I have experienced such a congregational or faith culture more often. Today I find them very problematic. Those who think like this live in a strong bondage. That’s what I want to talk a little bit about in this post. They are personal notes on the one hand, and a look at the Letter to the Romans on the other. Paul is not writing a theological treatise in the Letter to the Romans, but is addressing people in their everyday situation. He proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ not against the background of theological projections, but against the background of reality. Is this reality a valley of tears, one that we must piously endure, or is this interpretation not true?

(No joke: some think that whoever does not suffer so far cannot be a true Christian. Suffering becomes the ultimate badge of stubborn piety).

We have arrived here at another section of the Letter to the Romans. In Romans, chapter 8, Paul summarizes the impact of the gospel. In Romans 1, he spoke about the world. In the chapters that followed, he explained the Gospel. Now it is a matter of clarifying our relationship with the world – from the Gospel. The first thing Paul refers to is his current time:

“For I reckon that the sufferings of the present term are not worthy of the glory that is about to be revealed in us.”
Romans 8:18

Such statements, if one leaves out the context for the time being, seem the perfect projection surface for the pious glorification of sufferings among the Christians. “The sufferings of the present deadline!” is gladly immediately referred to our current time and uncritically converted into a drama. We will therefore look at this text a little closer and see if Paul had a glorification of suffering in mind.

Because I am counting on it!

This is a joyful proclamation. Again, Paul speaks of counting on something. He reckons that the sufferings of the present time are nothing compared to the glory that is coming. He still does not see this glory, but he expects it. Here the apostle spans the arc from his time over to the time of fulfillment. We, however, are not in Paul’s position, nor are we in this aforementioned future. We live in between. Is it appropriate now to put ourselves in Paul’s position and project his statement to today?

A healthy differentiation is needed here.

We live with this tension between our sensibility and the vision we received in the Gospel of God’s grace. It is important to endure this tension, to perceive one as well as the other. We can’t live unworldly, but we can’t block out future reality either. We live in this world, but also “is our life hidden together with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). To the Philippians Paul writes: “But our citizenship is in the heavens, whence also we await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ph 3:20).

The whole section serves to draw this arc.

• It is never our current experience that is decisive, but the promise of God in the light of His action.
• It is never only about our own life, but Paul expands the view to the whole creation.

He does this so that he can clarify how much our experience is connected to the whole world. It anchors our experience in the visible world, so to speak, and our expectation is the foreshadowing of all creation.

Accordingly, the message is not in the suffering, but in the outlook. Therefore, it is irrelevant whether the suffering described by Paul applies to all Christians today or not. It may well be that we are free from suffering. The promise of the view is still valid for us. The crucial question is: Why is Paul doing it? Does he want to glorify suffering or to sharpen the focus on God’s work and on His perfection?

The apostle counts on it coming good – in due time, in God’s time. Those who speak only of today’s suffering focus on the current experience. Paul, however, was unfamiliar with our situation. He spoke of his time. The faithful in Rome had to understand what he was writing. We were directly not meant. Here is the difference: Paul consistently looks at God’s actions. However, Christians who revel in suffering (they exist!) only look piously at themselves. The last is a religious aberration or a desperate attempt to escape one’s own reality. However, those who are focused on God’s activity can learn to live out of His grace – even when victim roles must be radically abandoned.

Is the suffering now faded out?

I can already hear some now referring to the many persecuted Christians. That’s true, of course. But not only that! Almost everyone has drastic experiences in life. Many people suffer. Some also suffer because of their faith. If Paul does not make suffering the main theme, does that eliminate suffering? Of course not. It’s about something else. Paul just mentions suffering, but the theme is glory, which contrasts with it. It’s not the suffering that you have to block out, it’s just that you have to have the courage not to project yourself into everything. Paul himself suffered much. He thought it was nonsensical to talk about it (1 Cor. 11:23-33). Precisely because of his sufferings and the experiences he had, Paul points to the work of God that transcends current experience.

Those who seek the experience of suffering in order to make themselves out to be a better, a “true” Christian, have themselves in focus, not God’s work. That is religiosity. (See also: God is not religious and Faith and religiosity).

Suffering is also not equal to suffering. Those who longingly seek the pressure of suffering, or equate current life challenges with suffering willed by God, live in an illusory world. Suffering belongs to this world. That’s sober. Religious interpretations often do not fit. They pretend to have a deeper meaning when there is none.

Death, for example, is a real problem. We cannot glorify that. Death remains an enemy until the end. It is also the last enemy that will once be dismissed (1Cor 15:26) before life and incorruption are definitely brought to light (2Tim 1:9-10). Today, not everything can be had without suffering. Even faith does not change that. Suffering is inherent in the world we live in.

Suffering is real, but that doesn’t make it “super-spiritual.” What I have seen too often are unhealthy relationships in which one partner remains in a disastrous situation for “reasons of faith.” Some even call it “suffering for Christ.” The suffering in the relationship is first glorified, then tolerated. Not infrequently, a form of abuse takes place from which a believing partner then actually suffers. If we then persist in suffering under the pretext of faith, this is not healthy but simply reprehensible. There is nothing spiritual about it either. If something is wrong, it must be called by its name. If there is abuse, you have to get out. Those who need help must seek help. Pastoral care can help, but sometimes it takes significantly more. However, the pious hurdles here are often incredibly high.

In the context of the Letter to the Romans, Paul uses the well-known suffering to illuminate the necessity and otherness of the gospel against this background. This does not minimize suffering, but the apostle is concerned with a different issue.

The promise of God

Now let’s read the entire passage again:

“For I reckon that the sufferings of the present period are not worthy of the glory that is about to be revealed in us. For the foreshadowing of creation awaits the unveiling of the sons of God. For the creation was subordinated to vanity (not voluntarily, but for the sake of the subordinate) in the expectation that the creation itself will also be liberated from the slavery of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers travail with us until now. But not only they alone, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we ourselves also groan within ourselves, awaiting the state of sonship, the release of our body. For it is upon this expectation that we were saved. But expectation that is glimpsed is not expectation; for that which someone glimpses – does he still expect that? But if we expect what we do not see, we wait for it with perseverance.”
Rom 8:18-25

How can such a text be deciphered? The approaches of inductive Bible study help: observe, interpret, apply. In the next section, therefore, we look at the text to trace the promise of God contained in these verses.

Why is it in the text?

First, the observation of structures and themes. The apostle keeps building up the reasoning, introducing new sections with the word “For.” I have color coded the related statements here to make it easier to find the connection.

• Green = the suffering of the current deadline
• Magenta = the future glory
• Blue = Expectation (the “currently-not-having-but-waiting-for”).
• Orange = the creation

Text

Try to grasp the connections in the text:

Because I expect that
the suffering of the current deadline
are not worth
of the glory that is about to be revealed in us.

For the foreshadowing of the CREATION awaits the unveiling of the sons of God.

For the CREATION was subordinated to vanity (not voluntarily, but for the sake of the subordinate) in the expectation that the CREATION itself will also be liberated from the slavery of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the entire CREATION is groaning and suffering labor p ains with us until now. But not (only) they alone, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,we ourselves are also groaning within us,awaiting thestate of sonship , the release of our body.

For it was upon this expectation that we were saved. But expectation that is glimpsed is not expectation, for what someone glimpses – does he still expect it? But if we expect what we do not see, we wait for it with perseverance.

Rom 8:18-25

Although Paul is explaining something that primarily concerns the believer, he mentions all of creation 4x. He places our suffering in the context of the suffering of all creation. He does the same with our expectation.

Expectation

What other parallels can be drawn here? Why would Paul draw the arc from our lives to all of creation? What does the apostle want to accomplish here? These questions help further as we consider the text.

Clearly, Paul is referring to something that we do not have so far. We suffer, but so does creation (and not by choice, but because God willed it – says Paul!). We are expecting redemption and creation has a foreshadowing of what is to come.

No threat of hell, therefore, but a foreshadowing and expectation towards liberation “to the freedom of the glory of the children of God”. What is striking is how soberly Paul stands in this world, even including all the suffering of the world and envisioning a future that looks quite different. This is not about preconditions to be met, it is not about “believe in Jesus or you are lost forever”. All these ideas are foreign to the Bible. In order to correct this, however, we have to look – we have to take the text seriously again.

In the current world, “expectation” is the key word. That shapes our being here. We suffer in the world, but also with the world. We are not better than the world. You and we are both suffering. We, too, still await a part of salvation, or, as Paul writes: “We groan within ourselves, awaiting the state of sonship, the release of our body”. And before someone now would get the idea that the body they “bad”, it is precisely the experience of our body, the experience of mortality and inadequacy, which has brought us many problems. The liberation from this is part of a far greater plan of salvation, wherein man is not crudely “liberated from the body,” but receives indissoluble life, and a new body.

Spiritually, we have already understood a redemption and it is allowed to work in our lives. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Nevertheless, we are still dying and longing for the complete freedom of the glory of the children of God – as well as the entire creation.

A masochistic longing for suffering pressure, for example to give more weight to one’s own religious projections, is not necessary. These do not get us anywhere. Those who are under pressure should not rebel against it, or continue to persist in impossible situations, but rather try to free themselves from it. As Paul records, for example, of the status of slaves at that time: “If you have been called as a slave, do not let it concern you; but if you can also become free, make all the more use of it!” (1 Cor. 7:21).