PAUL AND THE PROBLEMS OF SUFFERING IN ROMANS 8.18-30

One of the most controversial modern scholars on the Bible is Bart Ehrman who now hold the James A. Gray Distinguish Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ehrman himself decided to leave his evangelical faith to become an agnostic because he feels that the Bible is not able to provide sufficient answers to the critical question of 'Why do we suffer?' The question of human suffering is certainly one of the most fundamental and critical issues world religions including Christianity try to answer. 

Paul in Romans 8.18-30 offered principles to tackle the issue of human suffering. Principle #1: Believers in Jesus Christ do not free from earthly suffering. In verses 19-25, Paul maintained the use of 'the whole creation' instead of 'only believers' to say that all living beings in this universe are now groaning and suffering. The only single difference between believers and the rest of the creation is the existence of a living hope available for believers. Believers are now living in intermediate period of tension between the inauguration and the consummation of their salvation. The period of waiting for the consummation however signifies by the existence of hope that is alive. This is not an empty hope, but a living hope promise by God through Christ Jesus sealed by the Holy Spirit.

Principle #2: God does not let us struggling alone. God is with us - Immanuel. In the midst of challenges and painful road, the Spirit of God is always ready to help. The Parakletos (Holy Spirit) is the Spirit of intercession (vv. 26-27). This Holy Spirit is able to intercede on behalf of us even to the unspeakable items of prayer. In other words, the Holy Spirit understands and prays for the deepest problems and the most difficult issues we are now facing. Don't worry! Since the Holy Spirit is God himself, God the Father will not misunderstand the content of the intercession offered by God the Spirit. And God the Father will answer those prayers according to his will. Thus, we are secure, since never God neglect and never he ignore us. Others may not understand our problems, but God knows. Others may not be able to feel our sufferings, but God is able to feel them since he had gone through the most painful and brutal tragedy of the cross. We are not alone in the midst of unexpected miserable situations. Believers are safe and guided by God's sovereign and wonderful will.

Principle #3: God is at work in every single path of our life. God is not simply a reacting being. God's works are not simply responses towards human's calamities. God is not a relief social development agency. God's work is detail and in every single aspect of the believers' life (v.28). For example, God is at work before we think, God is at work when we consider to make a decision, God is at work when the decision is made, God is at work in all consequences of the decision we made. For the believers in Christ, there is no place or time in which God is not at work. The real good news is the fact that the quality of God's work is always good (v.28). Knowing this principle is truly comforting. Though we may make mistakes, God never! Though we sometimes do stupid decision, we are reminded that God's work in us is always good.

Now, we still have three verses left. The opening verse (8.18) is an encouragement to those who are in the dark valley of calamities. No matter how painful our present sufferings are, the awaiting future glory is unparallelled and incomparable.

The last two verses (8.29-30) are somehow complicated. Followers of Calvinism often find these two verses as indisputable ground and support for the doctrine of absolute election. Though Calvin was without doubt a great theologian, and though the doctrine of election is positive, I am far from certain that Paul intended to tackle the delicate issue of election in these two verses. It is enough to say that all good things in the life of believers including justification, salvation, election and glorification find their source only in God, since God is active, gracious and sovereign. This theme of God's sovereign grace over against the helplessness of the law is indeed the Leitmotiv behind Romans 5-8.

What is then the relationship between human sufferings and the sovereign grace of God? At the center of the argument is divine assurance, especially to those who are going through the misery of life. God has chosen, elected, justified and saved us through the death of his only Son, Jesus Christ. Earthly sufferings though they are undeniably painful are inferior compared to the future eternal glory promised by God to all who believe in Christ Jesus. The word 'glory' in verse 18 and 30 indeed serves as sandwich for Paul's whole argument of human suffering, noting that suffering is not an end to itself. Suffering is only the beginning of a future eternal glory promised by God himself.