Does God Really Suffer?

Did God really suffer? Did Jesus feel the pai of the crucifixion? Is it important that He suffered? Why?

I have posted Josh Hunt's Sunday School lesson on this topic below.

1. 1 Peter 2.21 – 24 What do we learn about Christian living from this passage?

Undoubtedly, even the strongest believer would raise the question, But why do we have to suffer? The believer has been called by God to the situation. God not only calls the believer out of darkness into his wonderful light (2:9); he also calls the believer to endure suffering that is unjust and painful. The believer’s appropriate response to unjust suffering carries a powerful testimony to an unbelieving culture.

Peter referred to the life of Christ as motivation or illustration. Here it serves as both. Jesus’ life was dominated by suffering (see 1:11). His life of suffering becomes an example for believers who follow him. We do not suffer the same agonies he endured, but we can follow Christ in the way in which he endured the suffering and responded to it. — Holman New Testament Commentary – I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude.

2. What are some examples of ways that Jesus is an example for us?

The word ὑπογραμμόν (hypogrammon) translated “example” was used literally of a pattern of letters of the Greek alphabet for children to copy and thus learn to write. It was also used figuratively, as here, for a pattern for behavior. Christ’s suffering is a pattern for Christian slaves to follow. Jesus himself had summoned his disciples to follow him in contexts in which he discussed his coming suffering (e.g., Mark 8:31,34). Peter’s wonderful addition of the phrase “in his steps” was the inspiration for the title of Charles Sheldon’s famous book In His Steps. Christians are called to imitate Christ’s willingness to suffer for doing good. He did it for us. We do it for him. — College Press NIV Commentary – 1 & 2 Peter.

3. What does this passage teach us that we need to remember when we suffer?

All that Jesus did on earth, as recorded in the four Gospels, is a perfect example for us to follow. But He is especially our example in the way He responded to suffering. In spite of the fact that He was sinless in both word and deed, He suffered at the hands of the authorities. This connects, of course, to Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:19-20. We wonder how he would have responded in the same circumstances! The fact that Peter used his sword in the Garden suggests that he might have fought rather than submitted to the will of God.

Jesus proved that a person could be in the will of God, be greatly loved by God, and still suffer unjustly. There is a shallow brand of popular theology today that claims that Christians will not suffer if they are in the will of God. Those who promote such ideas have not meditated much on the Cross. — The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 2.

4. Isaiah 53.4 – 6 As we read this passage, look for all the verbs that relate to the suffering savior. What do we learn about Jesus from this passage, written 700 years before his birth?

This stanza multiplies the expressions for what the servant experiences (he is smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed; he receives punishment and wounds). Such a multiplication of terms represents typical Hebrew style in conveying the full range of pain and suffering. It also clarifies that these experiences are due to the transgressions and iniquities of others. Because of what the servant took up and carried, the guilty will enjoy peace with God and be healed. — College Press NIV Commentary – Isaiah: Volume 2.

5. What do we learn about the doctrine of man from this passage? What do we learn about ourselves?

Sin is serious. The prophet calls it transgression, which means rebellion against God, daring to cross the line that God has drawn (Isa. 53:5, 8). He also calls it iniquity, which refers to the crookedness of our sinful nature (vv. 5-6). In other words, we are sinners by choice and by nature. Like sheep, we are born with a nature that prompts us to go astray and like sheep we foolishly decide to go our own way. By nature we are born children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) and by choice we become children of disobedience (2:2). Under the Law of Moses, the sheep died for the shepherd; but under grace, the Good Shepherd died for the sheep (John 10:1-18). — Old Testament - The Bible Exposition Commentary – The Prophets.

6. What do you know about the stripes mentioned in this passage?

Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over His poor stricken body.

Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears, as He stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing which His stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

“See how the patient Jesus stands,
Insulted in His lowest case!
Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands,
And spit in their Creator’s face.

With thorns His temples gor’d and gash’d
Send streams of blood from every part;
His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.
But sharper scourges tear His heart.”

We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with Him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dear. — Morning and Evening.

7. How would you explain the idea of substitutionary atonement to someone who had never heard of it?

According to the Chicago Tribune, on June 22, 1997, parachute instructor Michael Costello, forty-two, of Mt. Dora, Florida, jumped out of an airplane at 12,000 feet altitude with a novice skydiver named Gareth Griffith, age twenty-one.

The novice would soon discover just how good his instructor was, for when the novice pulled his rip cord, his parachute failed. Plummeting toward the ground, he faced certain death.

But then the instructor did an amazing thing. Just before hitting the ground, the instructor rolled over so that he would hit the ground first and the novice would land on top of him. The instructor was killed instantly. The novice fractured his spine in the fall, but he was not paralyzed.

One man takes the place of another, takes the brunt for another. One substitutes himself to die so another may live. So it was at the cross, when Jesus died for our sins so that we might live forever. — 750 Engaging Illustrations.

8. 2 Corinthians 5.21 What do we learn from this passage about how we can become acceptable in God’s sight?

The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy. The New Testament view is that He bore our sin not by sympathy, but by identification. He was made to be sin. Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the explanation of His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us. We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the Fatherhood of God, the loving-kindness of God; the New Testament says He came to bear away the sin of the world. The revelation of His Father is to those to whom He has been introduced as Saviour. Jesus Christ never spoke of Himself to the world as one Who revealed the Father, but as a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, therefore I go scot free, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (not—He died my death), and that by identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have imparted to me His very righteousness. The substitution taught in the New Testament is twofold: “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” It is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me. — My Utmost for His Highest.

9. Repeat after me: “I am the righteousness of God.” Is that how you see yourself?

We believe our way into behaving; we don’t behave our way into believing.

10. What are the practical implications of this verse? What difference does it make to our day-to-day lives?

“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9). How can we be sure that God will not deal with us in anger because of our sins? Because Christ took all of God’s anger upon Himself at the cross, and we are now in Him, hidden within His righteousness.

It has always hit me as very strange that in many Christian groups the good news of Jesus Christ seems to be reserved for the lost man, while Christians are living in guilt, insecurity, and fear of God’s anger. You could be an ax murderer or a Mafia hit man, and the message will be, “God loves you, and Jesus Christ died for your sins. All you need to do is receive Him by faith and you’ll be saved!” That’s right! Any man who comes to Jesus Christ will be saved, regardless of his past. However, the believers are getting a message like this: “You dirty, rotten backsliders! You’d better clean up your act, or God’s punishment will fall on you!” First you get the good news, then after you’re a Christian you get the bad news. — Classic Christianity (Bob George)

11. Who can quote this verse?

Here are seven things I have found helpful: Choose a time when your mind is free from outside distractions…perhaps soon after getting up in the morning. Learn the reference by repeating it every time you say the verse(s). Numbers are more difficult to remember than words. Read each verse through several times—both in a whisper and aloud. Hearing yourself say the words helps cement them into your mind. Break the passage into its natural phrases. Learn the reference and then the first phrase. Then repeat the reference and first phrase as you go to the second phrase. Continue adding phrases one by one. Learn a little bit perfectly rather than a great deal poorly. Do not go on to the next verse until you can say the previous one(s) perfectly. Review the verse(s) immediately. Twenty to thirty minutes later, repeat what you’ve memorized. Before the day has ended, firmly fix the verse(s) in your mind by going over it fifteen to twenty times. (You can do this as you drive or do your job.) Use the verse(s) orally as soon as possible. After all, the purpose of Scripture memory is a practical one, not academic. Use the verses in conversation, in correspondence, in teaching, in counseling, in everyday opportunities. Relate what you’ve learned to your daily situation. You’ll be thrilled with the results. — Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life by Charles R. Swindoll, © 1983 by Charles R. Swindoll. Published by Multnomah Press, Portland, Oregon 97266.

12. I think most Christians know our sins have been taken away. What else does this passage teach about us?

Most Christians, I find, understand the general idea behind forgiveness: God took our sins and gave them to Jesus. But that’s only half the message! God also took Christ’s perfect righteousness and gave it to us! Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” How could I stand up and declare that in the sight of God I am as righteous and acceptable as Jesus Christ? Because of what I do? No way! It’s because of who I am in Christ. — Classic Christianity (Bob George)

13. John 14.7 – 11. What is the best way to know what God is like?

The Lord had just said, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye Know him, and have seen him” (14:7). In other words, the disciples would have had no need to ask the Lord about where he was going or how he was to get there if they had really known him. He himself was the full revelation of the Father.

Many times the Lord had spoken to his disciples about his Father. He delighted to use this novel name for God. Throughout the Old Testament, God is seldom spoken of as a Father. This lovely name for God was, really, the Lord’s revelation, and a wonderfully comforting one it is. God is not merely Elohim, the awesome God of creation, omniscient in his purpose, omnipotent in his power, omnipresent in his person; he is not just Jehovah, the God of covenant, wise and loving, but strict in his requirements; nor is he merely Adonai, God of command, sovereign Lord, and owner of the universe, who must be obeyed. He is a Father, a God of comfort, a God of compassion, one who has a home and a family. The Lord used this name for God over and over again. How well John remembered it! In his gospel the expression “the Father” or its kindred expression “my Father” occurs 156 times. — John Phillips Commentary Series – Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary.

14. What exactly does it mean to know the Father?

What does it mean to “know the Father”? The word know is used 141 times in John’s Gospel, but it does not always carry the same meaning. In fact, there are four different “levels” of knowing according to John. The lowest level is simply knowing a fact. The next level is to understand the truth behind that fact. However, you can know the fact and know the truth behind it and still be lost in your sins. The third level introduces relationship; “to know” means “to believe in a person and become related to him or her.” This is the way “know” is used in John 17:3. In fact, in Scripture, “to know” is used of the most intimate relationship between man and wife (Gen. 4:1).

The fourth use of “know” means “to have a deeper relationship with a person, a deeper communion.” It was this level Paul was referring to when he wrote, “That I may know Him” (Phil. 3:10). Jesus will describe this deeper relationship in John 14:19-23, so we will save any further comment until we deal with that section.

When Jesus said that knowing Him and seeing Him was the same as knowing and seeing the Father, He was claiming to be God. From now on, they would understand more and more about the Father, even though Jesus was leaving them.

I appreciate Philip’s desire to know the Father. He had come a long way since that day Jesus found him and called him (John 1:43-45). The burning desire of every believer ought to be to know God better. We read and study the Word of God so that we might better know the God of the Word. — New Testament - The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 1.

15. Who can describe a time when you felt like, “Where is God?” Who has a story?

Where is God when it hurts? He is in us—not in the things that hurt—helping to transform bad into good. We can safely say that God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good. — Where Is God When It Hurts? (Philip Yancey)

16. Pain seems to draw some closer to God while others it drives farther away. What do you guess makes the difference? What makes some grow closer to God in pain while others run?

Once Dr. Paul Brand and I were discussing individual Christians who had undergone great suffering. After he had related several personal stories, I asked whether the pain had turned those people toward God or away from God. He thought at length, and concluded that there was no common response. Some grew closer to God, some drifted bitterly away. The main difference seemed to lie in their focus of attention. Those obsessed with questions about cause (“What did I do to deserve this? What is God trying to tell me? Am I being punished?”) often turned against God. In contrast, the triumphant sufferers took individual responsibility for their own responses and trusted God despite the discomfort. — Where Is God When It Hurts? (Philip Yancey)

17. Why is there so much pain in the world?

Much of the suffering on our planet has come about because of two principles that God built into creation: a physical world that runs according to consistent natural laws, and human freedom. By committing himself to those two principles, both good principles in themselves, God allowed for the possibility of their abuse. For example,water proves useful to us and all creation because of its “softness,” its liquid state, and its specific gravity.Yet those very properties open up its rather disagreeable capacity to drown us—or the even more alarming possibility that we might drown someone else. Take another example, from wood. It bears the fruit of trees, supports leaves to provide shade, and shelters birds and squirrels. Even when taken from the tree, wood is valuable.We use it as fuel to warm ourselves, and as construction material to build houses and furniture. The essential properties of wood—hardness, unpliability, flammability—make possible these useful functions. But as soon as you plant a tree with those properties in a world peopled by free human beings, you introduce the possibility of abuse. A free man may pick up a chunk of wood and take advantage of its firmness by bashing the head of another man. God could, I suppose, reach down each time and transform the properties of wood into those of sponge, so that the club would bounce off lightly. But that is not what he is about in the world. He has set into motion fixed laws that can be perverted to evil by our misguided freedom. — Where Is God When It Hurts? (Philip Yancey)

18. Isaiah 53.10 – 11 What pleased God?

To whom do you think this is referring? [Isaiah 53] Barry had a good idea who. Reading out of his own Tanach, he was startled at the parallels to Jesus, but he was still a bit confused. He wanted to give his rabbi a chance to explain it.

“I vividly remember the first time I seriously confronted Isaiah 53, or better still, the first time it seriously confronted me,” Barry explains. “Being rather confused over the identity of the Servant in Isaiah 53, I went to my local rabbi and said to him, ‘Rabbi, I have met some people at school who claim that the so-called Servant in Isaiah 53 is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. But I would like to know from you, who is this Servant in Isaiah 53?’”

Barry was astonished at his response. The rabbi said, “Barry, I must admit that as I read Isaiah 53 it does seem to be talking about Jesus, but since we Jews do not believe in Jesus, it can’t be speaking about Jesus.”

Barry didn’t know a lot about formal logic at that point, but he knew enough to say to himself, “That just doesn’t sound kosher to me! Not only does the rabbi’s so-called reasoning sound circular, it also sounds evasive and even fearful.” Today Barry observes, “There are none who are as deaf as those who do not want to hear.” — I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek)

19. Matthew 27. 46 What is Jesus feeling in this verse?

Two of the prayers in troubled times (the Abba in Gethsemane and Eloi from the cross) were so moving that words from the original Semitic language stuck in the minds of hearers. Of the seven cries from the cross, at least three were prayers. Hebrews reports that “he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death” — but of course he was not saved from death. Like the people who wrote me letters, like all of us at times, Jesus knew the sensation of getting no answer to his pleas. — Prayer (Philip Yancey)