Christian Responses to Suffering: The Cross and the Book of Job
Christian responses to suffering draw on two scriptural resources: the cross, where Jesus himself suffers and dies, and the Book of Job, an Old Testament story of an innocent man who suffers and questions God. Together they shape a Christian response that does not claim to fully explain why suffering happens, but offers the belief that God is present within suffering, has himself experienced it, and can bring good out of it.
Before you start
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Method
- Learn how the cross is used pastorally: since Jesus suffered physically and felt forsaken (Matthew 27:46), Christians believe God understands and is present in human suffering, not distant from it.
- Learn the outline of Job's story: a righteous man loses his family, health and wealth, his friends wrongly assume his suffering is punishment for sin, and God finally speaks to Job from a whirlwind.
- Learn Job's own responses at different points, e.g. Job 1:21 ('The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away') and Job 13:15 ('though he slay me, I will hope in him'), showing faith held onto through suffering, not easy answers.
- Learn that God's speech in Job 38-42 does not explain why Job suffered, but reasserts God's power and wisdom, after which Job responds with humility (Job 42:1-6) rather than demanding a full explanation.
- Learn the difference between this pastoral, scriptural response and the philosophical 'problem of evil' debate, which asks whether suffering is logically compatible with God's existence.
- Learn that Catholic tradition sometimes speaks of 'offering up' suffering in union with Christ's suffering (cf. Colossians 1:24), while other Christians place more weight on God's comfort and presence than on any redemptive value in suffering itself.
- Practise using Job and the cross together in an answer: Job shows that suffering does not mean guilt or divine absence, and the cross shows God entering into suffering rather than only observing it from outside.
Worked example
Explain two ways the Book of Job might help a suffering Christian today.
- Identify a first way: Job's friends wrongly assume his suffering proves he sinned, and the story rejects that assumption, so it can free a suffering person today from guilt about being personally to blame.
- Develop it with a reference: God rebukes Job's friends directly in Job 42:7 for not speaking 'the truth about me, as my servant Job has'.
- Identify a second way: Job models honest, even angry, questioning of God alongside continued trust, rather than either denial or losing faith altogether.
- Develop it with a reference: in Job 13:15 Job says, 'Though he slay me, I will hope in him', showing trust held onto without a full explanation being given.
- Combine both points into a complete answer: the Book of Job can help a suffering Christian today by removing the false assumption that suffering means guilt, and by modelling how honest questioning and continued trust in God can exist together.
Practice questions
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Q1What wrongly do Job's friends assume is the cause of his suffering?Show answer
Answer: That Job must have sinned, since they assume suffering is a punishment for wrongdoing.
Q2According to Job 1:21, what does Job say when he loses his family and possessions?Show answer
Answer: 'The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.'
Q3According to Matthew 27:46, what does Jesus cry out on the cross?Show answer
Answer: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'
Q4What does Job's response in Job 42:1-6, after God speaks from the whirlwind, show about his attitude?Show answer
Answer: Humility: Job accepts he spoke of things he did not understand, rather than continuing to demand a full explanation.
Q5According to Hebrews 4:15, what does the belief that Jesus is 'tempted in every way, just as we are' mean for how Christians view God's understanding of suffering?Show answer
Answer: That God, through Jesus, personally understands and sympathises with human suffering rather than being distant from it.
Q6What happens to Job's fortunes by the end of the book, according to Job 42:10-17?Show answer
Answer: They are restored: Job is given twice as much as he had before.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a GCSE Religious Studies exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Explain two ways the cross might help Christians make sense of their own suffering.
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'The Book of Job is more useful than the cross for helping Christians cope with suffering.' Evaluate this statement, referring to religious teaching and reaching a justified conclusion.
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