The Grace Series: "Romans 5:3 - Rejoiceful Tribulations." Part III

By Anonymous -
[This is the third part of The Grace Series in Romans 5. The first part of this series can be found here. The second part can be found here.]

In Romans 5:3 Paul writes, "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance." This almost sounds irrational or fanatical when compared to the preceding verse Romans 5:2, "...we exult in the hope of the glory of God." If we are to exult in hope, how is it then that we also must somehow rejoice in the trials that cause so us much personal pain? This notion borders almost bizarre. It seems as though God is unsympathetic and coldhearted. And yet there appears to be an anticipation by Paul of a potential argument against what he has set so far. If I am accepted in Christ, if I have been saved truly, if I am at peace with God and I have His peace, why the trials? Some would argue that if you look at their lives it seems as though God is angry at them. And yet by trusting God (faith) we recognize many ways of dispensing His grace.

One of the profound ways God dispenses His grace is difficulty, struggle, and in trials. Trials become an occasion for rejoicing as God graciously takes us through them to the other side. Trials are not inconsistent with the love of God; they are evidence of the love of God. In fact, I would argue, the opposite of love is not hate or anger. It is indifference. If God was doing nothing, that is evidence that perhaps He hates us or is displeased with us. Yet, all through the New Testament we find a variety of blessed glorious reasons why God permits and causes struggle for the Christian.

First: we live in a fallen world.
We are on two sides of a battle that is raging. We are citizens of heaven. We are in the midst of those who are citizens of this earth. We are followers of Christ in the midst of people who are followers of the devil. There is a war raging. They hated Christ; they will hate us. We should not be surprised. "Blessed are those who are persecuted," Jesus said in His sermon on the mount. "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you on the count of me." Gods grace is on display as He takes us through and enables us to endure these false accusations, insults, and distresses that are results of living in this fallen
world.

Second: God desires to display His glory in our life.
Perhaps, there is not greater way for God to display His glory than by His divine enablement in the midst of enormous, profound, painful trial and struggle. 1 Peter 4:12 says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." God's glory is manifest. His grace is illumined as He divinely enables us to live through difficult trials, struggles and tribulations. A great work He does in our lives
as we patiently endure.

Third: God permits trials to strengthen us and show where our true strength lies.
By appealing, depending upon, and crying out for His grace is how we recognize our futile strength and ability to cope during tribulations. Remember the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, he had this thorn in the flesh. It was so painful that he sought the Lord three times that it might be freed a and removed from him. Yet, God said, "I'm not gonna do it." 2 Corinthians 12:9 God replies to Paul saying, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Paul writes in reply, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecution, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." We find out where our true source of strength comes from as we depend upon God's gracious faithful assistance and divine enablement. Glory to God.

Fourth: God uses trials to get our attention and redirect our paths.
Many of us persue selfish goals and ambitions whereby we try to create our own happiness and fulfill the Great American Commission, "Live life by what pleases you most." I recollect on my own past where I cried out to God, "why would you give this all to me and then just pull it away?" Yet at the same time I began getting heavily involved with church and getting deep into the scriptures. And by surprise God got hold of my life and those past efforts to make my way into the business world on my own was halted and I've now been strongly going after a Christian education. If you think of your own situations either currently or in the past I'm sure most of you can relate quite similarly. Looking back I would never want to endure the painful hardship I had to endure transferring from one lifestyle to the next, however I certainly delight and exult in what God did through it in redirecting my path. To be honest, I probably would have ended up some lousy businessman swamped with so much work it would interfere with my future wife and kids if I would have continued in that direction.

Whatever the trail (you can fill in the blank) we all have been there or we will yet be there. The difficulties of life will come knocking someday. Whatever the trial, the grace of God is abundantly displayed in the midst of trials. Therefore, Paul continues in verse 3, "we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance." Will we hang in there or will we flee and reject God? Will we stay and trust God?


******************************************************************
In the next installment of The Grace Series I will be covering Romans 5:4 and discussing the formula Paul writes pertaining to perseverance, character, and hope.

******************************************************************

Cross-blogged at Apologia Christi

Comments

Jason Pratt said…
One of the better entries so far. {s}

To the four reasons mentioned above, I can add another two, for why I should rejoice in my tribulation.

5.) I am a sinner, too. The strongest and most constant pain that I suffer in my own life, happens to come from my selfishness being destroyed. While this overlaps somewhat with your third and fourth reasons (especially the fourth), I did not find the basic principle here being expressed in either place: God punishes me in order that I may learn to be a better person.

6.) This is a more subtle point, though no less important I think; and it also follows from (and exemplifies) the love of God for even those who do evil (whether myself or others). When I myself am abused, I am challenged to rejoice in this, for it demonstrates the love God has for _everyone_--even for my enemies. God doesn't treat us as puppets, or as a computer program to which He can simply give the three-fingered reboot and a reload from a previous save. {s} If I am to be glad and grateful about this when _I_ am the one who is abusing the grace of God (i.e. that God is merciful and gracious to me, the sinner Whom He loves, treating me as a child and not as some expendable thing); then I had better learn to rejoice for similar reasons, that God so loves sinners other than myself--even when I am the one on the receiving end of their abuses of His grace (instead of vice versa.)

To say the least, this is a difficult challenge. {g} It is easy for me to be glad and grateful that God allows me to be a real boy instead of a puppet, even though (I admit in penitence) I continue holding to my sin. It is not so easy for me to be glad and grateful to God when other people are sinners, too; especially when I or the people I love are the victims.

(I can also extrapolate this principle to the behaviors of a neutral field of reality in which we operate--with the same difficulty on my part, yet also, I believe, the same necessity, at least for me to grow to do.)
8/17/2006 06:55:00 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Children in Bethlehem Did Herod Kill?

By -
A couple of months ago, I wrote a post about the Gospel of Matthew’s account of the slaughter of the innocents. Therein, I argued that some of the skepticism about the account was unjustified. One argument I made was that the number of children killed in Bethlehem would likely have been no more than 20. Though obviously an act of great evil, the killing of 20 children would be much less likely to be noticed by historians of the time than the slaughter of thousands as later traditions speculated. In response to the post, Peter Kirby asked a few questions. He has patiently waited my response, continuously delayed by work, family, and the completion of my Acts article . Two of the questions had to do with how the amount of 20 was determined. Others with the omission of the account by Luke and the reliability of the tradition recounted by Macrobius. Peter also mentioned that there were other reasons to doubt the story's historicity beyond just the silence of other sources. I ...
Read more

The Bogus Gandhi Quote

By J. P Holding -
Image
I first made this post in 2012, and since then I've made a sort of mini-career out of tracking down bogus quotes like this one (including a video version below). It's a sort of fun microcosm of the way information is mishandled in the Information Age. ** I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. – Mahatma Gandhi A Christian can probably expect to get this quote thrown at them at least once in their lifetime, and waved in their face many more. I had it put to me recently, but my experience with this sort of thing immediately led me to wonder -- is it real? The evidence at this point seems to be no. The first signal of a problem was that anywhere I found it, no source was given. That's often a sign that something is being passed around uncritically. Whether online sources or books, no one seemed to have a source for this quote. A second warning was that the quote has been given more than one context. As ...
Read more

Where did Jesus say "It is better to give than receive?"

By -
A visitor to the CADRE site recently sent a question about Paul's statement in Acts 20:35 which records Paul as saying, "And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is better to give than to receive'." The reader wanted to know where Jesus said this. This was my answer: You are correct in noting that this saying of Jesus quoted by Paul is not found anywhere in the four Gospels. My own study Bible says "This is a rare instance of a saying of Jesus not found in the canonical Gospels." Does the fact that it isn't stated in the Gospels mean that it isn't reliably from the lips of Jesus? I don't think so. The Apolstle John said at the end of his Gospel (John 21:25): "Jesus did many other things as well.If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." Obviously, this is exaggeration for the sake of making a point, but it means that Jesus ...
Read more

Discussing Embryonic Stem Cell Research

By -
Stand to Reason has published a list of "talking points" that can be used as a quick reference sheet for answering questions about embryonic stem cell research and why people ought to oppose this procedure. The piece, entitled "Are you against stem cell research and cloning?" give good, concise answers to some of the questions that arise concerning why Christians would oppose this procedure when it supposedly holds such great promise. For example, consider the following from the "talking points": Where do we get human embryonic stem cells? We can only derive human embryonic stem cells by killing a human embryo. Removing its stem cells leaves it with no cells from which to build the organs of its body. What is the embryo? An embryo is a living, whole, human organism (a human being) in the embryonic stage. All the embryo needs to live is a proper environment and adequate nutrition, the very same thing all infants, toddlers, adolescents, and adults need. ...
Read more

Tillich, part 2: What does it mean to say "God is Being Itself?"

By -
 In this essay, which is a chapter from the new book I'm now working on, I'm moving toward defining what I think Tillich means exactly by being itself. It's a long journey but an important one. What does Tillich actually mean by “being itself?” Does he mean the same things as other theologians who use the phrase? It’s a mysterious sounding phrase and Tillich never actually comes out and says what he means by it. As I will show there is a reason for this, and I will show what I think that reason in is. In the mean time the task of this chapter is to deduce exactly what Tillich actually means by this phrase. There are three basic possibilities: Three alternatives as to meaning (1) The basic fact that things exist is all that the concept of “God” amounts to. (2) There is a special quality to being, an impersonal aspect” ground of being” or “being itself” and that quality constitutes ‘the divine.’ This possibility excludes God as “king of the universe.” (3) God is b...
Read more

Revamping and New Articles at the CADRE Site

By -
We have changed the Christian History page at the CADRE site from the old design to the new one. The focus of the revamped page has expanded, with many new articles: This page provides links to websites and articles relating to Christian history, including theological development, notable figures, contributions of Christianity to society and culture, and the archaeological evidence for the facts of the Bible. We have also added four new articles by Darin Wood, PhD: John Chrysostum: His Life, Legacy, and Influence Dr. Wood provides an informative sketch of Chrysostum's life, as well as an exploration into his writings and impact on church evangelism. The Righteousness of God in the Pauline Corpus Dr. Wood examines the crucial role that righteousness plays in understanding Paul's perspectives on justification, propitiation, expiation, and covenant. The Structure of the Apocalypse Dr. Wood provides an in-depth analysis of the structure (or structures) behind the Book o...
Read more

The Folded Napkin Legend

By J. P Holding -
I wrote about t his "urban legend" a few years ago, but it's typical of the silly urban legends we hear about now and then, such as the idea that the head of Proctor and Gamble went on Oprah to pledge his allegiance to Satanism. Christians are no less gullible for this sort of nonsense than anyone else, and frankly, some seem more gullible to believe anything that they consider "edifying". It's no wonder we're mesmerized by self-comfort tunes like "I Can Only Imagine" that contain about as much useful theology as a thimble. ** The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.... In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The fol...
Read more

Do you say this of your own accord? (John 18:34, ESV)

By -
Image
One of the most well-known events in Scriptures is Jesus' exchange with Pontius Pilate at his trial as described in John 18. In verse 38 of that chapter, Pilate asks the question that may be the most ironic in the history of the world, "What is truth?" A less known but equally intriguing saying of Jesus from an apologetics viewpoint can be found in Jesus' response to an earlier question in the same trial. It is a question that is not often quoted, but on those rare occasions when it is quoted, Jesus' response is often overlooked as not particularly important or relevant to today's world. However, it is my experience (as well as the experience of many people who have truly spent time studying the Scriptures) that little, if any, of what Jesus said in the Bible lacks significance across time. To best understand the response, it's important to see the response in context. The situation is this: Jesus has been arrested following His betrayal by Judas I...
Read more

A Botched Abortion Shows the Lies of Pro-Choice Proponents

By -
One of the classes I teach at the university is a course on Ethics, and I am using a book by Ralph Dolgoff, Donna Harrington and Frank M. Lowenberg entitled " Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice " as the text. Overall, I think that it is a good Ethics textbook largely because it provides a balanced viewpoint on the need for values in social work. For example, the book makes the argument (without committing to it) that those engaged in social work cannot avoid making value judgments in ethical decisions because trying to do what is right necessarily involves making an value choice. Also, I book notes that some (including me) think it is ethically wrong for a social worker to cover-up her own values when counseling another person because it creates a false (and ultimately unproductive) relationship with the person being counseled. Still, one of the exemplars in the book gave me pause – not because I thought it raised a deep ethical quandary, but because I wondered how ...
Read more

A Non-Biblical Historian Accepts the Key "Minimum Facts" Supporting Jesus' Resurrection

By -
In their book, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus , Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona argue for the historical reality of Jesus' bodily resurrection using the "minimum facts" approach. Rather than get bogged down in inerrancy and other debates, they focus on the key facts demonstrating Jesus' resurrection. For them, the key facts are: *Jesus' death by crucifixion. *Disciples' Beliefs that Jesus Appeared. *Conversion of Paul. *Conversion of James. *Empty Tomb. William L. Craig, another significant apologist for the historical bodily resurrection of Jesus likewise focuses, in his accessible The Son Rises , on the empty tomb and Jesus' resurrection appearance. Craig gives special emphasis to Jesus' honorable burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Jesus' appearances to James and Paul and their subsequent commitment to the Christian cause. Craig, Licona, and Habermas argue that these basic facts are generally supported by most of the relevant sc...
Read more