Hebrews 9:24-28 “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; (25) not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- (26) He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (27) And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, (28) so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
In the previous section we discussed what type of suffering believers are meant to incur. In this section we will discuss what type of suffering believers are not meant to partake of. Nevertheless just as I stated in the previous section, even though we will see scriptural evidence to show what type of suffering Christians should not incur in this life, it remains up to the individual believer as to whether they will choose to believe that they do not have to be subjected to such suffering. For again as I stated earlier, in this life the freewill of all believers reigns supreme and our Lord Jesus will never override our freewill. And so if we choose not to believe, that as God’s children, we do not have to submit ourselves to these types of suffering, then our Lord Jesus will not be able to keep us from them. Nevertheless for those who do choose to believe that these sufferings do not have to be incurred, they can fully expect our Lord Jesus to keep them from such suffering. Although we will examine scripture in a number of areas to show what believers are not called to suffer, we will not expound on the various principles that need to be practiced in order for believers to remain free from these sufferings, as that falls outside the scope of this teaching. Suffice it to say that in all areas, the main ingredients that all believers must have to walk free from these types of sufferings, is to walk in love and to walk in faith, i.e. we must believe what God’s word says on the subject. So why do I say that believers are not called to suffer in these areas? There are two reasons why. The first reason is because of the example given to us by our Lord Jesus in the way He walked in this life, for the scripture teaches us to walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6). And the second reason is because our Lord Jesus has already suffered for us in these areas as our substitutionary sacrifice. And so unlike the sufferings as listed in the previous section, where we are called to suffer with our Lord Jesus, believers are not called to suffer in these areas, because Jesus has already paid the price and He no longer suffers in these areas. In the above-quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit confirms that truth to us, for He tells us that Christ suffered once to bear the sins of many and that He will never suffer in this manner again.
1 Peter 2:18-20 “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. (19) For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. (20) For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.”
Titus 2:9-10 “Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, (10) not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”
The gospel as taught by the apostle Peter was exactly the same as the gospel that was taught by the apostle Paul. The reason for that is because both received their gospels directly from the Lord Jesus. In the above-quoted passages of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostles Peter and Paul teaches us exactly the same thing, i.e. that servants are not to suffer for wrongdoing, for that would then blaspheme the doctrine of God. It seems pretty obvious for a number of reasons that believers are not called to suffer for wrongdoing. The main reason being that if we do then we blaspheme the doctrine of God in the earth (1 Timothy 6:1). However, what is not so obvious is the extent to which we are not meant to suffer in this area. What do I mean by that statement? Firstly, let me clarify what suffering for wrongdoing means. It simply means that when someone does wrong to another, then there is a punishment that is incurred. For example, if one were to commit murder then the punishment that they would suffer would be either the death penalty or imprisonment, depending on the legal system in place at the time. And so in that light I don’t think that there are any believers that would disagree that as Christians, we should not suffer as murderers.
1 Peter 4:15 “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.”
So what about suffering as a busybody in other people’s matters? In the above-quoted passage of scripture, the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter teaches us as believers that we are not to suffer as murderers, but in the same passage He tells us not to suffer as busybodies in other people’s matters. In our natural thinking we would never equate a murderer with someone who was a busybody, and yet in this passage the Holy Spirit puts the busybody into the same category as murderers, thieves and evildoers. So why does He do that? He does that because He wants to get across to us the concept, that as believers we are not to suffer for sinning against others, for all of those practices listed are sinful. As believers, we are called to walk in love, and love does no harm to a neighbour. And so it is not the will of God that any of His children should suffer for doing harm to their neighbour i.e. for sinning against their neighbour.
1 Peter 2:21-24 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: (22) "Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth"; (23) who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; (24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.”
As with everything in our Christian walk, we always look at Jesus as our example. The above-quoted passage of scripture teaches us that Jesus committed no sin. That means that Jesus never sinned against anyone when He walked on the earth, and consequently He never once suffered for wrongdoing. Nevertheless, even though Jesus never once committed any sin, there was a time when all that changed, for the above passage teaches us that Jesus bore our sins in His own body. But it is the reason why Jesus bore our sins that I want to highlight from this passage, for the scripture says “that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness”. In other words when Christ died, we died with Him, and just as Christ died to sins, so did we, which resulted in our being able to live for righteousness.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
This is where the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus comes in. In the above-quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit reveals to us that Jesus became our sin so that we could become His righteousness. The bible teaches us that Jesus died to sin once for all (Romans 6:10) and in Him is no sin. And so unlike the sufferings of Christ that we discussed in the previous section, which have not yet ended, Jesus suffered once for sin and that suffering has ended. The bible teaches us that we have died with Christ and therefore we too have died to sin, and because we have died to sin we have been freed from sin (Romans 6:7). And so, just as Christ no longer suffers for sin, neither should we. In other words Christians are not called to suffer for wrongdoing, and if they are suffering for wrongdoing i.e. sin, then they are suffering outside of the will of God. When Christians walk in the love of God then you can be assured that they will not suffer for wrongdoing.
Michael E.B. Maher
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