The encouragement to "arm yourself with the same attitude" of being prepared to suffer in the body, is prefaced with a reminder of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The text says, "Therefore, since Christ suffered in His body…" To embrace our suffering, we must remember Jesus' sufferings. As we think about how Jesus denied His flesh to provide for our eternal good, we are empowered to follow Him in denying our flesh for the will of God.
Think about the extent of Jesus' sufferings, both physical and spiritual:
Physically, Jesus was beaten, scourged with a whip on His back, had His beard pulled out, was wounded on His head with a crown of thorns, and pierced through with nails pounded into His hands and feet. He was not recognizable as a Man by the time the Roman soldiers got done with Him. They treated Him as if He were the worst criminal that ever lived.
Spiritually, Jesus was made to be sin for you, as God removed your sin, placed it on His Son, and then made the very soul of Jesus a sin offering. As Jesus hung on a cross in the middle of the day, it became as dark as midnight, for God was abandoning and forsaking Jesus, treating Him as if He were a sinner and pouring all His wrath out on Him so that you would be pardoned of all sin and have peace with God.
But we must remember that to have peace with God means we are at war with our sin. When we become believers, we begin to fight against the sin that once enslaved us. And in this battle, we are to focus on and continually look at the cross of Jesus. As we see the cross, Jesus invites us to fellowship with Him in the suffering of the cross, the denial of our flesh, and experience the victory and freedom that come through suffering. "Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin" (1 Peter 4:1).
As I began to embrace this understanding of suffering, it led me to cut way back on my food intake. I used to overeat whether I was hungry or not. I would turn to food for comfort or eat because I was bored or for no particular reason. But looking at the cross and embracing the suffering of it requires a change in the way we live our lives. These days I am walking by the Spirit, so I don't have a set eating routine. I might only eat one meal and find it is enough, or maybe I'll eat three small meals. However the Spirit leads I am content; food no longer controls me.
Your plan might be to eat one or two meals a day, fast a full day or eat 3-5 small meals, I do not know how the Spirit will lead you, but I do know that you can trust Him. Yes, there is suffering involved in cutting back the amount of food we eat, but thankfully we have the Spirit of God who teaches us through grace not to be "hangry," irritable, resentful, or bitter about our suffering but instead, embrace it and be happy.
Question 3. According to 1 Peter 4:2, what is the result of learning to suffer in our bodies?
The cross of Christ calls us to a radical crucifixion of our previous self with its desires and actions. It tells us to lay down our fleshly and selfish living and to take up suffering. Yes, since Christ suffered in His body for us, we must arm ourselves with the same attitude, willing to die to our cravings, overeating, and laziness. As we do, we will stop living in habitual sin. We will stop living for our previous evil desires to gratify our flesh and begin living according to God's will.
Friend, when you set your mind to embrace suffering in denying your flesh, you are arming yourself with the same attitude as Jesus. As you prepare yourself for the suffering your body will endure from cutting back your food intake, let it bring wonderful assurance to you that you are following Christ. In denying your flesh and its cravings, you are evidencing that you are God's child, that the Spirit is within you and empowering you, and that even as you are sharing in Jesus' suffering now so you will also share in His glory later.
“The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:16-17).
Question 4. How does Romans 8:16-17 connect our assurance as Christians with our suffering in the body?
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