Enduring All Things for the Sake of the Elect
Paul's Sufferings for the Gospel
At the men’s Bible Study yesterday, we were looking at the end of Romans 8 and the beginning of Romans 9. It is probably my favorite section of Romans. At the end of Romans 8 Paul says,
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:35–39 (ESV)
Paul tells us that no persecution, suffering, or danger can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. What kind of things is Paul thinking about as he writes this? What does this look like in his life? Well, he explains some of what he went through in 2 Corinthians 11:
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. - 2 Corinthians 11:23–33 (ESV)
The amount of suffering that Paul summarizes in verses 24-29 is hard to imagine. Being whipped 39 times with a leather whip - probably with multiple thongs - on the back and the chest is enough to kill a man. Yet Paul suffered this extruciating torture five times. But he was also stoned - and they thought it killed him! He was beaten with rods. And he suffered in a multitude of other ways, often living in constant danger.
In Romans 8, Paul makes it clear what his hope is as he suffers for the name of Christ. In Romans 9, he gives us a glimpse of what else drove him to keep going in spite of all of this suffering.
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. - Romans 9:1–3 (ESV)
Paul was driven by the grace of Christ and his love for others. His love for his fellow Jews led him to say that he would be willing to take their place and be condemned to hell to save them. This is not mere hyperbole. Paul is expressing the same thing Jesus did for His people. Jesus suffered God’s wrath on the cross as He died for the sins of the world. This is the example that Paul is seeking to follow. Now, Paul knew he couldn’t do this. He knew Jesus had already done it for him. But it gives us a beautiful glimpse into Paul and what drove Him. Paul was compelled by Christ’s love for him, his love for Christ, and his love for those who do not know Christ.1
When Paul says, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory,” he means it. He gives us as Christians a beautiful example of what it means to live our lives in service to Christ and the Gospel. He shows us what a life of sacrifice looks like.
This life of love and sacrifice is not going to look exactly like it did for Paul. But we are still called to be faithful where God has placed us in our vocations…even when faithfulness leads to suffering.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself. - 2 Timothy 2:8–13 (ESV)
A great example of this thinking is C.F.W. Walther’s sermon for Epiphany. I think it is one of the greatest sermons on missions and evangelism that I have ever read.