Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

John Piper | Justin Taylor

EDITORS

CROSSWAY BOOKS

A PUBLISHING MINISTRY OF GOOD NEWS PUBLISHERS

WHEATON, ILLINOIS

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God

Copyright © 2006 by Desiring God

Published by Crossway Books

a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers

1300 Crescent Street

Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: Jon McGrath

Cover photo: photos.com

First printing 2006

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked at are the author’s translation or paraphrase.

Scripture quotations marked nasb are from The New American Standard Bible.® Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture references marked niv are from The Holy Bible: New International Version.® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The “NIV” and “New International Version” trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture references marked nlt are from The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Ill., 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked rsv are from The Revised Standard Version. Copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the authors.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Suffering and the Sovereignty of God / edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-809-5 (tpb)

ISBN 10: 1-58134-809-6 (tpb)

1. Suffering—religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Providence and government of God. 3.God—omnipotence. 4. Theodicy. I. Piper, John, 1946–. II. Taylor, Justin, 1976–.

BT732.7.S835 2006

231'.8—dc22

2006018431

To

The white-robed army of martyrs “… until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete.”

Contents

Contributors

Introduction

Justin Taylor

Part 1: The Sovereignty of God in Suffering

1 Suffering and the Sovereignty of God: Ten Aspects of God’s Sovereignty Over Suffering and Satan’s Hand in It

John Piper

2 “All the Good That Is Ours in Christ”: Seeing God’s Gracious Hand in the Hurts Others Do to Us

Mark R. Talbot

Part 2: The Purposes of God ...