Acts 14:22 “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” (NIV)

Who is “we”?  Who is the “we” to whom Paul intended to apply the rest of the sentence?  Grammatically the “we” could be limited to Paul and Barnabas.  Paul and Barnabas went through many hardships and persecution in their Christian ministry.  I do not believe Paul was that limited in his intentions.

It is more likely that he was including the congregations at Lystra, Iconium and Antioch. He was addressing them when he spoke these words.  He was encouraging them to stay true to the faith.  He was not sugar coating it, nor was he trying to make the Christian life sound easy.  He knew the early church was going to face persecution and suffer many hardships.  He wanted to warn them so that they could be prepared.  His warning was also a promise; their suffering did not lead to death and a grave, rather it leads to eternal life in the kingdom of God.  Suffering is never easy, but it is easier when we know that God will award our faithfulness.

I do not believe Paul was including every Christian when he said “we”.  I believe he intended the word “hardships” to mean more than frustrations or inconveniences.  I think he was talking about persecution that resulted from their being believers.  He could not have been speaking to every Christian, because historically not every Christian has suffered religious persecution.  Today, around the world many Christians are suffering for the gospel, however, many are not.  God does not want us to seek out persecution; he wants us to seek out those who need the gospel.

The evil of this world will not persecute all Christians but it will test and try every Christian’s faith.  Every Christian needs to be strong, and faithful.  We need to strengthen and encourage one another to remain true to the faith, and when we have endured all that we must go through, we will enter the kingdom of God.