Alan Dunn
Paul’s call to his apostleship was simultaneously a call to suffering (Acts 9:15-16). In an attempt to validate his apostolic legitimacy in contrast with the most eminent apostles (2 Cor 11:5; 12:11) who were in fact false apostles (2 Cor 11:13), Paul cataloged his sufferings (2 Cor 11:12-33)2 which included imprisonments, beatings, hardship and dangers along with the daily pressure of concern for all the churches (v. 28-29).3 Paul is saying more than, “I’m so committed to Jesus that I’m willing to suffer for the gospel.” Suffering is not merely an inevitable concomitant of gospel ministry, but is itself a manifestation (φανέρωσις) of the gospel, for we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested (φανερωθῇ) in our mortal flesh (2 Cor 4:11). “Paul thinks suffering not only accompanies the apostle’s proclamation of the gospel, but is a proclamation of the gospel.”4 Paul is himself the media through which the gospel is communicated. “The conveyer of the message pictures the content of the message.”5 Since Paul’s sufferings are themselves a communication of the gospel, Paul yearns to know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that [he] may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Phil 3:10-11). Paul’s suffering was not atoning, but he did suffer for others. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions (Col 1:24).6 Those who were not eye-witnesses of Christ’s sufferings on the cross were given a visual aid to enable their understanding of the gospel. In Paul they saw the gospel depicted: an innocent, godly preacher, suffering hardship and persecution for the sake of righteousness.7
Paul would have us understand that we too are called to be the media of the gospel, not only by our proclamation, but by suffering persecution. Such opposition is a sign, auguring in advance the eschatological division of men, for to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake (Phil 1:29).8 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted (2 Tim 3:12). We suffer as sons of God.9 In Romans 8, Paul informs us of the gift of the Spirit and our adoption as children of God, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Rom 8:17). Paul then immediately turns to the eschatological hope of the renewed cosmos, employing the metaphor of a woman in labor. We groan, enduring the eschatological birthing process, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (Rom 8:24). The resurrection and a renewed cosmos is our hope. Our hope is sustained by the Holy Spirit who enables us to persevere in prayer, being secure in God’s sovereign and gracious salvation (Rom 8:26-39). Inherent in Paul’s teaching is his paradigm of eschatology.10 As we await the resurrection at the return of Christ, our experience will be that of the Psalmist who penned Psalm 44:22, sited in Rom 8:36, Just as it is written, “For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Read more in A Closer Look: A Theology for Missions: The Witness of the Martyrs
Notes:
1. Limitations of space preclude a treatment of the foundational teachings of Jesus. He ministered in the midst of conflict that crescendoed and culminated on the cross. He repeatedly taught His disciples that they too would be hated on account of Him and that they must follow Him in the way of the cross, suffering for righteousness.↩
2. Cf. 2 Cor 6:4-10↩
3. Regarding v.33 I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped [Aretas’] hands. Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians: a Commentary on the Greek Text (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2005), 824, doubts that the Corinthians would have thought of the Roman military award, the corona muralis: the wall crown, awarded to the soldier who was first up the wall in an attack on a city because Paul omits a reference to being ‘first’ down the wall. Still, it is intriguing to think that Paul here could be inverting a worldly honor to validate the honor of his apostleship.↩
4. Robert L. Plummer, Paul’s Understanding of the Church’s Mission: Did the Apostle Paul Expect the Early Christian Communities to Evangelize? (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2006), 130.↩
5. Ibid., 130. See also Duane A. Litfin, St. Paul’s Theology of Proclamation: 1 Corinthians 1-4 and Greco-Roman Rhetoric (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1994) who argues that much of Paul’s difficulty in Corinth stemmed from the Corinthian disdain for the foolishness of the preaching preached (1 Cor 1:21). Preaching, in contrast to Greek rhetorical oratory, was offensive to cultured Corinthian ears. Not only is the man the media of the message, but the manner of his verbal communication must likewise manifest the message. The message of Christ’s victory over death through the weakness of the cross is to be conveyed in a manner that is itself a manifestation of cross-like weakness and is often culturally repulsive.↩
6. “Christ’s afflictions are not lacking in their atoning sufficiency. They are lacking in that they are not known and felt by people who were not at the cross. Paul dedicates himself not only to carry the message of those sufferings to the nations, but also to suffer with Christ and for Christ in such a way that what people see are ‘Christ’s sufferings.’” John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad!: the Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1993), 94.↩
7. In our day of overheads, videos, dramas, and other such pageantries and productions, perhaps the most powerful visual aid is the man of God who is himself the embodiment of his message. God’s method of missions is succinctly stated in John 1:6, There came a man sent from God whose name was John.↩
8. Plummer, Paul’s Understanding of the Church’s Mission, 121-139, argues that Christians suffer because of two reasons: they are identified with Christ and because the world hates being convicted of sin by the preaching of the law and the gospel.↩
9. Sonship and suffering are integrally connected in this Fallen world-order and must be understood in terms of Gen 3:15 and God’s primeval prescription for the destruction of Satanic evil and the liberation of the cosmos from the curse of death.↩
10. Romans 8 concludes a unit of Paul’s thought concerning our groaning as we await our resurrection and the release of the cosmos from its curse (Rom 8:17ff). Paul’s eschatological construct shapes the contour of this text. He does not describe the church prior to the Eschaton acquiring positions of civil authority or being somehow absent having been “raptured.” He envisions the church being faithful through many tribulations (Acts 14:22), as she is being conformed to her Husband/Lord (Rom 8:29) while overwhelmingly conquering (Rom 8:37) as slaughtered lambs. Rom 8:17-39 instructs us as to how we are to live and suffer as we await the return of Christ. Upon concluding Rom 8, Paul then explains God’s faithfulness to His covenant promises in keeping with His purposes of election (chapters 9-11).↩