Soul Building

Photo by Michiel Annaert

The idea of “soul building,” which can be traced back to the second-century Christian theologian Irenaeus, is generally employed by Christian thinkers as an explanation for the reality of pain and suffering in the world. In short, so the idea goes, God allows such evil to exist because this provides the means for human beings to become better versions of themselves—to develop moral character. However, given the sheer depth and severity of suffering in the world, many have found this idea justifiably wanting.

Nevertheless, while it may not be an especially good explanation for the reality of evil, soul building does have an appropriate place in the Christian tradition. Indeed, as many  of us—Christian or otherwise—readily recognize, struggle, hardship, and suffering can have a profound impact on who we are.

Before delving a bit further along this line, it would do well to first provide some clarity on the term “soul,” as well as a few caveats on the idea that it can be “built up” through suffering.

The common understanding of “soul” is that it refers to an immaterial part of us that is distinct from our bodies. One’s soul is generally thought, moreover, to continue on forever, after our physical bodies die, either in heaven or hell. By contrast, as far as the Bible is concerned, a soul simply refers to a living thing. When applied to human beings it is practically synonymous with one’s personhood.

The biblical doctrine of resurrection teaches that all people will receive a new body at the final judgment at which time one’s eternal destiny will be determined. Consequently, one’s soul or personhood may transcend the present body, but it is nevertheless inseparable from a body of some sort; it simply has no independent existence.

An integral point here is that there our present life and the Christian hope of a life to come are radically different only in terms of the eventual absence of sin, death, and suffering. Although God has in store for us a far fuller experience of life on earth, all that presently accords with God’s original purposes in creation remains intact. Thus, the loss of good things that we may now incur will in some fashion be restored once God completes his work of salvation.

As for suffering, importantly, it is never idealized in the Bible, as if it should be something desired for its own sake. Because suffering may be useful in some way does not mean, therefore, that it is really “good in disguise.” Furthermore, it is one thing for us to conclude that we may be better off in some way for the suffering we have endured. It is quite another to impose such a conclusion upon others. Christians are called to seek the alleviation of the suffering of others and not to explain it away.

And even with respect to our own suffering, the Bible teaches that God gives us plenty of space to protest it, to affirm its negativity in our lives, to boldly call upon God to do something about it, and in all these ways to process it responsibly.

However, the Bible also tells us that God in his great love for us wastes nothing of the present human condition. He uses all of it to advance his good purposes (see especially Romans 8:28–39). And because we know that God can use suffering accordingly, Christians have not an explanation for why it is but rather hope that God can, one way or another, bring us through it and ultimately make us better for it.

The apostle Paul—a person who himself was well-acquainted with suffering—had something to say about this in his letter to the Romans:

“[W]e also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:1–5 NIV).