Romans 5:3 is an often-misunderstood verse in the Bible. “. . knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
There are times when people use this verse to help deal with difficulties and sicknesses. It is as if God is saying that the suffering you are undergoing can be viewed in a positive way as a character-building experience. Some have used this verse to try to comfort people to resign themselves to their particular suffering for God is laying it upon them for a purpose. Personal suffering of any kind can be viewed that way at times but it is not what this particular verse is trying to convey. The word Paul uses is thlipsis, which means trouble and persecution for following Christ. Paul is not writing to provide strength in the midst of problems or illnesses that come upon people in everyday living. He is giving some positive encouragement to those persecuted for their Christian faith.
To direct our attention to dealing with the misfortunes and daily struggles or sufferings we endure, Paul uses another word, pathama. As in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” In other words, the experiences you have which cause you suffering, be it emotional, physical, or mental, are part of the human experience in a corrupted world. Only when God creates a new world will suffering be gone.
We are among the small group of people in history who believe we should have the right to a life free from sorrow and suffering. We spend all our time, money, and energy on trying to eliminate suffering rather than learning how to deal with it. The United States Constitution is often misread to include happiness as a right. It actually reads, “We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable; that all men are created equal and independent, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent and inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Notice it states “the pursuit” of happiness. Everyone does not have a right to expect happiness all the time. People get upset when their happiness is compromised. Many claim it a right to have the state to provide them with happiness. The national state cannot legislate pleasure. Creating happiness is not the prerogative of the government. However the legislative powers can attempt to provide a society that gives equal right to pursue happiness.
Too many are under the deceptive notion that if I am not happy then it is someone else’s fault that my happiness is not attained. Pathama (struggle) comes in our lives because of the predicament of this world and the condition of the people in it. One cannot escape sufferings in this life. We had best get used to the idea and learn how to deal with pathama as it happens. This is not an excuse to blindly put up with things that cause suffering with no thought to make corrections. We should work to stop suffering as we are able to do. But the realist knows that all suffering cannot be eliminated. So the real question in many circumstances becomes, “What can help me live in my suffering?”
The Bible makes at least two attempts to answer this question. First, as Paul wrote in Romans 8, know that one day suffering will be eliminated by God’s new order. This sure future through grace by faith gives hope and ability to deal with sufferings now. Two, the example of the Christ, who suffered for us and with us, gives confidence and strength to deal with sufferings now.
The root meaning of pathama is to experience something that comes from the outside. Things happen in this life over which we have no control and we must find ways and means to deal with handling them. If you do not learn how to live with suffering you won’t get very far in life. According to the Bible that’s part of the point of the cross of Jesus.
Consider this Bible verse from Hebrews, “But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
Sufferings are inevitable but not eternal. God’s new creation promises no suffering because of the actions of the Christ in this world of sufferings. That can be a sure and certain hope.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
