Rejoice in Suffering

Sometimes I think that the apostle Paul was just plain nuts!

At the beginning of the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul writes this: "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings..." (Rom. 5: 3a). Does Paul mean that, when he is going through the tribulations that come with this life that he skips around all giddy and happy?

Kind of reminds me of Kevin Bacon in "Animal House" getting paddled in his undies, "Thank you sir, may I have another."

What is interesting is that Paul used the same word in the previous verse: "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" (vs. 2b). He obviously is tying these two things together. We rejoice in hope and in tribulations.

Other versions translate "kauchaomai" (rejoice) with the word "glory" or "exult" or "boast".  The underlying idea is that the experiences of hope-in-God's-glory and suffering-under-tribulations releases an uplifting sense of God's good work and a pride in that good work.

Let me paraphrase: "When we grasp the reality of our new standing in Christ, that we have a sure hope in our eternal place in Him and the glory of His good work of redemption--then we will be uplifted and place our sure and abiding confidence in that hope. In the same way, when we go through the tribulations that are sure to accompany anyone who has placed their hope in Christ, then we will have the same sense of uplifting and confidence because we will see it through the perspective of our new standing in Him."

In other words, the suffering does not invalidate our faith, instead it can be experienced as just a further example of our joyous confidence in God. All tribulation is now experienced as redemptive. "...we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (vv. 3b-4).

James says something similar: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (Jas. 1: 2-4).

Jesus, as our supreme example, pushed through the pain of his trial in order to attain the greater goal of eternal glory with the Father and redemption for us. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider (meditate on) him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart" (Heb. 12: 2-3).

It takes an effort to take the most severe trials and tribulations and "reframe" them as things to "boast" in. Yet, one of the incredible realities of our faith is that it helps us to see even our most painful trials as part of the bigger journey we are on--the journey that leads to our eternal place in His Kingdom.