In this biblical study of Romans chapter 8 we look at one of the great theological problems of the Christian world view; the problem of suffering. We look for answers in text of the bible as to why do people suffer? Why do I suffer? Can there be a God if there is so much suffering and pain in this world?
The biblical teaching on this subject is surprising!
The problem of suffering and of pain in a broken and fallen world was not ignored by the writers of the Bible.
We are not the first ones to ask; why do good people suffer? Why is there so much trouble and turmoil in the world? Does this prove that there is no God?
In some ways the story of the bible is the story of how God moves from what is good, even very good (Gen1) to what is utterly glorious.
How can you improve on a good work of God?
Not so much that God improves on a good work of God or that there are faults in Gods work which need to be improved upon but rather the good work of God is not the final work of God.
Gods good work is the platform upon which He will work His glorious work.
None of that would cause us to blink a theological eyelid I am sure was it not for one small detail; namely the content of the chapters between Gen 1 and Rev 21 - ie. the whole of the bible!
In the rest of the Bible we have detailed for us the means by which God transforms His good work into His glorious work!
How does He do that?
• Sin
• Serpent and Satan
• Suffering and Sorrow
• Sacrifice of Calvary of Gods own Son
• Sanctification of the Spirit of God
With these tools, and they are but tools in the hands of a sovereign God, God takes His good work and turns it on the potters wheel of providence and moulds it by the hands of Divine decree until Gods good work becomes Gods Glorious work.
" And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom 8:28)
"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Eph1:11)
In speaking of God moving from a Good work in creation to a glorious work in redemption I am not suggesting that there was anything wrong with, nor anything faulty in Gods original work.
Illust: George and the beech tree. Nothing wrong with the beech tree, the beech tree was as good a beech tree as you could imagine genetically pre-programmed and encoded to photosynthesis carbon dioxide and water into oxygen and sugars, roots, capillaries, bark, antimicrobial agents, containing plant life. George could not 'improve' on the tree being a tree! But George could take the tree, slash it with his chain saw, cut it into pieces, saw it, chisel it, turn it and cut in his lathe and produce a bowl!
I could never have used that tree to store things in or as an ornament before it went through that 'painful' process under the knife, axe, saw, chain saw and lathe!
I am not saying that anything that sin or Satan did 'improved' on Gods good work
I am saying that God is so omnipotent and sovereign that He is able to use even sin, Satan and suffering to produce something very different from His good work that it becomes Gods Glorious work!
Creation would bring Glory to God:
By virtue of what it is in creation (Psalm 19)
Even more so by virtue of what God would make it in redemption (Eph 1:11-12)
How does God use suffering to move from His good work to His glorious work?
By a path of suffering in:
The Creature (8:18)
The Creation (8:20)
The Creator (8:32) - astoundingly, casts its shadow over all of my understanding of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable for the creature and the creation to endure.
3 keys in Romans 8:
- Relationship that transforms suffering
- Result of suffering
- Reason for suffering
Relationship that transforms suffering
The background to suffering in Roms 8:18-23 which appears 'out of the blue' in some respects in Romans 8 is that of relationship
Roms 8:14-18 has been focusing on our relationship with God, as sons of God, assured by the presence of the Spirit of God in our lives
• 8:14 - The fact that I am led by the Spirit of God gives me the assurance of relationship with God
• 8:15 - This relationship by His Spirit leads me out of bondage to sin and brings me into a new and intimate relationship with God
• 8:16 - I have the confidence of entering into His presence and of enjoying that relationship with God by the assurance of His Spirit testifying in me
• 8:17 - Because I have this relationship with God I am a fellow heir with Christ, a fellow sufferer and together glorified with Christ
The background to the transforming effect of suffering in Romans 8 is that of my relationship with Christ
This is hardly surprising in the context of Romans, for in this epistle the key to all blessing lies in my relationship with Christ:
• The key to salvation (Rom5:11ff) - Relationship with Christ
• The key to sanctification (Rom6:3-4) - Relationship with Christ
• The key to spirituality and spiritual progress (Rom8:9-11) - Relationship with Christ
• The key to suffering (Rom8:17ff) - Relationship with Christ
It is the presence of this relationship, as the background to my suffering that makes sense of all of my suffering
It is this relationship that transforms my suffering
This is emphasised in the structure of 8:17 which revolves around 3 words:
Sugkleronomas
Sumpascho
Sundoxazo
Sugkleronomas - Together heir
Sumpascho - Together sufferer
Sundoxazo - Together glorified
I am an heir because I fellowship with Christ who is the Heir
I am glorified because I fellowship with the one who has the Glory
I suffer because I fellowship with the one who suffers
So then this suffering in v17 is a fellowship with Christ in His sufferings
It is this fellowship which transforms my sufferings
How does this relationship transform my suffering?
By virtue of my relationship with Christ, in this suffering the Grace of God brings me:
Result of suffering
The result of suffering is Glory
Suffering is related to Glory in a very particular way:
Not simply that Glory is compensation for suffering:
God one day will may up for the suffering with Glory
A portion of suffering balances out with a portion of Glory to make it all neutral (this is specifically not the case 8:18)
Never mind you'll get your reward one day thinking!
But rather that Glory is the direct consequence of suffering:
The relationship is cause and effect, it is deliberate and intentional and necessary
"if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (8:17)
"For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (8:19) - "apokaradokia" - straining out the neck in anticipation, there is suffering, look there is suffering says the creation, so there MUST be Glory, it must follow, its the law of the universe, cause and effect, inevitable, irrevocable, suffering and then Glory.
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope" (8:20) - a deliberate and intentional subjection to vanity (Gen 3) with all of its organised frustration and suffering with the intended outcome of being a path to hope - Hope in the Glory of God.
Illust:
Man in RTA - breaks his legs, taken to hospital, sees the orthopaedic surgeon, your in a bad way but we can put in screws and plates and fix that break for you, if you put your back into the physiotherapy we can get you back and walking, we can compensate for your suffering!
Child in the orthopaedic wards - dwarfism, legs had been deliberately broken, pins in the bones and rods in the legs, you wouldn't say to that child - don't worry, we can get those rods out and fix those legs back to what you once had! That wouldn't do at all! Those broken legs and pins were their treatment to stretch those legs and to allow the bone to grow longer than it would have by the disease. This child is looking for something more, something more glorious than what they had before! Glory does not compensate Glory has been caused by their suffering!
The picture painted of the relationship between suffering and glory is that of the child in 2.
Reason for suffering
Why does Glory have to be by suffering?
• In suffering there is a: Desire for the Glory of God that there would be by no other means
• In suffering there is a: Display of the Glory of God that there would be by no other means
• In suffering there is a: Discovery of the Glory of God that there would be by no other means
• In suffering there is a: Despair / Disappointment at the absence of the Glory of God there would be by no other means
• In suffering there is a: Desire for the Glory of God that there would be by no other means
Psalm 77:2
Rom 8:19 "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."
"earnest expectation" : "apokaradokia" : head and neck straining with anticipation - why?
The creation is looking for something. What? Where are they? Where are they? Where are they?
Why the desire for Glory (v19)? Because of the background of the curse (v20) - a creation disatisfied with being given over to organised frustration seeks for more.
Samson was moved to pray and the word pray was used for the first time in his life (Judges 16:28)
Jonah was moved to pray from the depths of hell, in the belly of the fish
Saul of Tarsus in his blindness was moved to pray
David in the Psalms in his despair was move to pray - Psalm 34; 28; 17
• In suffering there is a: Display of the Glory of God that there would be by no other means
Person of Christ: Jo1:14: "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth"
Purpose of Grace: "the Glory of His Grace" (Eph 1:6); "For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God." (ESV 2 Co 4:15)
Power of Gospel: 2Co4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 1 Tim 1:11 "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust"
Presence of Christ: 2 Co 3:18 " But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Passion of Gods Love: Eph 3:16-21
• In suffering there is a: Discovery of the Glory of God that there would be by no other means (8:20)
Gods purpose is discovered in suffering "hope"
Genesis chp 3
Some things get preached amongst us, stated boldly and frequently not because they are biblically certain, not because they are manifestly true not because the preacher has gleaned and gained the truth for himself but because they are so frequently stated that it is assumed that whilst they seem evidently hollow they must be true!
Say a thing often enough it gets believed!
So certain truisms get passed from generation to generation like a bad gene!
Among these truths is the oft repeated idea, beloved of gospel preachers that:
'of course all of the problems you see in the world are caused by sin.'
Well they're not!
Up and down the land there must have been over the years many a puzzled face and confused unbelieving mind which has left a gospel meeting totally convinced that we are quite cracked in our logic and muddled in our thinking, for how does it come to be that a man eating a forbidden fruit results in Tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, global warming, pestilence, floods and the like?
I just don't see the connection.
The point is there is not a direct connection!
The present condition of the world is not all directly attributable to sin.
If we pretend that it is we will have missed the point of many of the worlds problems
Allow me to quote directly from Roms 8:20:
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope,"
The condition of the creation, subject to vanity, frustration, organised disruption and purposeful futility, frustrated satisfaction was NOT the direct result of sin but is the result of direct Divine intervention in this world!
More than that, and most remarkably of all, that this deliberate frustration of satisfaction, purposeful futility, organised disruption has been imposed upon creation not by an act of wrath but in grace and "in hope"
that is utterly astounding
If we try and write off all of the worlds problems directly to sin we will miss the point completely!
Genesis 3 - Adam Sins and then God responds
Romans 8:20 attributes a definite set of creations problems not to Adams sin but to Gods response!
Consider:
Gen 3:15 - Curse on reproduction : infant mortality, maternal mortality, neonatal death - attributable not directly to Adams sin but rather to Gods response to Adams sin.
Gen 3:15 - Curse on relationship : attributable not directly to Adams sin but rather to Gods response to Adams sin.
Gen 3:17 - Curse on Agriculture :attributable not directly to Adams sin but rather to Gods response to Adams sin.
Gen 3:17 - Curse on the ground : attributable not directly to Adams sin but rather to Gods response to Adams sin.
Gen 3:18 - Curse on horticulture : attributable not directly to Adams sin but rather to Gods response to Adams sin.
Gen 3:18 - Curse on nutrition and food production : attributable not directly to Adams sin but rather to Gods response to Adams sin. Up until this point man has eaten freely of the "fruit" (Gen 1:29; 3:2) but now it is Adams portion to eat of the "herb." Is there a significance here? Has creation changed from being the servant of man and gladly bringing forth its fruit o delight and satisfy the appetite of man to being a hostile environment in which man must labour for his food and he now serves in creation?
Gen 3:19 - Curse on degeneration / corruption / ageing processes
This list of consequences are not directly attributable to sin but come as a consequence of Gods curse
Why?
"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [the same] in hope," (Rom 8:20)
The curse was to give us hope!
Eh? The curse was to give us hope?
That's what Rom 8:20 says!
Why hope?
• The Fact of the Curse.
You don't impose conditions upon, you do not modify what you have no purpose for!
You do not operate where there is no hope!
There is a woman - diagnosed with a tumour; he attends the surgeon, he is offered surgery, perhaps painful and traumatic, extensive surgery but he is offered surgery to remove the tumour. He heads home with extensive treatment ahead but he heads home with hope.
There is another woman - diagnosed too with a cancerous tumour, he attends the surgeon, no surgery is offered. Does he have an easier path? A better prospect? He goes home with no extensive, painful surgery to look forward to but he goes home and his heart is empty of hope!
The very fact God bothered to give the curse indicates that God had a purpose
• The Futility of that Curse
Gen 3:17-21
The curse produces an environment which is hostile to man
The curse produces an environment of distress, disappointment, disease, disaster and death
When man sinned God in Grace did not give him a comfortable living room as the environment for a sinner
God cursed this fallen world that man may never be in doubt that this is not Eden
There was always a danger that a fallen man may feel perfectly at ease and at home in a fallen world!
Adam before the fall would never have felt at home in a fallen world but Adam after the fall might!
This earth was deliberately made by God a place of:
· Deliberate disappointment
· Constructed destruction
· Organised frustration
I cannot intelligently live in this world and exit it with the thoughtful impression that this world satisfies my needs - it doesn't
Illust: Campbell - atheist - he didn't believe in God, he didn't believe in heaven but he believed that 'this is hell'
"In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him." (Eccl 7:14)
Consider the Syriac translation 'that man should have nothing against Him.'
God leaves us with no misunderstandings - this world is not our home, ultimate satisfaction and joy is not to be found here!
The material will not satisfy!
• The Freedom from the Curse
Note the terms of this curse:
Commences with a curse on Satan and the Serpent (Gen3:14-15)
Concludes with a covering for Adam (Gen3:21)
Continues with a covenant of salvation (Gen3:15)
Never a curse like this in scripture!
Couched in grace!
The suffering and problems introduced by this curse are done with the prospect of freedom and faith
One day you'll be free!
This curse secures your freedom!
Hope and freedom by suffering
Consider the terms of the curse:
Commences with a curse on the serpent
Concludes with a covering for Adams sin
Contains the promise of a coming Christ
All of this in a curse?
This curse is to draw me to Christ as my only refuge.
His Glory is discovered in our suffering
• In suffering there is a: Despair / Disappointment at the absence of the Glory of God there would be by no other means
Notes from our bible study teaching series of messages preached systematically, verse by verse, through Paul's letter to the Romans. Free to download audio mp3 recordings of this sermon and other sermons are available at the end of this blog and on the website page.
Yours by Grace in Christ
Dr J Stewart Gillespie