Denver Seminary

ENGAGE 13 ALTHOUGH NOT NECESSARILY IN THESE EXACT WORDS, THERE HAS BEEN A RECENT UPTICK OF SEMINARY STUDENTS ASKING THIS QUESTION. RATHER THAN A STERILE INTELLECTUAL QUERY, THOUGH, THERE IS OFTEN GENUINE PAIN BEHIND THEIR WORDS—BE IT GRIEF FROM HAVING LOST LOVED ONES TO THE VIRUS, DEPRESSION FROM QUARANTINE ISOLATION, OR ANXIETY FROM HAVING INSUFFICIENT FUNDS TO PAY THIS MONTH'S RENT. Without ruining the theological question, spoiling the mystery, or solving the theoretical paradox, Rabbi Paul encouraged his students through real hardships too. For instance, in one of his first letters, he tells the Thessalonians not to be shaken by the afflictions they and the apostles were facing because—as he had previously warned them—they had been appointed for hardships. "Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are destined for" (1 Thess. 3:1–4). Further, in Romans 8, Paul writes that believers can be just as confident about sharing in Christ's suffering as they are about sharing in his future glory (8:17). Of course, there's also the famous verse in his last letter regarding how anyone desiring to live a godly life in Christ will be persecuted (2 Tim. 3:12). While these notes resonate throughout Paul's works, Christian suffering is the keynote of 2 Corinthians. Paul's answer to the problem of suffering in this letter likely resulted from other preachers in his congregation, so-called "super apostles," who smacked of modern health-and-wealth evangelists that manipulate the masses with promises about how having enough faith and ecstatic experiences exempts believers from hardship. Paul, in part, writes 2 Corinthians to defend his own experience of affliction and to provide the church with a proper theology of suffering. Although the apostle begins this letter with the assumption that the Lord does indeed allow the godly to suffer, he wants them to know that it is not meaningless suffering. Rather, Paul explains that just as God—the Father of compassion—hurts with his people, he wants his church to hurt with them too. Then, through the believers, the Lord can minister to others in pain—comforting them with the comfort they have received from him (1:3–7). Therefore, from Paul's explanation, more than lamenting, "Why is God letting this happen to me right now," the believer should ask, "How does God want to use what's happening to me right now?" Paul realizes that a Christian can get so caught up complaining about God delivering her from suffering that she might miss the Lord's invitation to join Him in His. To put it another way, in addition to asking how Jesus is going to share in her sufferings, the believer may need to understand that her current pain could be Christ asking her to share with Him in His: becoming weak and vulnerable to minister to the hurting and troubled. As a result, Paul reasons, as "we share abundantly in the afflictions of Christ, our comfort abounds through Christ" (1:5). Paul's answer to the problem of suffering in this letter likely resulted from other preachers in his congregation, so-called "super apostles," who smacked of modern health-and-wealth evangelists that manipulate the masses with promises about how having enough faith and ecstatic experiences exempts believers from hardship. This is by no means meant to make light of afflictions. The apostle himself is no stranger to pain: he even provides a list of the hardships he had endured—such as being imprisoned, flogged, and "exposed to death again and again" (11:23). As if that is not enough, he continues: Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked (2 Cor. 11:24–27). What is more, despite its length, this list is not exhaustive. For instance, Paul goes on to mention the cryptic "thorn" that incessantly tormented IN THE CLASSROOM

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