Paul's Prison Epistles: Paul's ImprisonmentExemplo

Themes in Paul’s Letters—Suffering: Philippians 1:14

Paul’s ministry in prison included suffering on behalf of others. Now, in and of itself, suffering is a hardship, not a ministry. But when the goal and product of suffering is the advancement of God’s kingdom through the promotion of the gospel, suffering is rightly thought of as a form of Christian ministry. 

Christians have always suffered, and always will suffer until Jesus returns. The Bible assures us of this. Now, that doesn’t mean that all Christians suffer equally or to the extent that Paul did. But God has ordained that until Jesus returns to finish his work, until he has consummated his kingdom on earth, his enemies will still fight against him. And this means that Jesus’ people will continue to suffer. 

But Paul’s life proves something — our suffering is not in vain. On the contrary, our suffering blesses the church. Our suffering testifies to the gospel, our suffering increases the glory that the church will inherit.

Suffering for the sake of the gospel is a powerful and purposeful ministry. For one thing, it is an indisputable testimony to the truth of the gospel. This is why we commonly refer to Christians who die for their faith as “martyrs” or “witnesses.” We have already seen a number of ways that Paul’s suffering provided opportunities for him to preach the gospel. But it also encouraged others to proclaim the gospel as well.

Consider Paul’s words to this effect in Philippians 1:14:

Because of my chains, most of the brothers in the Lord have been encouraged to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly (Philippians 1:14).

In addition to this it is right to think of suffering as a ministry because it secures benefits for others. After all, Jesus Christ suffered on behalf of sinners, and he died to save us. And Scripture teaches us to follow Christ’s example specifically by suffering for the sake of others. As believers, we should be willing to suffer hardship and even death for the benefit of others, and we should be thankful of the suffering that others endure for this cause. As the apostle John wrote in 1 John 3:16:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers (1 John 3:16).

Paul believed this. And as we have seen, he was willing to go to prison, and even to die, if doing so would promote the gospel.