THEOLOGY OF PAIN
BY
MASAYOSHI KOJIMA
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
CALIFORNIA CENTER FOR THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
AFFILIATED with ST. CHARLES UNIVERSITY
Introduction
The human body is a great formative masterpiece created by God. Our human body, created by God is beautiful as well as fragile and weak. The human body, degraded by the fall induced by Satan, began to have physical pain, mental(psychological)pain,and spiritual pain. Pain became one of man’s main problems. . Therefore, when we study the theology of pain and investigate the origin of human pain, we discover that it is impossible to separate pain from its relationship with God. Human pain was known by Jesus who has both the divine and human nature. Therefore his experience in pain gives us insight into various aspects of human pain. Jesus also taught us about healing from and countermeasures against pain. This dissertation will start from the general study of pain. Then it will talk about the pain of Jesus. Thirdly, it will talk about the ultimate pain Jesus suffered, the pain leading to death, that is the pain Jesus suffered on the cross. Therefore, the order of this dissertation will be as follows : Ch.1 on human pain. Ch. 2 onthe pain of Jesus. And Ch. 3 on the pain of the cross of Jesus. And it concludes by saying that the healing of pain is not impossible, and the key to the problem lies in the cross of Jesus. As a contemporary issue, the author wants to point out that there is a limit to what modern medicine can solve, and draw attention to the healing brought about by the cross of Jesus, and the need to trust in him. Lastly, the author wrote this dissertation out of deep gratitude from the real experience of being healed by the cross, and also healed from a serious illness. At the same time, the author thought that this dissertation might help those who were suffering from physical pain, mental(psychological)pain, and spiritual problems.
Ⅰ.Human Pain
1. Physical Pain
What is a human being? Human beings cannot be explained if we do not talk about God. Man is constantly seeking after eternal things. Man was thus created by God. Futthermore, man consists of flesh and bone, that is, merely material things. But, life was breathed into the flesh and bone, making it a true human being. Man by having a relationship with God, became a meaningful being. It is meaningless to consider the existence of man without thinking about his relationship with God. By denying the relationship with God, man also denies his own existence. This leads to confusion and complication. A human being who is not aware of his human responsibilty is not only losing his meaning of existence, but also becoming disqualified to be a human being. Man is a creature and object who is aware of his own responsibility, and carries it out. From the view of constitution, the human body is a wonder and full of mystery. Even doctors cannot understand the human body fully. The reason being that the human body is not made by human hands, but is created by God. The human body cannot be understood solely according to its constituents, but should be considered together with its inalienable soul and spirit. When we think about the birth of the human body, the mechanism itself is very mysterious. Besides, our understanding of the birth of the human body depends on the extent of present medical knowledge. To explain its birth, it is impossible to ignore the existence of almighty God who created man and who give birth to the human body. Man’s psycgological components consist of intelligence, emotion and volition, all these three aspects being deeply intertwined and united in a person. Regarding the pain from illness, we know it by experience to a certain extent. Because when we feel sick, we are aware of various kinds of pain and experience symptoms of illness. What is pain? To a human being, pain is the signal of life and the testimony of living.When human beings lose the feeling of pain, their existence is in danger. Human activities cease and death begins to draw near. We can define pain as the feeling of suffering beyond the limit of endurance. Pain is the “painful” subjective experience felt which cannot be expressed and transmitted fully to another person. Human response to pain is much more sensitive, conplicated and minute than animals’ response to pain. Pain eradicates the freedom of the human body, and controls the will and emotion of the human being. It manipulates human freedom and exhausts and upesets human will. Pain affects and changes human personality. The joyous gospel which delivers us from pain is the real healing of physical pain. Jesus resurrected Lazarus, Jairus’ daughter, and the widow’s son. In this way, Jesus healed even death — the usually “unhealable” disease –and brought life to the dead. The Bible guarantees and promises that all pain will be taken away and all illness will be healed.
2. Pain of the Mind
What is the mind? The mind operates in a complicated fashion. The mind controls the intelligence, emotion and volition of man. It also is deeply connected with the soul. The close relation of the mind and the brain is a fact not to be denied. However, it is true that the Bible teaches that the human mind is also created by God. The function of the human mind is understood by human emotions expressed through the whole body. We can also know about the function of the mind through human social activity and artistic expression. However, we do not understand the inner working of the human mind. Where is the mind? Man possesses a mind. However, as the existence of the mind goes, we only know that there is a close relationship between it and the body, and there is not much progress beyond that. The subject of the existence of the mind is still a puzzle today. We cannot begin to comprehend the problem of the human mind without explanation by way of God. So much so, that the subject of the mind cannot be comprehended by human thinking and explanation, that is to say, it cannot be explained by human ability. It is a subject belonging to the dimension beyond human capacity, which is to say, it belongs to the dimension of God. The personality defiled by sin, if once sanctified by God, will be transformed into a great and exalted personality. The image of God will be seen as bright and noble in the man who possesses this personality. Freud described the human mind as a psychological device, i.e. a special “ego” device which is working inside the human heart. The Bible describes this ego as being defiled by sin, and as a brutal and dangerous thing in man. Man is troubled by this ego. Human conscience is a very noble thing which accurately shows the human quality of a particular person. The noble nature and dignity of the person is revealed by his conscience. Therefore, conscience and the human heart are not separable. We know that all races have a concept and term for conscience. Conscience, as the index of the basis for proper human living, constantly proclaims a moral law. Moreover, conscience shows that human beings should obey God and that it is safe to follow God. Conscience enables human beings to constantly make the right decision, to avoid evil ways and draw near to God. At this point we have to emphasize the importance of human conscience following the Law of God. However, the conscience is free to choose whether to actively follow the Law of God or not. Here, it is important to point out the importance of choice in the human conscience. First of all, we should approach pain from a physiological aspect. Since man does not like pain, he is affected by the painful experience both physically and psychologically. As for pain of the soul, it has to do greatly with sin. Human beings experience the feeling of guilt leading to confession of sin through pain of the mind. God uses pain of the mind to urge man to repent of his sin. In a certain sense, although it might be an overstatement, pain of the heart could even be considered as the vengeance of God on sin. Accordingly, pain is an extreme act that God uses to motivate and enable man to realize his sin. Sometimes, pain of the heart comes from our own hearts to bother and torture us. On the other hand, in some cases, it comes from God. Pain of the soul is like a fire, attacking man relentlessly, burning down everything and drawing us to the bottom of a hell of pain and distress. Jesus, who shed his blood on the cross for us human beings, healed our pain of the soul. Therefore, anyone who believes in Him can have his pain of the soul healed.
3. Pain of the Soul
According to Plato, the human soul exists before the human body. However, we cannot say that Plato understood fully about the soul. It is impossible to discuss the issue of the soul without discussing its relation to God. The soul not only has a very deep meaning, its existence is very impotant to the human being. When we have a relationship with God, it arouses our concern regarding the soul. When a person dies, the soul departs from the body. The body returns to the dust, where as the soul returns to be with God. The human body and soul are one. God created the human being with earth, and breathed life into his nostrils. Thus, man became a living creature. The human soul affects emotion, deepens thought, and produces ideas. Furthermore, the soul gives human being wishful thinking, and gives the human conscience the function to judge good and bad. The subconsciousness and consciousness in human soul are like the two wheels in a bicycle. The two match each other to work well and bring great blessings to man. Our human soul became worn out, weakened, and declined when it was stirred up, shaken, and knocked down by various daily phenomena, incidents and problems. It is God and not human efforts, who restores and vitalize the declining soul. The absence of a relationship with God gives birth to the problem of the soul. We human beings, when confronted with pain of the soul, cannot escape by closing our eyes, but must honestly and straightforwardly face the reality of our pain. The issue is how we deal with the pain. When we admit the pain of the soul as pain, the way to healing will open by itself. Pain of the soul constantly brings anxiety and fear to man. Yet pain of the soul produces much more serious and deeper problems than those of physical pain and psychological pain. The value of having pain is that by suffering, man’s experience is broadened so he can rationally recognize the sorrow experience by others. Pain also brings about the desire to sympathize, be compassionate, and help those in pain. Regarding pain of the soul, man can only ascertain it based on the scope of what he knows, thereby making it difficult for him to grasp the real meaning of the pain. However, pain provides us with the best opportunity to seriously think of oneself, and one’s existence. Man agonizes over pain of the soul. This pain will not cease until we encounter God. By God, we begin to be healed and delivered from the pain. Pain of the soul often deprives a person of some good aspects of his character and personality. And the Devil draws out various evil and sin from inside him to cause considerablly bad influence on others. We human beings should establish our dependence on God through God, and with faith, be equipped with God’s armor, and not fall into the Devil’s snare.
Ⅱ.Pain of Jesus
1. Physical Pain
The pain of Jesus was announced beforehand. In order to save mankind, the Son of God could not but suffer. The pain of Jesus is constantly accompanied by His blood. Besides, the pain did not come from His own blood, but came from the order of God. In other words, it is the pain intended to save us from the hand of sin and Satan. Jesus prophesied his suffering, and also asserted that pain was not the end, victory whould soon follow. To Jesus, suffering was a mission, a mission that he should not avoid. The pain of Jesus was for the execution and fulfillment of God’s plan on one hand, and was absolute necessary for us human beings on the other hand. Jesus did not only receive physical pain. He also suffered psychologically and spiritually. Namely, He was scorned, insulted, spit on, and flogged, before being killed on the cross. Among the scenes of Jesus’ suffering, in various respects, the most deeply impressive thing for Christian imagination is the crown of thorns. This tells us how the suffering of Jesus is really an abnormality, and how violent and selfish the cruelty is. The punishment of wearing a crown of thorns is one of the sufferings afflicted on Jesus, and a cruel one at that. For those who were present at the scene, it was unbearable to watch. Such a horror it would arouse that they would prefer to cover their eyes. However, to those who believed in Jesus, there was joy amidst sadness. That is to say that the crown of thorns was accompanied by God’s tacit consent, and it is an important factor in God’s plan.. Therefore, the crown of thorns is the evidence of one of the sufferings of Jesus’ sacrifice. One of the other cruel punishment execyted on Jesus was flogging. This flogging was also a very cruel act which brought about pain almost inexpressible by word or pen. The pain of each lash of the whip surely was equal to death itself. The flogging Jesus received was the most cruel tool of torture received by man. Each lash of the whip added unbearable pain, and continued to make him swoon, or to be more exact, to bring him one step closer to death. Of course, this was the panishment of flogging which was meant for us mankind, now received by the Son of God vicariously to deliver us from this pain. The thrust of the spear at Jesus was the thrust inflicted to his death. If we gaze at it closely, we will discover that it affected the physical pain of Jesus.
2. Psychological Pain
Jesus received intense and severe temptation from the Devil. Ordinarily, when human beings fast, physically they are weakened, and in turn they are also psychologically weakened. In Jesus’ case, he certainly was weakened physically, but because he fasted for prayer’s sake, he received spiritual power by fasting and confronted Satan’s temptation. And yet, in fact, through trial by Satan, Jesus did suffer psychological pain. Jesus, on one hand, received popularity and fame from a lot of people, yet at same time, he received numerous blunt and reproving criticisms and censures from the Pharisees, scribes, and elders. He suffered considerable psychological pain from this bad treatment. Jesus was welcomed and blessed by a lot of people, but the people in his hometown Nazareth did not welcome or bless him. This was a very strange thing. These people hurt Jesus psychologically. When Lazarus died, Jesus, with tears in his eyes, showed a love which was super human. We get a glimpse of Jesus’ psychological agony here. Jesus did not go through regular legal proceedings, but received secret and unjust trials. This gave Jesus a severe blow. First of all, He received a hearing full of bias from Ananias. Secondly, he received a trial from Pontius Pilate which caused the worst situation, i. e. letting the Jews put Jesus on the cross. Next, Jesus received a trial from the foolish and corrupted King Herod. In this way, Jesus suffered deep psychological pain and a great many sacrificial hardships both externally and internally. Jesus suffered like this to show us human beings by his own experience how we could endure hardships.
3. Spiritual Pain
Let us consider the great spiritual pain in Jesus’ earthly life, i. e. His agonizing prayer in Gethsemane, betrayal by Judas, and denial by Peter. The garden of Gethsemane was the place of Jesus’ most painful prayer. He was obedient to the will of God. Although, the stressful prayer in Gethsemane was prompted by God, nevertheless, it was terribly painful for Jesus. And this struggle in prayer in Gethsemane was indispensable to us human beings. Jesus devoted himself to intense prayer in Gethsemane in order to wipe away the pain which was caused by the heavy cross on his whole body. In order to bear this burden of the cup full of terror, Jesus prayed fervently with sweat like drops of blood. And when Jesus wanted support from the beloved disciples, he could not get it. Therefore, Jesus drank up the painful cup all by himself, because he was absolutely obedient to God’s command and will. God kept silent when Jesus prayed. God kept silent because the prayer in Gethsemane was the barrier that Jesus had to overcome and an indispensable factor in God’s plan. It was stressful for Jesus, but for the sake of the beloved Son, God kept silent. Although God kept silent, he did not forget to give due consideration to his love for Jesus. God sent an angel to encourage and invigorate Jesus. Finally, Jesus was led to the conclusion to follow God’s will through the agonizing prayer. When Jesus’ prayer reached the heart of God and he understood God’s will, the cup of God was transformed for him into the cup of glory, and it became a great privilege granted by God. Next, the betrayal by Judas was a very sad and painful thing for Jesus. Jesus warned him over and over again, pointing out the betrayal directly by His words. But, Judas rejected stubbornly even when Jesus painstakingly showed grief and urged him to repent of his sin. In spite of the loving guidance of the Lord Jesus urging him to repent, Judas perversely remained in sin. Judas betrayed his dear Lord Jesus in a mean way — by a kiss, normally an act of respect and love. Although Jesus tried many times to awaken Judas’ sleeping conscience, stubbornly Judas did not wake up, but drove himself to the judgement seat of the White Throne by ending his own remorseful and tearful life, thus separating himself from the Lord Jesus forever. Judas did not choose the way of salvation by repentance. On the contrary, he chose to destroy himself by committing suicide. The death of Judas added to Jesus’ life an unforgettable sorrowful and painful page. In Peter’s walk with Jesus, his denial of Jesus left a big and serious stain on his splendid ministry. The blunder of denial by Peter, a leading disciple, originated in his failure to grasp the true meaning of Jesus’ important mission from God. Peter’s awful decision to deny Jesus originated in his fear of men. Peter gradually felt the pricks of conscience. Jesus’ heart was intensely hurt by Peter’s denial. However, Peter, unlike Judas who remained unrepentant and chose the way of self-destruction by committing suicide, was restored by changing his mind at length with the help of Jesus. The clue to his restoration was, in the first place, Jesus’ love towards Peter. Peter was led to repentance due to Jesus’ love. Secondly, Peter’s tears shed for Jesus changed him. These tears were the tears of repentance as well as the tears of love towards Jesus. Peter’s tears strengthened his confession of faith and reaffirmed his commitment.
Ⅲ.Pain of the Cross of Jesus
1.Pain of the Cross
Lastly, let us consider the climax of pain — the pain of the cross of Jesus. The cross originated from the love of God. The cross was motivated by the love of God to save sinners from perishing. The basis of Pauline theology is exaltation of the cross with agape love as its foundation. It is evident that the cross provided the power of mission for Paul. The cross of Jesus presents a far-reaching redemption. The profundity of the cross is due to the cross itself. By way of the cross of Jesus, the ruptured relationship with God was restored, the severed pipeline to God repaired, and the broken Adamic fellowship restored. To be crucified means to experience the death of Jesus together with him, that is to say, to experience the cross together with Jesus, and to take part in Jesus’ death. That God put Jesus on the cross means that Jesus took our pain as his own pain, and bore it on the cross. Jesus was cruelly put on a cross that wounded him physically and hurt him greatly, for mankind’s salvation and deliverance from sin. How painful was the cross of Jesus! It gnawed at Jesus’ body and torn it apart. The pain made him sometimes cry out in sorrow, sometimes entreat God for the sins of man, sometimes feel thirsty and murmur due to the pain all over his body, and then utter the word of relief when he finished his mission. Finally, he committed his total being into the Father’s hands and passed away. The cross of Jesus did not end in pain. He was lowered from the cross, buried, and was resurrected on the third day. Death was conquered on the cross by the fact than Jesus was resurrected. Pain was also conquored. Therefore, the cross of Jesus is triumphant over all sorts of pain.
2. Victory Won by the Cross
The cross of Jesus healed the pain of man. It brought about great healing effects over physical, psychological and spiritual pain, and brought victory over pain. The cross also removed pain by dealing with its cause, i. e. sin. Since the cross has a healing effect on all sorts of pain, it becomes the abundant source of healing for our souls. The life of Jesus was breathed into our body because we received new life, due to the redemptive blood. Our body, mind, and soul are revitalized and are kept from illness. Our physical and spiritual health are also maintained. Therefore, all of pain can be healed due to the cross of Jesus. The cross of Jesus is the reliable means of healing of illness and pain. The healing of the cross also reaches the human ego. The cross of Jesus is alive due to Jesus’ resurrection. The reason being that by dying on the cross, Jesus gave his life to us. By his resurrection, the atonement on the cross is at work and brings about the great blessed gospel for us. Peter earnestly stated that we were healed by the wounds of the whip on the cross. Through Jesus, our enmity was not only removed; it was buried due to the cross. The cross of Jesus also possesses the power of reconciliation because we were reconciled to the rival who held enmity toward us. In this way, the cross of Jesus is the great work and sacrifice of love to man. We should never forget how the power of the cross has revived us.
Conclusion
The problem of pain is inescapable for us. Being human, physical, psychological and spiritual pain attack us continually throughout our lives. However, healing of the pain is not impossible. The way to healing is ready. Jesus Christ holds the key to the solution of man’s pain. That is to say, we are healed due to the cross of Jesus. His cross is sufficient not only for the healing of past pains, but also for the healing of pains occurring in the present and future. The author wants to stir up people’s thinking by pointing out the limits of both modern Western and Oriental medicine, and let more people know about the healing brought about by the cross of Jesus Christ. I want to emphasize the physical, psychological and spiritual healing of Jesus’ cross which is working together with modern medicine, or to be exact, which is dismissing modern medicine.
Finally, I want to conlude this dissertation by remembering and praying for those who are suffering.