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how do new testament writers address feelings of god's apparent absence or rejection during suffering?

Adds the setting and its conversation across both testaments.

Romans 8:38-39

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul, an apostle writing to the community of believers in Rome around the mid-1st century CE, is exploring the depth of God's faithfulness. In Romans 8, he moves from the struggle with sin to the assurance of God's Spirit and future glory, culminating in this declaration of unwavering divine love.

When facing difficult experiences, how might recalling the nature of God's love, rather than only focusing on feelings of absence, shift one's perspective?

Then — the setting

Paul's letter to the Romans, penned around 57-58 CE from Corinth, addresses a diverse group of Jewish and Gentile believers in the heart of the Roman Empire. These early Christians likely faced internal tensions between different cultural groups and external pressures, including suspicion and occasional persecution from Roman authorities. Paul's grand theological argument in Romans 8, culminating in these verses, serves as an anchor of assurance amidst a world that could feel hostile or uncertain, reminding them of God's steadfast commitment despite outward circumstances.

Across the Testaments

This New Testament passage asserts the unbreakable nature of God's love. In the Old Testament, feelings of God's absence or rejection are frequently expressed in the Psalms, where psalmists cry out 'How long, O Lord?' (e.g., Psalm 13) or question why God has hidden his face (e.g., Psalm 44). While the Old Testament acknowledges the *feeling* of abandonment, it often ends with a renewed trust in God's ultimate faithfulness. Paul, in the New Testament, builds on this tradition by offering a definitive theological statement that even when God's presence feels distant, his love in Christ remains an objective reality, transcending human perception and experience.

Keep thinking

Read alongside it

Psalm 13:1-2
A raw expression of feeling God's absence and questioning 'how long?' during distress.
2 Corinthians 4:8-9
Paul describes being afflicted and persecuted, but not abandoned or destroyed.
Matthew 27:46
Jesus' cry from the cross, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?', grappling with profound suffering and apparent abandonment.

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