Theophilus Cafe is a place where we can have a running dialogue based on a question or issue that I post. Think of the Cafe as a virtual coffee house where you can gather with your friends and discuss the posted topic or just reflect on it. Please post your thoughts or response on this topic in the comments. So the question today is: Do some suffer so that others can sin?
Advertisement
This is an interesting question which can also be posed as “why do the innocent suffer.” Certainly Job is an example of someone who was innocent and suffered. Christ who was without sin and innocent also suffered for the redemption of all of mankind. Also in the Old Testament in the prophet Jeremiah 31:29-30 there is this passage which reads “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’But everyone shall die for his own sin. Each man who eats sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.” Only when all of mankind stops rebelling against God and the final judgment comes will the innocent no longer suffer for the sins of others. Paul brings this to light as well in Colossians 1:24 when he says “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the church.” Basically Paul is saying that we are all sinners and because of sin we all suffer but only by uniting our sufferings to the sufferings of Christ are we saved.