Pain and Suffering
Dear Phil,
Does God ever initiate pain or suffering? How do we explain the difference between God’s discipline/chastisement (which seems to cause pain) and suffering in general?
Michael
Does God ever initiate pain or suffering? How do we explain the difference between God’s discipline/chastisement (which seems to cause pain) and suffering in general?
Michael
Dear Michael,
Christians have always believed that God, in his sovereignty, permits suffering and pain in the world. The book of Job is proof enough. Your question digs deeper. Does God ever initiate pain or cause suffering? Scripture’s answer appears to be Yes. Consider these texts: Deuteronomy 28, Daniel 1, and Acts 2:23.
The curses of Deuteronomy 28:15–68 are enough to raise anyone’s hair. For example, Yahweh promises Israel, “Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. Yahweh will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind” (Deut 28:27–28). That’s just two verses from a litany of pain–filled curses Yahweh says he will bring on those who forsake him. His purpose for such suffering is that they turn back (repent) and obey him (Lev 26:18, 23). Yahweh is not a sadist. He does not inflict pain so He can enjoy the suffering (Lam 3:32–33). Yahweh initiates suffering to chastise and correct those who abandon Him.
In Daniel 1 we read of the secondary consequences of God’s judgment on Judah. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were godly young men. All we know about them suggests that they were never involved in idolatry. Yet, Yahweh’s destruction of Judah for its wickedness brought pain into their lives on many levels. They were separated from their parents. They were castrated. They were forcibly exiled from their native land, forced to learn a second language, and serve a pagan king. Why would God bring such pain into their lives? Yahweh initiated suffering to test, strengthen, and then greatly use these young people (cf. James 1:2–4).
Acts 2:23 teaches that the suffering of Christ on the cross, though wholly undeserved, was foreknown by God and part of His predetermined plan. Isaiah 53:10 says, “Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush [Jesus]; he has put him to grief.” Jesus himself repeatedly said the prophets all teach that the Messiah must suffer and die (cf. Luke 9:22; 17:25; 24:25–26). Admittedly, much of Christ’s suffering was caused by sinful men. Yet, Christ’s death as the Lamb of God was planned and initiated by God (Rev 13:8; cf. Eph 1:4). It was not merely God’s use of suffering he didn’t initiate. Yahweh initiated Jesus’ suffering to bring about our redemption.
You might wonder if there would be suffering if sin had not entered the world. Probably not. Pain or discomfort, probably; but not suffering. This seems reasonable on two grounds. First, pain is a good thing if it is our nervous system warning about something harmful. I assume the nervous system’s pain capacity is part of the original good creation to guard us from danger. Adam and Eve would have known relatively little pain. For example, God “multiplied” Eve’s pain greatly in childbearing. He didn’t introduce what would not have been present otherwise.
Second, the statement in Revelation 21:4 that there will no longer be pain in the new heavens and new earth is perhaps understood too broadly. The word translated “pain” refers to “experience of great trouble,” “long, intense pain,” or “distress caused by hard, difficult circumstances.” Given this, what is removed in the new heavens and earth is the suffering and pain caused by sin. Whether our capacity to feel pain or discomfort remains is unclear.
Regarding your final question: how do we distinguish the suffering of divine discipline and chastisement from general suffering because of sin? It’s difficult, perhaps impossible, to make this distinction with certainty in every case. Nonetheless, three points are noteworthy. First, God uses the suffering occasioned by sin (natural disasters, sickness, aging, death, etc.) to sanctify us (Rom 8:28–29) and refine our faith (James 1:2–4). Second, suffering for doing right marks us as God’s children and serves as divine discipline (Heb 12:5–11). If we have sown to the flesh, our suffering is the corrective harvest of our own planting (Prov 22:8).
Blessings,
Phil
Christians have always believed that God, in his sovereignty, permits suffering and pain in the world. The book of Job is proof enough. Your question digs deeper. Does God ever initiate pain or cause suffering? Scripture’s answer appears to be Yes. Consider these texts: Deuteronomy 28, Daniel 1, and Acts 2:23.
The curses of Deuteronomy 28:15–68 are enough to raise anyone’s hair. For example, Yahweh promises Israel, “Yahweh will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. Yahweh will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind” (Deut 28:27–28). That’s just two verses from a litany of pain–filled curses Yahweh says he will bring on those who forsake him. His purpose for such suffering is that they turn back (repent) and obey him (Lev 26:18, 23). Yahweh is not a sadist. He does not inflict pain so He can enjoy the suffering (Lam 3:32–33). Yahweh initiates suffering to chastise and correct those who abandon Him.
In Daniel 1 we read of the secondary consequences of God’s judgment on Judah. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were godly young men. All we know about them suggests that they were never involved in idolatry. Yet, Yahweh’s destruction of Judah for its wickedness brought pain into their lives on many levels. They were separated from their parents. They were castrated. They were forcibly exiled from their native land, forced to learn a second language, and serve a pagan king. Why would God bring such pain into their lives? Yahweh initiated suffering to test, strengthen, and then greatly use these young people (cf. James 1:2–4).
Acts 2:23 teaches that the suffering of Christ on the cross, though wholly undeserved, was foreknown by God and part of His predetermined plan. Isaiah 53:10 says, “Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush [Jesus]; he has put him to grief.” Jesus himself repeatedly said the prophets all teach that the Messiah must suffer and die (cf. Luke 9:22; 17:25; 24:25–26). Admittedly, much of Christ’s suffering was caused by sinful men. Yet, Christ’s death as the Lamb of God was planned and initiated by God (Rev 13:8; cf. Eph 1:4). It was not merely God’s use of suffering he didn’t initiate. Yahweh initiated Jesus’ suffering to bring about our redemption.
You might wonder if there would be suffering if sin had not entered the world. Probably not. Pain or discomfort, probably; but not suffering. This seems reasonable on two grounds. First, pain is a good thing if it is our nervous system warning about something harmful. I assume the nervous system’s pain capacity is part of the original good creation to guard us from danger. Adam and Eve would have known relatively little pain. For example, God “multiplied” Eve’s pain greatly in childbearing. He didn’t introduce what would not have been present otherwise.
Second, the statement in Revelation 21:4 that there will no longer be pain in the new heavens and new earth is perhaps understood too broadly. The word translated “pain” refers to “experience of great trouble,” “long, intense pain,” or “distress caused by hard, difficult circumstances.” Given this, what is removed in the new heavens and earth is the suffering and pain caused by sin. Whether our capacity to feel pain or discomfort remains is unclear.
Regarding your final question: how do we distinguish the suffering of divine discipline and chastisement from general suffering because of sin? It’s difficult, perhaps impossible, to make this distinction with certainty in every case. Nonetheless, three points are noteworthy. First, God uses the suffering occasioned by sin (natural disasters, sickness, aging, death, etc.) to sanctify us (Rom 8:28–29) and refine our faith (James 1:2–4). Second, suffering for doing right marks us as God’s children and serves as divine discipline (Heb 12:5–11). If we have sown to the flesh, our suffering is the corrective harvest of our own planting (Prov 22:8).
Blessings,
Phil