“They returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:21-22).
This account by the holy Evangelist Luke, concerning the preaching of the holy Apostles Paul and Barnabas, presents a rather unusual manner of instruction. As you see from the account itself, the aim of the instruction was to strengthen the souls of the disciples in the faith.
What means, then, do these divinely wise teachers use for this? They foretell tribulations to the faithful, and necessary tribulations, because through them one must attain the kingdom of God. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Should it not have been feared that this stern truth would shake faith rather than strengthen it? Would it not have been better to conceal this dangerous foresight of dangers? No. The Apostles do not hide the teaching about tribulations lying on the path to the kingdom of God.
Clearly, this teaching is necessary. They set forth this teaching because they desire to strengthen the souls of the disciples in the faith. Clearly, there is power in this teaching to strengthen faith.
“Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” The Apostles do not say, “through much knowledge we must enter the kingdom.” Yet this might seem fitting, in view of “the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3) hidden in Christ.
Clearly, much knowledge is useful, but not absolutely necessary for attaining the kingdom of God. Indeed, the Publican attained justification, and therefore a near hope of the kingdom of God, not by much knowledge, but by deep humility.
He attained it not by lofty contemplations, but by a very simple prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13).
They do not say, “through much time we must enter the kingdom of God.” On earth, much is not attained quickly, and heaven seems farther away than earth. Clearly, length of time is not a strict condition for drawing near the kingdom of heaven.
Indeed, the thief on the cross, in a few hours, and perhaps even in a few minutes, completed the journey from the gates of Hades to the doors of Paradise.
They do not say, “through many labors and struggles we must enter the kingdom of God.” Yet it is true, according to the word of Jesus Christ Himself, that “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence” (Mt 11:12).
Clearly, success in the efforts by which the kingdom of heaven is obtained is not always determined by the weight of labors or the number of struggles.
The ring of the son of the kingdom was given to the prodigal son before he finished the labor of completing his penitent speech to his offended father.
He had barely managed to portray his unworthiness: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no longer worthy to be called thy son” (Lk 15:21). He had not yet made his request, when more was granted him than he dared desire or hope.
Not through much knowledge, not through much time, not through many labors, but, say the Apostles, “through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” Clearly, tribulations are needed and useful above other means and helps for attaining the kingdom of God.
Reason that is not sufficiently subjected to faith, nor sufficiently enlightened by it, cannot at once perceive whether, and why, the path to the kingdom of God must necessarily lie through tribulations.
What necessity, it seems, is there to make man suffer in order afterward to make him blessed? From this the conjecture may arise that the teaching about tribulations for the sake of the kingdom of God applies only to the first Christians.
They had to endure persecutions from Jews and Gentiles before Christianity was established throughout the world. It was indeed to such Christians, and in such circumstances, that the Apostles Paul and Barnabas spoke of “many tribulations” for the sake of the kingdom of God.
Moreover, this was shortly after Paul, before their eyes in Lystra, had nearly been stoned to death for preaching Christianity.
Yet it is not hard to be assured that the teaching about tribulations for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is not merely temporary and particular. It is constant and universal in Christianity.
This is clear from the instructions of Jesus Christ Himself, not incidental instructions adapted to special circumstances, but fundamental and universal ones.
With what did He begin His teaching on the kingdom of heaven? “Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn” (Mt 5:3-4).
The sense of poverty is, more or less, joined to the sense of sorrow. Mourning, even pious mourning, flows from the spring of sorrow.
Yet there must also be a time when, as Moses sweetened the bitter waters of Marah with wood, Christ sweetens the bitterness of pious mourning by the Cross.
With what does the Lord end His teaching on blessedness? “Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you, and say every evil word against you falsely for My sake” (Mt 5:11).
Do you not see that the Lord’s teaching on blessedness begins with sorrow and ends with still greater sorrow?
What teaching can be more general for Christians than the teaching about following Christ? But in what does this teaching consist?
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his soul will lose it, and whoever loses his soul for My sake will find it” (Mt 16:24-25).
However much you lessen the force, however much you soften the meaning of these words of the Lord, you must still acknowledge that they foretell many tribulations for the follower of Christ.
If you take up the cross and follow Christ, where will you come? Plainly, to the place where He Himself was going when He took up the Cross. Therefore, you will come to Golgotha, to suffering, to crucifixion.
To “lose one’s soul” for Christ’s sake may mean to suffer martyrdom for Him. Yet martyrdom is not the common lot, while the Lord’s saying about losing the soul is common to all who are saved.
Or it may mean cutting off and putting to death in the soul the passionate movements that make up the life of the old man. It means drying up lust, quenching rage, bridling the impulses of self-will, and rejecting attachment to one’s own opinion.
The very expression “to lose the soul,” by which these struggles of Christ’s follower and these inner transformations are described, shows that many tribulations have a place here. They extend even to mortal combat and struggle.
The holy Apostle Peter teaches: “Since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind” (1 Pet 4:1).
Truly, the thought of Christ’s suffering for us can alone suffice to reconcile us with every tribulation and suffering for the sake of Christ and His kingdom.
If Christ, who committed no sin, suffered, can we sinners murmur against suffering? If Christ suffered for us, what ingratitude it would be not to wish to accept sorrow for His sake and His commandment.
If our beloved Savior drinks the cup of sufferings, should not love for Him thirst to partake of the cup of the Beloved?
If it “was necessary,” if it had to be, and if it accorded with the wise, righteous, and good judgment of God, “that Christ should suffer and enter into His glory” (Lk 24:26), and this “was necessary” for our sake, then how can we not believe that it is also necessary for us?
We too must, fittingly and rightly, conform ourselves to the example and lot of the Founder of our struggle, and “through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
But if it is not enough for someone simply to believe, and he also needs to be convinced by reasoning that tribulations are necessary, we have this manner of instruction also in the words of the holy Apostle Peter.
“He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh for human passions, but for the will of God” (1 Pet 4:1-2).
Wondrous is this reasoning of the Apostle. It gives occasion for a question. Can man really not “cease from sin without suffering in the flesh,” when he has freedom to choose the better, and also help toward good from the grace of God?
I will not be so bold as to answer decisively a question at which the Apostle only hints.
But I will note that the matter of which the Apostle speaks is certainly known better by him than by us. He knows it as a God-enlightened Apostle and as an experienced struggler.
He had already walked not a little on the path of sufferings when he pointed out this path to Christians.
Certainly, his divine enlightenment and his experiences in suffering showed him the reason why a Christian must place himself in readiness for sufferings: “he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.”
THEOSIS