We Sign Up to Suffer: Paul’s Suffering in 2 Corinthians as a Missionary Model
My first time at a missions conference, I remember seeing booths with signs picturing happy and excited college-aged students. They boasted slogans like “Come Change the World,” “Have the Adventure of a Lifetime,” and “Be a World-Changer.” Each appealed to desires for self-fulfillment, fun, and excitement. No doubt they attracted some to the mission field… but at what cost?
God’s word offers missionaries a different set of expectations, contrary to the idealization and romanticization of those slogans. We need look no further than perhaps the greatest missionary of all time, the Apostle Paul, whose missionary conference slogans might’ve been something like, “Come be afflicted in every way” (2 Corinthians 4:8) or maybe “Come be imprisoned more than your friends” (2 Corinthians 11:23).
Paul’s understanding of weakness and suffering in ministry is crucial for the church to grasp today, and he most comprehensively develops these themes in 2 Corinthians. In this letter, Paul contends that weakness and suffering are at the center of his calling as an apostle because the power of the gospel is mediated through them. In Paul’s life, and in the life of the church more broadly, suffering and weakness are part of the very means by which the gospel spreads, believers are comforted, and God receives the glory over man. As John Barclay says, all of God’s people are called to live out “the grammar of grace, divine power operative in the midst of human weakness”
Though this applies to all Christians, it is especially true of those who, like Paul, go to the front lines of gospel advance in difficult places.
We Don’t Sign Up to “Thrive”
Why rain on the missions parade by bringing up the uncomfortable reality of suffering? Because expectations matter. Missionaries who anticipate constant thriving will be unprepared when they are required to endure hardship. Pastors and sending churches do aspiring missionaries no service by sugarcoating the difficulty of learning a new language and culture, and staying in a hard place long enough to see lasting fruit. C.S. Lewis put it clearly when he said that “straight tribulation is easier to bear than tribulation which advertises itself as pleasure.”
The long and slow slog of language learning, culture shock, visa uncertainties, homesickness, new diseases, feeling like you’re in a fishbowl, persecution, civil unrest, rejection, frequent power outages, poor medical care, heightened stress, loneliness, team conflict, isolation, physical danger, giving up foods and comforts, and separation from home are just a few of the (relatively mild compared to Paul and many missionaries of the past) forms of suffering that most missionaries will face.
But I hope readers, especially potential missionaries, will be encouraged that the trials we will face are exceedingly light when compared with the miracle of the gospel spreading, fellowship with Christ, and the eternal weight of glory being laid up for those in Him.
How the World Sees Suffering
If 1 Corinthians focuses on God’s wisdom shown in the cross of Christ over and against worldly wisdom, then it may be said that 2 Corinthians zeroes in on the world’s belief that suffering automatically implies disqualification and failure. According to this view, if you’re suffering then you must be doing something wrong.
The context of 2 Corinthians included a vocal minority that rose up to oppose Paul and question his apostolic authority. It appears that this group, whom Paul sarcastically refers to as “super-apostles,” led the charge against Paul by highlighting his unimpressive suffering and weakness as reasons to doubt his apostleship. The underlying argument of the letter makes it clear that fundamentally, it was a worldly way of thinking about weakness and suffering that tempted the Corinthians to reject Paul. But for them to reject Paul would be to reject his gospel and ultimately God. The stakes couldn’t be higher. The gospel message of a suffering Savior itself stands in need of defense.
The worldly-wise ideas about suffering that Paul was calling the Corinthian church to reject are relevant because of the similar expectations of many missionaries, missions organizations, and sending churches today. It is typical to think that if a worker and their family are not “thriving,” however that may be defined, then something must be seriously off. Our knee-jerk reaction should not be to counsel solid missionary units toward leaving the field and coming home, but rather to spur them on to persevere. To “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3).
I’m not saying there’s never a good reason to return home or advocating that missionaries push to the point of burn out where something blows up. I’m not saying that sending churches should pay no attention to how workers are doing physically, emotionally, and spiritually because missionaries are supposed to be suffering anyway. Much less am I saying that ministry never comes with its distinct joys. But perhaps one significant reason that 75% of missionaries leave the field before year seven is that we are not always equipped with the right expectations and mindset to stand firm in the midst of suffering.
Suffering unto Sanctification
Paul flips the script on his opponents’ worldly wisdom by referencing Christ’s suffering: “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Corinthians 1:5) We may face affliction in this life, but we must also confidently expect to share in the abundant comfort of Christ and receive the imperishable inheritance of eternal life.
Paul challenges the Corinthians’ assumptions about suffering here in multiple ways. First, if they wish to identify with Christ and his salvation, they must simultaneously identify with his suffering. Second, if they agree that Christ comforts his people through the suffering experienced by Paul, then any opposition to him for his suffering is undermined. In fact, Paul’s affliction becomes the very thing that enables him to comfort and lead them to maturity in Christ. All Christians should expect to suffer (Romans 8:13, 17-18; 2 Timothy 3:12; Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 4:12-13, 5:9-10). We are called to live out the paradoxical pattern of strength in weakness, victory amidst suffering, and losing our lives for Jesus’ sake so that we may save them. This is especially true for Christian leaders, like pastors and missionaries.
Paul puts his adversity into further perspective when he claims that a specific trial in Asia, which led to his utter burden and despair, was “to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9). God used the trial to destroy Paul’s self-reliance and self-confidence. This is unsurprising because of the consistent way that suffering is an indispensable tool in the hand of God for our sanctification (cf. James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5, 1 Peter 1:6-7). So the fruit born in Paul’s life through difficulty further set him apart from the so-called “super-apostles,” who preferred commending themselves (2 Corinthians 10:12; 11:12) to reliance on God! The more his opponents called attention to his weakness and suffering, the more they undercut their own claims to apostleship and prove themselves to be full of worldly wisdom.
The Redemption of Suffering
Rather than try to avoid the suffering of rejection and opposition through tampering with God’s word (2 Corinthians 4:2), Paul embraced the ridicule that would come from preaching Christ to those whose minds were blinded (4:4-5). He had already recognized that he was the fragrance of death to those who were perishing (2:14-16), so rejection at the hands of some was no surprise for him.
As Sinclair Ferguson put it recently, “we are interested in being leaders, but not so much servants!” Unlike Paul’s opponents, who desired to lead in a way that gained praise and wealth from their ministry (and is the desire for human praise not a perennial temptation for the missionary?), Paul readily identifies himself as the Corinthians’ slave for Jesus’ sake (4:5). Opposite of what we may expect, Paul’s authority results in him being a slave to all (1 Corinthians 9:19), ready to suffer and be maligned for the sake of Christ and good of his church.This more than anything else, even signs and wonders (2 Corinthians 12:12), proves Paul to be a true apostle of Christ, the one who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
Furthermore, the weakness and dependency of God’s ministers, mere “jars of clay,” shows that “the surpassing power belongs to God and not to [them]” (2 Corinthians 4:7). When Paul in his apostolic suffering is “given over to death for Jesus’ sake,” it is so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh” (4:11) which results in spiritual life in the people he is ministering to (4:12). Only the suffering and death of Jesus was vicarious and atoning (5:18-21). Nonetheless, Bible scholar Colin G. Kruse points out that “it was through Paul’s preaching of the gospel in the power of the Spirit, albeit in the midst of persecution and suffering, that Jesus’ life was mediated to others.” Thus, when Paul says that he is “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” (Colossians 1:24) for the sake of the church, the weight of his statement must not be diminished by the fact that his sufferings for their sake are qualitatively different from Christ’s, who alone was a perfect sinless substitute and suffered God’s anger and curse in the place of all of his own.
Any Christian walking the path of obedience, particularly missionaries in hard places, should resonate with Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10. But in spite of the genuine pain and difficulty that Paul endured, he had anything but a woe-is-me message. He was not trying to make the Corinthians feel sorry for him nor did he eke out his days in a miserable existence wherein he was just waiting to die and escape. Rather, his eyes are fixed on the fruit that the Spirit produces through his faithful suffering, both the extension of grace to more people and the increase of thanksgiving to the glory of God (4:15). He’s not yet free from his long list of hardships, but he is already experiencing resurrection life as he endures by the power of the Spirit.
Boasting Like a Christian
Unlike the super-apostles–pragmatists able to draw a crowd and exert influence– Paul continued to embrace his weakness and the rejection that can come with it.
At first, 2 Corinthians 11 reads like he’s been roped into playing the same worldly game as the false apostles, when he boasts of being a better servant of Christ than his opponents (11:23). But this only makes it all the more dramatic when he suddenly zags and brags in the only genuine way a servant of Christ could. He exults in his weakness and sufferings for Christ, things that are shameful according to worldly ways of thinking. So, in verse 23 he begins listing things like imprisonments, countless beatings, and being near death, all of which the super-apostles would never want on their resumes. Unlike some of us today, Paul’s original audience would not have been as tempted to lionize him as a missionary hero because of the shamefulness and humiliation associated with so many of these trials.
Paul’s Answered Prayer
Astoundingly, Paul’s agonizing thorn in the flesh is given because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations he experienced. His revelation really was that impressive, but that is what made his suffering all the more necessary.
Several things must be noted about Paul’s thorn. First, it was given to him by God himself for the good purpose of keeping him from pride and conceitedness (12:7). This suffering was not an ancillary side effect of Paul’s calling but a necessary influence. Second, although the exact nature of the “thorn” is unspecified, it’s clear that it persisted for 14 long years (12:2)! Like many of Paul’s other hardships (11:28), this suffering characterized Paul’s life and ministry. Suffering was the rule, not the exception.
Finally, since Paul’s prayer isn’t answered in the affirmative through the removal of suffering, it can be easy to forget that it is one of the most plain examples in scripture of answered prayer. The response was clear: “But He (the Lord) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness’” (12:9). Just like our Lord’s threefold prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, Paul’s thrice-repeated prayer did not entail the removal of affliction, but it was answered nonetheless. Following the pattern of Christ, who was “crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God (13:4), Paul’s endurance of adversity brought resurrection life to others (4:10-12).
Apart from experiencing and embracing weakness and suffering, Paul would have failed to know and act as a conduit of the depths of Christ’s power and sufficiency. Though he has been slandered for them, his weaknesses are the only legitimate ground for boasting he has as a true apostle because “they are the means by which God is making known his glory in Christ among the Corinthians (1:3–11; 2:14–16a; 3:7—4:6, 13–18; 6:3–10). In the end it is his weaknesses, not his revelations, miracles, credentials or successes, that are the grounds for Christ’s power and the strongest argument for his apostleship. Few missionaries would choose suffering over signs and wonders if asked to pick something to kickstart the growth of the church somewhere, yet this is exactly what Paul implicitly argues for throughout this whole letter!
Application and Clarification
Naturally, we are tempted to shy away from this call to suffer and die to ourselves in the spread of the gospel. This is evident in many methodological fads in missions today that promise silver bullets and rapid growth with minimal involvement. Things like thorough language learning, living amongst a people long-term, or patiently teaching new believers unto maturity become unnecessary or even discouraged with many of these methods.
There are many reasons why these relatively new ideas are popular today, but I think one of them must certainly be our aversion to difficulty, suffering, and weakness. But we should not be swayed by the missionary version of get-rich-quick schemes. We are in danger of giving up perseverance through suffering in the ordinary commanded means, such as the preaching and teaching of the word and the administration of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We must not value ingenuity, transferability, or new ministry tools more than what God has already promised to bless and work through, even if they may require more blood, sweat, and tears.
In light of this, it’s worth considering some clarifications to Christian suffering as well:
First, we are not to manufacture suffering or foolishly run into it for its own sake. One way of doing this would be to neglect God’s gifts like rest, recreation, prayer, the Word and fellowship. Paul was not flouting his suffering as if it made him special or more spiritual. He spoke of his suffering to point away from himself and to Christ.
Second, we shouldn’t romanticize suffering. Here’s a profound truth: suffering is not fun. You don’t even need to go to seminary to learn that one. Part of our very hope as Christians is that we will one day dwell with God in the new creation free from all suffering forever! To suffer is to be impacted by this fallen world. Only in the hands of a good and sovereign God can suffering be redeemed.
Third, suffering and hardship, in and of themselves, do not automatically indicate God’s stamp of approval or reveal his power. It is also necessary to both suffer for the right things and in the right way. We see that Paul met both of these criteria. He suffered out of a refusal to compromise the gospel or love for those he brought the gospel to. His patient and hope-filled endurance showed the work of the Holy Spirit and commended the gospel he proclaimed. May we meet these criteria as well!
Conclusion: Paton and Paul
As in Paul’s life, we should expect missions and ministry to go hand in hand with suffering. Rather than getting in the way as an irritating or disconnected side effect, suffering is often the very means by which God advances his kingdom, the saints are comforted, and the glory is given to God rather than to man. This cruciform posture and willingness to endure suffering out of love for others won’t necessarily be fun or feel like thriving, but it will imitate our Savior.
New Testament scholar Tom Schreiner sums much of this all up nicely when he says, “It is not the case that God desired Paul to bring the message to the Gentiles and afflictions got in the way. Suffering was the intended means from the beginning. In this way the focus remains on God and Christ, and glory does not redound to the proclaimer but to the proclaimed.” This is the clarifying effect of suffering and weakness.
So instead of expecting to thrive in ease and comfort, let us be ready to faithfully persevere in ministry and “share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God” (2 Timothy 1:8). Just as Paul preached Christ crucified, he also lived a cross-shaped life wherein he died to himself daily in the strength of Christ. May the cross of Christ determine both the content of our message and the manner of our lives. May Christ’s humiliation and apparent defeat on the cross before His victorious resurrection function as a template for how we understand our own experience of salvation, in which we will suffer in this fallen world before our final triumph at the return of Christ for his bride.
John G. Paton, missionary to the New Hebrides islands in the South Pacific (present day Vanuatu), saw more than his fair share of intense and heart-breaking hardship in the path of frontier gospel work. In addition to burying his wife and infant child within his first few weeks there, he also endured shipwreck, martyred coworkers, frequent dire threat from cannibals, agonizing betrayal, and severe illnesses. By God’s grace alone, he persevered for 43 years of ministry. Not only did he get to see an entire island turn to Christ, but a strong evangelical presence exists to this day due to how God used the labors of he and others like him.
This man, whose sufferings are near unimaginable for me, was so compelled by the love and worth of Christ that near the end of his life he wrote in his autobiography “if God gave me back my life to be lived over again, I would without one quiver of hesitation lay it on the altar to Christ, that He might use it as before in similar ministries of love, especially amongst those who have never yet heard the Name of Jesus.”
Are we signing up to suffer if we answer the call to proclaim Christ to the nations? Yes. Is Christ worthy and is it worth it in light of eternity? This must be answered with an even more resounding and resolute “YES.”