A Theology of Suffering

John Newton is most famous as the author of the hymn, “Amazing Grace,” but Dr. Keith Palmer wants people to know that he is so much more.

From an early age, Newton was intimately familiar with suffering — and after saving him, the Lord gave Newton a widely influential ministry of providing counsel to other sufferers during his lifetime. Much of his 18th-century writing on suffering has survived, serving as a rich resource for those looking to minister to others with biblical hope.
Such ministry is core to Dr. Palmer’s life as the chair of the Doctor of Ministry in Biblical Counseling program at The Master’s University, as well as a board member of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.
Drawn to the events of Newton’s life, his writings, and the practical applications they had to the world of counseling, Palmer wrote his book, “John Newton’s Theology of Suffering and Its Application to Pastoral Care,” published by Wipf and Stock in 2025.
We recently interviewed Palmer about his book and what he hopes people will take away from Newton’s ministry.

Q: What inspired you to write a book on Newton’s theology of suffering?

First, Newton helped me to grow in my faith personally by watching how he applied his own theology to life. Second, being a pastor, I was very helped by his skill in taking Scripture and applying it to care for people, especially in their suffering. I thought, “You know what, I’d love to spend some time getting to know him better — for my own heart, but also to hopefully help other counselors and pastors in their care of others.”

Q: Why is Newton a good source for studying what Scripture says about suffering?

Newton has a particular ability to take deep biblical theology about massive topics like the sovereignty of God, the sufficiency of Christ, or the value and applicability of Scripture, and bring that all into a personal conversation with somebody who’s hurting. He does this in a way that brings encouragement, perspective, and biblical hope, as he points them to the sufficiency of Christ. I have not discovered any other writer, either ancient or contemporary, who does it so well.

Q: How does Newton explain what suffering is and how to approach it through a biblical lens?

There are a couple of pillars that I think really encapsulate his theology of suffering. One would be how he viewed the sovereignty of God and His rule over all things, coupled with His other attributes: His goodness, His mercy, His care. Faithful suffering is not a fatalistic, “Whatever is going to happen is going to happen,” but the recognition, “This is my good Father.”

Another thing is Newton’s Christology — what he believed specifically about the personal work of Christ and His sufficiency. He loved to help people see how one of God’s chief agendas is to drain us of self-sufficiency through trials, so that we might see and prize and embrace the sufficiency of Christ that much more.

What Newton is getting at is that we don’t ever suffer needlessly, that there’s always a fatherly work for our sanctification in the midst of that. We can trust that God is doing something good in our trials.

Q: Why was Newton able to communicate about suffering so well?

Most people know his hymn, “Amazing Grace.” It’s autobiographical, if you know something of Newton’s history. He was raised by a godly mother who died when he was just a child. He rebelled from those roots and got into all sorts of trouble. He was press-ganged into the Navy and was later de-ranked and flogged on deck for attempting desertion. He ended up getting involved in the slave trade, and at one point his master’s mistress turned on him and enslaved him off of the coast of Africa. Newton recounts in his autobiography dozens of times where he should have died and God spared him.

When he became a Christian, he looked back over his life and recognized how God was using all of his suffering for spiritual purposes. In those things, he saw expressions of God’s mercy and goodness. These trials were designed for his good, not for his destruction, so that he would come to Christ. When he was on those ships and God was working in his heart, he read Scripture and was impacted by biblical texts on suffering, like 2 Corinthians 12. His study of these passages applied to his experiences formed this understanding of suffering that became so helpful to his ministry.

Q: What lessons have you learned from Newton?

First, Newton did not abandon his theology in the more difficult counseling cases. When we take what the Bible says and apply it to someone’s situation, and it “doesn’t work” (which usually means that change didn’t happen in the timeframe we expected), we may be tempted to say, “Okay, well, I know the Bible is sufficient, but maybe there’s this psychological thing over here that has the secret in it, or maybe there’s this other intervention that is needed.”

When I read Newton, I see him facing truly difficult cases — like his dear friend, William Cowper, who was stuck in a darkness of depression because he thought God had rejected him. Yet Newton didn’t abandon his theology because of that difficulty. He actually pressed into it more; you see him digging in, saying, “I’m confident God is going to help. I know He’s sufficient.” He continued to give his friend the gospel and trusted God to work in time.

Second, in the midst of those hard cases, Newton modeled what it looks like to apply theology to his own life. For example, Newton watched his wife suffer for decades from a chronic health issue. She was in bed in severe pain for months at a time before eventually passing away. In the midst of that, Newton was trying to care for her, point her to Christ, and remind her of God’s promises — and yet, he was grieving and suffering, too. And Newton had to apply his theology to his own heart, asking, “Am I trusting in the Lord? Am I giving in to discouragement? Am I tempted to be anxious or complaining?”

Applying theology to our own heart is the prerequisite, really, to caring for another person through counseling. And Newton says that this actually makes us better ministers, because now we can sympathize with those we’re counseling.

Q: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

I love to introduce people to John Newton. He’s somebody who probably most Christians have heard of through “Amazing Grace,” and they might know a little bit of his background, but there’s so much more. I hope that this book helps readers find an older brother in the faith who will be a friend and encouragement, and who will show them the sufficiency of Christ in ways that are very valuable.

Every Christian, according to Scripture, is a counselor. We’re all called to care for one another. We’re all called to use our gifts to build up the body. Even if the average person reading is not a formal biblical counselor, they are informal counselors in their families and churches. And I think every Christian needs help with that mysterious black box called, “How do I apply biblical doctrine to real life?” Newton shows us some of those connections in ways that are helpful and compelling.

I think people need spiritual heroes, both people we know and people from history. And I think Newton can be a spiritual hero who is accessible, encouraging, instructive, and helpful — both personally, and as we seek to care for other people in whatever capacity God might call us to do.

Palmer’s book is available for purchase on Amazon.

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