Why is there pain and suffering in the Bible?
Answered from the commentary of The Bible Treasury, J. Wilson Smith, F. B. Hole and 7 others
Pain and suffering are in the world because sin entered through man’s disobedience, bringing sorrow, sickness, pain and death; the whole creation groans under the consequences of the fall. They also come through human sin and violence, and through Satan’s opposition, though those who suffer most are not necessarily the greatest sinners. So suffering is not always punishment for a person’s wrongdoing: it may come without retribution, as an occasion for God’s work to be shown.
For believers, suffering may be for Christ’s sake, part of life in a world opposed to God, or discipline and training from a loving Father; it can correct, prevent danger, and teach endurance and deeper knowledge of God. Through it God works to form Christ’s character in them, and what is borne with Him can bring blessing to others and be found to praise at His appearing. Though its purpose may not be understood at the time, God is not indifferent: He sustains and comforts those who suffer, and all things work together for good for those who love Him. The creation’s groaning and human suffering will not continue for ever; deliverance is coming.
Verses: Genesis 3:16, Genesis 3:17, Genesis 3:18, Genesis 3:19, Job 1:12, Job 1:13, Job 1:14, Job 1:15, Job 1:16, Job 1:17, Job 1:18, Job 1:19, Job 1:20, Job 1:21, Job 1:22, Job 2:6, Job 2:7, Job 2:8, Job 2:9, Job 2:10, Job 38:1, Psalms 34:18, Psalms 119:71, Isaiah 53:3, Isaiah 53:4, Isaiah 53:5, John 9:1, John 9:2, John 9:3, John 16:33, Romans 5:3, Romans 5:4, Romans 5:5, Romans 8:18, Romans 8:19, Romans 8:20, Romans 8:21, Romans 8:22, Romans 8:23, Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:4, 2 Corinthians 1:5, 2 Corinthians 1:6, 2 Corinthians 1:7, 2 Corinthians 4:16, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 2 Corinthians 4:18, 2 Corinthians 12:7, 2 Corinthians 12:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 12:10, Philippians 1:29, Hebrews 12:5, Hebrews 12:6, Hebrews 12:7, Hebrews 12:8, Hebrews 12:9, Hebrews 12:10, Hebrews 12:11, James 1:2, James 1:3, James 1:4, 1 Peter 1:6, 1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 4:12, 1 Peter 4:13, Revelation 21:4
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
Buddha said that "to live is to suffer," and he said that the reasons for suffering were ignorance and craving. The Bible agrees that suffering is everywhere and that a good deal of suffering is due to misplaced desire, but at the core, the Bible provides a very different explanation for suffering. The Bible explains that the entire world "groans" and that all men suffer because of sin (see Romans 8:18â23). All of us have put our own personal desires ahead of God's. All of us are sinners by choice. We decide to live our lives independently of God and His laws (see Isaiah. 53:6).
The Bible alone accounts for the presence of evil, and its resultant misery and death. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. It is a righteous thing that misery and death, with all their concomitant evils, should be the lot of man — the righteous dealings of a just and holy God with rebels; and, while sin remains, righteousness demands that all these evils — the fruit of sin — should also remain. Even God's saints, while here in the body, are exposed to the sorrows to which humanity is heir. The Lord Jesus Himself submitted, in grace truly, to all the consequences — sin excepted — of taking a place among men and specially the remnant of Israel, a thing wholly distinct from being made sin on the cross. To remove the sufferings while sin is present would be a denial of God's righteous government.
In fallen humanity man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Besides the afflictions of man in body, mind, and estate, there are also the oppressions they suffer one from another. In some parts of the earth slavery still exists and in more enlightened parts the rich oppress the poor. James 2:6. Man is very ready to attribute all such things to the Creator, forgetting that God made man upright and God declared that everything that He had made, including man, was very good. It is sin that has brought in the misery, and man, by becoming the willing servant of Satan, has put himself into the hands of his enemy. Besides the afflictions incident on fallen humanity, there are afflictions that fall specially upon the Christian. There are those he may have to suffer for righteousness' sake as well as for Christ's sake. Another class of afflictions which the Christian has to bear is inflicted directly from the hand of God for his good. See CHASTENING.
Suffering comes to us from different quarters and for various reasons, but that which is testing the greatest number now, and causing the most suffering at this time is the war, and many are asking why it should be? Why, if God is good, should there be any war at all? That is a question that calls for an answer. God is good, ten thousand times ten thousand voices bear witness to His goodness, but the world as such has rejected God, and despised the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that His goodness would lead them to repentance (Rom. 2:4) and has chosen to follow Satan, the adversary instead of God. In Eden Adam listened to the voice of Satan and turned his back upon God and by that act of disobedience sin entered into the world and death by sin (Rom. 5:13) and when sin came in, peace spread its wings and flew away. “There is no peace, says the Lord, unto the wicked” (Isa. 48:22). The world has been Satan’s world since that day and “suffering and sweat and tears and blood” are the result, they are part of sin’s foul brood.
It is safe, then, to affirm that disobedience to God is the secret; and that, but for sin, there would be neither sorrow nor suffering.
Let no one suppose that those who suffer most in this world are the greatest sinners; it is often not so, though undoubtedly the greatest sinners will suffer the most in the lake of fire, for at the last great judgment they are to be judged every man "according to their works" (Rev. 20:13). We have no intention of charging the poor and suffering with the greater guilt. What we desire to do is to show, in a few words from the Bible, what is the cause of the universal misery, and it is plainly taught there that the world's misery springs from the world's sins, and the fact that it rejected and killed the only One who could have put it right.
As to why believers, whose sins have all been gone into, judged, and judicially made an end of in the death of Christ, are not exempted from suffering is a cause of great concern in the minds of many who have not the scriptural answer to such a very important question. One can very well understand a rejecter of the gospel, upon whom lies the wrath of an angry God, being greatly afflicted, but to find one who is so loved as Christ is being in evil circumstances is quite another thing altogether.
People like to walk by sight, and that was the great fallacy that lay under all the speeches of these three friends. They looked at Job; they looked at what he was; and they look at what he now is in all this terrible crushing to the dust, and they said in effect, 'Well, God is a righteous God, and if there were not some dreadful thing behind all this, God would never have allowed it.' They were completely wrong, and Job was thoroughly right in saying, 'No, I know it is not so, and all your talk cannot get rid of the fact that you have most wicked men that are most flourishing, and you have pious men that are exceedingly suffering, in the world as it is now.' How is that? Because Satan is actively working here; because Satan is the one that men follow without knowing. They are slaves and captives of the devil; and those that are not slaves of the devil are the objects of his vengeance and hatred. God does not remove that; He does not put down Satan yet; he is allowed his way. And there never was a greater proof of it than his leading the world and the Jewish people to crucify their own Messiah, the Lord of glory. Was there any fault here? Here you have the crucial proof. Here was the absolutely sinless One and never such a sufferer.
There is also suffering on account of the possession of the Divine nature. Creation groans all around us. From the highest to the lowest—from the head to the foot—from the man set in responsibility to God down to the worm that has its home in the clod at his feet the effects of the fall are felt; and every living thing is racked with pain. The heart of every one is made bitter on account of sin, and throughout all the earth there is a cry.
We suffer here because we have a soul risen in a body that is not risen, and that in a world at enmity with God.
Verses
- Genesis 3:16–1916To the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy travail and thy pregnancy; with pain thou shalt bear children; and to thy husband shall be thy desire, and he shall rule over thee. 17And to Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it cursed be the ground on thy account; with toil shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; 18and thorns and thistles shall it yield thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, until thou return to the ground for out of it wast thou taken. For dust thou art; and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Job 1:12–2212And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand; only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah. 13And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn. 14And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them; 15and [they of] Sheba fell [upon them] and took them, and the servants have they smitten with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped, alone, to tell thee. 16While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped, alone, to tell thee. 17While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels and took them, and the servants have they smitten with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped, alone, to tell thee. 18While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn; 19and behold, there came a great wind from over the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they died; and I only am escaped, alone, to tell thee. 20And Job rose up, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped; 21and he said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah! 22In all this Job sinned not, nor ascribed anything unseemly to God.