The ultimate reason suffering exists

“The ultimate reason that suffering exists in the universe is so that Christ might display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God by suffering in himself to overcome our suffering. The suffering of the utterly innocent and infinitely holy Son of God in the place of utterly undeserving sinners to bring us to everlasting joy is the greatest display of the glory of God’s grace that ever was, or ever could be. This was the moment—Good Friday—for which everything in the universe was planned. In conceiving a universe in which to display the glory of his grace, God did not choose Plan B. There could be no greater display of the glory of the Grace of God than what happened at Calvary. Everything leading to it and everything flowing from it is explained by it, including all the suffering in the world.”
—John Piper, “The Purposes of God in Suffering,” Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p. 82

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Blog, God-centered, Jesus, Theodicy, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

What is deTheos?

The two Greek words de ("but") and Theos ("God") are the first two words of Ephesians 2:4: "But God, who is rich in mercy..." Because of God's great love and grace extending to us in Jesus Christ, we are forgiven, redeemed and able to know, love + enjoy God more fully, ever-increasing and forever.
This site contains the thoughts and conclusions and journeys of the Patterson family -- Jeff, Kari and Dutch -- who have experienced the front-end of God's amazing grace, and continue to delight in His unfailing love.
Read more about us, and what we hold most precious.

deTheos