Perseverance through Suffering: A spirituality for mission

Abstract

The suffering of Christian believers on account of hostility, disparagement or persecution, especially due to their faith in and confession of Christ is a global phenomenon and the 20th century has seen more Christian martyrs than any previous century. This was anticipated by the two most prominent figures in the New Testament, Jesus and Paul, e.g. 2 Timothy 3:12: "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution". Hebrews 11:39-12:3 deals with this difficulty by exhorting Christian believers not to quit their faith in Christ during such times, but rather to persevere in their faith. In these verses the author motivates why and explains the how. God has provided "perfection" for those who "persevere" in their faith. In order to accomplish this successfully the author exhorts in a negative sense to lay aside any obstacles that can languish their faith in and confession of Christ and in a positive sense to run this race (a metaphoric description of the Christian life) with perseverance.