What Christian writers said, from about AD 249 to 1938.
59 passages · 24 writers · 10 centuries
The short answer
Writers read Psalm 119:67 and 71 as saying that affliction taught the psalmist God's statutes and does good to God's people. Calvin, Wesley, Barnes, and Fausset read Genesis 50:20, Isaiah 45:7, and Lamentations 3:38 as saying that adversity, as well as prosperity, is under God's control, and Calvin says God's justice shines in the midst of human guilt. Chrysostom, Cyprian, and Barnes read Romans 8:17 as saying that those who suffer with Christ will be glorified with him. Maclaren, Spurgeon, Julian of Norwich, and others say Christ shares the sufferings of his people and that believers are conformed to him through suffering. Newell, Bruce, and Spurgeon say suffering is the lot of the godly, and Bruce, Spurgeon, and Henry say that those who follow Christ must bear a cross.
Before I was afflicted: Psalm 119:67 and 71
5 passages · 4 writers · 300s to 1800s
Chrysostom and Spurgeon quote Psalm 119:71, that affliction taught the psalmist God's statutes. Henry and Barnes say affliction benefits God's people.
c. 398–404 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians (In epistulam ad Philippenses homiliae 1-15) 15
Moral. For affliction is an unbroken bond, the increase of love, the occasion of compunction and piety. Hear the words of David, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes.” (Ps. cxix. 71.) And again another prophet, who saith, “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” (Lam. iii. 27.) And again, “Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord.” (Ps. xciv. 12.) And another who saith, “Despise not the chastening of the Lord.” (Prov. iii. 11.) And “if thou come near to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation.” (Ecclus. xi. 1.) And Christ also said to His disciples, “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.” (John xvi. 33.)
1710 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalms 119.71
See here, 1. That it has been the lot of the best saints to be afflicted. The proud and the wicked lived in pomp and pleasure, while David, though he kept close to God and his duty, was still in affliction. Waters of a full cup are wrung out to God's people, Ps. lxxiii. 10. 2. That it has been the advantage of God's people to be afflicted. David could speak experimentally: It was good for me; many a good lesson he had learnt by his afflictions, and many a good duty he had been brought to which otherwise would have been unlearnt and undone. Therefore God visited him with affliction, that he might learn God's statutes; and the intention was answered: the afflictions had contributed to the improvement of his knowledge and grace. He that chastened him taught him. The rod and reproof give wisdom.
1710 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Psalms 119.67
Of the benefit of an afflicted state: "Now have I kept thy word, and so have been recovered from my wanderings." God often makes use of afflictions as a means to reduce those to himself who have wandered from him. Sanctified afflictions humble us for sin and show us the vanity of the world; they soften the heart, and open the ear to discipline.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Psalms 119.67
Of those who are the children of God it may be said that they are "always" benefited "sooner" or "later" by afflictions. It may not be at the time of the affliction (compare Heb 12:11), but the "ultimate" effect is in all cases to benefit them. Some error is corrected; some evil habit changed; some mode of life not consistent with religion is forsaken; pride is humbled; the heart is quickened in duty; habits of prayer are resumed or formed; the affections are fixed on a better world; the soul is made more gentle, calm, humble, spiritual, pure. Afflictions are among the most precious means of grace.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your Statutes. The Psalmist was so impressed with the benefits which he had derived from his afflictions, that he returned to the subject—"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your Statutes." There is much teaching power about God's rod. He always keeps one in His school and it is greatly needed for such dull scholars as we are. Many a child of God can repeat the Psalmist's testimony—"It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your statutes." "You have whipped a little knowledge into me and not much has come in any other way."
Genesis 50:20, Isaiah 45:7, and Lamentations 3
9 passages · 6 writers · 1500s to 1900s
Calvin, Wesley, Fausset, Barnes, and Spurgeon say adversity is under God's control or direction. Wesley reads Genesis 50:20 as Joseph's brothers thinking evil while God meant it for good, and Calvin says God's justice shines in the midst of human guilt.
1554 · John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, part 2 (chapters 24-50) 50.20
Thus we see that the justice of God shines brightly in the midst of the darkness of our iniquity. For as God is never without a just cause for his actions, so men are held in the chains of guilt by their own perverse will. When we hear that God frustrates the wicked expectations, and the injurious desires of men, we derive hence no common consolation. Let the impious busy themselves as they please, let them rage, let them mingle heaven and earth; yet they shall gain nothing by their ardor; and not only shall their impetuosity prove ineffectual, but shall be turned to an issue the reverse of that which they intended, so that they shall promote our salvation, though they do it reluctantly. So that whatever poison Satan produces, God turns it into medicine for his elect. And although in this place God is said to have “meant it unto good,” because contrary to expectation, he had educed a joyful issue out of beginnings fraught with death: yet, with perfect rectitude and justice, he turns the food of reprobates into poison, their light into darkness, their table into a snare, and, in short, their life into death.
1563 · John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah, part 4 (chapters 30-47) 39.16
The word evil does not mean sin here, but according to a common usage, evil is said to be whatever men regard as adverse to them; so all punishments inflicted by God are called evils, as we find in Isaiah, “I am God, who create light and darkness, life and death, good and evil.” (Isaiah 45:7)
1712 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Isaiah 45.5-10
Light and darkness are opposite to each other, and yet, in the course of providence, they are sometimes intermixed, like the morning and evening twilights, neither day nor night, Zech. xiv. 6. There is a mixture of joys and sorrows in the same cup, allays to each other. Sometimes they are counterchanged, as noonday light and midnight darkness. In the revolution of every day each takes its turn, and there are short transitions from the one to the other, witness Job's case.
1765 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Genesis 50.20
Ye thought evil, but God meant it unto good - In order to the making Joseph a greater blessing to his family than otherwise he could have been.
1765 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Lamentations 3.38
Evil - Doth not evil or trouble come out of God's mouth from his direction, and providence, as well as good?
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Isaiah 45.7
Light here seems to be the emblem of peace and prosperity, and darkness the emblem of adversity; and the sentiment of the verse is, that all things prosperous and adverse are under the providential control and direction of God. Of light, it is literally true that God made it; and emblematically true that he is the source of knowledge, prosperity, happiness, and pure religion. Of darkness, it is literally true also that the night is formed by him; that he withdraws the light of the sun, and leaves the earth enveloped in gloomy shades. It is emblematically true also that calamity, ignorance, disappointment, and want of success are ordered by him; and not less true that all the moral darkness, or evil, that prevails on earth, is under the direction and ordering of his Providence.
As the Instructor of their childhood and the Guide of their riper years, He first expresses the most natural interest in their welfare and then pitifully bewails the folly of His children. Speaking after the manner of men, to chasten His own people is a pain and a grief to His heart—"Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him." John Knox said that he never chastised his children without tears in his own eyes. Jeremiah, in the bitterest chapter of his unparalleled Lamentations, bears this grateful witness to our Covenant God—"He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."
1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on Isaiah 45.7
light … darkness—literally (Ge 1:1-3), emblematical also, prosperity to Cyrus, calamity to Babylon and the nations to be vanquished [Grotius] … Isaiah refers also to the Oriental belief in two coexistent, eternal principles, ever struggling with each other, light or good, and darkness or evil, Oromasden and Ahrimanen. God, here, in opposition, asserts His sovereignty over both [Vitringa]. create evil—not moral evil (Jas 1:13), but in contrast to "peace" in the parallel clause, war, disaster (compare Ps 65:7; Am 3:6).
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. There are not two distinct principles that are omnipotent and, though God is not the Author of moral evil, yet whatever there is of evil which causes us pain and loss is under His control.
Christ's sufferings and believers sharing them
19 passages · 14 writers · 200s to 1900s
Chrysostom, Cyprian, Barnes, and Maclaren on Romans 8:17, Harris on suffering for Christ as a gift, and Maclaren and Spurgeon on fellowship with Christ's sufferings.
249–258 · Cyprian of Carthage, Letters (Epistulae) 80.2
“We are,” says he, “the sons of God: but if sons, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Moreover, he added the comparison of the present time and of the future glory, saying, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory which shall be revealed in us.” Of which brightness, when we consider the glory, it behoves us to bear all afflictions and persecutions; because, although many are the afflictions of the righteous, yet those are delivered from them all who trust in God.
c. 391 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of John 80.3
This glory we also shall enjoy according to our measure, if we be sober. Wherefore Paul saith, “If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” ( Rom. viii. 17.) Ten thousand tears then do they merit, who through sluggishness and sleep plot against themselves when such glory is set before them; and, were there no hell, they would be more wretched than any, who, when it is in their power to reign and to be glorified with the Son of God, deprive themselves of so great blessings. Since if it were necessary to be cut in pieces, if to die ten thousand deaths, if to give up every day ten thousand lives and as many bodies, ought we not to submit to such things for such glory?
c. 398–404 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on Philippians (In epistulam ad Philippenses homiliae 1-15) 11
Seest thou, that faith must not be absolutely, but through good works; for he especially believes that Christ hath risen, who in like sort gives himself up to dangers, who hath fellowship with Him in His sufferings. For he hath fellowship with Him who rose again, with Him who liveth; wherefore he saith, “And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead.” He saith, being made conformable unto His death, i.e. having fellowship; whereas He suffered from men, thus I too; wherefore he said, “becoming conformed” and again in another place, “and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” (Col. i. 24.) That is, these persecutions and sufferings work the image of His death, for He sought not His own, but the good of many.
1265–1273 · Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III, q. 49, a. 3, ad 3
Reply to Objection 3: Christ's satisfaction works its effect in us inasmuch as we are incorporated with Him, as the members with their head, as stated above (A[1]). Now the members must be conformed to their head. Consequently, as Christ first had grace in His soul with bodily passibility, and through the Passion attained to the glory of immortality, so we likewise, who are His members, are freed by His Passion from all debt of punishment, yet so that we first receive in our souls "the spirit of adoption of sons," whereby our names are written down for the inheritance of immortal glory, while we yet have a passible and mortal body: but afterwards, "being made conformable" to the sufferings and death of Christ, we are brought into immortal glory, according to the saying of the Apostle (Rom. 8:17): "And if sons, heirs also: heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ; yet so if we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him."
1373 · Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love 20
And in this [Shewing] He brought in part to mind the height and nobleness of the glorious Godhead, and therewith the preciousness and the tenderness of the blessed Body, which be together united; and also the lothness that is in our Kind to suffer pain. For as much as He was most tender and pure, right so He was most strong and mighty to suffer. And for every man’s sin that shall be saved He suffered: and every man’s sorrow and desolation He saw, and sorrowed for Kindness and love. (For in as much as our Lady sorrowed for His pains, in so much He suffered sorrow for her sorrow;—and more, in as greatly as the sweet manhood of Him was worthier in Kind.) For as long as He was passible He suffered for us and sorrowed for us; and now He is uprisen and no more passible, yet He suffereth with us.
1605–1610 · Johann Arndt, True Christianity 2.44
Eighthly, we shall bear our afflictions patiently, when we consider that Christ Jesus has sanctified and blessed our crosses by his own, and has taken away the sting of affliction, and made it to us the instrument of blessing, life, and glory. For as the sufferings of Christ ended in glory, so will the sufferings of every Christian be turned into everlasting joy.
c. 1611 · Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety 16
By afflictions God makes us conformable to the image of Christ his Son (Rom. viii. 18; 1 Pet. iv. 14), who being the captain of our salvation, was made perfect through sufferings (Heb. ii. 10.) And therefore he first bare the cross in shame, before he was crowned with glory (Heb. ii. 7;) did first take gall (Matt. xxvii. 34), before he did eat the honey-comb (Luke xxiv. 42;) and was derided King of the Jews, by the soldiers in the High Priest’s hall, before he was saluted King of glory, by the angels in his Father’s court (Psal. xxiv. 7.) And the more lively our heavenly Father shall perceive the image of his natural Son to appear in us, the better he will love us; and when we have for a time borne his likeness in his sufferings, and fought (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8) and overcome (Rev. iii. 21), we shall be crowned by Christ; and with Christ, sit on his throne; and of Christ receive the precious white stone and morning-star (Rev. ii. 17), that shall make us shine like Christ for ever in his glory (Phil. iii. 21.)
c. 1714 · John Evans, Commentary on Romans 8.17-25
As the reward of the saints' present sufferings; and it is a rich reward: If so be that we suffer with him (v. 17), or forasmuch as we suffer with him. The state of the church in this world always is, but was then especially, an afflicted state; to be a Christian was certainly to be a sufferer. Now, to comfort them in reference to those sufferings, he tells them that they suffered with Christ—for his sake, for his honour, and for the testimony of a good conscience, and should be glorified with him. Those that suffered with David in his persecuted state were advanced by him and with him when he came to the crown; see 2 Tim. ii. 12. See the gains of suffering for Christ; though we may be losers for him, we shall not, we cannot, be losers by him in the end. This the gospel is filled with the assurances of. Now, that suffering saints may have strong supports and consolations from their hopes of heaven, he holds the balance (v. 18), in a comparison between the two, which is observable. 1. In one scale he puts the sufferings of this present time. The sufferings of the saints are but sufferings of this present time, strike no deeper than the things of time, last no longer than the present time (2 Cor. iv. 17), light affliction, and but for a moment. So that on the sufferings he writes tekel, weighed in the balance and found light.
c. 1714 · William Harris, Commentary on Philippians 1.27-30
To suffer for the sake of Christ is a valuable gift too: it is a great honour and a great advantage; for we may be very serviceable to the glory of God, which is the end of our creation, and encourage and confirm the faith of others. And there is a great reward attending it too: Blessed are you when men shall persecute you, for great is your reward in heaven, Matt. v. 11, 12. And, if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him, 2 Tim. ii. 12. If we suffer reproach and loss for Christ, we are to reckon it a great gift, and prize it accordingly, always provided we behave under our sufferings with the genuine temper of martyrs and confessors (v. 30): "Having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me; that is, suffering in the same manner as you saw and now hear of me that I suffer." It is not simply the suffering, but the cause, and not only the cause, but the spirit, which makes the martyr.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Romans 8.17
If so be - If this condition exist; We shall not be treated as co-heirs with him, unless we here give evidence that we are united to him. That we suffer with him - Greek, "If we suffer together, that we may also be glorified together." If we suffer in his cause; bear afflictions as he did; are persecuted and tried for the same thing; and thus show that we are united to him. It does not mean that we suffer to the same extent that he did, but we may imitate him in the kind of our sufferings, and in the spirit with which they are borne; and thus show that we are united to him. That we may be also glorified together - If united in the same kind of sufferings, there is propriety in being united in destiny beyond the scenes of all suffering, the kingdom of blessedness and love.
1843 · Henry Edward Manning, Sermons, Volume 1 20
Once more: nothing so likens us to the example of Christ as suffering. It seems to be an inevitable law, arising out of the fall of the old, and the perfecting of the new creation—first, that the second Adam should be a “Man of sorrows;” and next, that we should be conformed to Him in this aspect of His perfection: “it became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” And it is not more in relation to sanctity than to sufferings, that St. Paul says that we were predestinated “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” And therefore, in another place, he asks, “What son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” and argues that to be free from chastisement is an awful exemption, rather to be feared than coveted, as clouding the bright, though keen tokens of sonship, which are seen in those that suffer. There is a breadth and universality in this reasoning, which seems to force upon us the conviction, that no true member of His body who was made perfect through sufferings, shall pass out of life without at some time drinking of the cup that He drank of, and being baptised with the baptism that He was baptised with. And, indeed, if we look into the lives of His saints, we shall see that this is simply true. All that suffer are not therefore saints; alas! far from it, for many suffer without the fruits of sanctity; but all saints at some time, and in some way and measure, have entered into the mystery of suffering.
The head had a certain amount to suffer—that is all finished; but the body has a measured portion to endure also; and the more you suffer so much the less suffering there is for somebody else. There is a certain quantum of trial which the whole church has to sustain before it gets to heaven; for as Jesus Christ was afflicted, even so the whole of his people must have fellowship with his sufferings. There is a cup that is full of mixture, and the righteous must drink it; we must all have a sip thereof; but if one of us can take a deep draught, and do it patiently, there is so much the less for our fellows.
1871 · Alexander Balmain Bruce, The Training of the Twelve 19
The principle laid down is this, that in proportion as a man is a partaker of Christ’s suffering in His estate of humiliation shall he be a partaker of the glory, honor, and power which belong to His estate of exaltation. This principle holds true even in this life. The bearing of the cross, the undergoing of death, is the condition of fruit bearing both in the sense of personal sanctification and in the sense of effective service in the kingdom of God. In the long-run the measure of a man’s power is the extent to which he is baptized into Christ’s death. We must fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church, if we would be the honored instruments of advancing that great work in the world for which He was willing, like a corn of wheat, to fall into the ground and die.
All the while the Lord lays his chastening hand upon his servants they may be cheered by this reflection, that in this he is making them conformable unto Christ. What should they know of Gethsemane if they had no sweat of pain? What should they know of the passion if they never had to cry, “I thirst,” or “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” They were poor scholars in the school of Christ’s sufferings if they endured no sufferings themselves; and it is a blessed thing, a sweet thing to drink of his cup, and to be baptised with his baptism.
1894 · Handley C. G. Moule, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (The Expositor's Bible) 19
But if children, then also heirs; God's heirs, Christ's co-heirs, possessors in prospect of our Father's heaven (towards which the whole argument now gravitates), in union of interest and life with our Firstborn Brother, in whom lies our right. From one hand a gift, infinitely merciful and surprising, that unseen bliss will be from another the lawful portion of the lawful child, one with the Beloved of the Father. Such heirs we are, if indeed we share His sufferings, those deep but hallowed pains which will surely come to us as we live in and for Him in a fallen world, that we may also share His glory, for which that path of sorrow is, not indeed the meriting, but the capacitating, preparation.
1905–1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Philippians 3.10-11
Happy shall we be if Christ's sufferings are ours, because it is our union with Him and our likeness to Him, not to ourselves, our sins, or our worldliness, that is their occasion. There is an old legend that Peter was crucified head downwards, because he felt himself unworthy to be as his Master. We may well feel that nothing which we can ever bear for Him is worthy to be compared with what He has borne for us, and be the more overwhelmed with the greatness of the condescension, and the humility of the love which reckon our light affliction, which is but for a moment, along with the heavy weight which He bore, and the blessed issue of which outlasts time and enriches eternity. But there is another sense in which it is a worthy aim of our lives that our sufferings may be felt to be fellowship with His. That is a blessed sorrow which brings us closer to our Lord. That is a wholesome sorrow of which the issue is an intenser faith in Him, a fuller experience of His sufficiency. The storm blows us well when it blows us to His breast, and sorrow enriches us, whatever it may take away, which gives us fuller and more assured possession of Jesus.
1905–1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Luke 9.18-27
If suffering was involved in Messiahship, it is no less involved in discipleship. The cross which is our hope is also our pattern. In a very real sense we have to be partakers of the sufferings of Christ, and no faith in these as substitutionary is vital unless it leads to being conformed to His death.
1909 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans 8.17b
The sufferings of Christ—the sufferings of His life, and the sufferings of His death—both because of the nature which bore them, and of the aspect which they wore in regard to us, are in their source, in their intensity, in their character, and consequences, unapproachable, incapable of repetition, and needing no repetition whilst the world shall stand. But then, do not let us forget that the very books and writers in the New Testament that preach most broadly Christ’s sole, all-sufficient, eternal redemption for the world by His sufferings and death, turn round and say to us too, ‘“Be planted together in the likeness of His death”; you are “crucified to the world” by the Cross of Christ; you are to “fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ.”’ He Himself speaks of our drinking of the cup that He drank of, and being baptized with the baptism that He was baptized with, if we desire to sit yonder on His throne, and share with Him in His glory.
Christ suffering in His members. Christ suffering on the Cross was the Head suffering, but when His people were torn to pieces in the amphitheatre, when they were burned at Smithfield, and when, today, they are hooted and made a jest of, it is Christ suffering—still suffering in His members—and when any child of God suffers in any righteous cause, whenever affliction comes upon a saint in any form, Christ sympathizes with him.
The cross and the lot of believers
11 passages · 11 writers · 200s to 1900s
Newell, Bruce, and Moule say the godly must suffer. Bruce, Henry, and Spurgeon say followers of Christ must bear a cross, Henry says they must patiently submit to sufferings, and Law says Christ was made perfect through sufferings.
256 · Cyprian of Carthage, On the Advantage of Patience (De bono patientiae) 9
But if we also, beloved brethren, are in Christ; if we put Him on, if He is the way of our salvation, who follow Christ in the footsteps of salvation, let us walk by the example of Christ, as the Apostle John instructs us, saying, “He who saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked.” Peter also, upon whom by the Lord’s condescension the Church was founded, lays it down in his epistle, and says, “Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth; who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not, but gave Himself up to him that judged Him unjustly.”
c. 386–397 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on Second Corinthians 2
For what he saith is this, “Your salvation is not our work alone, but your own as well; for both we in preaching to you the word endure affliction, and ye in receiving it endure the very same; we to impart to you that which we received, ye to receive what is imparted and not to let it go.” Now what humility can compare with this, seeing that those who fell so far short of him he raiseth to the same dignity of endurance? for he saith, “Which worked in the enduring of the same sufferings;” for not through believing only cometh your salvation, but also through the suffering and enduring the same things with us. For like as a pugilist is an object of admiration, when he doth but show himself and is in good training and hath his skill within himself, but when he is in action, enduring blows and striking his adversary, then most of all shineth forth, because that then his good training is most put in action, and the proof of his skill evidently shown; so truly is your salvation also then more especially put into action, that is, is displayed, increased, heightened, when it hath endurance, when it suffereth and beareth all things nobly. So then the work of salvation consisteth not in doing evil, but in suffering evil.
1608 · Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life 3.3
Call often to mind that our Saviour redeemed us by bearing and suffering, and in like manner we must seek our own salvation amid sufferings and afflictions; bearing insults, contradictions and troubles with all the gentleness we can possibly command. Do not limit your patience to this or that kind of trial, but extend it universally to whatever God may send, or allow to befall you.
1710–1714 · Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 27.26-32
Note, All that will approve themselves disciples indeed, must follow Christ, bearing his cross (ch. xvi. 24), bearing his reproach, Heb. xiii. 13. We must know the fellowship of his sufferings for us, and patiently submit to all the sufferings for him we are called out to; for those only shall reign with him, that suffer with him; shall sit with him in his kingdom, that drink of his cup, and are baptized with his baptism.
c. 1714 · Zech. Merrill, Commentary on 1 Peter 3.18-20
The legal sacrifices were repeated from day to day, and from year to year; but the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, purgeth away sin, Heb. vii. 27; ix. 26, 28; x. 10, 12, 14. 5. The blessed end or design of our Lord's sufferings was to bring us to God, to reconcile us to God, to give us access to the Father, to render us and our services acceptable, and to bring us to eternal glory, Eph. ii. 13, 18; iii. 12; Heb. x. 21, 22. 6. The issue and event of Christ's suffering, as to himself, were these, he was put to death in his human nature, but he was quickened and raised again by the Spirit. Now, if Christ was not exempted from sufferings, why should Christians expect it? If he suffered, to expiate sins, why should not we be content when our sufferings are only for trial and correction, but not for expiation?
1726 · William Law, A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection 6
We are here plainly taught, not only that Christ was made perfect through sufferings, but that it was fit he should be made perfect that way, as the only way that could bring many sons unto glory. So that we see one end of Christ’s sufferings, before his being crowned with glory and honour, was to teach us, that sufferings is the way to arrive at glory, and that those who desire to be sons of glory must first be made perfect through sufferings. We therefore forget the nature of our religion, we mistake the one great design of Christ’s sufferings, we go out of the road to glory, if we do not patiently submit to sufferings, if we are not thankful that we suffer with Christ, that we may reign with him.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 10.38
To carry it was burdensome, was disgraceful, was trying to the feelings, was an addition to the punishment. So "to carry the cross" is a figurative expression, denoting that we must endure whatever is burdensome, or is trying, or is considered disgraceful, in following Christ. It consists simply in doing our duty, let the people of the world think of it or speak of it as they may. It does not consist in making trouble for ourselves, or doing things merely "to be opposed;" it is doing just what is required of us in the Scriptures, let it produce whatever shame, disgrace, or pain it may.
I know you have an a cross, or if you have not, I hope you will soon have one, for where there is no cross there is no Christ. The cross and Christ are nailed together by four nails, and they will never be disassociated in the experience of any Christian. All the sheep of the Great Shepherd are marked with the cross, and this not only in the fleece, but in the flesh.
1871 · Alexander Balmain Bruce, The Training of the Twelve 12.2
If He suffered for us vicariously, what need, we are ready to inquire, for suffering on our part likewise? We need to be reminded that Christ’s sufferings, while in some respects peculiar, are in other respects common to Him with all in whom His spirit abides; that while, as redemptive, His death stands alone, as suffering for righteousness’ sake it is but the highest instance of a universal law, according to which all who live a true godly life must suffer hardship in a false evil world. And it is very observable that Jesus took a most effectual method of keeping this truth prominently before the mind of His followers in all ages, by proclaiming it with great emphasis on the first occasion on which He plainly announced that He Himself was to die, giving it, in fact, as the first lesson on the doctrine of His death: the first of four to be found in the Gospels. Thereby He in effect declared that only such as were willing to be crucified with Him should be saved by His death; nay, that willingness to bear a cross was indispensable to the right understanding of the doctrine of salvation through Him. It is as if above the door of the school in which the mystery of redemption was to be taught, He had inscribed the legend: Let no man who is unwilling to deny himself, and take up his cross, enter here.
1894 · Handley C. G. Moule, The Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans (The Expositor's Bible) 19
Not all are martyrs, not all are exiles or captives, not all are called as a fact to meet open insults in a defiant world of paganism or unbelief. Many are still so called, as many were at first, and as many will be to the end; for "the world" is no more now than it ever was in love with God, and with His children as such. But even for those whose path is—not by themselves but the Lord—most protected, there must be "suffering," somehow, sooner, later, in this present life, if they are really living the life of the Spirit, the life of the child of God, "paying the debt" of daily holiness, even in its humblest and gentlest forms.
1938 · William R. Newell, Romans Verse-by-Verse 5
Paul constantly taught, as in Acts 14:22; II Thessalonians 3:3, that “through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God,” and that “we are appointed unto afflictions.” The word means pressure, straits, difficulties; and Paul had them! “Pressed on every side, perplexed, pursued, smitten down”; “in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by evil report, . . . as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful,—yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things!”
Key text: Romans 8:28: all things work together for good
1 passage · 1 writer · 300s
One of the strongest passages from the page "Romans 8:28: all things work together for good", repeated here with a link to the full page.
c. 386–398 · John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Epistle to the Romans 15
Having then cheered them by all methods, he proceeds to what we have heard to-day, putting forward a reason strong enough to reclaim them. For he says, “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Now when he speaks of “all things,” he mentions even the things that seem painful. For should even tribulation, or poverty, or imprisonment, or famines, or deaths, or anything else whatsoever come upon us, God is able to change all these things into the opposite. For this is quite an instance of His unspeakable power, His making things seemingly painful to be lightsome to us, and turning them into that which is helpful to us.
Key text: Romans 8:18: the sufferings of this present time
2 passages · 2 writers · 300s to 1500s
Two of the strongest passages from the page "Romans 8:18: the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory", repeated here with a link to the full page.
329–373 · Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letters 13.4
Though affliction may come, it will have an end, though insult and persecution, yet are they nothing to the hope which is set [before us]. For all present matters are trifling compared with those which are future; the sufferings of this present time not being worthy to be compared with the hope that is to come. For what can be compared with the kingdom? or what is there in comparison with life eternal? Or what is all we could give here, to that which we shall inherit yonder?
1540 · John Calvin, Commentary on Romans 8.18
Though they take not altogether an unsuitable view who understand this as a kind of modification; yet I prefer to regard it in the light of an encouragement, for the purpose of anticipating an objection, according to this import, — “It ought not indeed to be grievous to us, if we must pass through various afflictions into celestial glory, since these, when compared with the greatness of that glory, are of the least moment.” He has mentioned future for eternal glory, intimating that the afflictions of the world are such as pass away quickly. It is hence evident how ill understood has this passage been by the Schoolmen; for they have drawn from it their frivolous distinction between congruity and condignity. The Apostle indeed compares not the worthiness of the one with that of the other, but only lightens the heaviness of the cross by a comparison with the greatness of glory, in order to confirm the minds of the faithful in patience.
Key text: 2 Corinthians 12:9: my grace is sufficient for thee
2 passages · 2 writers · 1800s to 1900s
Two of the strongest passages from the page "2 Corinthians 12:9: my grace is sufficient for thee (the thorn in the flesh)", repeated here with a link to the full page.
God, therefore, knowing that this thorn in the flesh was a sacred medicine to Paul, would not take it away, even though most urgently requested to do so. Well does Ralph Erskine say of prayer— "I'm heard when answered soon or late, Yes, heard when I no answer get. Most kindly answered when refused And treated well when harshly used." So, though refused, Paul was answered for he got something better than the taking away of the thorn in the flesh—the result was that the Grace given him enabled him to bear the thorn and lifted him right above it—till he even rejoiced and gloried to think that he was permitted so to suffer.
1905–1910 · Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture: 2 Corinthians (chapters 7 to 12) 12.8
The answer is, in form and in substance, a gentle refusal of the form of the petition, but it is a more than granting of its essence. For the best answer to such a prayer, and the answer which a true man means when he asks, 'Take away the burden,' need not be the external removal of the pressure of the sorrow, but the infusing of power to sustain it. There are two ways of lightening a burden, one is diminishing its actual weight, the other is increasing the strength of the shoulder that bears it. And the latter is God's way, is Christ's way, of dealing with us.
Two of the strongest passages from the page "James 1:2-4: count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations", repeated here with a link to the full page.
c. 1550–1551 · John Calvin, Commentary on James 1.2
At the same time, this consolation was not so suited to one time, but that it is always useful to believers, whose life is a constant warfare on earth. But that we may know more fully what he means, we must doubtless take temptations or trials as including all adverse things; and they are so called, because they are the tests of our obedience to God. He bids the faithful, while exercised with these, to rejoice; and that not only when they fall into one temptation, but into many, not only of one kind, but of various kinds.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers trials. Do not sorrow over your trials, do not look upon them as misfortunes and calamities—they are black vessels, but they are loaded with gold! Your choicest mercies come to you disguised as your sharpest trials.
Two of the strongest passages from the page "Why did God let Job suffer?", repeated here with a link to the full page.
411–412 · Augustine of Hippo, On the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants (De peccatorum meritis et remissione) 2.12.17
How great a man indeed Job was, we are not told; but we know that he was a just man; we know, too, that in the endurance of terrible afflictions and trials he was great; and we know that it was not on account of his sins, but for the purpose of demonstrating his righteousness, that he had to bear so much suffering.
Mark you, Brothers and Sisters, we are, by nature, so full of sin that we may always believe that there is enough evil within us to cause us to suffer severe affliction if God dealt with us according to justice. But also remember that in Job's case, the Lord's objective in his afflictions and trials, was not to punish Job for his sin, but to display in the Patriarch, to His own honor and Glory, the wonders of His Grace by enabling Job, with great patience, to still hold on to God under the direst suffering and to triumph in it all. Job was not being punished—he was being honored. God was giving to him a name like that of the great ones of the earth.
Two of the strongest passages from the page "2 Corinthians 4:17: our light affliction, which is but for a moment", repeated here with a link to the full page.
1548 · John Calvin, Commentary on 2 Corinthians 4.17
Worketh out an eternal weight Paul does not mean, that this is the invariable effect of afflictions; for the great majority are most miserably weighed down here with evils of every kind, and yet that very circumstance is an occasion of their heavier destruction, rather than a help to their salvation. As, however, he is speaking of believers, we must restrict exclusively to them what is here stated; for this is a blessing from God that is peculiar to them — that they are prepared for a blessed resurrection by the common miseries of mankind.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is one of the most remarkable verses in all Scripture! The contrast here drawn is perfect and the language is in the highest degree pertinent to the subject. When the Apostle speaks of affliction, he contrasts it with glory! The affliction he calls a lightness of affliction, but the glory he calls a weight of glory—and while he describes the affliction as momentary, he rightly says that the glory is eternal. And then, as though he would make the contrast still more vivid, he says that this momentary, light affliction, "works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." He can scarcely find words big enough to express the contrast between what Believers now have to endure and what they shall forever enjoy!
Key text: Hebrews 12:6: whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth
2 passages · 2 writers · 1500s to 1700s
Two of the strongest passages from the page "Hebrews 12:6: whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth", repeated here with a link to the full page.
1549 · John Calvin, Commentary on Hebrews 12.6
For whom the Lord loveth, etc. This seems not to be a well-founded reason; for God visits the elect as well as the reprobate indiscriminately, and his scourges manifest his wrath oftener than his love; and so the Scripture speaks, and experience confirms. But yet it is no wonder that when the godly are addressed, the effect of chastisements which they feel, is alone referred to. For however severe and angry a judge God may show himself towards the reprobate, whenever he punishes them; yet he has no other end in view as to the elect, but to promote their salvation; it is a demonstration of his paternal love.
1754 · John Wesley, Explanatory Notes on Hebrews 12.11
Now all chastening - Whether from our earthly or heavenly Father, Is for the present grievous, yet it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness - Holiness and happiness. To them that are exercised thereby - That receive this exercise as from God, and improve it according to his will.
Two of the strongest passages from the page "1 Peter 4:12-13: think it not strange concerning the fiery trial", repeated here with a link to the full page.
1834 · Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: 1 Peter 4.13
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings - That is, sufferings of the same kind that he endured, and inflicted for the same reasons. Compare Col 1:24; Jam 1:2; See the notes at Mat 5:12. The meaning here is, that they were to regard it as a matter of rejoicing that they were identified with Christ, even in suffering. See this sentiment illustrated at length in the notes at Phi 3:10.
1871 · A. R. Fausset, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on 1 Peter 4.13
inasmuch as—The oldest manuscripts read, "in proportion as"; "in as far as" ye by suffering are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that is, by faith enter into realizing fellowship with them; willingly for His sake suffering as He suffered. with exceeding joy—Greek, "exulting joy"; now ye rejoice amidst sufferings; then ye shall EXULT, for ever free from sufferings (1Pe 1:6, 8). If we will not bear suffering for Christ now, we must bear eternal sufferings hereafter.
