Subject: Suffering and God's providence |
Bible Note: Greetings Atdcross! Thanks for the response my friend! :-) You raise many points, and I will try to address them. 1) God's will and suffering: There seem to be two mistakes that you are making with this text. a) First of all, you are denying the clear statement of Peter that the suffering in 1 Peter is a direct result of the will of God. No matter what our personal feelings on this subject may be, God's Word is quite clear. Peter did not say, 'those who suffer according to the will of men'. He said, 'those who suffer according to the will of God'. b) Secondly, you then take the word 'suffer' from it's context and make it refer to 'all suffering'. The text does not say that 'all suffering' is a result of God's will. The suffering mentioned in 1 Peter seems to be focused mostly upon the way someone is treated because one is a Christian and trying to live righteously. One cannot take Peter statement to mean that every act that brings suffering is a direct result of God's will. In fact, 1 Peter 3:17 makes it clear that not all suffering is a result of God's will. My original point to you was simply that 1 Peter 4:19 does tie some suffering to God's will, while you had stated that it is not God's will that they suffer. Yet, Phil. 1:29 explicitly states that suffering for Christ is a gift from God. :-) Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |