Why Does God Allow Suffering? Part 2

In our last post (Part One) we looked at the problem of suffering and ended with the question, “What is God’s solution (the Bible's answer) to the problem of suffering?”

It is our intention now to try and answer the question as truthfully as we are able, but that briefly.

God’s solution to suffering is twofold. One, he has called to himself a particular people (the King James’ version of the Bible calls them a “peculiar” people) whom he has redeemed from the penalty of their sin; these are known as the elect or remnant (“So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace”; “And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved’” (Rom.11:5; Jer. 3:14) and only God knows their number. We’ll talk about them in a minute.

Second, because of his eternal and infinite holiness, justice and righteousness, God’s judgement against sin and rebellion must stand (somebody must pay the price). In the same way that God could not make a square circle or a four sided triangle, so he cannot change the judgement against sin, as that would be contrary to his very nature and being. But as we’ve seen from Genesis, God can and did find a way to mitigate the harm done by our disobedience. In the genesis account, God made coats of skin for Adam and Eve. But in the ultimate fulfillment of this mitigation we are told by the apostle John, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). This same message or “good news” is found variously throughout the entire Bible. It is God’s promise that because He still loves us He will find a way that will entirely undo the harm while still allowing just punishment for the crime of disobedience to his holy will and his just laws.

But first however, I can hear someone saying, “Hey, I wasn’t even around then, when Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Why should I be punished for his crime?” While it might be true that you were not around then, Adam was nevertheless our representative before God. That is, Adam was the first human who had a personal, intimate relationship with God, as God’s first born human offspring. Adam was the first to know God personally and experientially. Whether or not you believe that Adam was the first human being and sole progenitor of the human race does not alter that fact, made clear in the first few chapters of Genesis. Adam, because of his personal relationship with God (almost like that of a high priest, who represents the people before God) was by default our representative (even while we were in his loins, so to speak). Because of that, what he did, we do. In the same way that a nation is represented by its government and its ambassadors, and must live under the consequences of decisions made by the government, or in the way that a family must live under the consequences of the parent or parents, so too must we live under the consequences of decisions made by Adam. Moreover, because we inherited our human nature from Adam (as well as being made in the image of God) we inherit the very same qualities, traits or characteristics resident in him (and Eve—the biological inheritance) that create such strong tendencies to feel, think and act in the ways we do. In the face of such argument, there is no room to deny our involvement, even in our ignorance of the true state of affairs.

So all these of whom we have been speaking—Adam’s offspring—are guilty of the same crime as their father Adam. This includes the entire human race—every single human being who has ever lived or ever will live (Christ excepted). But we should remember from our first post that suffering is the result of our disobedience and cannot be blamed on a perfectly just and righteous God. It was caused as a result of an affront to God’s holiness and glory—his very nature—not to mention his laws, and because God is eternal in himself, so must his judgment. God is perfectly just and fair in condemning us and punishing us for our rebellion against him who is our creator and sustainer. The consequence of his justice we experience as suffering.

In the first part of this post we used the illustration of a judge. We said, “That once the judge had declared the one in the dock to be guilty, he suddenly came down from the bench and into the dock himself. There, he releases the guilty party, accepts the punishment on the prisoner’s behalf and newly declares the one charged to be justified, that is, found no longer GUILTY, as there is now someone else willing to take the guilty verdict and who is able to pay the entire price of the crime, to the very last penny. Now let’s add a slight but very important change to the illustration. Let’s say that instead of one lone criminal, there were a gang of criminals, all accused of the same crimes. After a fair and just trial, the judge is forced, because of the stipulations of the law, to find these men guilty of the crimes and pronounces the binding penalty, “Death.” But then the judge gazes over the criminal gang, resting his attention on one in particular. He removes himself from the bench, going instead down into the dock to join those he has just condemned. He points to the man he had previously looked at and tells the bailiff to release him and to set him free as the judge himself has decided to accept the guilt and to pay the penalty for the crimes and who then changes his previous declaration of “Guilty” to that of “Not guilty.” The condemned man is set free and his record expunged while the judge joins the others on the gallows and pays the ultimate price.

In this parable, the gang is the mass of humanity; all without exception. As such, all are found guilty of rebellion and subject to God’s punishment and wrath for their crimes. (It is important to understand at this point that God does not go out of his way to punish this gang. He merely leaves them to the perfectly fair and just outcome of their self-chosen rebellion.) The one selected or chosen by God represents God’s elect or remnant. These God foreknew from before the foundations of the world in a special way. They are the recipient's of God's saving love and for whom God is willing and able to make a sacrifice. The condemned criminal did not seek forgiveness, did not think to ask to be released. Rather it was the sole, sovereign and completely unconditioned choice of the judge to do what he did. In theological terminology this is “grace.” Grace is the unmerited favour of God toward those who, in fact, deserve condemnation as much as anyone else. They are the guilty declared innocent and made so by the substitutional sacrifice of a Saviour.

Now, admittedly this illustration is not perfect. It raises as many issues and questions as it attempts to resolve, nevertheless, taken as a kind of parable, it helps us to understand God’s solution to sin and suffering.

God’s solution to suffering is this: to permit it, because he must since it is a consequence of disobedience to his immutable nature and laws, but to provide a select number—and those he forms into his church, his elect—the wherewithal to accept suffering with a good heart and the assurance that they have a reward waiting for them, partially in this life—their freedom from eternal condemnation—as well as a promise of redemption and reward in a world remade in God’s true and original image.

The bible does not promise surcease from pain or suffering while being in the world. Indeed, in the OT, Job affirms the predicament of Adam’s race when he says, “But man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). And Christ adds weight to this when he tells his disciples, “In the world you will have trouble” (John 16:33b). So it would seem that even for God’s chosen people, his elect, those he loves with a special love, there is no complete relief from the circumstances that cause suffering. And this is certainly true, as we can see from history. God’s people have fared no differently—in terms of their circumstances and experiences in the world—than others, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5).

But yet we have this promise “that God loved the world and gave his son (as the payment for our sin) so that all those who come to believe in Him will be saved.” We are saved, not just from something—sin and death, “For the wages of sin is death”—but also for something—God’s glory and our enjoyment of him forever; “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.6:23).

In the verse quoted earlier (John 16:33b) there is more than the bare statement. There is yet another promise. Let me quote the entire well-known verse: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, italics added).

These words were addressed to Jesus’ church, God’s elect, “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word” (John 17:6). These people include others from different times as well as places, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:20-21).

So what do God’s elect get that others don’t? The promise is not the eradication or abolishment of any experience that may culminate in suffering. In order to make that happen, God would have to disregard not only his will as revealed to us in scripture, but also his very nature, which cannot be. For God’s people, those who come to believe in him as Saviour and Lord (John 3:16), do not seek to escape suffering, knowing, as we have seen, that it is not possible to do so in any event, because of God’s justice and eternal purpose. Rather, the Christian (and the church as a whole) is not to escape from suffering but to be able to bear suffering with the dignity and the hope that assurance of faith will bring. God (in such verses as John 16:33; 15:4 among many others) has given us His promise that just as Christ has overcome the world, and has prepared a place in Heaven for us as his friends and disciples (John 14:2) and is eager to welcome us home (Matt.25:21) so we too, in Christ as God’s adopted sons and daughters, may overcome the world by being faithful (to him) to the end (2 Tim. 4:7; 1 John 5:4). This is our hope and assurance in faith. It is not by our own strength that we are able to overcome and bear our burdens, with dignity and patience, but rather it is the work of God who enables and empowers us to do so. On our own we would not have any such ability whatsoever, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zech. 4:6); “’My grace [Christ’s] is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I [Paul] will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

Moreover, as an added “benefit” or as a partial compensation, God’s elect have the assurance that God’s strength will be used by God for their continuing growth in grace as a way to build character, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes” (Psalm 119:71); “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); “According to his great mercy, he [God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:3-8). “But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed...for it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:17-18)

So, hopefully, we now come to understand that suffering is a consequence of having a fallen nature in a fallen world. While it is unavoidable it is neither God’s will nor God’s fault, but our own. Hopefully we have also come to understand that there is a partial reprieve in the here and now from the painful effects of these circumstances which so often result in varying degrees of suffering—but only for those who, as God’s elect, have come to believe the promise or “good news” and who repent, turning away from all that displeases God, “Zion [God’s people all together] shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness” (Isa. 1:27). “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). “Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

Although we cannot hope to completely escape God’s punishment for our sin and the consequence of that sin which is suffering, yet we have a certain hope that there awaits a partial reprieve here and now, and eventually a complete and total redemption from all sin and suffering for God’s people and this by God’s revealed and eternal will, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment’” (Rev. 21:1-6).

Soli Deo Gloria.

My Hiatus

I believe a brief word is in order concerning the time away from posting to this site.

In all honesty, I’ve had to contend with serious medical problems for several years but which became most significant last July when I was diagnosed with Deep Vein Thrombosis and accompanying Bi-lateral Pulmonary Emboli. The seriousness of my condition caused me to drop out of seminary (PRTS) and to cut back on many of the activities I had been engaged in for some time.

Added to this chronic ill-health, I’ve been contending with issues around my congregation and (I believe) the attacks of Satan against her and her leadership over many years. After considering all my options and after much prayer, soul-searching and examination, I decided the best course of action was to leave the congregation all together, which my wife and I have done but recently. As a result of our departure, we have started a house church, along with another couple, and have been finding true peace and joy in our newfound worship of the Lord.
All these things and others not worthy of special mention have acted as hindrances to my contributions to this site. If there is anyone out there who was disappointed at the infrequency of my postings, I apologize.

I hope to take up my responsibilities afresh and to continue adding content to this site on a regular basis (once a month, at least).

Please pray for me.

Soli Deo Gloria

Why Does God Allow Suffering?

Part 1

If there is a God—the God of the Bible—why would He allow suffering in a world He created “good, very good?”

This is a perfectly reasonable question to ask and sooner or later, must be faced by all people, either to deny the possibility of an intelligent, all-powerful, and all-loving God or to somehow come to understand that there is no contradiction between the God of the Bible, the one and only Christian God, and suffering in the world. Of course, given my self-imposed space restrictions I cannot go into this in any depth but will only be able to make a passing argument. Consequently, I do not expect to convince anyone of the truth of my position but if I’m able to make someone think about this, and perhaps even to explore the question further, then I will rest well satisfied.
It is important to point out right away that this issue was dealt with by the writer of Genesis in the third chapter of that book. Let me summarize for the biblically non-literate.

Chapter three opens with the serpent (Satan) tempting and deceiving Eve into disobeying God’s command not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. She eats, believing Satan instead of God and, worse, she goes on to present the forbidden fruit to Adam who deliberately breaks God’s commandment by eating what he knew was forbidden. (Eve for her part was less blameworthy as she was tricked; not so Adam.)

Certainly, the change was drastic and immediate. Adam and Eve gain deep knowledge of good and evil but also experience shame for the first time. Their shame causes them to try to hide from God, which of course they cannot do. When God determined the truth, His first action is to blame the serpent; this he does roundly. It is best to quote the account at this point:

14 The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

So we see both Eve and then Adam are punished for their disobedience, their failure to maintain God’s plan for them, and this through Adam’s own choices freely made, with no external compunctions. This is important to remember. If blame is to be apportioned, it must fall upon the deserving, not the undeserving, party; in this case on Adam. Here is where suffering begins; right back on day seven of the creation. (In other words, there was not a long, long time before our “innocence” was lost and we gradually began to suffer. According to the Bible, it happened almost right away!).

God not only cursed Adam and Eve, but the earth also (Gen. 3:18). Why the earth? It had done no wrong, it was made “good, very good.” Why the need to curse the very ground? I am not certain, but I think it must have had something to do with the fact that Adam was created from the “dust of the ground.” There was (and still is) a connection between the earth and Adam (and therefore the entire human race). If God had not cursed the ground as well as cursing our first parents, Adam would probably not have understood the gravity and depth of his disobedience. He would not have understood the magnitude of what he had done. He would not have understood how vast was God’s anger and horror over this act of simple and prideful disobedience or sin which was directed against Himself and all that He had made. It was an affront to God’s righteousness and justice that had occurred, as well as a betrayal of His love.

In any event, the earth too was cursed as we have read. But we also read of God’s great compassion and pity on these two lonely and forlorn sinners (for so they had become, forever. Sin, in its most basic form, is simply disobedience to God’s just and righteous laws as well as His nature. It is a fundamental affront to the very person of God Himself and all that has come to be because of who God is.)

So, in His love, pity and mercy for these two sinners God decides to mitigate the very curse He had just levied upon them. This He does through another shocking act. God “made for Adam and his wife garments of skins and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21). This means God killed one or more animals in order to provide the clothing needed (for protection and modesty). Remember, all this is taking place in Paradise, the Garden of Eden, the very representation of bliss and deathless perfection. Up to this point, death was unknown by Adam and Eve. They could have had no comprehension of it. I am sure this shocking act of God did two things for Adam and Eve.

First, it demonstrated, in no uncertain terms, the magnitude of wrong that had just taken place; it proclaimed the horrible consequences of what had happened; it declared the degree of revulsion, anger and wrath that God must have experienced as a result of what Adam had done; from that moment on, the relationship of love and reverential respect that existed between man and God was forever disrupted; we were forever made to be enemies of God through this one terrible act of disobedience. When Adam was given his clothing of skin, he must have slowly started to see the “big picture.” He would have begun to realize the depth of wickedness he had sunk himself into, and not only himself, but the entire human race to come. He would have begun to understand the terrible cost of his disobedience and what toil, hardship and death would mean. He would have been given a glimpse, through the realization of the reality of death, of God’s holiness, righteousness and perfect justice. Of course a righteous God—a God of law and order; a God of justice and fair-dealing; in whom the guilty will be held accountable—could never for a moment let the awesome disobedience of Adam go unpunished. Payment (and eventual restitution) must be made for his sin against God and God’s creation.

Second, it demonstrated God’s abiding love in spite of the grave disobedience of Adam, who was God’s child in a very special and unique way; it showed them that there was hope yet, that God still loved them, pitied them and experienced compassion for their predicament, self-chosen though it was. (Would not any human parent feel the same kind of sympathy for his or her disobedient child undergoing punishment for such selfish disobedience? I know I would.)

We have seen that suffering (especially in the form of death) came into the world as a result of our disobedience (“our” in the two senses that we were represented before God by Adam as well as by virtue of the fact that we are all Adam’s “offspring”, his inheritors, and as such we have inherited his predilection to pride and wilfulness. It is, as you might say, in our “genes”, that is, in our genetic make up as human beings. This fact is critically important and if you cannot agree with it, you will never understand the nature of suffering. Our suffering is part of the just and righteous punishment God has unhappily inflicted upon us as a result of our sin of disobedience against Him and His justice, the magnitude of which is beyond our meagre comprehension.

Whether Adam understood this or not is irrelevant. He was tested by God and came up short. He may not have understood the stakes he was playing for but He knew God, knew what had been given him and that should have been sufficient for his obedience. He failed and sin and suffering entered into the world because of the proportionate justice God had to levy in order to pay for, as well as punish, the sin. Therefore, sin, death and their sister suffering had to come into the world in order that God could restore a state of justice for the evil done.

In this light, we see that the responsibility for suffering could not lie with God, but with the guilty perpetrator of the crime. Can a judge, after the court has met to try a case of say, murder, and after the jury has pronounced its decision: “Guilty”, be held responsible for the consequent suffering of the guilty party who now—as a result of the judge’s fair and honest sentence—faces many years of hard labour in prison? Of course not. Would we choose to live in a society where laws were flaunted, ignored and overturned by mere whim? I would not. We want laws that we know are fair, just, meaningful and which will not change at the drop of a hat.

So, on the one hand we have God’s perfect and eternal justice (perfect in the sense of total sufficiency or total necessity; eternal since the crime was against God and God is eternal) and on the other we have God’s abiding (perfect and eternal) love for His creation, especially for Adam and the entire human race. These seem irreconcilable and in fact would be so except for one thing alone which we will take up for discussion in Part 2 of this essay. But let me summarize so far:

• God loved Adam and Eve with a perfect and eternal love.
  God (by being God) is perfectly and eternally righteous, holy, just and fair in all that He is and does.
• The one who God loved perfectly, disobeyed God’s perfectly just and righteous command.
• Therefore, because of God’s perfect justice, He must punish the guilty who, it so happens, is also the one He loves perfectly and eternally.

Part of the penalty, because of the magnitude of this sin of disobedience, is that both Adam and Eve are condemned to death (both spiritual and physical) and in addition, the earth is cursed, forcing even more suffering upon the fallen sinners while they live out lives of exile in a cursed world.

The penalty, harsh though it might seem, was also perfect, (because God is perfect by virtue of His being God) that is, in perfect proportions to the crime committed.

The penalty for Adam’s (and our) sin of disobedience is what we understand as suffering.

Suffering is the perfect and just outcome of the sin of disobedience. All the sickness, pain, toil, fear and hardship that are so characteristic of this world are nothing more than the consequence of the Fall, the sin of disobedience (pride in other words). For this we have only ourselves to blame and for us to blame God is in a sense to shoot the messenger. Remember, God is perfectly just and righteous, he could not—even if He desired to—circumvent His own justice and righteousness, nor does He desire to do so.

Therefore, we will have to experience, to one degree or another, the punishment of a perfectly righteous and just judge, God Himself, and this forever, as God is forever. This paints a very depressing picture and it may seem as though I am pulling the very rug out from under the feet of those who are in most desperate need of such a rug. Nevertheless, this is not the case.

Is there a way out of suffering; of pain and misery and death? No if we think we are able to pull ourselves out of the mire of suffering; no if we think that suffering will somehow run out; will burn itself out like a raging fire, before the end of the world, so that at least the fortunate few who are alive then will be able to experience lives of perfect joy and contentment and freedom from pain. Such thinking is unbiblical; it is mere indulgence and make-believe. No, suffering is part of the created order, thanks to the sin of pride and arrogance displayed in the Garden.

What then can we say? Suffering is the lot of all people to one degree or another; not all suffer equally but all suffer nevertheless. Is there no escape then? No. The price of our crime against God and His perfect righteousness and justice must be, and will be, paid. But now I ask you to consider something quite startling. Imagine in our hypothetical court case mentioned above, that once the judge had declared the one in the dock to be guilty he suddenly came down from the bench and into the dock himself. There, he releases the guilty party, accepts the punishment on the prisoner’s behalf and newly declares the one charged to be justified, that is, found no longer GUILTY, as there is now someone else willing to take the guilty verdict and who is able to pay the entire price of the crime, to the very last penny.

The Bible’s answer to pain and suffering is simple, straightforward and staggering in its beauty. In Part 2 of our essay, we will take up the question “What is God’s solution (the Bible's answer) to the problem of suffering.”

Soli Deo Gloria

Part Two