Causes of suffering

The ultimate cause of suffering is sin

Genesis 3:14–19 NRSV

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

It need not be the result of particular sins:

Job 1:1; Jn 9:1–3

Job 5:6–7; Ro 5:12–14

Suffering as a result of human wickedness

Murder

Genesis 4:8 NRSV

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.

See also Ge 49:5–7; 1 Sa 18:10–11

Injury

Matthew 26:67 NRSV

Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him,

Hatred

Psalm 109:3 NRSV

They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.

See also 2 Sa 13:15; Tt 3:3

Jealousy

Genesis 37:4 NRSV

But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

See also Ge 4:4–5; Ge 16:6; Ge 21:8–10; 1 Sa 18:8–9; Mt 27:18

Persecution

John 15:20 NRSV

Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

See also Je 38:6; Da 3:4–6; Da 6:7; Mt 5:10–12; Mt 10:35–36; Re 6:9–11

Cruelty

Psalm 71:4 NRSV

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

See also Jdg 1:7; Ps 54:3; Am 1:13; Mt 2:16–18; Lk 10:30

Rioting

2 Ki 7:17; Ac 16:22

Warfare

Jeremiah 50:22 NRSV

The noise of battle is in the land, and great destruction!

See also Ge 14:1–2; Ge 14:11–12; Ex 13:17; Jos 6:20–21; Jos 10:22–26; Jdg 1:4–7; 1 Ki 22:35; 2 Ki 17:5–6; Zec 14:2; Lk 21:20–24; Re 6:4

Injustice

Ezekiel 9:9 NRSV

He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city full of perversity; for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’

See also Ge 39:19–20; 1 Ki 21:11–14; 2 Ki 21:16; Ps 58:1–2; Ps 64:6

Oppression

Ecclesiastes 4:1 NRSV

Again I saw all the oppressions that are practiced under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them.

See also Ex 1:11; 1 Ki 12:1–4; 1 Ki 12:12–14; Ps 12:5; Jas 5:1–6

Adultery

2 Sa 12:9; Mal 2:14

Theft

Matthew 6:19 NRSV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;

See also Ge 31:19; Job 1:14–15; Job 1:17; Job 24:2

Broken relationships

Job 19:14–19; Ps 27:10; Pr 16:28; Ac 15:39

Suffering as a result of misfortune

Accidents

2 Sa 4:4; 2 Ki 1:2; Lk 13:4

Sickness

Genesis 48:1 NRSV

After this Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

See also 2 Ki 20:1; Job 2:7; Ps 42:10; Mt 8:6; Ac 28:8; Php 2:27; 2 Ti 4:20; Jas 5:14

Hunger and want

Ge 12:10; Job 30:3; Is 5:13; Mt 25:42–43

Natural disasters

1 Ki 22:48; Job 1:16; Job 1:18–19; Is 29:6; Joe 1:4; Zec 14:5; Mt 24:7; Ac 27:18–20

Suffering through old age and death

Ageing

2 Sa 19:34–35; Ps 71:9; Ec 12:1

Bereavement

Ge 23:1–2; Job 1:18–19; Lk 7:11–13; Jn 11:33–35; Jas 1:27

Suffering through anxiety

Proverbs 12:25 NRSV

Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up.

See also Dt 28:65–67; Lk 21:26

Suffering through foolishness

Psalm 107:17 NRSV

Some were sick through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities endured affliction;

See also Jdg 11:34–36; Pr 10:1; Pr 11:15; Pr 14:1; Pr 23:29–30; Lk 15:17

Suffering through Satanic activity

The influence of Satan

Genesis 3:1 NRSV

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

See also Job 1:12; Job 2:6–7; Lk 13:16; 1 Jn 5:19; Re 2:10; Re 20:7–8

Demon-possession

Mt 8:28; Mt 12:22; Mt 15:22

Suffering brought about by God himself

All suffering comes within his will

Jn 9:3; Eph 1:11

Some suffering is for his immediate glory

John 21:19 NRSV

(He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Jesus Christ’s suffering produces salvation

Isaiah 53:10 NRSV

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.

See also Ac 2:23

Christian suffering produces good fruits

Ro 5:3–4; 2 Co 1:9; Heb 12:11; Jas 1:2; Jas 1:3

God’s people must be disciplined

Hebrews 12:7 NRSV

Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?

See also Ex 32:35; 2 Sa 12:13–14; Ps 119:67; Ps 119:71; Pr 3:11–12; Heb 12:8–11

The wicked must be punished

Romans 6:23 NRSV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

See also Ge 6:5–7; Jn 5:14; 2 Th 1:8; Re 9:4; Re 20:15

Suffering accepted voluntarily

By Jesus Christ

1 Peter 2:21 NRSV

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

See also Is 53:3–5; Is 53:10; Lk 9:22

By his people

2 Corinthians 12:15 NRSV

I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

See also 2 Co 4:10–12; Php 3:10; Heb 11:35

For the good of others

John 15:13 NRSV

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

See also Ro 5:7; Phm 18