Pain and Suffering - It’s all about Love
God the Father –The Bible teaches that God is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), and the source of all love. He is eternal, having no beginning and no end. He created all things. Ge 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”1 He makes decisions, loves, hates and hurts. He is sovereign. He is just.2 Not a bird loses a feather without God’s permission and knowledge. Not a feeling is hurt without his permission. God permitted an infant child to be killed in a tragic car accident today. God has the power to prevent death, and yet he doesn't. Ps 115:3 “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” Even though it may make us uncomfortable knowing that about God, it is absolutely essential to accept that reality if you are ever going to understand pain and suffering.
Jesus – Like God the Father, Jesus is eternal. He is fully God. Phil 2:6 “…Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God…” If you want to know what God is like, study Jesus. Jesus said: John 14:6 “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus has been given all power. God the Father delegated to Jesus the forming of the universe. Jn 1:3 “Through him [Jesus] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” He was also given power over death and hell. Rev 1:18 “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”
He is also fully human. Jesus, the creator of the world and all that is in it, became human in nature in every sense of the word. On the earth he required food and water to survive. He was capable of being tempted, of hurting and of loving. Heb 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.” But even though Jesus was tempted, he never succumbed to temptation. Jesus was paradoxically fully God and fully human. And he was and forever will be the only perfect human to ever live.
Holy Spirit – God is eternally and simultaneously both one and three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives in the hearts of all believers. The Holy Spirit teaches, speaks to, and brings joy to all believers.3 The most descriptive name for the Holy Spirit is “Comforter”. He is always walking beside Christians to guide our thoughts and actions and to comfort us through our pain. He literally fulfills the promise of Deuteronomy 31:6: “…for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Man – Man (mankind) is God’s supreme creation. He was created in God’s image. Ge 1:27 “So God created man in his own image …” So like God, man has the capability to experience the fullest range of emotions – love, hate, sorrow, pain, jealousy and joy.
Satan – Satan is also a creation of God. Col 1:16 “For by him all things were created…” Satan was created in perfection. Isa 14:12 "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! And Jesus said: Lk 10:18 "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." The implication of the "fallen" angel is that Satan was initially in God's will. Else how could he be "fallen"? Satan succumbed to the desire to be like God. Isa 14:13-14 "You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' ”
The answers
To begin to answer the questions asked in the first paragraph, it is necessary to answer four fundamental questions:
1. Why did God create the universe and mankind?
2. Why did God create Satan and allow him to cause havoc on the earth?
3. What are the results of making bad choices?
4. How should we react?
Why did God create the universe and mankind?
To better understand pain and suffering, we have to examine why God decided to create the physical universe and mankind. Before he created the world, I believe he had all the angels to worship and praise him day and night and meet his every need.4 But for God’s creation to be perfect, something more was required. And that was the requited love of other beings made in his likeness. So God created man and woman and allowed them to choose to disobey him, even to the point of totally rejecting his love. But more importantly, this choice created the environment wherein a person would be able to genuinely return the love with which God created him. And our love would be more precious to God than anything else he could possibly have created! Furthermore, since he created us in his image, we inherited his nature of cherishing love more than anything else – the love of God, the love of our parents, the love of our spouses, and the love of our children. The sole source of that love is God. He gave us the power to love, and most importantly to love him in return.
It is probably worth mentioning a difference between God’s love for us and our love for him. As stated above, the ability to love requires the ability to choose. God’s love is genuine because being sovereign, he certainly had the choice to love us or not. For us to be able to love God back, we also had to be imparted with the ability to love God or to reject his love.
Key truth: Love was the ultimate purpose.
Why did God create Satan and allow him to cause havoc on the earth?
Ge 2:16-17 “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’” And thus God gave mankind a choice. The choice was unambiguous – obey God or not. And the penalty was equally clear.
For love to exist and have meaning, there are two essential elements: choice and temptation. Let’s illustrate the difference between the two elements with a simple example. Imagine me approaching one of our daughters and asking whether she would rather have me give her $100 or $100,000 dollars. She might ask what the catch is, and after being convinced that there are no strings attached to either choice, being of sound mind, she would surely take the $100,000. So while she had been given a choice, there was no value in choosing the $100 gift, and therefore no temptation to choose it.
Clearly God had implied that man could choose to taste the fruit, but he had not given them any incentive or benefit from doing so. And more importantly he had given them a very grave reason not to. So to complete the environment wherein mankind was given an apparently balanced choice between obeying God or not, temptation was a necessary ingredient. So God created Satan. And thus entered temptation and a promised benefit, according to God’s divine purpose.
Ge 3:4-5 “’You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”
Key truths: Love cannot exist without choice. Temptation is equally necessary.
Note: Theologians differ on whether God created Satan for the express purpose of introducing temptation into the world. I believe that he did. For a discussion of both viewpoints and the basis of my belief, please see Appendix A at the end of the article.
What are the results of making bad choices?
Ge 3:1 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made." We know that Eve and then Adam succumbed to Satan’s attractive argument. As a result, several things happened at that moment. Ge 3:7 “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;” Ge 3:16-19 “To the woman he said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’ To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.’” So 1) Adam and Eve became aware of their new, fallen state, 2) they were condemned to a life of pain and toil, 3) they immediately experienced spiritual separation from God {he banished them from the garden} and 4) they would eventually experience physical deaths. Further, their environment was forever altered. The ground (earth) was cursed, ushering in weeds, and I believe all kinds of natural disasters and all sources of pain not directly manmade.
In the previous description of the nature of God, it was stated that God is just. We are all thankful for justice systems, and we complain when they don’t work the way they are intended. We hate it when the guilty escape punishment. We understand the virtue of justice – except sometimes when we are the perpetrators. But God’s system of justice is absolute and no one escapes it, because he is also all-powerful and all-knowing. He was very clear that the penalty for disobeying him was death, and Adam and Eve didn’t complain about the verdict. Ro 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”
The good news is that God sent Jesus Christ to die as a substitutionary sacrifice to pay for the death sentences of any and all who accept that gift. And God the Father accepted his son’s death as payment in full for the sins of all mankind. Heb 9:22 “… without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” And Ro 3:23-24 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” And Jn 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Key truths: The penalty for disobeying God is death. Through the cross, Christ paid the penalty for us.
How should we react?
Now most people are OK with the notion of an absolute system of justice. But they then turn around and ask: “But why do bad things happen to good people?” I believe the reason that this question is such a stumbling block to many is because the premise of the question is wrong. The only truly good person ever to live was Jesus. It is a delusion born from Satan that we aren’t so bad, and certainly nothing we have done is remotely deserving of the level of pain and suffering some of us are required to bear, let alone worthy of death. The reality is that the first time we knowingly disobeyed God, we “earned” eternal separation from God, i.e. spiritual death. Receiving anything less than what we deserve is living in grace.
Our first reaction to pain and suffering in the world should be to look outside ourselves to our fellow-man. We are to aid the less fortunate, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and pray for the hurting. It is pretty hard not to find someone who is in more pain than us. Caring for others can take our minds off of our own troubles.
But most importantly I think, pain and suffering tell us to look to the cross. Christ, who didn't deserve to die, willingly took on himself the ultimate suffering that should have been ours. The Hinson’s “That I Could Still Go Free” said it well.
“Now I never could quite understand why a king would leave His throne
To don the robe of an earthly man and feel the pain of flesh and bone -
Then to later trod that lonely path
That led him to Calvary.
But those blood red stains broke all my chains
So that I could still go free."
Whenever we suffer, rather than wondering why, we should look to the cross and picture this. Imagine living your whole life, day after day after day in the knowledge that you would later be nailed to a cross to bear mankind’s sins alone. What a horrible lifetime emotional burden! And then imagine the emotional pain, not to mention the physical pain, which Jesus suffered in the actual crucifixion when his father turned his back on him and let Satan have his way with him. And then try to grasp the unimaginable pain that God the Father suffered in the awareness that his holy, perfect, spotless, only son was hanging there with the Father’s permission uttering "Daddy, why have you forsaken me?" As a parent myself, I can’t imagine a more awful scenario. I think that as mere mortals, we can’t possibly know the pain God and Jesus suffered. We serve a wonderful, loving God who chose to immerse himself in pain and suffering to an infinite degree so that we could still “go free.” Embraced in the thoughts that God loves me that much and that it should have been me hanging on that cross instead of Jesus, when in pain how can I possibly ask "Why are you allowing this to happen to me?"
Our prayer in the midst of suffering should always be, not "Why me?", or “God, why are you allowing this to happen to me?”, but "Thank you God that through the love of Jesus which he demonstrated on the cross I don't have to suffer the eternal separation from you that I have earned. Thank you that through this pain I am reminded of the cross. Thank you for sending the Comforter to live within my heart and see me through my present pain. Thank you for the promise that you will never forsake us. May your Name somehow be glorified through my suffering."
Key truth: When God loved us enough to die for us, how can we question God’s love when we suffer?
Summary
God in his majestic wisdom and power created the perfect universe. As his crowning achievement, he designed it such that we may experience his love, return his love and share that love with others. But in that perfect universe, sin and suffering are, I dare say, unpreventable by-products. It may seem ironic, and perhaps why we have such a hard time understanding pain and suffering, that creation required an element that seems a lot like imperfection as a byproduct of its perfection. So God executed his plan, and on the sixth day, he looked at what he had made and said “It is very good.” Even knowing that Satan and mankind would fall from grace, he still said “It is very good.” He said that about his perfect creation wherein it’s all about love.
More questions
Since God created Satan and allows him to tempt us, isn't God responsible for our sin? Absolutely not! God gave each one of us the ability to make choices. We have no one to blame for our disobedience other than ourselves. God created Satan and allows him to tempt man. But man chooses to sin and is totally responsible for its penalty. One of the greatest heresies in the church today is the assertion that God created Satan in perfection and could not have prevented his fall. Either you have to believe that and deny God’s omnipotence or you have to admit that God created Satan to tempt us, and that he has complete, unlimited power over Satan. Whether you believe that God created Satan with a plan that he become a fallen angel or whether he simply permitted it is a distinction without a difference.
Why did God create me knowing that I would sin, and then punish me for sinning? Understanding this requires acknowledging the timelessness of God. Since God is yesterday, today and tomorrow, he has always known that all except Jesus would sin. Ro 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” However, we are clearly taught that God is just. Therefore, in justice, I think he created us with the ability to live sinless lives. There can be no hiding my sins under the claim that I have received a human nature incapable of resisting sin, even though God in his timeless omniscience knew I would sin.
Note: Theologians may differ on whether it is theoretically possible to live a sinless life from birth to death. For a discussion of both viewpoints and the basis of my belief, please see Appendix B at the end of the article.
Why do we suffer for the sin of Adam? The short answer is that we don’t. It is a popular misconception that we all experience the penalty for Adam’s sin. Ro 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” In this verse, the apostle Paul is saying that in the same way Adam received the death sentence because of his sin, we have received death sentences because of ours. In the same passage, Paul writes metaphorically about how sin entered the world through one man (Adam) and how mankind was redeemed through one man (Jesus, or the second Adam). But our individual sins condemn us, not those of Adam. This is made unmistakably clear by God’s word from Ezekiel 18. Eze 18:20 "The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him."
Note: The topic of original sin has been discussed extensively down through the ages. Believers disagree on the topic. See Appendix C for a more comprehensive discussion of original sin vs. actual sin.
But what about suffering because of natural disasters and other sources of pain not directly caused by man? It is true that when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, God cursed the earth. Ge 3:17 “Cursed is the ground because of you;” I believe that original curse is the explanation for the presence of all sorts of undesirable living things like stinging insects and animals which don’t respect humanity’s place at the top of the food chain. It is the reason for natural disasters which affect us all to some degree or another. One could argue that it is unfair that their house was swept away by a flood or a shark took their arm because of Adam’s lack of self-control. However, that argument falls flat because everyone has sinned. It was not necessary for God to carve out a little piece of the perfect garden for those who would remain perfect, because God could see the future – no one other than Jesus would live a perfect life.
How it is fair that infants suffer because of the alcoholism, drug addiction or slothfulness of a father? Surely an infant below the age of accountability has not been able to sin yet. Why should they suffer because of the sins of their father? For me this is admittedly one of the most difficult questions about pain and suffering. I draw my answer from the fact that time is not a dimension that constrains God. The entire time continuum is laid out before him. The child will suffer because of its sins yet to be committed. Ro 3:23-24 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Do infants who die go to Heaven? Yes. From a previous answer, we know that they are not condemned for the sin of Adam. Neither are they condemned for their own sin, as they have not sinned. Sinning requires knowing the difference between good and evil, and infants can’t know that.
Why does it sometimes seem that pain and suffering are not distributed according to what people deserve? Why do bad people sometimes seem to skate and “good” people suffer more? Why does a child suffer because of the sins of the father? Why isn't there direct and immediate accountability for our sins? I think the best answer to these questions was given by Jesus in the parable of the vineyard workers. A landowner hired men to work in his vineyard throughout the day. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard paid them all the same wages, regardless of how long they had worked. When those who had worked all day saw this, they began to grumble against the landowner. The landowner said, Mt 20:13-15 “I am not being unfair to you. I’m paying each of you what you agreed to work for. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” I think the lesson in this parable is to remember that regardless of how much we suffer, or how much the seemingly innocent suffer, believers are spared the death we deserve. And at some point, we must simply accept that as mortals we simply can’t know what God knows and we must trust that God deals with mankind with a loving and fair hand. (And go back and read “How should we react?")
If Christ’s death for our sins saves all those who believe from spiritual death, why doesn't it also alleviate pain and suffering in this life for believers? The answer is that we don’t deserve a life free from pain - we sinned. But it also seems to me that asking this would be akin to me, after being saved from certain drowning, asking the man who risked his life to save mine to support me financially for the rest of my life. That would be unbelievably greedy and ungrateful.
This question also brings to mind Job’s discussion with God, which is instructional. As you may recall, Job had lost his entire family and means of making a living. In accordance with God’s will, he had been afflicted by painful sores from his head to his feet.
Job 34:5 “Job says, ‘I am innocent, but God denies me justice.
Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
Job 38:2 'Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge?'
Job 38:4 Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Job 38:5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
Job 38:6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
Job 38:7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?'
Job 40:1 The LORD said to Job:
Job 40:2 'Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who accuses God answer him!'
Job 40:3 Then Job answered the LORD?
Job 40:4 'I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?
I put my hand over my mouth.' "
God is sovereign. If you read the rest of the story, you know that Job came through his dire circumstances better off than he started. And all believers can rest assured that we will come through any adversity better off than we started, because our ultimate destination is Heaven.
Is there a great, back-and-forth struggle going on between God and Satan? There’s a misconception among many that this is so. But it isn't. As implied in Revelation 20:10 above, God can destroy Satan in the blink of an eye anytime he chooses. But there is a struggle going on – a struggle for the hearts of men. That is a struggle that God willed before the beginning of the ages. It is with a divine purpose that that struggle continues. And also in God’s will, we have the sole choice of where we spend eternity.
Is God’s only recourse in the face of our pain and suffering to just comfort us? Some espouse that God is barely able to deal with all the pain and suffering – that he is just reacting to it. Nothing could be more wrong. It is in the context that nothing happens without God’s will that we deal with pain, for we know without a doubt that God allows us to reap the rewards of our choices, but that he is present through his Holy Spirit to get us through the difficult times. It should be great comfort to all believers that Satan can’t harm us beyond God’s will. Jn 10:27-28 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” That is the promise. In Jesus, we have nothing to fear.
Why doesn't God bind Satan and keep him from harming anyone else? God will bind Satan in time. Rev 20:10 “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” God hasn’t bound Satan yet, because God’s work on earth has not concluded. The end of this generation is solely the domain of the Father. Not even Jesus knows when it will be. Mt 24:36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Do people suffer for doing good? Yes. History is full of examples - from the early Christian persecutions at the hands of the Romans to the many who were martyred by the state-sanctioned church for preaching the priesthood of believers and grace apart from works. In the present day, missionaries are captured, tortured and killed in brutal theocracies and third-world countries for teaching and preaching the gospel. Christ spoke of the future suffering of the apostle Paul: Ac 9:15-16 “But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’” That same Paul later wrote to the Philippians of the suffering they must endure: Phil 1:29-30 “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”
The concept of suffering for Christ seems to be in tension with the fundamental reality that we are condemned to a life of toil and suffering because of our sins. Can it be that some suffering is because of our disobedience and some is because of our obedience? For me this paradox is primarily resolved in accepting the fundamental reality of the former - that all suffering is the direct result of disobedience. How then shall we explain “suffering for Christ” of which Paul, Peter and Christ himself spoke? I think Paul explained it well in his letter to the Philippians: Phil 3:10-11 “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” It is because of our sins that Christ had to suffer. Out of love for Jesus for taking on a life of suffering and eventual death in our place, we should follow Paul’s example in that he counted it a privilege to share in those sufferings. 1Pe 2:20-22 “But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. ‘He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.’”
So the sequence is this: 1) We bring suffering upon ourselves by our disobedience, 2) Christ took on our suffering for the salvation of us all and 3) as followers of Christ and members of the body, we are asked to share in Christ’s suffering for the body. 1Pe 4:16 “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
If Christ who knew no sin became sin for us, how much more should we glory in being able to share in his suffering? Through sharing in Christ’s suffering for all, we glorify God. Believers suffer because of our sin but for the glory of God and out of our desire to be more like Christ. What a glorious thought – rather than just suffering because of our individual disobedience, we can count it a blessing that we share in Christ’s suffering for all mankind!
Can good come from adversity? Yes, God can and does use adversity for the good of believers. Rom 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And Paul wrote: Ro 5:3-5 “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” People talk about how God got their attention through pain. Many of us have to come to the end of ourselves with adversity before we can truly submit to God.
When a parent loses a child they often donate their organs which turns something terrible into something good for someone else. In the recent flooding in Colorado, people selflessly gave weeks of their time helping communities rebuild. Christians dying of cancer use their situation to share God’s love with the lost. Many, many more examples could be cited. We see them all around us.
As mentioned previously, God uses adversity to point to the cross to glorify the Father and the Son. When Jesus heard about Lazarus’s illness he said: Jn 11:4 “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”
God also uses hardship to discipline his children. Heb 12:5-7 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”
However, do not misunderstand - it was not God’s intentional will that any should suffer. Eze 18:32 “ 'For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone', declares the Sovereign LORD.” He would have been ecstatic if none of us had ever sinned. For then the unimaginable suffering that both the Father and Son endured because of Jesus’ death would have been unnecessary. If no one had sinned mankind would not have been cursed to a life of pain and eventual death. If we had not sinned, discipline would not have been necessary.
Since Adam and Eve experienced spiritual separation from God after they sinned, didn't they go to Hell? No, God created a covering of animal skins for them. This was the first blood sacrifice, and while the sacrifice had no effect in itself, it emblematically pointed to Jesus’s eventual sacrifice which retroactively atoned for their disobedience. It was Adam’s and Eve’s repentance and continued faith in their Lord that saved them. Of course, they were not spared physical death.
Note: I am not aware of any scripture that explicitly states that Adam and Eve received salvation – this is just my belief.
Final thought
For anyone reading this who may not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, sadly your future looks hopeless without God. But is doesn't have to be so. The solution is as easy as bowing your head and sincerely praying this prayer: “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In your name. Amen.”5
Closing comment
I imagine that this article has introduced concepts that may be new, controversial or objectionable to some. I certainly don’t expect that everyone will agree. But for me, it is a rational and satisfying explanation of the difficult subject of pain and suffering. Above all and most importantly, it acknowledges the sovereignty and justice of God and his infinite love for us. It acknowledges that Christ took the punishment for our sins. My hope and prayer is that this material has helped the reader better understand adversity. This was my primary goal in writing it. I welcome your thoughts in the comment field below, even if you have a different opinion.
About the author
I have no formal theological education. I am a Christian with a strong interest in better understanding the nature of God and his creation. At twelve years of age I prayed a prayer similar to that in “Final Thought.” I have been in Bible studies at church all my life and have had some amazing teachers. I have heard many gifted preachers deliver powerful sermons. Privately, I have read the Bible from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21 in the KJV, NEB, NIV and several other translations. I believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God. I believe the entire Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.
In the late 70s or early 80s, I wrote a letter to our pastor asking “If temptation requires a tempter, and presumably it does, then who or what tempted Satan?” This was before the days of e-mail, so the next time I saw him he said: “You have asked the question that all pastors hope their congregants never ask.” He loaned me some resource material from his Th.D. studies. I have spent a lifetime trying to make sense of why bad things happen to good people. And yet, I am not confident in my conclusions. But they are mine - you can draw your own.
The sole literary source for this article was the Bible. Where I drew conclusions not explicitly stated or gave my interpretation of passages which are in tension, I tried to so state. My analysis method tends to follow that of St. Thomas Aquinas, which is to start from faith, use the Bible as the sole literary source and then incorporate reason to reach conclusions.
Acknowledgements
I am forever thankful to God for creating me, Jesus for saving me, and the Holy Spirit for walking with me day by day and comforting me when I’m hurting. Thanks to my wife, Marsha, for her support and encouragement. I am grateful to our daughter, Pamela, for asking excellent questions and making me dig even deeper on some of the difficult doctrinal areas. I am thankful and indebted to pastor Gary, for his taking the time from his very busy schedule to read and provide comments on the final draft, and for his invaluable encouragement, knowledge and wisdom.
Appendix
Appendix A – Did God create Satan for the express purpose of introducing temptation into the world?
The case for “no” - I am not aware of any scripture that explicitly states that God created Satan for that purpose. Furthermore, a strong argument for “no” comes from James: Jas 1:13-14 “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”
The case for “yes” – The previous verses from James preclude God directly tempting anyone. However, James statements have to be considered in the context of instances from scripture in which God explicitly permitted Satan to temp someone.
Instance 1: Jesus in the desert
Mt 3:16 "As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
Mt 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'
Mt 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."
The NIV Bible Commentary6 states: “That Jesus should be led "by the Spirit" to be tempted "by the devil" is no stranger than Job 1:6-2:7. In Jesus' temptations God clearly intended to test him just as Israel was tested; Jesus' responses prove that he understood.”
Instance 2: Job
Job’s first test:
Job 1:8 "Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.'
Job 1:9 'Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied.
Job 1:10 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.
Job 1:11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.'
Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, 'Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.' ”
Job’s second test:
Job 2:3 "Then the LORD said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.
And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.'
Job 2:4 'Skin for skin!' Satan replied. 'A man will give all he has for his own life.
Job 2:5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.'
Job 2:6 The LORD said to Satan, 'Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.' ”
These conversations between God and Satan are perhaps some of the most mysterious interchanges recorded in the Bible, particularly the phrase “though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” James wrote that God cannot be tempted, which even it had not been written would seem to be obvious from the very nature of God. Since God created everything, how could he be tempted by an angel who he himself created? The only other conclusion we can draw is that God had already planned for Job to be tempted before Satan interrupted his roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it to appear before God. God didn't temp Job, but his creation was allowed to. And so it is with us as well.
So I believe that God in his sovereignty created Satan to be a tempter. I do so, not from explicit statements from the Bible so stating, but on the basis of reason, logic and that in my finite mind I cannot imagine how love could exist without the presence of a tempter. Had there not been a tempter, then God’s intent that mankind be able to love him would have been unfulfilled.
Appendix B – Can a man other than Jesus theoretically live a sinless life?
I’ve had some interesting discussions with friends and family about this subject. We all agree that outside of theory, everyone other than Christ born of woman either has sinned or will sin. The Bible is clear on this point. Ro 3:23 "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” So the question is not whether there has ever been or ever will be a sinless person other than Christ. The question is whether it is theoretically possible for it to be so.
The case for “no” – Ps 51:5 “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” According to the NIV notation, this was a repentance written by David in anguish over his sin with Bathsheba. And this – of the house of Jacob through the prophet Isaiah, God said: “Isa 48:8 You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ear has not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.“ Further, as an indictment of rulers, the Psalmist wrote: Ps 58:3 "Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies."
These verses challenge my assertion of the ability to live sinless lives and the assertion that babies who die go to heaven in spite of their lack of ability to ever know or accept Christ.
The case for “yes” - Why would we be told to model our lives on that of Jesus, if there were no hope in accomplishing that? “But living like Jesus is just a goal” you say. “We can’t possibly achieve that! But consider this. Who was tempted most, us or Jesus? Who among us has endured more powerful temptations than Jesus? Remember Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. Lk 22:41-46 “He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ‘Why are you sleeping?’ he asked them. ‘Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’ " I believe that Satan was right there with Jesus telling him “You don’t have to do this; you really don’t have to do this.” And of course, Jesus did have the choice to turn away from the cross and allow us all to perish. It is fair to say that none of us have ever endured that kind of temptation.
One could argue that Jesus had an angel to strengthen him as well as other power we don’t have access to. But in telling the disciples to pray so that they would not fall into temptation, I believe he was indicating that they could have strengthening angels as well. Prayer is very powerful. Jas 5:16 “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” And Jesus taught us: Jn 8:11 “Go now and leave your life of sin.” We have been given the same human nature that Jesus had and we have access to the same power. The apostle Paul wrote: Col 1:10-11 "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord … being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…” and 1Co 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
As for the passages from Psalms and Isaiah referring to “sinful from birth”, I think that these verses are in the context of the reality that “all have sinned”, rather than in the theoretical possibility that one could resist temptation from birth to death. I also offer the observation that pre-temptation Adam and Eve were not sinful from birth. The thought to disobey God never occurred to them until they were tempted by Satan. To me, this means that man in his natural state, as God created him, is not inherently evil or prone to sin – after all, God created man in his own image. So a newborn child is pure in heart like Adam and Eve, and only when tempted by Satan does he or she choose to sin.
Finally, in the words of Jesus: Mt 5:48 “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” He didn't say to try to be perfect, he said “be perfect”. Would Jesus command us to do an impossible task? Of course not. If one believes that we have access to God’s power to resist temptation, and I do, and if we believe that we will never be tempted to the extent that Jesus was, then we must conclude that one could be sinless from birth to death. Finally, I fall back on the fundamental truth of God’s justice. The premise that God created me knowing that there was no possible way for me to avoid sinning and then punish me for sinning is mutually exclusive of a just God, and therefore I have to conclude that we theoretically have the power through the Holy Spirit to live sinless lives.
Note: The theory of original sin is also relevant to the topic of theoretical perfection in man. A discussion of original sin follows.
Appendix C – Original sin vs. actual sin
Sin is by definition disobedience to God. There are at least two schools of thought concerning original sin. One school of thought is that mankind is condemned because of Adam and Eve’s original sins. This school of thought has been espoused in various flavors as Christian doctrine. An opposing school of thought is that we are only condemned individually because of our own sins. I subscribe to the latter school. An analysis method which has been extremely helpful in my studies is what I call fundamental-truth-based analysis. In this method, fundamental, immutable truths are established first. The subsequent analysis and the final choice between competing alternatives must not be in conflict with these truths. Following this analysis technique to evaluate original sin, the operative fundamental truth is that God is just. 2Th 1:6 “God is just:” This simply means that God never does any wrong. Further, God imparted us with a natural ability to know right from wrong. Using that ability we know that it would be wrong to imprison the son of a murderer for the father’s guilt, assuming the son had nothing to do with the murder. Since God is just, he does not condemn us for the sins of Adam and Eve. To believe that we are condemned from birth for original sin is to deny the very justice of God.
There are a couple of passages of scripture which seem to be in tension with my conclusion. The first is from Romans 5.
Ro 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned–
Ro 5:13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
Ro 5:14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
Ro 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Ro 5:16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
Ro 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Ro 5:18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
Ro 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Ro 5:20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
Ro 5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The whole point of this passage is stated in the last verse. Sin reigns in death, but grace reigns in eternal life. In the prior verses, Paul paints a powerful image. On the left is the sin of one man, Adam (or was it Eve?) which expands into the sin of all mankind in the center of the image. On the right of the picture is the sin of all mankind converging on one man, Christ, in his ultimate sacrifice. So it looks something like this:
So how do we interpret the following phrases? Ro 5:18 "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men…”, Ro 5:19 "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners…” I think this to be one of those areas of theology bordering on the edge of our finite minds’ ability to understand. I believe that two seemingly contradictory statements are actually both true. 1) When Adam introduced sin into the world, it immediately became inevitable that all would eventually sin and 2) Each person is condemned for his or her own sins, but not for the sins of Adam. The only way to explain this apparent paradox in harmony with God’s justice is to conclude that we are condemned for our own sins only, but since we have all sinned, a claim that we are not responsible for original sin is of no consequence. This conclusion is supported by the passages previously quoted from Ezekiel, wherein God declared “The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son.”
The second passage that possibly requires an explanation is the story of Christ’s encounter with the blind man as told by the apostle John, and the reason to analyze the passage is because one could infer from it that original sin was the cause of a man’s blindness.
Jn 9:1-3 “As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. ‘“
Firstly, and obviously, Christ could not have been saying that this man and his parents were sinless, because as recorded in Romans, Ro 3:23 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” He was simply saying that neither the man’s sin nor the parent’s sin were to blame for the man’s blindness.
So what was Jesus’ message? We immediately jump to the conclusion, as did the disciples, that being born blind was a bad thing. However, how can we say that being born blind is something to anguish over? The record states that the man washed and came home seeing and that his eyes were opened. Notice that it makes no mention of “healing” and thus there is no implication of a disease or defect. In Christ’s eyes, there was no infirmity with being blind – the man was created in perfection. It is our view of perfection that is incorrect. And since there was nothing defective about being blind, there was nothing to blame on anyone’s sins. Furthermore there was divine value in the man’s blindness because God was glorified through the miracle of Jesus giving the man sight.
Finally, to the point of original sin, since there was no sin to blame, not only was being blind nothing to blame on the sin of the man or his parents, there was nothing to attribute to Adam’s original sin either.
Other than Romans 5, there are very few theological references to Adam and original sin in the New Testament. My heart rejects the doctrine of original sin in the face of the undeniable fact that God is just.
References:
1. All Bible quotes are from the Zondervan Bible Study Library 5.0, New International Version.
2. Some attributes of God:
Dt 7:8 “But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt”
Dt 16:21-22 “Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God, and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.”
Ge 6:6 “The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.”
Rev 6:10 “They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’”
2Th 1:6 “God is just:”
3. The Holy Spirit:
Jesus said: Jn 14:26 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
Mk 13:11 “Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.”
Lk 10:21 “At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit…”
4. Angels serve God to meet his various needs. The most common role for angels seems to be as messengers. The best news ever delivered by an angel was this: Lk 1:35 “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” And an angel delivered to John a vision of the end times. Rev 22:6 “The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” God uses angels to serve as guards. Ex 23:20 “’See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way…’” And God needed angels in his army to intervene in worldly affairs to effect his plan. Ex 33:2 “I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.” Rev 9:15 “And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.”
5. Sinner’s prayer from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
http://www.billygrahamlibrary.org/PGView.aspx?pid=13
6. Zondervan Bible Study Library 5.0, New International Version, NIV Bible Commentary
Very comprehensive, thorough, thought provoking piece. I especially liked the appendices with both sides represented and discussed. Meticulously researched and cited .Brought up ideas I'd never before considered .Answered many questions in an intellectually honest way, yet truly showed your heart for Jesus.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nickie for your very generous comment. It means a lot to me. I just pray that the article will find its way to those who may be overwhelmed in grief - to better equip them to deal with it.
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