Session 3 Discussion The suffering God
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Colorado Christian University *
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Feb 20, 2024
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Do you think it is more accurate to say that God saves us by personally suffering with us or
by being above human suffering? How might Phil. 2 inform your answer?
I believe that God, through his suffering on the cross, saved us. God loved us so much; He did not hold anything back from us, not even His only Son. God the Son did not think of Himself but
for others. Despite being the Creator of the Universe, He didn't use his position to acquire what he desired. Instead of thinking about himself, he focused on the needs of those around him. Because God became man, Jesus lived a real life as a human being. The Son's death on the cross is the culmination of that human existence. His compassion for the people he cared about led him
to send his Son into the world. God's eternal divine essence is then wholly expressed on the cross. It serves as a paradigm for a suffering God. On the crucifixion, the Son was abandoned by the Father as a man and as God. Moreover, the Father's personal experience of desertion parallels
that of the child. The Father lost his Son. God knows what it is to suffer and His love for us is never-ending. When it appeared that Christ couldn't rescue himself, he saved his people. All of humanity's brokenness and sin are absorbed by God in an ultimate act of self-emptying love on God's part.
Do we face death boldly by knowing that God himself has died and been made alive or by the opposite, knowing that our God has always transcended death?
Death is the result of sin. The Bible tells us, "Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12, NIV). The resurrection of Jesus from the grave on the third day demonstrated His authority over death and sin (Matthew 28), and death has been overcome as a result of Christ's sacrifice, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your string? (1 Corinthians 15:55, NIV). We have the blessed hope that when we die, we will be with the Lord. Jesus has overcome death,
and death has no power over us now.
Pastorally, is it more helpful to tell someone who is suffering that God suffers with them in his very being, or that suffering is conquered by God because he is above all pain and anguish?
In our textbook, it states, "God becomes that which must die and suffer, and have all the human idiomata" (McGrath, 2017, p. 248). Jesus suffered and died in this world, and I think it is comforting to remind people who are suffering about how Jesus overcame the world. God is not the creator of evil and suffering; as Genesis 1:31 tells us, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (NIV). Even though suffering isn't a nice thing, God can nevertheless utilize it for good, "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" (Romans 8:28, NIV). The day is approaching when pain and suffering will end, and God will bring justice to the world. We must comfort people with the words from the Bible, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us" (Romans 8:18, ESV).
References
Holy Bible, New International Version
.
(2011). Zondervan. (Original work published 1973)
McGrath, A. E. (2017). The Christian theology reader
. CCU Electronic Resources
(5th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.
https://platform.virdocs.com/r/s/0/doc/504438/sp/21825015/mi/76233113?cfi=
%2F4%2F2%2F68%2F12%2C%2F1%3A235%2C
%2F1%3A248&menu=search&q=infallibility%20in%20teaching%E2%80%9D
. The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
. (2001). Crossway.
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