship of his sufferings,” linking conformity to Jesus’ death in some way to participation in the resurrection (Phil 3:10-11).
• For other related passages, see 1 Cor 4:6-13; 2 Cor 12:9-10; and 11; Col 1:24.

If there is a badge of covenant membership for Christians, it is not faith but suffering, the imitation of Christ.

This does not mean anyone should look for suffering or beat themselves up if they are not. It does not mean Christians who experience trauma or mental illness should glory (or wallow) in their suffering instead of seeking help. No, “trouble’s gonna come” if you live long enough. And, again, for those who believe, suffering leads to hope of glory.

ALS and Hope of Glory

When Paul pauses to catch his breath at the beginning of Romans 5, he exclaims, “we boast in the hope of the glory of God,” and then quickly adds, “What’s more, we also boast in our sufferings.” As a follower of the crucified Messiah, Paul can’t bring himself to boast directly in the hope of glory, so he backs up and starts over, tracing a sequence that leads from suffering to hope:

Suffering produces endurance,

    endurance produces character,

        and character produces hope.

Suffering does not always produce hope, of course; it often ends in despair. But, Paul says, for us it leads to hope. These are assertions, not arguments, no doubt based on Paul’s own experience: Those who cry “Abba Father,” co-heirs with the crucified Messiah, find that suffering leads to hope, not despair, that all creation’s groaning goes hand-in-hand, somehow, with the love of God poured into our hearts.

It is a remarkable thing when you see this truth confirmed before your eyes.

My sister, Karen, was diagnosed with ALS not quite a year ago, on Jan 6 2023, just a few days before her 54th birthday. She died on Wednesday, 29 November, leaving behind her husband of 27 years, and two young adult children.

As the terrible disease took its terrible toll - the rapid loss of mobility, the loss of speech, the loss of the ability to eat -  my sister lived life and faced death with courage and steadfast trust in the goodness and love of God.

A few months after her diagnosis Karen began chronicling her experience and expressing her faith on a blog she called “Sufficient Grace.”

The entry for April 11 is a typical example that sandwiches the unvarnished reality of her suffering between a Bible verse and a confession of faith: 

“For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. (Psalm 30:5) 

“Grief is the companion of ALS. It rises with every loss, sometimes with great tears and sobs, sometimes with just a lingering sadness and a sense that what used to be is no more. … Joy cometh in the morning! While I am still here, there are plenty of reasons to get up in the morning–sunrises, singing birds, laughter as my husband or daughter gets me dressed, the warm smile of each of my family members, a cup of sweet hot tea, and friends. And there are many more things I could list. God’s blessings are indeed rich and infinite!”

May 6: “The Rock that is Higher than I” (from Psalm 61:2) 

“It’s been a grieving week. As my hands weaken and I can hardly carry my phone, let alone lift anything else, and my legs weaken, and I struggle with the stairs, and my voice weakens, and I struggle to speak, it is so easy to get discouraged. I have become nearly completely dependent on my family. The tears of sadness and frustration have been very near the surface. But there have been good things too. With every loss, there are blessings and mercy….”

May 31 Promise: 

“ALS is a thief. It takes and takes, and takes some more. But it can’t take my faith, and it can’t take the promises of God.”

Sept 5: Frustration

“I think I have more questions than answers about why God allows such difficult situations to happen to us. All I know is that He is not done writing my story just like I am not done writing my own story.”

Oct 6: Loss to Gain

“One of the recent losses has been that of intelligible speech. … The hardest loss has been the loss of the ability to swallow food. I really miss my morning tea and the ability to take on active part in meals with family. In my family food has been a way of showing love. We cook favorite meals because we love. This subject has taken me a while to write about because the loss has been so painful. Yes you can blend foods and push them through a tube but it isn’t the same. As these losses grow bigger the thought of heaven grows sweeter and I am reminded of Paul when he says, in Philippians 3 ... ‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord....’”

Oct 16: Patience in Suffering

“I am faint and weary, weary of this body that no longer works. But I look forward with hope to the One who never is faint or weak or weary. And I look forward to one day having a new body that has strength to be able to walk and talk.” 

Karen’s last post, a reflection on Jesus as the bread of life - “he that cometh to me shall never hunger” - was published on Oct 21. 

The blog’s final post is her obituary. You can read it here.

Talk about Suffering Part 3: Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer came up in a comment on Part 2. The following quotations on suffering are from his Letters and Papers from Prison (London: SCM, 1953). Notice, in the second quote, Bonhoeffer's denial that he was suffering, and, in the rest, the connection between suffering and life:

Christ avoided suffering until his hour had come, but when it did come he seized it with both hands as a free man and mastered it. Christ, as the Scriptures tell us, bore all our human sufferings in his own body as if they were his own--a tremendous thought--and submitted to them freely. Of course, we are not Christs, we do not have to redeem the world by any action or suffering of our own. There is no need for us to lay upon ourselves such an intolerable burden. We are not lords, but instruments in the hand of the Lord of history. Our capacity to sympathise with others in their sufferings is strictly limited. We are not Christs, but if we want to be Christians we must show something of Christ's breadth of sympathy by acting responsibly, by grasping our "hour," by facing danger like free men, by displaying a real sympathy which springs not from fear, but from the liberating and redeeming love of Christ for all who suffer. To look on without lifting a helping hand is most un-Christian. The Christian does not have to wait until he suffers himself; the sufferings of his brethren for whom Christ died are enough to awaken his active sympathy. - p. 145 "After Ten Years" "Sympathy" (an essay written before his imprisonment)

This is my second passiontide here. People sometimes suggest in their letters that I am suffering here. Personally, I shrink from such a thought, for it seems a profanation of that word. . . . Frankly speaking, I sometimes feel almost ashamed to think how much we have talked about our own sufferings. Indeed, real suffering must be quite a different matter and have a quite different dimension, from anything I have experienced hitherto. - p. 80 (March 9, 1944)

To be a Christian does not mean to be religious in a particular way, to cultivate some particular form of ascetism [sic.] (as a sinner, a penitent or a saint), but to be a man. It is not some religious act which makes a Christian what he is, but participation in the suffering of God in the life of the world. This is metanoia [repentance]. It is not in the first instance bothering about one's own needs, problems, sins, and fears, but allowing oneself to be caught up in the way of Christ, into the Messianic event, and thus fulfilling Isaiah 53....This being caught up into the Messianic suffering of God in Jesus Christ takes a variety of forms in the New Testament....All that is common between them is their participation in the suffering of God in Christ. That is their faith. There is nothing of religious asceticism here. The religious act is always something partial, faith is always something whole, an act involving the whole life. Jesus does not call men to a new religion, but to life. - p. 123 (July 18, 1944)

I...am still discovering up to this very moment that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself, whether it be a saint, a converted sinner, a churchman (the priestly type, so-called!) a righteous man or an unrighteous one, a sick man or a healthy one. This is what I mean by worldliness-taking life in one's stride, with all its duties and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness. It is in such a life that we throw ourselves utterly into the arms of God and participate in his sufferings in the world and watch with Christ in Gethsemane. That is faith, that is metanoia, and that is what makes a man and a Christian (cf. Jeremiah 45). How can success make us arrogant or failure lead us astray, when we participate in the sufferings of God by living in this world? - p. 125 (July 21, 1944).

The only difference between the two Testaments at this point is that in the  Old the blessing also includes the cross, and in the New the cross also includes the blessing. To turn to a different point, not only action, but also suffering is a way to freedom. The deliverance consists in placing our cause unreservedly in the hands of God. Whether our deeds are wrought in faith or not depends on our realisation that suffering is the extension of action and the perfection of freedom. - 127 (July 28, 1944).

We must persevere in quiet meditation on the life, sayings, deeds, sufferings and death of Jesus in order to learn what God promises and what he fulfils. One thing is certain: we must always live close to the presence of God, for that is newness of life; and then nothing is impossible for all things are possible with God; no earthly power can touch us without his will, and danger can only drive us closer to him. We can claim nothing for ourselves, and yet we may pray for everything. Our joy is hidden in suffering, our life in death. But all through we are sustained in a wondrous fellowship. To all this God in Jesus has given his Yea and his Amen, and that is the firm ground on which we stand. - p. 130 (August 21, 1944).

Bonhoeffer was martyred on April 8, 1945.

Talk about Suffering Part 2: Discipleship

A recent issue of Mission Frontiers on the theme of suffering includes an excerpt from John Piper's book, Filling Up the Afflictions of Christ. In the excerpt Piper argues that, "God's design for the evangelization of the world and the consummation of his purposes includes the suffering of his ministers and missionaries." As evidence Piper points to passages in the Gospels such as Luke 21:17 and John 15:20 where Jesus explains that his followers can expect to suffer as he did: "voluntary suffering and death to save others is not only the  content but it is also the method of our mission." But Piper is also concerned to guard against misunderstanding, so he quickly clarifies that Christian suffering is not redemptive: "There is only one Redeemer. Only one death atones for sin--Christ's death. ...[O]ur sufferings add nothing to the atoning worth and sufficiency of Christ's sufferings."

While I want to affirm with Piper the unique significance of Jesus' atoning death, I think the emphasis Piper places on the differences between Christ's suffering and that of his followers is unbiblical. The New Testament writers took for granted the uniqueness of Jesus' death, but they were not afraid to emphasize the similarities with Christian suffering, and they were more interested in the similarities than the differences. Consider the following passages:

• Peter quotes from Isaiah 53 and declares that Christ "bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; by his wounds you were healed" (1 Peter :2:24), but this statement about the significance of Christ's death is to serve as "an example, so that you might follow in his steps" (2:21).
• Paul says “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of his body, which is the church” (Col 1:24). Whatever this verse means, Christ's afflictions for the sake of the church are paralleled by Paul's sufferings for the Colossians.
• In Acts, Luke lays out the practical consequences of following Jesus by drawing links between Jesus’ death and the suffering of his followers. As Stephen (slide), the first Christian martyr, is stoned to death, he says “Lord Jesus receive my spirit” (7:59) just as Jesus had said “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). And just as Jesus said “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), Stephen cries out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60). In Acts 12, Peter is arrested by Herod who planned to execute him around Passover just as another Herod had been involved in the arrest of Jesus during an earlier Passover celebration (Acts 12). The parallels are extensive: While Jesus is raised from the dead, Peter is miraculously released from his tomb-like prison and the sentence of death. There are also parallels between Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, his trial and execution, and Paul’s long journey to Jerusalem, his trial, and eventual execution (in Rome). The lives of the early Christians mirror the life and death of Jesus.

Not only is Piper's emphasis on the differences between Christ's suffering and Christian suffering unbiblical, it obscures a fundamental New Testament theme, and misses the explanation for suffering that the biblical writers provide. As far as I can see, Piper offers no reply to the question why it is part of God's plan for Christian ministers to suffer, except to say that God has decreed it.

The New Testament answer, I think, is that we participate in the merits of Christ's unique atoning death by participating in his death. This includes death to sin, death to self--but it also includes suffering up to and including physical death. And this suffering is not just for those involved in ministry (pace Piper), but for everyone who wishes to follow Jesus on the way of the cross.

More detail, drawn from the same source that lies behind part 1 in this series, below the jump break: