What Love Is This? Cancer, Death, and Christ

By Matthew Barrett

I am a member of Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. Each Wednesday night the church gathers to hear a message and then spends the rest of the time, usually 15-30 minutes, in corporate prayer. Each Wednesday everyone receives a one-page sheet of paper where we have listed all the prayer requests in our church body. Before this time of corporate prayer begins, one of the elders will ask the congregation if there are any new prayer requests. After a time of sharing, he opens us in prayer and from there the microphone is free for those in attendance to take turns praying before the entire congregation for the needs listed and expressed.

One prayer request that has been a constant and continual one for several years has been for Chip Stam who had cancer and recently passed away to be with the Lord. Chip was our worship leader (and a very good one!) and his battle against cancer has drawn tears from many in our congregation. Through the years, his name never failed to be mentioned at a Wednesday night service and even now that he is gone many still petition the Lord on behalf of his wife and children who survived him.

Yesterday my family and I attended the Wednesday prayer service and it struck me how many prayers were made for those in our congregation or for loved ones who have cancer. And if it was not cancer it was some other life-threatening illness. My heart sunk deep within me. For some reason, more than in times past, my heart was especially burdened by how many Christians are fighting against life-threatening sickness.

I will be honest, I felt very depressed as I heard these consistent cries to the Lord for help. And it is often the case that as I go about my weekly routine I hear of others I know who have received news that they have cancer or I will discover that someone I knew died unexpectedly. There is no denying the obvious: death is all around us and comes knocking on each one of our doors whether we like it or not.

If I was an unbeliever, I am not sure how I would cope with the reality of death. From my vantage point as a believer, it seems that the crushing blow and reality of death would feel overwhelming. And all the more so since there is no hope of life after death (at least if you are an atheist). Perhaps this is why many unbelievers are very uncomfortable when the subject comes up at the dinner table or at this year’s Christmas or New Year’s party. It usually does too since family and extended family gather together and inevitably are reminded of who is not there this year who used to be there the year before. The holidays can be a very difficult time as memories haunt us, unable to resurrect those who we so enjoyed being with. And then comes the troublesome thought: one day I too will be dead, and there is nothing I can do about it.

But as a Christian, there is great hope. As I sat there in the pew during yesterday’s prayer service, I became very sad as I realized how uncertain every breath is that we take. I thought not only of myself but of my wife and two daughters and the thought of them dying felt crushing. Then, this morning, I read Romans 8 and it was as if the sting of death was like that of a small, tiny bumble bee. Oh yes, it hurts, but in light of the promise of what is to come, it feels like nothing at all.

Romans 8 begins by reminding us that for those who are in Christ Jesus there is now no condemnation. In all of this talk of death it is easy to think that physical death is the greatest enemy for an unbeliever, when actually this pails in comparison with the eternal, unrelenting wrath of God that an unbeliever will face. Spiritual death is frightening. As sinners we all deserve God’s wrath to be poured out on us for all eternity. We have sinned and we have done so against a holy God.

But for those who are in Christ, there is no condemnation! This is good, good news indeed. Paul explains how this is even possible,

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom 8:2-4).

Christ has fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law in our place. God has done what the law could not do by sending his Son to stand in our place on that cross, taking our sin and the wrath of God that we deserved, so that we would no longer face condemnation but have eternal life. There is no greater news for the sinner.

But notice, Paul does not end there. For those who are in Christ, walking according to the Spirit, not only do they face no condemnation (can it get any better than this!), but they also have hope for their mortal bodies. Listen to what the apostle says,

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (Rom 8:9-11).

As a believer you are united to Christ, you have the Spirit of God who dwells in you, and then, to top it all off, you have the promise that this same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, and this same Spirit who dwells within you, will give life to your mortal body. One word comes to mind for Paul: debtors.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Rom 8:12-17).

Debtors indeed. We have received the Spirit of adoption by which we now can call God our Father. We are children of God, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. But do not miss the condition: “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Suffering? This seems so counter-intuitive. After all, we now have Christ, the Spirit, and can call God our Father. Yes, there is still suffering, and much of it to endure. But as Paul reminds us, if we suffer with Christ we also will be glorified with Christ. Therefore, the sufferings of this present time are small in comparison to what we will one day experience as God’s adopted children. Paul writes,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom 8:18-30).

Too often it is easy to think of our future as a Christ follower as strictly spiritual. But Paul here ties the spiritual with the physical. Not only do we no longer face condemnation for our sin, but we are promised that one day we will experience the “redemption of our bodies.” Yes, we will die, but we will enter into the presence of God, justified and redeemed, and one day we will have a resurrected body.

If this was not enough, Paul goes on to say that in the here and now where sin and sickness plague us, we have the Spirit who “helps us in our weakness,” even interceding for us when we “do not know what to pray for as we ought” (Rom 8:26). But wait, it gets better still.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Rom 8:28-30).

Incredible. Not only do we have the Spirit helping us and even interceding for us in our weakness, but we are told that our salvation is secure. Those whom God foreknew he predestined, called, justified, and one day will glorify. This is the magnificent golden chain of salvation which cannot be broken. Before the foundation of the world God predestined us to salvation, and then at the proper time those whom he predestined he called and justified. And what he has started he will finish for those he predestines, calls, and justifies he also will glorify. At this point in Romans 8 Paul is simply overwhelmed with the riches we have in Christ. He exclaims,

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 8:31-39).

If you are a believer in Christ today then no one, not even Satan himself, is able to bring any charge against you. You are God’s elect. God has justified you, who can condemn you? Answer: no one! In fact, Christ himself has died for you and more than that he was raised and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on your behalf. So not only do we have the Spirit interceding for us in our weakness but the Son as well. No wonder Paul can say: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? No tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword can separate us from our Savior. And yes, not even cancer, as terrible as it is, can threaten the hope we have in Christ. Nothing in all of creation can separate us from his effectual, invincible, unfailing love.

Soli Deo Gloria

Matthew Barrett (Ph.D., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the founder and executive editor of Credo Magazine. Barrett has contributed book reviews and articles to various academic journals. He is married to Elizabeth and they have two daughters, Cassandra and Georgia. He is a member of Clifton Baptist Church in Louisville, KY.

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