Following Jesus means we’ll face suffering. But the Spirit promises to sustain us through it

In the church circles I move in, we often think about the work of the Spirit in relation to the gifts of the Spirit spoken about in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11: wisdom, words of knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous power, prophecy, discernment, tongues and their interpretation. We also talk about the anointing of the Spirit for different ministries and tasks, such as Bezalel’s craftmanship (Exodus 31:1-5), or David’s anointing as king (1 Samuel 16:13). Then there’s the fruit of the Spirit described in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control - attributes that we pray will grow in us as we become more like Christ. These are important and positive works of the Spirit in our lives. 

The forgotten gift

What we don’t often discuss, however, is the gift of the Spirit to help us in our suffering. This is strange because Paul is clear that the Spirit works through our experiences of suffering, supporting, comforting, strengthening and reminding us that, despite what we feel and what might be happening around us, we are beloved children of God. 

Romans 8 is the key text for this. Paul begins the chapter with a bold statement: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v1). This assurance lays the foundation for his teaching on suffering. Paul wants believers to understand that, in the face of suffering, God is with us more closely and intimately than we can imagine. Suffering must not, therefore, be interpreted as a moment when we’ve been abandoned – or worse, as some kind of punishment – but is instead part of what it means to follow Jesus; a shared experience he walks through with us and in us, to lead us into glory. 

Suffering must not be interpreted as some kind of punishment but part of what it means to follow Jesus

Paul reminds believers that the ever-present Spirit doesn’t come and go; he has made a home in us with his life and power. Verse 11 says: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” 

This is why Paul is able to proclaim at the end of the chapter that, despite whatever horrors we experience in this life, whether “trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword” (v35), nothing can “separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus” (v39). The Spirit intercedes for us through everything. 

A glorious hope

Paul recognises that suffering is painful, frightening and traumatic, and also understands that believers might feel abandoned. So he encourages us to have faith that the work of the Spirit is to assure us that we are beloved children, irrespective of the circumstances, and to remind us of a glorious inheritance that is ours in the future. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we might also share in his glory” (v17).

What he in effect prophesies over the Romans is something I believe he experienced in his own sufferings: the assurance from the Spirit that he is a child of God – and everything that comes with this new status. Paul describes this work of the Spirit as a “co-witness”. He writes: “The Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ” (v15-16). John Wesley talks about this as a “joint testimony”. The Spirit testifies and we testify with him. Together, we cry out to the Father, affirming that we are God’s children. This joint testimony, from two witnesses, establishes it as absolute truth (see Deuteronomy 19:15).

The mystery of God’s presence in and through suffering is not something we can explain easily, but what Paul teaches here is suffering for Christ is a shared experience with him – the suffering of the co-heirs will be a co-suffering because it will be “in Christ”. Those who suffer in Christ will also be glorified with him. 

God’s love through suffering doesn’t make sense to our rational minds; it can only be seen with the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18) and known in our spirits by faith. This, too, is a work of the Holy Spirit. In Romans 11:33, Paul describes the depths of God’s wisdom and knowledge as “unsearchable”. However, Holy Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God, and communicates them to the human spirit in order that “we may understand what God has freely given us” (1 Corinthians 2:9-12). The Spirit reveals not only the riches of God’s wisdom and knowledge, but also makes known God’s judgements and his paths. It is this that sustains us through suffering. 

Christ’s example

When Jesus went to the cross, though fully divine, he walked a journey of faith in his humanity. He moved from the cry of despair in Psalm 22:1: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” to a place of assurance. Knowing that the Spirit – his own Spirit, the one who had been with him throughout his trials – would raise him from the dead to defeat sin and death, Jesus entrusted his spirit into his Father’s hands (see Luke 23:46).

The joint testimony of the Holy Spirit and the human spirit to our Abba Father is the cry of faith in the face of suffering. It is a prophetic cry in the knowledge of the love that God the Father has for his children – and a prophetic witness to those watching and listening of the certain hope of future glorification.