Objection: Suffering Glorifies God (Romans 8:17)

Romans 8:17:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

The objector says that because Romans 8:17 says “if we suffer together, THAT we may be glorified together,” our suffering is necessary to bring glory to God.

First, Romans 8:17 doesn’t even say that suffering glorifies God; it talks about US being glorified, so the objection at face value just doesn’t make any sense.

Second, Romans 8:17 says, “if we suffer with HIM,” which obviously means Christ, who is mentioned explicitly before that phrase appears.  Jesus is currently in heaven, where there is no sickness, so I can confidently assert that the Lord Jesus Christ is not currently suffering from diabetes or any other illness.  So any present-day “suffering WITH Christ” cannot refer to suffering from any illness.

Third, when Jesus walked the earth, He NEVER suffered from any illness until He “took our infirmities.”  So you are not suffering “with Him” in YOUR earth walk if your suffering is from an illness.  However, He DID suffer reproach, so that has to be the kind of suffering that Paul had in mind.  You CAN suffer reproach just as He did.  But when that happens for His name’s sake, great is your reward in heaven (Matthew 5:11-12), so you will be glorified with Him for bearing the reproaches of men without caving in.

Fourth, Jesus has never changed (Hebrews 13:8), so if suffering glorifies God, surely there would have been an instance where Jesus refused to heal someone so that the person could continue glorifying God.  But there is no verse that says, “But to the woman with the issue of blood, Jesus spake these words: ‘Suffering glorifies God, and your particular case is so bad that you are just CONSTANTLY glorifying God with your constant discomfort.  Keep suffering because you’re REALLY going to be glorified someday yourself because of it!’”

Fifth, if suffering from disease glorifies God, Jesus was an anti-God thief because He healed diseases that were supposedly making people suffer and glorify God!  He never turned anyone down, so ANYONE who was “glorifying God” through suffering could immediately stop “glorifying God.”  Seeing as Jesus explicitly sought the glory of the One who sent Him (John 7:18), His healing actions could not possibly have stolen glory from God.  Because healing did not take away any of God’s glory, sickness could not possibly have contributed to God’s glory.