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CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Theologically, Jesus statement on the call of true discipleship made it very clear and explicit
that we should expect some trials and sufferings and that these were parts of discipleship. The
nature of our sufferings mirrored Jesus suffering in his daily life. His passion, death and
resurrection is the ultimate. Human suffering has a universal character is the world. The rich
and the poor alike and indeed, all humans suffer.
On the contrary, within our contemporary world today Christs suffering in which we all
participate fully by virtue of our creation is seen from a negative perspective as Gods
punishment, humiliation and annihilation. Thus, a famous Pauline and Markan theology of
suffering for the sake of Christ is gradually diminishing (cf Mark 13 :1-13). Therefore, it is
characteristically rejected and vehemently opposed at all costs. But the vigorous aversion
neither eliminates nor revolves the problem of human suffering. Eventually, the victim might
suffer more without benefiting meaningfully from the difficult experience. Suffering is held by
many as that which is more physical and has lost sight of other dimensions such as
psychological, spiritual and emotional.
The aim or essential target of the project is to attempt a solution on the above mentioned
problem. Suffering for the sake of Christ should be viewed from a positive position. Gods
salvific will is not identical with his metaphysical necessary goodness and holiness nor
something strictly derived from this. It is not a metaphysically attribute of God which can be
established every where and always, but a divine attitude in the nature of an event which has to
be experienced and proclaimed in history. This free attitude of God is ultimately directed
toward the salvation of souls and mankind. Salvation according to the psalmist is deliverance
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from mortal danger, healing of sickness, liberation from captivity, ransom from slavery, victory
in battle and peace after political negotiations (Psalms 7:11; 18:28:28;22:22;34:7).
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Man lives is the world in which sufferings of different kinds and degrees are inevitable. Rather
than being imaginary, it is an existential problem which has become a distinctive mark of
earthly life of all peoples, times and cultures. But then man has never fully grasped its meaning.
Thus, man is often confused by its various forms of manifestations.
Though Christ urged us to carry our cross and follow him all the days of our sojourn on this
earth, people often question why me? Man still views suffering in a negative perspective. One
again is tempted to ask what really brings suffering? Why must man suffer? Hardly do people
understand suffering as a way of following Christ. Can we say there is something good in
suffering? How do our contemporary Christians view suffering? These are some of the
problems that we shall be looking at in this project.
1.3 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
Human suffering is an existential phenomenon which is as old as man himself. It is present at
all times and ages and indeed wherever human beings are found. Thus, the purpose of this work
is to unravel the real understanding of human suffering in Christianity and to link it up with that
of Christ which will pave way for the human quest for the salvation. This project will show us
that suffering is part and parcel of humanity.
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1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This work is of great importance to Christians because, it explores how Christians should look
at suffering, and also accept it with faith whenever it comes because our master Jesus himself is
our model. This work will also correct the wrong impression people have on suffering so that
they will be able to carry their crosses daily and follow Christ.
1.5 THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This work primordially concerns itself with Christians doctrines on human suffering. We shall
be looking at suffering in the Old Testament, New Testament, and Islamic religion. Attention
too will be drawn to some Fathers of the Church who said something about human suffering.
We shall also not forget the Churchs teaching and especially 2nd Vaticans view on suffering.
1.6 METHODOLOGY
We shall implore the use of library research for gathering of information. Our interpretations
also shall be based on comparative and also theological hermeneutical methods.
1.7 DIVISION OF THE WORK
This work is divided into five chapters. Chapter one centers on general introduction as chapter
two reviews some related literatures on the subject matter. Chapter three focuses on the various
theological exposition of human suffering, while chapter four dwells on the hermeneutics of
human suffering in the light of Pauline theology. The last and the concluding chapter is on
summary and conclusion during which we shall be looking at the limitations, contribution to
knowledge and recommendations for further research.
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
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The Pauline theology and spirituality of suffering and those of the New Testament writers
forms the bedrock of the later search for a better way of responding to the reality of human
suffering. Even though the definitive experience of Gods revelation is said to have ended with
the death of the last apostle of Jesus. However, that did not as a matter of fact, bring to a
close humanitys endeavour to probe into the meaning of life enigma. The New Testament
setting and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ provides response to the reality of suffering in the
world. Therefore, more and more attempts have been made in an effort to find out new
intellectual and theological insight to deepen mans response to the reality of suffering and evil
in the world.
Thus, the church has produced Fathers whose theological reflections would help to deepen our
theological search on human suffering.
The phenomenon of human suffering is as old as humanity itself. Christians and non Christians,
the rich and the poor alike and indeed, the entire humanity undergoes some sufferings.
Suffering has a universal character since it is the issue that bothers humanity everywhere. And
since suffering is experienced where ever by the humanity, there are various views concerning
this issue. People talk about it irrespective of their religious affiliation, tribes or sex. Everybody
knows that suffering exists and what it is, that is to say that all people know the answer to the
what question of the meaning of suffering. To some people, suffering is an outcome of sin.
Those people in this category view creation as perfect (Gen 1) and that distortion in creation
arose from mans disobedience to his creator.
It is therefore the intention of this chapter to expose various views about suffering as expressed
by different individuals at different times. But before then, we shall first of all look at suffering
in the Old Testament, New Testament and the Islamic religion.
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This reliance on God seems secular in origin but it is worthwhile to note that the Lord of
Hosts also takes a prominent position in the religious celebrations. The connection between
secular and religious power is already visible in Egypt where Moses pronounced the
punishment of the liberating God, while Aaron the priest performed the ritual action through
which the punishment came upon the land (Ex 7:17-18) on the journey through the desert,
whenever the Ark of the Covenant was set out, Moses would pray. Arise, o Lord, that your
enemies may be scattered, and those who heard may flee before you (Ex. 10:35, Ps 68:1).
Deliverance and battle were inseparably connected. Both battle and deliverance are portrayed
in the worship of the one God who won the battle and brought freedom. According to Caroll
Stublmueller:
Liturgical celebrations are an essential
company in the Old Testament understanding
of suffering. Many religious celebrations,
particularly the Passover were a re-living of
the liberating actions of Yahweh.
Through the prophet, Yahweh indicates how deep the union between him and his people has
grown because of their suffering and hope. In their own tribulations the Israelites hear the voice
of the suffering God. Stublemueller says:
If Israel sensed this blending of voicessuffering, her own and Gods then a mystic
aura must have pervaded the suffering voices
of contemplative prayers are merging, with
voices of suffering.
Although the community is suffering, the emphasis begins to shift to individual persons who
are caught up in this condition.
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The Old Testament considers the deeper cause of human suffering to be any disturbance of the
relationship between God and man through sin, and the anger of God thereby incurred.
Thus, pain in child bearing, various kinds of troubles, hardships and suffering sickness and
death came into the world as a result of the first sin (Gen 3:16-19; Wis 2:24).
Summarily, the Old Testament revelation on the meaning of suffering reaches its climax in
Isaiah 53 of the suffering servant of God. Meanwhile, we can say that the Old Testament
achieves a rational explanation of suffering which goes beyond all the futile attempts for other
earlier scholars and religions to find some meaning in suffering. According to Martin Udejiofor
(2006:58), suffering therefore becomes a means of atonement that obliterates sin in the sight
of God. In this way God gives the devout man the opportunity of atoning for his sins in this
world, so that in the world to come, life may be preserved from punishment.
In the Old Testament there is that close connection between suffering and the Yahwehs
relationship and his chosen people. Therefore, it is not surprising that the role of suffering as it
existed in the Old Testament. Hence, the New Testament era was a moment in the expectancy
of Israel for final deliverance by the Messiah. Thus God came down to his people as deliverer,
consequently, pain and suffering which has entered into their religions became a holy ground
for human and divine touch. Similarly, Christianity, which comes from an ancestry that
incorporates misery and redemption, submission and slavery and liberation, contains within
itself these same elements.
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For the New Testament, human suffering has still greater significance than for Judaism, no
wonder, almost all the books of the New Testament speak of suffering, thus, Udejiofor
(2006:61) remarks:
Like the Israel of Old Testament, the New
Testament inquires into the why of the
human suffering. However, it never offered a
definitive answer in search for the why? Of
suffering.
What then in the light of the New Testament is or are the causes of pain, misery and human
pain. The voice of Jesus echoes timelessly to illuminate our hearts and to better our
understanding of the mystery of suffering. On one occasion Jesus designates the power of Satan
as the origin of suffering (cf Lk 13:10-17).
Suffering, in the light of the New Testament also comes as punishment for ill behavior. As in
the case where Christ warns his disciples. you will all come to the same fate and unless you
repent (Lk. 13:1-6). In this instance we can see that the suffering of one person can stand as a
warning for others. On the other hand, the New Testament in general denies the prevailing
doctrine of the Pharisees, that all suffering is retribution. To understand the attitude of Jesus
and of the New Testament towards suffering, we must take as our starting point the very fact of
his own suffering as the entire messianic work consisted of suffering in manifold form.
The crucified Jesus is the lamb of God who by his suffering takes away the sin of the world.
According to the late supreme pontiff Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, February, 1984:
Christ introduces us into the very heart of
Gods salvific work. He also expresses the
very essence of Christian soteriology, that isthe theology of salvation,
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salvation means liberation from evil and for
this reason closely bound up with the problem
of suffering.
The New Testament reveals the Lamb of God in the song of the suffering servant who freely
chooses to make himself a sin offering for the people. He heals others through his innocent
suffering and brings about justice and peace through the blood of his cross, by his salvific
work, the son of God liberates man from sin and death, he blots out from human history the
dominion of sin, under the influence of evil spirit beginning with the original sin. He also takes
away the dominion of death.
On the other hand, Islamic view of suffering may be categorized broadly into two headings.
The first is to suffer as a result of punishment for sin; the second type of suffering is a test or
trial. The Quran repeatedly stresses that all who do evil will be punished for their actions in
this world and the next. This doctrine is associated with an emphasis on the perfect justice of
Allah which is to be vindicated on the judgment day, when the evil doers will be thrown into
the fires of hell (cf Surah 52).
Thus, the punishment of a sinner through suffering may serve as an educational function
namely, to show unbelievers the truth of Allahs word, and reveals a central precept of Islam on
the subject of suffering. It is also a test of mans belief. This concept is based upon the belief
that the true Muslim stands by his/her faith despite the suffering or persecution.
Therefore, the active response to suffering is grounded in the Islamic belief that man is the
cause of his own suffering. Islam considers good those things that got rid of the world of
suffering. The man who helps others is a righteous man. The true believer is revealed by his
good works as well as by his acceptance of suffering.
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Many writers over the ages have expressed their opinions about suffering. Some of them
offered the phenomenon a negative view because it brings pains and anxiety to people, some at
the same time gave the concept a positive commutation base on the fact that it is a symbol of
love, glory and success. The early Christian missionaries associated suffering with being a
follower of Christ. Thus, according to the apostle Paul, it involves both a work to be done and
suffering to be borne if the body of Christ is to be built up and the life of Christ to be diffused
to new monster (John Hick, 1973:35). Paul expressed that his suffering is of great value to the
entire being of Christ through encouragement (2 Cor. 1:4-7).
The second letter to the Corinthians expresses another value that Paul finds in personal
suffering; that is, it allows the power of God to become manifest (2Cor. 12:6-10; 13:4). Also
paging further to 2Cor 12:6-10, Paul speaks of his thorn in the flesh. The values of the
suffering are seen in that it forced him to humility and surrender before the creator.
Elaborating on suffering, some of St. Peters words in one of his letters come into play:
None of you should ever deserve to suffer for
being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an
informer; but if any one of you should suffer
for being a Christians, then there must be no
shame but thanksgiving to God for bearing
his name. (1Pet 4:15-16).
Suffering as it were, denies ones of happiness and brings him to almost a shameful state in life.
Here ones faith has to come in, to hand over to God every situation. Peter, as a disciple of
Christ was speaking from his personal experience, imploring the followers of Jesus to remain
steadfast. When one understands that God is in control, he sees his suffering as glory. This
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could explain why some Christians who suffered martyrdom where rejoicing as they were been
tortured to death.
St Ireanaeus (120 200 AD), a native of Asia Minor and missionary in Gaul, both himself and
Augustine have some similarities in their doctrines precisely that of suffering. Both rejected the
dualistic solution and looked to God as the alternate source of all realities. However, while
Augustine looks at the cause of suffering as mans fall from grace as a result of his freewill, for
Ireaneaus, sin is not a kind of disaster instead it is a painful challenging call to grow towards an
authentic human holiness.
According to him, the encounter with good and evil is part of the growing process of human
consciousness. In his view sin does not ruin human condition instead it delays it. Thus, the
journey towards moral and personal maturity was delayed by mans fall. However, that fall and
it effect has been renewed by the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.
The classical theories provide that human suffering is the problem of misuse of human
freedom. We see that the problem of suffering is not an abstract reality but can be solved by
reasoning and understanding. Humanity undergoes suffering and answers about suffering will
not provide any solution. According to Greshake as quoted in Martrin Udejiofor (2006:121),
suffering is not a problem to be integrated into life. However, it is really a search for
understanding that can offer and direct for a responsible response to suffering formulated.
St. Augustine (353-430) at the age of forty three began to write his biography, which is the
story of his search for the truth ad personal struggle with evil.
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According to Augustine who thought at that moment, was under the influence of the
Manichean dualistic theory evil is the absence of the good. He held that, matter is evil and do
not the creation loving good God. The Manicheans held that the world embodies two opposing
powers of good and the evil power causes all the evil in the universe. Following this trend of
thought, for Augustine every thing that is positive is good and that it becomes evil when it
ceases to be what it should be.
For him, God created man to be free. He gave man the dignity of freedom so that his response
more than being controlled by God would instead be a loving response to God. However man
misused his freedom and chose evil instead of good and since sin has devastating repercussions
for man, so like a destructive tidal wave, sin flowed over in variety of painful consequences.
Augustine thus, says that because of sins, humanity began to bear the burden work, disease,
weakness, fragility and widespread of suffering. However Augustine posits that God does not
abandon man in his suffering and miseries.
But Augustine saw in suffering the power and goodness of God for he says, suffering here must
be taken to mean both mercy and physical evil. However, Augustines invocation to the divine
omnipotence reconciles our hope and faith in God while we ask the question why suffering.
He places the answer thus, that Gods omnipotence does not pose problem with human
suffering for him one of the marks of omnipotence is that it can extract good from evil.
Similarly, in Thomas Aquinas is the conviction that every nature or being fully realized or in
potency towards realization, is basically good. This goes along way affirming Augustines
position, for he says evil is the privation of good which chiefly and of itself consists in
perfection and act.
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As for whether God is the cause of suffering, Aquinas holds that the omnipotence is goodness
himself and that in him there is no defect of evil since he is all good. Therefore, it follows then
that in Aquinas opinion, suffering is as a result of mans sin. And God sends it to man because
of defect nature, as a result of his fall from grace human nature became wounded. Thus, we are
born into a broken world of suffering. But God overcomes evil and makes suffering redemptive
in the life, death, and resurrection Jesus, the son of God and the suffering servant.
Magnate, (1992), in his view does not make a distinction between human nature and human
experience when commenting on suffering. Man is not free from suffering. It is part and parcel
of humanity. To demonstrate this, Magnate embarked on enumerating experiences of suffering
of men of old in the Old Testament and New Testament. For him, human being is prone to
suffering. This stern from the fact that man derailed from Gods injunction in the Garden of
Eden and this made suffering come in. According to Magnate, Jesus Christ is the example per
excellence as far as suffering is concerned. He adulates that:
Jesus certainly suffered for the benefit and
salvation of others like the suffering servant.
He does not eliminate suffering and death, but
he assumes them. In so doing, he manifests
the great love of God for humanity (Magnate,
1992:132).
The suffering of Christ as the innocent one should be a panacea for the quest for salvation. The
suffering of Christ also points to the fact that mortal men can suffer and for man it is a cross
when it comes as a result of faith in Christ. Human beings are so soaked up with sufferings of
various kinds so much so that they begin questioning the existence of God. As if to justify their
stand, one of the complainants has this to put across:
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I would rather face life without God than to
live with the thought that God is so
insensitive to human experience thatimmeasurable pain and suffering are divinely
prescribed treatments for evil in the hearts
and actions of five years old girls (Duke,
2004:40).
We notice from the foregoing quotation that there are people who are not at home with
sufferings and tend to doubt Gods existence. Such people most at tines preferred been dead,
some attempt suicide hence they do not see the value of life any longer.
Karl Rahner, (1965), sees suffering as the way in which the entire world informs the human
mind and the spirit (passio in St. Thomas). This suffering always spontaneously exposes itself
to the world and the world cannot do otherwise rather, it dire to embrace it. The experience of
this exposure of the human mind to the world causes man to experience a demitting
contradiction, both within and without. This contradiction occurs when the relationship has
been antecedently turned against God and salvation.
Fitcher, (1981) offered some pieces of advice to Christians to embrace sufferings whenever
they come. According to him, suffering should be viewed as something positive, something
that brings joy; they should try to cheerfully offer it to God since Christianity offers the hope of
gladness through suffering when Christ is revealed. Fitcher so encourages suffering because
since Christ who is God suffered for us voluntarily, we too should be happy to embrace it in the
name of Christ. He maintains that suffering was no longer unjust and all pain was necessary
(Fitcher, 1981:46).
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Jungen Moltmann maintains that there is a call for human solidarity in the face of suffering,
confident that if we are made in Gods image, then God himself enters into and shares palpably
all human suffering. According to him and in a special way, those who suffer injustice remain
indelibly etched in Gods memory and ought to be in scribed in human consciousness. He
believes that in the memory of Jesus Christ there is hope even in the face of inexplicable human
suffering. He concluded that the meaning of suffering defies simplistic categories.
In contrast to the above argument, Youggi Cho champions the opinion that human suffering is
punishment for sins. Youggi Cho himself as a person suffered recurrent sickness all through his
life. When he talks like this, he is coming from his own personal experience. According to him,
suffering fundamentally arises from ones disobedience to God. In his view, he says:
Sickness, death, the curse and pain were all brought about because man rebelled against God
and developed a companionship with devil. Man refused the calling, exhortation and love of
God and did not respond to him. So God allowed man to go his way as one who was deserted
(Youggi Cho, 1985:34).
He frees God from any blame and locates the moral humanity at the center of cause and origin
of suffering. One will find interesting to observe that, a similar viewpoint on suffering is
maintained among traditional Africans. According to Ekechukwu E. 1982:6, though some
sufferings may be attributed to human carelessness, it should not be overlooked that to talk of
suffering is to talk of the shear bloody agonies of existence of which all men are aware and of
which most have direct experience. Individual and collective experience of suffering is
intimately linked with Igbo morality. Taking the Igbo culture as an example and of course
where the author comes from, he believes that suffering among the Igbos is morally
determined, and therefore a punishment for sins.
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Another scholar that accepted the fact that suffering is universal and part of human existence is
Cornelius Van der Poel (1999). He maintains:
Human life is a gift received from God for
the purpose of manifesting Gods love.
Human creative development includes
suffering and struggle, but ultimately, there is
a fulfillment on God (Van der Poel,
1999:98).
Human beings by implication cannot be free from the suffering. Suffering must come. It is part
and parcel of human existence. Reaffirming his ground he further postulates:
Suffering is such a deeply personal reality
and general experience that we cannot
realistically imagine human existence
without some form of it (Van der Poel,
1999:97).
When suffering becomes so intensed that the victim can no longer bear, the sufferer tends to
ask question that sometimes affects his faith. With the exit of time Van der Poel affirms that
suffering acts as a catalyst for personal choice that bounds humanity to God. The chosen people
come to know God better, love him and draw closer to him because of their wars and prolonged
suffering. According to him God does not will humanity to suffer but to embrace it as a way of
life that renders service to him.
In congruence with Van der poel, Celestine Umeh also views suffering as a mystery. In one of
his books The human suffering, Umeh maintains that mystery is the most appropriate term
for the description of suffering. For him, he refers to mystery in this regard as What cannot be
fully grasped by human comprehension or less strictly to whatever resists or defies
explanation (2006:7-18). Umeh calls human suffering a mystery because of its wide, varied
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and multidimensional nature which defies human explanation. As a mystery, Umeh shows that
the magnitude of human suffering cannot be measured by the human mental capacity. He
further reiterates that human beings should rather bow in faith before it as a mystery while they
continue to search for the proper ways of understanding it. The above conception of suffering
as a mystery and a phenomenon related to faith, though may be religiously valuable, is not
helpful in human against suffering useless. For how can you alleviate suffering or end it if it is
inexplicable? Except by mystery the author means a phenomenon that is fully known (which is
not the case here); the above notion of suffering is intellectually retardatory towards the human
effort in understanding and building a suffering free-society.
With regards suffering, another scholar so pertinent to mention is James Cone (1975). For Cone
the reality of suffering challenges the affirmation that God is freeing those held down from
human captivity. If God is unlimited both in power and in goodness, as the Christian faith
claims, why does he not destroy the powers of evil through the establishment of divine
righteousness? If God is the liberator of the sufferer who freed Israelites from the slavery in
Egypt, the God also who heals the sick, and the God who is ever present in our midst, why are
the black people still living in financial and economic as well as political bondage to determine
their historical destiny? (Cone, 1975:163).
Notwithstanding, John Hick is the book entitled the mystery of suffering and death has this
to say:
To relate the sad facts of human misery to the
problem of theodicy, we have to ask ourselves
whether a world from which suffering was
excluded would serve the divine purpose of
soul-making. Having been created through
the long evolutionary process as a personal
creature made in the image of God, wouldman be able to grow without suffering
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towards the finite Like of God? (Michael,
1973:25).
Hick further stresses that so far as human nature is concerned, the question concerns mans
liability to bring suffering upon his fellows by his own selfish, greed, cruelty and lovelessness
(Michael, 1973: 25). He maintains that in order for man to be endowed with the freedom in
relation to God, it is essential that he comes to his creator in uncompelled faith and love; man
must be initially put an end epistemic distance from the creator. And this according to him
entails his immersion in an apparently autonomous environment which presents itself to him, as
if there were no God.
In the view of Fyodor Doestoevsky, people suffer for their sins. His understanding of suffering
comes with the experience he confronted from what he observed from how children suffer.
According to his viewpoint, when children are undergoing some sufferings, it is as a result of
the sins of their parents. He says:
If they too, must suffer horribly on earth,
they must suffer for their fathers, they must
be punished for their fathers, who have eaten
the apple, but that reasoning is of the other
world and is incomprehensible for the heart
of man here on earth, an innocent must not
suffer for anothers sins and especially such
innocent.
His view aims at exemplifying human suffering as deliberately inflicted by men themselves. He
is understood as postulating that mans wickedness which led to suffering explains his
temptation to refuse the heaven. Fulton Sheen (1987) appears pessimistic about suffering
when he makes allusion to Christ as suffering innocent though he was, had to undergo it for the
betterment of humanity. Sheen further reinstates that, man in his own way always seeks to
comprehend the why question. The death of Christ on the cross for Sheen is something worth
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emulating because he willingly accepted and endured it. Sheen offers us a theological
implication of the symbol of the cross especially what the bar on which he was nailed signifies.
In his view point, the horizontal bar signifies death while the vertical bar signifies life. The
crossing of both the horizontal bar and vertical bar signifies the contradiction in human
experience; life and death, joy and sorrow, laughter and tears pleasure and pain. He adds that
to overcome evil one must suffer unjustly (p. 39).
One of the leaders of the Church, Pope Leo XIII (1884) has this to say that, human suffering
was said to have originated from the garden of Eden when the devil deceived Adam and Eve
and they fell. And since that time till date, man has the capacity of falling and falling again. He
further stresses that the race of man after its miserable fall from God, the creator and the giver
of heavenly gifts, through the devil separated into two diverse and opposite parts. Following
from the Popes argument, he is proposing the devil to be responsible for the suffering in the
world. The ulterior basis of human suffering could somehow be attributed to the direct or
indirect activities of the evil spirits. By always tempting man, the devil has in mind that man
turns away from the creator, he makes sure that man loses his target of following his creator.
And when man deviates from his creator he suffers as it were.
Pope John Paul II (1984) on the similar note observes that suffering is particularly essential to
the nature of man. And as such, man needs to go beyond himself to grasp this reality. Making
allusion to the Old Testament, the Pope maintains:
Man suffers on account of evil, which is a
certain lack, limitation or distortion of good.
We could say that man suffers because he
does not share, from which in a certain sense
is out of or of which he has deprived himself(John Paul II 1986:6).
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In the view of the supreme pontiff, he limits the cause of suffering to the individual sufferer. He
then shifted from the individual standpoint that refuses to share his good and takes a Christian
dimension to the meaning of suffering. On this, suffering is not just the absence of the good
otherwise there will be a big question against the suffering of the innocent Job and that of
Jesus. The Pope further urges those suffering to embrace it with happiness and see themselves
as sharing in the redemptive work of Christ. Agreeing with this view, Evelyn (1998) says that
suffering accepted in the spirit of Christ is acceptance of his redemptive power.
The call of the church to oppose injustice and operation reached its climax in the teachings of
the Vatican 11 council, especially in Gaudium et spes which at the beginning says:
The joy and hope, that grief and anguish of
the people of our age especially of those who
are poor or afflicted in anyway, are the joy
and hope, the grief and the anguish of the
followers of Christ as well.
The Christian involvement here is a holistic one and participation in the mystery of those who
suffer. This world-involving Christian mission for the suffering humanity was further stressed
in 1971 when the synod of bishops formulated a document justice in the world, in that
document, the bishops declared that justice and liberation constitutive elements and dimensions
of proclaiming the gospel. The church calls all, to jointly work towards the betterment of the
world. Lumen Gentium no8 agrees with Gaudium et spes when it says that the church
encompasses with love all those who are afflicted with human weakness. The document sees in
the poor and the suffering the likeness of her poor and suffering founder (Christ). The church
hence works towards the needs and alleviation of those who suffer and by so doing strives to
serve Christ (LG no 8).
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Undeniably and understandably, there is a self-evidence deep sensitivity noticeable in late John
Paul II for the sufferings of the world. Round the world the journey took him to various places
where people encountered the pain of poverty, starvation, economic and political oppression.
He always addressed the problem publicly, showing the pain of suffering and its redemptive
possibilities. He described evil as privation of good and suffering as a consequence of sin.
To round up this chapter, we have successfully looked at a good number of authors and people
who talked about the issue at stake as well as the Vatican 11s view. As many as there are
authors so are there different views about suffering. Some tend to agree with the Old Testament
notion of suffering, that is the sinner suffers. Others agree that suffering is peculiar to human
nature and that, human nature as it were, provokes suffering. Still, some suggest that suffering
is relative and is better appreciated from a stand point. Every approach to human suffering is
right, though may not be sufficient depending on its background. No doubt the knowledge
acquired here is so rich and it is the intention of the writer that all suffering in the name of
Christ be viewed as sharing in the redemptive work of Christ and should be a quest for
salvation of souls.
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CHAPTER THREE
THEOLOGICAL EXPOSITION OF HUMAN SUFFERING
In a world beset by varied forms of sufferings, St. Paul offers us as he did for his
contemporaries, the true sense of suffering in the world. A deeper understanding of the cross of
Jesus has made Christians, represented in a significant way by Paul, to transcend the popular
doctrine of divine retribution as the cause of sufferings in the world. Just as in other aspects of
Christian faith, the meaning of suffering is extensively addressed in his (Pauls) life, teaching
and writing.
Thus in this chapter, we shall be looking at various dimensions of human suffering with a view
to bringing out the theological implications.
3.1 IMPLICATION OF HUMAN SUFFERING
Human suffering is one of the human experiences that defies a single definition. This is
because suffering has many dimensions, which are better experienced than defined. One
appreciates its impact more by coming in contact with the person involved in order to perceive
the inexpressible sentiments associated with it. Human words might not always fully grasp the
deep emotions of distress. According to Kris David Stubna (1981) suffering is a disruption of
a human persons inner integrity which results from original personal and social sins and from
the inherent, natural process of creation itself. In this sense, the visible universe, which
disrupts the inner peace, are at the base of human suffering.
More precisely, suffering is a disruption of inner harmony caused by physical mental, spiritual
and emotional forces experienced as isolating and threatening our very existence. Thus,
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according to John Paul II (1982), he describes it as the undergoing of evil before which man
shudders. He does not define it but rather expresses the deep feelings that go with it.
Suffering is experienced and expressed in the form of a loss, a wound, a failure, a serious
disruption or the absence of the condition of well-being. This experience is interpreted as being
physically, psychologically, emotionally, morally or spiritually harmful to the individual or
group of individuals. These descriptions notwithstanding, suffering does not become less
mysterious; it is closely associated with the mysterious problem of evil in the world. As a
matter of fact, no single response to human suffering suffices. The origin of evil and the
meaning of suffering defy simplistic categories. Hence, there is an advantage in conceiving it
as a mystery, which human intelligence cannot completely comprehend. This does not rule out
the need to search further for a better understanding and more appropriate ways of responding
to it.
It is also appropriate to observe that human suffering also has a social character. According to
Ray Spark (1993:953) it is any experience that impinges on an individuals communitys
sense of well-being: synonymous with pain, grief, distress, disruption, affliction, imposition,
oppression, discrimination and any sense of loss or of being victimized.
It can be inferred from the foregoing description that human suffering is wider than a simple
feeling of physical pain. Its meaning comes out more clearly in the context of human subjects
who experience manifest and interpret it within culture, but due to certain cultural and personal
outlook, some people do not find enough meaning in suffering while others it could foster
growth, development and better relationship with God through the cross of Christ.
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In the light of Christ, suffering is integrated into the process by which soul is purified,
strengthened and directed towards the ultimate purposes of human existence, human suffering
could also be described as an important but difficult means of salvation in the light of the
paschal mystery, when one learns to perceive, interpret and undergo the cross in union with
Christ, the painful experience, before which man trembles, looses its original distinctive
orientation and is re-invested with positive values. St. Paul insists in Rom 8:28 that for those
who love God, everything including suffering works for their goal.
Human suffering is meaningful because it is an actual experience, it is not imaginary. In the
physical world, it is encountered by human beings, each according to his particular
dispositions, personal history and cultural environments etc.
Going further, we can describe human suffering negatively as the absence of joy and
happiness in the soul. One feels bad when his happy state is interrupted or when the conditions
for happy life is lacking or deprived. Thomas Aquinas in his summa theologiae of 35, a I, rely
obj 3 explains that the loss of what should be in a persons life is accompanied by some painful
and disgusting feelings, example the deserved good is totally or particularly absent. Hence
Aquinas says, It is like a call that remains unanswered, a yearning that is not fulfilled, a
dashed hope and other forms of frustration vis--vis the intended important accomplishment.
The feeling of frustration and the accompanying crises are capable of causing those who do not
know how to manage difficulties to consider other unhealthy options, such as euthanasia as a
final solution to their ordeal. For many people, the persistence of difficult problems could
provoke severe psychosomatic disorder, the abandoning of the Christian faith or belief in an
all-loving God.
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3.2 THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HUMAN SUFFERING
From the above description of human suffering, it is observed that human suffering belongs to
mans earthly experience, irrespective of time, place and circumstance of living. The different
kinds of suffering notwithstanding, there are however, certain traits that generally characterize
the entire experience. These become evident when one considers of its power subject, its
universality and general experience of discomfort that accompanies it. For John Part II (1984)
by its very nature, human suffering is very strong that is associated with the problem of evil.
The Greek root of the word mystery is mysterion, from myein that is to shut, to close, to make
secret, etc. a mystery generally speaking, applies to what cannot be fully understood by
human reason or less strictly to whatever resists or defies explanation. Something esoteric but
known only to the initiated or disclosed by revelation. Human suffering is called mystery
because its field is very broad, varied and multi dimensioned. John Paul II explains this
clearly.
Man suffers in different ways, not always considered by medicine, not
even in its most advancement specializations,suffering is something
which is still wider than sickness, more complex at the same time still
more deeply rooted in humanity itself.
In the course of human history, many disciples have emerged, trying to unmask the complexity
of the problem of evil and suffering in the world. Ancient myths philosophies and different
cultural approaches have tried to throw light on it. Incidentally, while some people find it
difficult to acknowledge the existence of an all knowing, all-good and almighty God in the face
of the problems of evil and suffering in the world, others developed superior logics to prove the
existence of God. These problems, notwithstanding, however, no thinker has so far succeeded
in completely disentangling the problem of human suffering.
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In the effort to comprehend and explain the nature and implications of human suffering, it is
plausible to insist that it is a mystery indeed. Suffering, admittedly belongs to the category of
the mysterious in human experience with no adequate rational solution.
As a mystery, mere humans or positive, approaches cannot debunk it. Hence, the difficulty of
the atheists, extreme positivists and materialists in general, in comprehending the nature and
salvific dimension of human suffering is predictable. Similar problems are encountered by
many cultures under the influence of the new wind of modernism. These either deny the
existence of God and mysteries, or simply reject whatever could not be investigated by the
tools of positive service. Modernism seeks to break tie with the tradition cultures, in an
exaggerated quest for new ways of judging, accepting and expressing values. It is characterized
by an infatuation for what is new, easy and gratifying.
The modernist tendency constitutes obstacles to the proper understanding and handling of
human suffering. It does this by regarding as obsolete, the traditional ways of coping with
problems; unfortunately, it hardly provides better alternatives. Human suffering is a mystery
that could not be disentangled by any simplistic approach. According to Celestine C. Umeh
(2006:17) the deep modernists ways of solving problems often give rise to exaggerated
freedom, alcoholism, drug addition, murder, euthanasia, terrorism and permissiveness. These
instead of lessening the gravity of problems make man less capable of coping with difficulties.
As a mystery, the magnitude of human suffering cannot be judged or measured by the human
mental capacity or by concentrated effort to deny it. Man should bow in faith before great
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mysteries while seeking proper ways of understanding it. In this way, he can strive to arrive at
the meaning and purpose of human suffering.
3.3 SUFFERING IS PROPER TO MAN OR RATIONAL BEING.
Having briefly considered the mysterious dimension as a characteristic of human suffering, the
next important characteristic concerns the proper subjects of suffering in the world. Now the
question is do irrational animals suffer? Or is suffering proper to man as man? Obviously, all
animals appear to be in pains at a certain moment of their life. But it has to be clarified whether
the two concepts, namely, suffering and pain express exactly the same idea. Certain concepts
could be technically used to designate peculiar phenomena without ambiguities.
Thus, as far as the proper subjects of suffering in the world are concerned, the understanding of
suffering as a mystery places, it immediately at the realm of beings capable of appreciating the
meaning of mysterious. Suffering has also being desired as a subjective experience which
disrupts the integrity of rational beings. Hence, suffering by its very nature, can be predicated
of the beings of rational nature. It is man precisely, who suffers in the world. The late Supreme
Pontiff Pope John Paul II appreciates this line of thought when he penned down:
Even though man knows and is close to the
suffering of the animal world, nevertheless
what we express by the word sufferingseems to be particularly essential to the
nature of man. It is deep as man himself,
precisely because it manifests in its own way
surpasses it. Suffering seems to belong to
mans transcendence: it is one of those points
in which man is in a certain sense destined to
go beyond himself, and he is called to this in
a mysterious way.
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On one hand, the concepts close to that of human suffering include sorrow, misery, agony etc.
On the other hand, physical pain is close to experience of an ache or a hurt. It is only in an
equivocal sense that suffering and pain could be used interchangeable without doubt; there is a
difference between suffering as a conscious experience or rational beings and a mere sanction
of physical pain by living organism.
Besides, physical pains can be ordinarily used to express a feeling accompanying physical
injuries experienced by animals in general. While suffering is used to depict the miserable
experiences felt in the depth of the soul, by rational beings, sorrow and happiness could result
as after thoughts on actual experiences on rational beings. This is because suffering involves a
reflection, a reinterpretation of the painful experience in the context of a rational nature and
culture. It also goes with some sentiments of regret or sorrow in the soul. Unlike pain, it does
not concern only the pleasant but also the unpleasant part experiences and the frightful future.
But pains are felt at the incidence of an immediate wound and remains only insofar as the
world endures.
It is understandable that, by their very natures, suffering or sorrow and its opposite, namely
happiness or joy are proper to man in the world. Similarly pain has its opposite as pleasure,
both could be experienced at the ordinary animal instinctive level, without doubt, the irrational
animals have the sense or instinct of pain. But they may appreciate the meaning of suffering, in
the sense of sorrow, mourning, grief, remorse of regret etc. this is because they are naturally
equipped with the capacity for suffering; human suffering is wider than bodily pain, just as
rational knowledge is deeper than an instinctive feeling.
3.4 THE VARIOUS KINDS OF HUMAN SUFFERING
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Human suffering is an existential problem which by its nature, is unique and multiple in a
sense, it is one, because it is generally marked by a certain disruption of would-have-been
happy state of life, it is also characterized by a defect and deficiency in the essential conditions
for such happy state. In another sense, human suffering is diversified, because of its
manifestations in an ever new and multiple fashions, according to the prevailing circumstance,
time place and culture of its victims, suffering is further distinguished by its various causes and
diverse ways of manifestation in the human body and soul or both.
In a broad way, considering (Isaiah 38:1-3; Mt 9:19-20) human suffering can be considered
under the following headings: protracted and deadly sickness Thus, repeated deaths in ones
family particularly death of ones own children or parents (cf Gen. 37: 33-35; 2Sam 19:1-5)
death of an only son or first born (cf Job 10:1-7, Jer 6:26; Amos 8:10; Zech 12:10) lack of
offspring or barrenness (cf Gen 15:2-3; 30:1-2; 1Sam 1:6-11). Poverty and discrimination
based on ethnicity or caste systems, nostalgia for homeland. (cf Ps 137:1-90) persecution and
hostility of the environment, natural catastrophes and humanly caused accidents, mockery and
scorn of the one who suffers (Job 19:18; 30: 1-10; Ps 42:10-31; 44, 15-16; Isa 53:3). Loneliness
and abandonment, remorse of conscience, difficulty in understanding why the wicked prospers
while the just suffers (cf Ps 73:2-15) breach of confidence, ingratitude and treachery by close
associates and neighbours; death of one husband and wife, divorce, the misfortunes of ones
own nation. (cf Ps 79:10-13; Ezek 9:8 Dan 3:32-33; 9:16-19).
From the above examples, one gleans that human suffering can be grouped under physical,
moral, psychological, mystical and vicarious suffering, depending on its cause manifestation
and how it affects the human life.
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decisions and improper actions his sins and consequences these have on him and others etc.
These miserable conditions could be inflicted on the subject by other people also.
The moral evil, namely, sin is accomplished by moral distressed. But a moral agony, which
may begin as a feeling of regret, remorse of sympathy depending on its intensity, duration and
causes, may affect the physical as well as the psychological levels of the sufferer. This is
because of the unique nature of the human person.
3.4.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL SUFFERING
Human beings also suffer at the psyche. In the psyche, are imbedded the underlying conscious,
subconscious and the unconscious motives of human behavior. Psychology testifies that each
person has his own peculiarities; he perceives, interprets and reacts to stimuli according to his
unique temperaments, personal experiences. Environments and circumstances of living.
Therefore, human suffering has a psychological dimension which may occur from or
accompany both physical and moral suffering or give rise to them.
Psychological suffering crises constitute real problems for man. Under normal circumstances,
the crises feature in his daily life at a manageable degree. These occur as little worries, doubts,
trifling fears and slight preoccupation. When these reach a critical level, the human subject
becomes restless. It then begins to manifest as upsetting fear, sporadic anger, dissatisfaction,
self-negation, rage and at worst a pathologic depression.
3.4.4 MYSTICAL SUFFERING
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Along side the psychological sort of human suffering there is also the mystical kind of
suffering. Suffering that is mystical is follow-up of a mystical experience. Mystical phenomena
are generally characterized by an immediate and intensive kind of knowledge or experience
beyond the world of sensory perception, in which God, the transcendent reveals himself to a
human person who assumes a more passive role in the process.
Man naturally knows God by the light of reason and through the divine revelation. Another
way of knowing God is the beatific vision, the privileged experience of the Saints in heaven.
For the Christian, a mystical experience could be a gift not merit. Consequent upon a mystical
encounter with the Holy and absolute, a profound intuitive knowledge, which transcends the
normal categories of understanding, is gained. Mystical suffering is one of the possible
consequences of such experiences and could result from a mystical union with the crucified or
provoked by a deep sense of sin in the world, mans finitude and unworthiness, vis--vis the
overwhelming love, greatness and absolute holiness of God.
3.5 THE COMPOSITE OF HUMAN PROVOKES SUFFERING
The natural facts of mans earthly life are important for understanding the difficulties that he
encounters in the world. His nature is composite of a material body and a spiritual soul. From
the point of view of his own person, he is equipped with and conditioned by certain biological,
psychological and spiritual presents. Suffice this to say that man is born with certain genetic
predispositions, physical features and rational capacities for auto-transcendence etc. He does
not claim responsibility for such facts as his nationality, height, natural complexion, blood
group genotype, temperaments and other psychosomatic features that personify him. By all
indications, man appears not to be perfect being. He is engaged in a process of self-
actualization. Even, the human race grows and develops as individuals evolve as a people.
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In the world, man passes through the crises of growth, works for daily bread, admits the limited
resources and defends himself against inimical factors. Finally, man dwindles in strength and
health, as he advances in age. The fear of death and his fate after the worldly sojourn are also
among his major preoccupations. The Fathers of the Vatican II observed that it is in regard to
death that mans condition is most shrouded in doubt. Man is tormented not only by pain and
by the gradual breaking up of his body but also and even more by the dread of forever ceasing
to be. According to Albert Furioli, (1987:3) sickness and death form part of our earthly
existential fabric: I suffer because I have feelings. I fall sick because I have a biological
organism; I die because I was born
3.6 THE THEOLOGICAL REASONING INTO THE LINK BETWEEN SIN AND
SUFFERING
Man is a being in communion with the other rational entities and the irrational order. He lives
and realizes his being in his relationship with the other. The other is primarily God himself the
source, sustainer and the ultimate end of the humankind. Mans relationship with the author of
his being is axial, not appendicular; it is not a side reference but absolutely vital, a conditio sine
que non for mans continuous existence and happiness. He must constantly and continuously be
maintained by God. God is the base in exclusion of which there is no other foundation for man.
In this view the catechism of he Catholic Church, 385 maintains that should man seek to break
away from his essential and irreplaceable base, he is only attempting to establish another false
base or merely pretending to do without God; this is the most fundamental implication of sin.
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Sin is technically defined according to Paul J. Glenn as a human act (that is, a deliberate
thought, word, deed, desire, omission) contrary to right reason, and therefore contrary to God.
It is primary a revolt against the divine government.
A spiritual-mutiny, a rebellion against divine providence. To sin is to avert God, in a way
telling him that he is not relevant. God endowed man with reason and freewill, intending that
man may know choose love and do what is good while avoiding its contraries. But through sin,
man abuses his freedom and seeks what is improper. The first sin of man was characterized by
certain dissatisfaction which man was longing to be unduly independent of God and a
presumption to establish by the desire for the knowledge of good and evil. Cardinal sins such as
(pride, gluttony, lust, avarice, sloth, envy and anger) are regarded as grave psychological-
psycho-moral sickness.
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CHAPTER FOUR
SUFFERING IN THE LIGHT OF PAULINE THEOLOGY (2COR 1:3-7)
The early Christians when Paul unexpectedly joined with his youthful exuberance emerged
from a background that had negative conception about suffering. It was considered as a divine
attribution. Human beings suffer because of their personal sin. God is just and he rewards each
person according to his deeds. The wicked cannot evade his just judgment.
The belief in the vindication of the divine justice has its fundamental etiology in the fall of the
primordial parents of human beings. In the two accounts of creation at the beginning,
everything God created was perfectly good and they are given divine approval by the
reiteration of the phrase: God saw that it was good (Cf Gen 1, 4, 10, 12, 18, 21-25, 31). It is
important to note briefly that this phrase occurs seven times in the creation narrative. In the
bible, the number seven is a significance number symbolizing completion and perfection.
Goodness in Gods creation is fully perfect. Sin of our parents however, initiated suffering and
its accompanying pain.
Throughout the different stages in the historical development of the Old Testament thoughts
and theology the problem of suffering had been validly addressed. It is normally linked that it is
due to human sinful actions, either personal or inherited from ancestors. A classical literary
work on divine attribution in the Old Testament is the book of Job, which is the person of his
interlocutors proved different views on the case of suffering. It is an age-long pa### that has
dwelt with human beings.
The eye witness of Jesus whom Paul joined came from the background that understood
suffering as a consequence of personal sin. According to Obiorah Jerome, (2010:63) Paul
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himself with his proficiency in Hebrew Scriptures must have shared the same belief with his
contemporaries. Jesus inaugurated a new era of understanding and interpretation of the
scriptures. In his teaching, he led his bearers to transcend that popular belief that suffering is as
a result of ones sins (cf Lk 13:1-5, Jn 9:2).
Paul broke away from that popular idea when he encountered Jesus. He turned from a
persecutor to an ardent believer; he suffered immensely for his faith. He fulfilled the prophecy
made about him at his dramatic conversion. I myself will show him how much he must suffer
for the sake of my name (Acts 9, 16). The content of the God News, evangelion, he
proclaimed was the crucified Jesus who rose from the dead. His teachings on suffering can be
summed up thus: suffering is inevitable is human life, it has a benefiting function and that,
suffering unites us to Christ.
However, the major concern of this chapter is the interpretation of human suffering in the view
of St. Paul, with the aim of giving the ##### a better understanding.
4.1 THE PAULINE ANALYSIS OF HUMAN SUFFERING (2 COR 1, 3-7).
In the New Testament and other Christian, literatures, suffering is given a secondly
understanding, which serves as a discipline function. According to St. Paul, for just as the
suffering of Christ overflows into our lives so if we have hardships to undergo, this will
contribute to our encouragement and salvation: (2Cor, 1,5-6); according to Morns Leon
(199:30). Suffering, then is part of the process of living out the Christian life, and Paul suggest
that we should not regard it as something monstrous and alien.
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It is in the present time that Christians prepare for the future glory. They should follow Jesus
who suffered and entered into glory. I considered that the sufferings of this present time are
not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us (Rom 8, 18). Suffering is a
necessary preliminary, and assurance of coming glory which will eclipse all the preceding
anguish. We are in the midst of suffering in the present time as we prepare for the future glory.
Similarly, St. Paul goes on to say that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces
character and character produces hope. (Rom 5, 3-4).
Pauls theme of the necessity of sharing in the suffering of Christ as a prerequisite of sharing in
the glories of Christ should not be carried to extremes, Jesus represents the gospels embodined
of the concept of the suffer servant. Seeing Jesus not only as a suffering servant, but also as the
Messiah. Thus, is working out this Pauline theology, he narrates that Christ Jesus is the means
by which the suffering of this world, mans inherit sinfulness and death itself can ne overcome.
By being at home with him who suffered, a person is able to achieve a state that is free from
suffering and death. As we share abundantly in Christs suffering so through him we share
abundantly in comfort to citing Paul in his book Udejiofor (2006 51) maintains that I have
suffered the loss of things .. In order that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and
may share in his suffering.
The Pauline spiritual insight on human suffering enriched by personal experience and inspired
by Christ crucified. Paul desired suffering, cherishes and embraces it. He preaches the gospel of
suffering; he prays sufferings, not for suffering sake but for the meritorious salvific grace
inherent in it. Pauls position in terms of suffering has an ecclesial dimension which is worthy
of mention, for he knows that he does not suffer alone, but in union the church, which is the
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body of Christ, and not only in union with the Church but for the benefit of the Church (cf Col
1, 2-4).
Another dimension of the Pauline theology is the feelings of Christ a compassion for the
suffering people, having been closed by God himself in his suffering, he becomes consolation
to others. We can see that for Paul and for other apostles and witness of the New Testament,
suffering does not constitute any problem. There is blessing in the folly of the cross.
4.2 THE CORINTHIANS VIEW OF HUMAN SUFFERING
In Pauls #### and in other New Testament works the cross on which Jesus was crucified has
become a fundamental term for Jesus suffering and death for the salvation of human. It was a
gradual process for the early Church to move from their ordinary understanding of Christs
ignominious death on the cross to a higher conception this as divine means of saving humans
from their degradation. Paul was very outstanding in propounding this new doctrine. Suffering
for him is a proof of our love for him when we suffer for the same motive for which he
accepted the cross.
The crucified Christ who rose from the dead is the summary of Pauls teaching. It is evangelion
tou theo (the Gospel of God), because God is the source of the message. It is also Pauls
evangelion for he has personalized it with the phrase evangelion mou (my Gospel). Pauls
teaching on the cross of Jesus can be considered under these two major parts: the cross is the
means God has freely chosen to reveal himself in Christ and in human history and the cross is
the principle of Christian discipleship/apostleship.
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It was through the word of the cross that the Saga of human redemption was won. According
to Joseph Bayobin (2004: 56) the Corinthians therefore believed that we are called not only to
reflect on suffering crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, but also to share in his suffering
through self-mortification. We can also make the sacrifice of legitimate pleasures in order to
show gratitude for what Christ has done for humanity. Jesus suffered and accepted death even
on the cross due to the love he has for us.
Therefore, the Corinthians build up their spirituality towards suffering because of their
conviction, we too are called to suffer because cross stands for suffering. It is a teaching among
the Corinthians that has a lot of truth in it; this is so because it has its basis on the concept of
expiation: suffering and death of Christ, which is very fundamental in Christian belief.
Christians are enjoined by divine revelation to always have a preferential option for the way of
the cross. Suffering in itself is not something good; human beings naturally do not like it. But
through it, we can attain sanctification or growth to Christian maturity.
Besides, Corinthian sees suffering as that which unites them with Christ. When a leader imparts
from lived experience, he or she speaks from personal conviction, persuasively, and the words
achieve more than their desired end. Paul is an ideal teacher. From the wealth of his personal
experiences he learned that suffering does not separate us from the love of God. Who will
separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardships, or ### or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril or word? (Rom 8, 35). Paul experienced all these in his life and learned
that they brought him closer to the divine master.
Experience of suffering prepares one for the kingdom of God, writing to the Christians at
Thessalonica, Paul reflects on the intrinsic link between suffering and the kingdom of God:
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therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfast and faith
deceiving all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduing. This is evidence of the
righteous judgment of god, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of god, for
which you are also suffering. (2 Thess.1, 45).
Furthermore, for the Christians in the Corinthian Church, no amount of suffering allowed to
visit us should separate us from God. Suffering should never become a reason for engaging in
sinful behavior. We are afflicted in event possible way, we never despair, we are persecuted
but never abandoned we are struck down but never destroyed. Continually we carry our bodied
the life of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed (Cf 2 Co 4, 8-10).
Equally, Paul did not give in to self-pity, resentment, hatred in the face of suffering, but rather
converted his suffering into a hymn of praise to God, so we believers in Corinth called to
demonstrate strong, heroic love of God in face of difficulties. In say this, we are also remember
the Jobless, the sick, the homeless, widows and orphans, the oppressed, those imprisoned,
particularly those who suffer for no just cause or because of their political affliction or being
outspoken for justice in the society.
Thus, this is possible when there is a clear understanding on the meaning and purpose of Jesus
suffering and death on the cross. In the encyclical-salvific Doloris, the pope used words such as
The Gospel of suffering that Christians endure in union with Christ and for the salvation of the
world. He suffered so that human kind may be set free from suffering. This means his suffering
was explicatory or substitutional, cf Is 53. Here the prophet describes someone under the title,
suffering servant. His description of the kind of suffering this servant of God would undergo
agrees in many respects with the kind of suffering Jesus underwent in his passion the
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sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried. He was pierced through for our faults crushed
for our sins on him lies a punishment that brings us peace and through his wounds, we are
healed.
4.3 THE REDEMPTIVE VALUES OF SUFFERING IN THE CORINTHIAN
CHURCH
The redemptive dimension of Christs suffering leads one to a new orientation and
understanding of human suffering. For John Paul II (1984:24), human suffering has reached
its culmination in the passion of Christ. And at the same time it has entered into a completely
new dimension and a new order: it has been linked to love.
The implication here is that by the suffering and death of Christ on the cross, human suffering
also has become redemptive. It has been brought to light by the following statement according
to Christians Usugngurua, (2006:10):
In the cross of Christ not only is the redemption accomplished through
suffering, but also human suffering it has been redeemed in
bringing about redemption through suffering, Christ has also raised
human suffering to the level of redemption.
Since human suffering has received a new salvific dimension with definitive value from Christ,
everyone is called appropriate the redemptive aspect in his own suffering and become a sharer
in the redemptive suffering of Christ.
Suffering is a litmus test of our faith (1Thess 3,2-5). It is in suffering that we prove what we
are. Suffering reveals the strength of our faith. Knowing the value of suffering in his life and in
the life of Christians, Paul rejoices in tribulations: therefore I am content with weakness,
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insults hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak,
then I am strong (2Cor 12, 10). Every little pain we experience in union with Jesus brigs us
close to him and to our God.
Suffering is an essential mark of discipleship for it brings a follower of Christ closer to the
master who himself took the path of suffering. Those who shun sufferings in their lives are
enemies of the cross of Jesus: For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often
told you of them and now I tell you even with tears (Phil 3, 18). Suffering prepares us for the
coming glory. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with
the glory about to be revealed to us (Rom 8,18). Just like Jesus who suffered and rose from the
dead, Christians crown of glory comes after the cross. The hymn in Pauls bitter to the
Philippians 2, 6-11 is structured on this: W 6-8 describe the self-empting of Jesus, W 9-11 is on
the exaltation.
Besides, the idea of redemptive suffering becomes very compelling when we come to see that
suffering is still a part of human life. Osungurua still maintains that:
It is something we experience often despite the fact that Jesus dead to
set us free from it. Not only sinners suffers but sometimes, even those
with worldwide reputation for Holy and saintly lives. Sometimes,
suffering defiles all prayers and forces us to discern what the will of
God really is for us at certain trying moments.
John Paul II of blessed memory explains the Christians meaning of suffering, what our
suffering can be a contribution of the first grade in our fight for the victory over evil powers. It
can become a precious contribution to Gods salvific work if we accept it generously. Our
suffering has a precious function in the life of the Church and we can utilize it to build up the
Church.
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According to the explanation of the significance of suffering in salvific Deloris suffering is an
invitation to manifest the moral greatness of man and his spiritual maturity. It may be a trial at
triunes a hard one to let ones faith or fidelity in God manifest. Based on the experiences of the
saints such as St. Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyal and others, it has been recognized that in
suffering there is concealed power that devours a person interiously close to Christ a special
grace.
4.4 CHRISTS RESPONSE TO THE HUMAN SUFFERING IN THE CORINTHIAN
CHURCH
The New Testament wrings present and provides us valuable insights into Christs response to
human suffering, precisely in Corinth. Thus, to understand Christs response to human
suffering in the Church at Corinth, let us first understand his own response to his suffering.
According to Udejiofor, (2006:94):
Christs attitude towards his own suffering shows his willingness to
suffer. Peter had the great difficultly of accepting the necessity of Jesus
suffering, he demonstrated against it, but he was rebuked by Jesus. He
healed those who were suffering and most immediately predicts his
own suffering and those of his followers.
Christ showed his willingness acceptance and surrender to the will of the father. He therefore
calls us to follow his examples. Our human condition is Gods invitation for human to enter
into a mysterious yet a meaningful union of love and relationship with God.
Christs response to the suffering humanity is founded in love. The Divine Human love by
which he took flesh in his incarnation and suffering and died on the cross. Christ beheld mans
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helplessness and powerless state, thus he would heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper
and forgive the sinners.
According to St. Paul, Christs suffering is transcended by eschatology. Paul desires suffering
cherishes it, embraces it, as well as preaches it, in fact he actually prays for suffering, not for
suffering sake but for the meritorious salvific grace inherent in it. Hence, Paul desires nothing
according to him accepts to suffer and to reproduce Christs pattern of death in his mortal body.
Commenting further, Udejiofor maintains:
Suffering can only be acceptable appreciated and endured for the
sake of Jesus, for he would not suffer as he wishes, Like Christ but for
Christ and with Christ.
Following St. Pauls theological insight, suffering now should be desired, but mostly because
of love for Christ who suffered innocently for our redemption.
4.5 CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO HUMAN SUFFERING IN THE
CORINTHIAN CHURCH
In a society where Christians move from one prayer house to another seeking remedies to
human suffering, Paul as it were, offers us a good teaching, thus his teaching becomes highly
instructive. One is tempted to ask, why do contemporary Christians shun suffering with all their
strength? Why do we who live in the age of unrestrained Pentecostalism propagate and live a
kind of Christianity without the cross of Christ? Why do we complain and blame God and
fellow human beings for every little discomfort? Why do prayer houses multiply in many
comers of our society? These are different means we have devised in our effort to reject
suffering and keep our eyes far from its saving function in human life as it were in the
Corinthian Church.
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Many contemporary cultures as it were, have a world view akin to the religion of the ancient
Israel. Suffering in our cultures is primarily rejected and attributed to some forces outside
human realm. It is often seen as punishment, a just reward, a boomerang for evil actions against
common good, fellow human beings and even the creator. Advent of the Christian faith has
done very little among some in changing this common traditional concept of suffering.
However, the issue of human suffering and evil has moved beyond the frontier of the realm of
academic and scholarly journals, now the issue on the large part involves justice world pieces,
freedom from mans inhumanity against men. Udejiofor has this to say:
Suffering presents itself as a school of human development and
personal growth in which the purpose of creation is not frustrated but
realized.
In seeking the way of peace we must look to the victim through whom
God has concealed the world to himself, for as Paul writes to the
Ephesians: In his flesh Jesus removes the wall which divided the
court of the gentiles eliminates the division between Jews and
Gentiles, and makes peace in order to create in himself one new
humanity (cf Eph 2, 14ff).
According to John Hick, the mystery of Gods love for us is that the redemptive process turns
all things unto good even human selfishness of our lives, which is build into the birth process
of the entire Cosmos. He saw suffering as essential for human self-realization and encounter
with the divine.