The apostle Paul is making a comparison. It’s a comparison between sufferings-now and glory-to-be. Paul’s comparison also brings an evaluation. He is putting this beside that and then giving some sort of resulting value to the one thing as compared to the other. Comparison and evaluation.

We could approach this by presenting something of an analogy. Let’s say on the one hand we have a plastic ring. It’s one of those that you can’t actually choose, because it falls randomly out of the 25 cent machine at the entrance to the grocery store. Let’s say that on the other hand we have a gold ring. It’s one that you would choose carefully from the jewellery store. Put them side-by-side. Comparing and evaluating is quite easy.

At least, it’s easy for the trained eye. It’s probably not so easy for a young child to compare and evaluate this properly. A child has to learn to evaluate by learning value. A child has to grow wise in order to weigh this over against that. Once the art of valuing things is learned, it’s quite easy. The plastic ring, with all its 25 cent random thrills, is not worthy to be compared to the gold ring chosen with deliberate care at the jewellers. Once we know how to compare and evaluate, we don’t even glance at the plastic ring anymore. It’s quickly out of the picture. The attention, the focus, the weight, the value is with the gold ring.

When the apostle Paul is speaking about suffering and glory, he really means to evaluate like that. The one – sufferings – is not worthy to be compared to the other – glory. For us it’s easy to make the comparison between the plastic ring and the gold ring. For Paul it’s just as non-complex to make the comparison between sufferings-now and glory-to-be. It’s not a question for him. It’s quite straightforward. The sufferings of now are not worthy to be compared to the glory to be. It’s not even close.

This means for the apostle that the sufferings of now quickly fall away from his focus. They lose his attention. His attention, his focus, is on the glory. Not that the sufferings are not real. Not that the sufferings are not necessary (cf. 8.17!). But there is a certain value system in place, solid and immovable. The sufferings of now lose their dominance in Paul’s life-picture. Put sufferings-now and glory-to-be beside each other, and the attention, the focus, goes way over to the glory-to-be.

How can the apostle do this? How can he think and live that way? He has learned to judge, to discern, by learning Christ and his way for us, who went before us (cf. Hebrews 12.2). He has learned, come to know, Jesus Christ, Man of sorrows, King of glory, our Wisdom incarnate. Paul knows Christ through the Spirit of wisdom and glory who dwells in him. We have the first fruits of the Spirit (8:23).

This makes Paul wise about life today and tomorrow. He has learned the truth of Jesus Christ to live it out, to think things through in a new way. Paul has learned true life in Christ, who has dealt with sin definitively. Paul is now well equipped to evaluate life in this broken world rightly: the sufferings of now are not the thing to get all worked up about.

When we follow Christ, sufferings are necessary. But there is a limit to our sufferings. In the way that birth pangs are necessary and yet limited (8.22-23). Do we evaluate this life of sorrows consistently in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do we know Christ such that we can operate in this life from the dominating perspective of glory? The only way is for us to hear and keep hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. May Wisdom incarnate, by the working of the Spirit, be formed in us as he was in Paul, as we approach our King of glory.