“Paradox” is a great word. It means something that appears absurd, looks like it just can’t be the case, but is actually true and really is how things are. It’s a great word – but a paradox can be difficult to live with, particularly if we don’t know it’s there.
Romans 8 v. 18 – 25 confronts us with something of a paradox. It declares that a believer in Jesus is likely to encounter suffering, and perhaps plenty of it, because we live in a world that is broken by our rejection of God. And yet at the same time, it declares that we have “the first-fruits” of the age to come when all suffering will be done away with.
“First-fruits” is what it says – the first crops a farmer gathers from the field which tells him that the rest of the harvest is on the way. Verse 23 says that the “first-fruits” in the believer’s life is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The message is that the Spirit has been given to us, and so the rest of what God has promised, including the time when suffering will be done away with, is on its way.
So, here’s a series of questions that generate strong opinions in some and cause concern and confusion in others, which this passage in Romans can help us address:
These verses in Romans help us face those questions, I believe, because they declare that we are living between the now and the not yet, between the present and the future. That is not to say that the present has no connection to the future. Not at all. The Spirit is within and among God’s people! And so, by His power, through His people, God’s kingdom is breaking into a world that has rejected Him. So it is that we see love for God in the lives of believers, changed hearts and changed behaviour, sacrificial giving and unselfish loving, a desire for prayer and for God’s Word, physical and emotional and mental healing in part or in whole, and the gospel going out into our communities. But we don’t see any of that perfectly: fullness and perfection is to come. It will come, but not yet: as verse 25 says, “we hope for what we do not see”.
It is so important to get this clear in our hearts and minds. If we don’t, we will either live as though the church is just to hang on until Jesus comes again and never expect to see God work any evidence of His kingdom amongst us; or we will become insensitive to others who are suffering when we are not (we will wonder why they don’t enjoy the ‘fullness’ that appears to be ours), and become discouraged when that fullness no longer appears to be what it once was.
For now, we live with two world tension. May God give us the grace to do so, by the power of His Spirit.
Thanks you all for your views.
Very enlightening and I will start thinking on them.
As far as your question goes Tim, I could argue both ways but I curently just don’t know (and maybe thats fine for now).
Rejoice
Tim and Ste: Thanks for your further comments. Like Ste, I don’t think I have an answer to your question Tim. I wonder though whether we’re mistaken if we think it’s an act of greater faith to expect God to heal than it is to submit to His goodness and sovereignty when we just don’t know how we should pray.
Marie: I like your analogy. No doubt it breaks down at certain points, but I agree we come to Christ “for better, for worse”. I’m not sure whether the Bible uses that kind of language though, because what we may deem “worse” from our perspective probably looks rather different frpm His …
Some interesting thoughts, and a discussion well worth having, whether in small groups or here on the Internet. The tension we live in with sickness and strife is very difficult for us to get our heads around. I think limitedness, vulnerability, humility are so important and really underated virtues in our modern day. Admitting we dont have the answers, knowing we are weak, knowing we are reluctant, even in GRACE, to do the Will of God is a great place to start. James 4 says ‘God oposes the proud but favours the humble’, in our strife, battles, can we humble ourselves before God. Seeking His Will above all else, knowing as David so brilliantly said ‘our unbelief and stoney hearts’. Still poses the question, does this limit our faith to heal though? What do you think?
I was thinking about how simple and yet profound those 4 words are, ‘Thy will be done’ – yes paradoxical even maybe!!!
Continuing on with both this discussion and reflecting on the ACC recent celebration of marriage, I thought: when a couple make matrimonial vows they promise their commitment; whether it is, in sickness or in health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse etc. In our own and in our cooperate commitment to the blessed Eternal Bridegroom these earthly vows could, maybe, be embodied in prayers of, ‘ Thy will be done ‘(even if groaned!!).
Thanks David and Fish, very thought provoking and alot of truth. I have a question though. Basically, how do we rightly now approach healing?
I truely believe what you say but this inbetweenness often leaves me into shaping a new wrong path in the world. For example with healing, I understand God can and wants to heal but I also understand with suffering it is not our right and sometimes will not be sorted out until our body dies. Therefore it leaves me at a loss when praying for healing.
So to combat this I seem to have made my ‘own way’ around healing. I pray for people but less passionatly as I think it might not happen (even though I believe it can). I also look at the situation more and think is God leading someone through the suffering so I shoulden’t really pray for healing? So I judge which is pants.
Writing this I am kind of getting what the answer should be:
Be led by the spirit.
Pray for the person in love not the sitaution.
Exalt God as its all down to Him anyway.
However that is not my daily experience, I am much happier to now have my own way (law) for coping with the inbetween which proably menas I am highly ineffective around healing. What do you reckon?
Hi Ste
Thanks for reading the article, and Simon’s comments, and for posting a really important set of questions.
How to pray for those who are sick came up a couple of Tuesdays ago during one of the evening discussions with Paul Miller. Some of the comments below were made on that evening, and I’ve added a few extra ones.
As far as I can see, God hasn’t given us in the Bible a “formula” or pattern that applies whenever we come to pray for, or otherwise support, a sick brother or sister in Christ, or indeed when we seek prayer and support because we are sick ourselves. This is one of the concerns I have about the kind of teaching that says we can expect (for which, sometimes, read “demand”) God’s healing in the way that we would like in every situation: it’s an approach that seems to me to focus on some of the things the Bible says about healing whilst ignoring other things.
So what do we do? I would offer the following (please forgive the lack of Bible references – I am writing this remotely without a Bible to hand!!):
1. Pray and behave on the basis that God is able to do what seems impossible – having thought about this issue for many years, I cannot see that the Bible teaches that gifts of healing disappeared with the original apostles, though I respect the view that some Christians hold to the contrary.
2. At the same time, the love and compassion of Christ should lead us to share in our brother’s suffering – what that might look like is perhaps for another discussion.
3. The love and compassion of Christ will also lead us to take care about what we say to the suffering person and their family (hence the importance of discussions like this) so as not to destroy faith nor create unbiblical expectations.
4. As you say, we should seek to be led by God’s Spirit, always submitting that leading to one another for correction, rebuke, teaching etc. At the same time, I would always want another believer to be free to take a different approach/view in a particular case – in accountable fellowship of course.
5. We shouldn’t divorce medical remedies and what we sometimes label “supernatural healing”. It seems to me there is no natural/supernatural divide for God – healing through medical care is from His hand.
6. As your comments suggest, prayer and support for a sick brother ought to involve much more than praying for physical/mental healing. Perhaps above all, we should pray that they draw close to Christ and glorify Him even in suffering. One-dimensional prayer might create an idol that takes the place of Jesus in our lives.
7. Finally (for now!) we should acknowledge our limitedness. God knows all things and we don’t! So in the community of believers, let’s ask God to help our unbelief and to soften our stony hearts, and when we have done that submit our limitedness to Him in quietness and trust. Praying “Your will be done” has a bad press in some quarters, but it seems to me to have an excellent precedent …
Much more could be said. Recognising that for many, if not all of us, this is much, much more than a debate, I would welcome your and others’ comments.
Every blessing
David
Dave…. some excellent thoughts mate…. keep them coming!
I havent read ‘extensively’ about the life of the early church, but I have read some things, particularly in Bercot’s book ‘Real Heretics’. In that he suggested that the believers in the years immediately following the life of Christ accepted fully that they would be sick and have suffering, but at the same time knew they could be divinely healed. I found it really interesting. So they would pray for healing and often see it, but if not it did not in any way shake their convinction that Jesus was the Way.