AND NOT ONLY THIS: ou monon de:

And not only - Leon Morris remarks that this "is a mark of Paul’s style. it recurs with some frequency when he is piling another argument on to the preceding one."

Godet writes...

But some one will ask the apostle: And what of the tribulations of life? Do you count them nothing? Do they not threaten to make you lower your tone? Not at all; for they will only serve to feed and revive the hope which is the ground of this glorying. This reply is contained and justified in the following verses. (Godet, F L: Commentary on Romans. Kregel. 1998)

This opening conveys the idea but that's not all!  Not only do we now experience peace with the holy, righteous, justly wrathful God. Not only do we stand forever in His grace with full access to His throne of grace. Not only do we rejoice in the hope of future glory. But we also rejoice in our tribulations, the believer's present classroom of what one might call "Spiritual Maturity 101".

Note that peace with God does not necessarily bring peace with man. The actual conditions of life, especially for believers in the midst of a hostile society, are not necessarily easy or pleasant, yet we have cause to rejoice in these hostile conditions as explained below. Job seems to have understood the value of this "process" to a some degree declaring that God

knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)

Paul says he exults, rejoices, even boasts in them, instead of murmuring and complaining about them. So as we look at the role of afflictions in the Christian life, keep in mind that they are any tests to your faith. Anything that makes life harder and threatens your faith in the goodness and power and wisdom of God is tribulation. These are normal, not abnormal. It would be abnormal for a Christian not to have them, as Paul taught the churches [Acts 14:22 1Thes 1:5, 3:2 cp Jn 16:33 Heb 10:32,33]. Now, do you rejoice in trials (NOT because of them!? Have you learned to live on this level yet? Do you rejoice in sufferings? Now, this is being ready for life.

Ray Stedman writes:

Paul takes the very worst things about life -- the periods of heartache and sorrow and disappointment, the tears, the crying, the heartbreaks of life -- the suffering, and he says it makes us rejoice: We rejoice in our sufferings. Now, I believe it is time that we Christians take these words very seriously, because this is no special standard, reserved for just a few wonderful saints who, by virtue of great faith, are able to live on this high level -- this is the normal expectation of every Christian [The Normal Christian Life]. Oh, I wish I could shout that, sing it, paint it -- I don't care how -- just so I could get across that message! This is what God expects of every Christian, and he not only expects it, but provides for it. Anything less than this is simply sub-Christian living. Have you learned to live on this level? Have you learned to rejoice in suffering? Or, do you still gripe and complain and grumble and murmur about all the circumstances that come?

Do you remember the story of Sophie, the scrub woman, who lived in New York City, and made her living scrubbing floors in the skyscrapers of New York? By that means, she earned thousands of dollars to send out missionaries. That one woman supported some twenty or thirty missionaries, alone. Sophie had a wonderful character of glory about her all the time -- so much so that she used to cause people to stop her and ask what her secret was. On several occasions, while she was working, some office worker would come to work late and would say to her, "Sophie, I wish I had your faith -- I wish I knew God like you know him." And she would say, "Well, if you would read your New Testament right, you could know him." This person would say, "Well, I read my Bible." In fact, she said this one time to a minister. He said, "I read the Bible -- I read the Bible in Greek and Hebrew." And she said, "Well, you don't read it right!" And he said, "What do you mean?" "Well," she said, "when it says g-l-o-r-y in tribulations, you read it g-r-o-w-l, growl. That is the trouble with you, that is why you don't have joy in your heart, you growl in tribulation."

That is exactly what Paul is getting at here, you see. Someone has said that the definition of a Christian is a one who is:

Completely fearless,
Continually cheerful, and
Constantly in trouble!

That's true! Do you know the secret to that kind of Christianity? Let's face it -- most of us feel, really, that being a Christian should excuse us somewhat from trials and sufferings. I know that, if we are asked, we would say that we realize that sufferings may come, but that we don't think of them as really necessary. We think that sufferings are sort of signs that something is wrong, that, if we keep in fellowship with Christ, things ought to go well. And, if we have difficulty, we feel it is a sign that we are out of fellowship, or that Christianity doesn't really work after all." (Faith Faces Life) (Bolding added)

Matthew Henry says

Observe, what a growing increasing happiness the happiness of the saints is: Not only so. One would think such peace, such grace, such glory, and such a joy in hope of it, were more than such poor undeserving creatures as we are could pretend to; and yet it is not only so: there are more instances of our happiness—we glory in tribulations also, especially tribulations for righteousness’ sake, which seemed the greatest objection against the saints’ happiness, whereas really their happiness did not only consist with, but take rise from, those tribulations. They rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer, Acts 5:41. This being the hardest point, he sets himself to show the grounds and reasons of it."

BUT WE ALSO EXULT IN OUR TRIBULATIONS: alla kai kauchometha (1PPMI) en tais thlipsesin: (Ro 8:35, 36, 37; Mt 5:10-12; Lu 6:22,23; Acts 5:41; 2Cor 11:23-30; 12:9,10; Eph 3:13; Phil 1:29; 2:17,18; Jas 1:2,3,12; 1Pet 3:14; 4:16,17) (2Cor 4:17; Heb 12:10,11)

Hodge explains that...

Since our relationship to God is changed, the relationship of all things to us is changed. Sufferings, which had been the expressions of God’s displeasure, are now the kind and beneficial expressions of his love. Instead of being inconsistent with our relationship to him as our Heavenly Father, they prove that he regards and loves us as his children (see notes Romans 8:18; Hebrews 12:6). Therefore tribulations, although for the present they bring only pain, become for the believer a matter of joy and thankfulness (Hodge, Charles: Commentary on Romans. Ages Classic Commentaries or Logos)

Spurgeon commenting on exult in our tribulation notes that Paul...

tells us of another joy of which worldlings certainly never taste. “Not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.” There is a secret sweetness in the gall and wormwood of our daily trials, a sort of ineffable, unutterable, indescribable, but plainly-experienced joy in sorrow, and bliss in woe. O friends, I think that the happiest moments I have ever known have been just after the sharpest pains I have ever felt. As the blue gentian flower grows just upon the edge of the Alpine glacier, so, too, extraordinary joys, azure-tinted with the light of heaven, grow hard by the severest of our troubles, the very sweetest and best of our delights...

...Let no man’s heart fail him when he hears the experience of the tried people of God. It is true that we do have troubles peculiar to the Christian state; there are some sorrows which are not known outside the family of God. They are very blessed, health-giving, purifying sorrows, and we would not wish to be without them; but, still, sometimes they are very keen, and cut the heart even to its very center. Yet though that; is the case, — and we admit that it is, — we also have some peculiar joys which no others realize. There are fruits in God’s storehouse which no mouth has ever tasted till it has been washed clean by the Word and by the Spirit of God. There are secret things which are not seen by the human eye, however much enlightened by knowledge, until that eye has been touched with heaven’s own eye-salve that it may look and still may live, — look into the glory, and not be blinded by the wondrous sight. Come, then, ye who are tempted by the world’s joys, and see where true joy is to be found. Turn away from that painted Jezebel; she will but mock and deceive you.  (Romans 5:11 Joy in God - Pdf)

Solid joys and lasting treasure,
None but Zion’s children know.

We also exult - He who has been justified exults, not in spite of his tribulations, but in or because of his tribulations. Because of all of these blessings and benefits of having been justified by faith, there is cause for confident jubilation, which is brought out by 3 uses of the same verb (kauchaomai)  in Romans 5, all three uses being in the present tense which speaks of one's habitual practice (note the objects of the exultation)...

we exult in hope (certainty) of the glory of God. (see note Romans 5:2)

we also exult in our tribulations (Ro 5:3)

And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.  (see note Romans 5:11)

Exult (2744) (kauchaomai from root word auchen = describes the neck which vain persons are apt to carry in proud manner) means to take pride in something or to boast over a privilege or possession. The idea is rejoice with (appropriate) pride. As used in the positive sense self-confidence is radically excluded and all self-boasting is abandoned. Faith implies the surrender of all self-glorying.

Kauchaomai was used in the OT describing any proud and exulting joy (See uses in Septuagint translation - 1Chr 16:35, Ps 5:11, 32:11, 149:5, Jer 9:23-24). And so kauchaomai can mean to rejoice, feel joy or great delight and in this sense combines the ideas of jubilation and confidence into one word to describe "joyful confidence".  It also carries the thought of giving expression to what is felt and not simply the feeling. It is one thing to submit to or endure tribulations without complaint, but it is another to find ground of glorying in the midst of them as Paul exhorts here.

Paul used this same verb earlier in a negative connotation writing that " if you bear the name "Jew," and rely upon the Law, and boast in God...You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?" (see notes Romans 2:17; 2:23)  In Romans 5 Paul uses kauchaomai in a positive light, exhorting believers to be (passive voice) continually (present tense) possessed this joyful confidence. Note however that Paul is not saying we are to rejoice "because of" but "in" our tribulations for they have great purpose as explained below.

Cranfield writes...

that the exulting in tribulations to which this verse refers is not an exulting in them as in something meritorious on our part...but an exulting in them as in that to which God subjects us as part of the discipline by which He teaches us to wait patiently for His deliverance. As a general statement "tribulation accomplishes patience" would lack validity; for, as Calvin points out, tribulation ‘provokes a great part of mankind to murmur against God, and even to curse Him’. But Paul is here thinking of what it achieves, when it is met by faith in God which receives it as God’s fatherly discipline. Where God sustains faith, tribulation produces hupomone. (Cranfield, C. E. B Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. Vol 1: Ro 1-8.; Volume 2: Romans 9-16)

Leon Morris observes that...

Rejoice (“boast” or “exult” again) is a striking word to use of afflictions, but the attitude (with or without this word) is found often throughout the New Testament (cf. Mt 5:4, 10, 11, 12 -see notes Matthew 5:4,10; 11; 12; Acts 5:41; 14:22; 2Co 12:9,10; 2Th 1:5; 1Pe 4:13,1 4-see notes 1Pe 4:13;14). People generally think of troubles as evils to be endured as gracefully as possible. Paul thinks of them not as simply to be endured, but to be gloried in. (Morris, L. The Epistle to the Romans. W. B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press)

Newell sums this section up writing that...

So now we find that not only does the believer look back to peace made with God at the cross; at a God smiling upon him in favor; and forward to his coming glorification with Christ, but he is able also to exult in the very tribulations that are appointed to him. Paul constantly taught, as in Acts 14:22; 2Thes 3:3, that "through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God, " and that "we are appointed unto afflictions." (Romans 5)

As Matthew Henry put it we can rejoice in tribulations

"because tribulations, by a chain of causes, greatly befriend hope"!

REJOICING IN SUFFERING?!!!

Robert Haldane explains...

This rejoicing, however, is not in tribulations considered in themselves, but in their effects. It is only the knowledge of the effects of afflictions, and of their being appointed by his heavenly Father, that enables the Christian to rejoice in them. Being in themselves an evil, and not joyous but grievous, they would not otherwise be a matter of rejoicing, but of sorrow. But viewed as proceeding from his heavenly Father’s love, He 12:6 (note); Re 3:19(note), they are so far from depriving him of his joy, that they tend to increase it. The way to the cross was to his Savior the way to the crown, and he knows that through much tribulation he must enter into the kingdom of God, Acts 14:22. The greatest tribulations are among those things that work together for his good. God comforts him in the midst of his sorrows, 2Corinthians 1:4. Tribulation, even death itself, which is numbered among his privileges, 1Corinthians 3:22, shall not separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Apostle Peter addresses believers as greatly rejoicing in the hope of salvation, though now, if need be, they are in heaviness through manifold trials.

Tribulation worketh or effecteth patience.—Christians should be well instructed on this point, and should have it continually in their eye: their happiness is greatly concerned in it. If they forget the end and tendency of afflictions, they will murmur like the Israelites. Patience is a habit of endurance; and Christian patience implies submission to the will of God. Paul says here that affliction worketh patience, and James 1:3, says that the trying of faith worketh patience. This proves that the afflictions of a Christian are intended as a trial of his faith. What by the one Apostle is called tribulation, is by the other called trial of faith. The effect of affliction is patience, a grace which is so necessary, as we are all naturally impatient and unwilling to submit unreservedly to the dispensations of God. Patience gives occasion to the exercise of the graces of the Spirit, and of submission under afflictions to the will of God. (Haldane, R. An Exposition on the Epistle to the Roman. Ages Classic Commentaries)

Hodge adds that...

The words we rejoice in our sufferings do not mean that we rejoice in the midst of sufferings, but because of them. They are themselves a reason for rejoicing. So the Jews are said to rejoice in the law, others rejoice in men, while the believer constantly rejoices in the Lord. The Christian feels that sufferings themselves are an honor and a blessing. This is a sentiment often expressed in the Word of God.

Our Lord says, “Blessed are those who mourn” (see note Matthew 5:4); “Blessed are those who are persecuted” (see note Matthew 5:10). He calls on his suffering disciples to rejoice and be glad when they are afflicted (see notes Matthew 5:10; 11; 12).

The apostles left the Jewish council “rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name” (Acts 5:41).

Peter calls on Christians to rejoice when they participate in Christ’s sufferings and pronounces them happy when they are insulted for his sake (see notes 1 Peter 4:13; 14).

And Paul says, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses” (that is, my sufferings). “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses,” he says, “in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties” (2 Corinthians 12:9, 10).

This is not irrational or fanatical. Christians do not glory in suffering as such, or for its own sake, but because of what the Bible teaches.

1. They consider it an honor to suffer for Christ.

2. They rejoice in being given the opportunity of showing his power in their support and deliverance.

3. Suffering is made the means of their own sanctification and preparation for usefulness here and for heaven hereafter.

In this context the apostle refers to the last of these reasons. We rejoice in our sufferings, he says, because suffering produces perseverance, “constancy.” It brings that strength and firmness seen in the patient endurance of suffering and in perseverance in faithfulness to truth and duty under the severest trials. (Hodge, Charles: Commentary on Romans. Ages Classic Commentaries or Logos)

John Piper gives a lucid explanation of how one can genuinely rejoice in the midst of adverse condition writing that...

"the answer from verse 2 is that we are standing in grace. This is God's omnipotent power to help us though. We don't deserve it. You don't hold the key to this wonderful, supernatural way of life that should set Christians off from the world, God does. The power to rejoice and exult in tribulation comes from omnipotent grace that we receive by trusting in God's promises. Here's an illustration of it from 2 Corinthians 8:1, 2. Paul is talking about the way the Macedonian Christians rejoiced in their afflictions even in great poverty. Notice the key:

"Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality."

Do you see the key: "the grace of God" was given to them. And that produced an indomitable joy in a great ordeal (or test) of affliction. And that joy in affliction overflowed in love."
 

Piper continues by asking some probing questions that apply to every believer...

How are we doing today when things go bad for us?
Do we rest in the grace of God and experience joy in God and keep on loving people?
Or do we forget the grace of God, overflow with complaining and become self-absorbed and critical instead of loving?

So omnipotent power of grace is the key. We stand in this grace, Paul says in verse 2. But grace does not work like magic. It works through truth. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32) - from complaining and from paralyzing frustration and from a critical spirit. Grace opens the eyes of the heart to truth and inclines the heart to embrace it and live by it. What truth? That is what the rest of this text is about. There are four truths that Paul wants us to know and meditate on. That is how grace will change us into peaceful, joyful people who exult in our afflictions.

In other words, if something happens in your life that is hard and painful and frustrating and disappointing, and, by grace, your faith looks to Christ and to his power and his sufficiency and his fellowship and his wisdom and his love, and you don't give in to bitterness and resentment and complaining, then your faith endures and perseveres.

Paul is not asking us to grit our teeth and be stoical (Ed note: a stoic is one who is apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain) about suffering. Neither is he saying that afflictions, in themselves, should be enjoyed. Rather, we are asked to rejoice because of what sufferings can produce.

The pressures of life have a way of developing endurance in us, and this endurance can be exercised only when we are placed under pressure. The very trials we dread are thus used by God to strengthen us.

Therefore the followers of Christ can view sufferings as opportunities, as training situations in which our inner reserves of strength and tenacity are developed. And how we need these qualities if we are to maintain godly, righteous lives in the complex, highly pressurized societies in which we live!" (See the complete message: We Rejoice in Our Tribulations) (Bolding and color added)

Ray Stedman explains that

"Rejoicing in suffering is not simply stoicism. It is not simply a

'Grin and bear it' attitude, or

'Tough it out' and see how much you can take, or

'Just hang in there until it's over' and 'don't let anything get you down,' or

'Keep a stiff upper lip.'

Many people feel that if they do that, they are fulfilling the Word and "rejoicing in suffering." But that is not it. There are non-Christians who can do that. Many people pride themselves on how much they can take. Sometimes people who are not Christians will put us to shame by the things that they can take without complaining.

We are not merely expected to enjoy the pain. There are some people who think "rejoicing in suffering" means that you are to enjoy your pain and hurt, that somehow Christians ought to be glad when terrible tragedy occurs and their hearts are hurting. That is not what Paul is saying. But there are people who feel that way -- they are called masochists -- they like to torture themselves. You have met people like that, who aren't happy unless they're miserable. If you take their misery away from them, they are really wretched, because it is their misery that gives them a sense of contentment. That is a twisted, distorted view of life. That is not what Paul is saying.

Nor is he saying that we merely are to pretend that we are happy. Some think this passage is saying that when you are out in public, you should put on an artificial smile and act happy, when inside your heart is hurting like crazy. Now that is not it. Christianity is never phony. Phoniness of any kind is a false Christianity.

I heard a man some years ago put this very clearly. Some of you may remember this man. He was going through great physical trouble, and one of his legs was amputated. That did not arrest the course of his disease, and he ultimately died because of it. Just a few days before his death I visited him in the hospital and he said something to me that I never forgot because it so perfectly expresses what Christian rejoicing in suffering means. He said,

"I never would have chosen one of the trials that I've gone through, but I wouldn't have missed any of them for the world!"

Now that is saying it. There is an awareness that this suffering has done something of supreme value; therefore, you wouldn't have missed it. But you wouldn't have chosen it, either! Watch a woman in labor; watch the expression on her face. If you have any empathy in you, you can't help but feel deeply hurt with her because she is going through such pain. And yet, there usually is joy in the midst of it because she knows that childbirth produces children. It is the child that makes it all worthwhile. There are probably women here this morning who will gladly go through childbirth again because they want a child. Suffering produces something worthwhile." (See the complete message: Rejoicing in Suffering)  (Bolding added)
 

Tribulation (2347) (thlipsis from thlibo = to crush, press together, squash, hem in, compress, squeeze in turn derived from thláo = to break) originally expressed sheer, physical pressure on a man. Thlipsis  is a strong term which does not refer to minor inconveniences, but to real hardships.

Medically thlipsis was used of the pulse (pressure). It is a pressing together as of grapes. It conveys the idea of being squeezed or placed under pressure or crushed beneath a weight. When, according to the ancient law of England, those who willfully refused to plead guilty, had heavy weights placed on their breasts, and were pressed and crushed to death, this was literally thlipsis. The iron cage was stenochoria (see below). Thlipsis thus refers not to mild discomfort but to great difficulty.

Morris rightly notes that...

No one likes troubles of this kind, but they may be seen as difficulties to be overcome, as ways of opening up new possibilities. One who sees them in this light glories in them (Ibid)

Martin Luther wrote that...

Whatever virtues tribulation finds us in, it develops more fully. If anyone is carnal, weak, blind, wicked, irascible, haughty, and so forth, tribulation will make him more carnal, weak, blind, wicked and irritable. On the other hand, if one is spiritual, strong, wise, pious, gentle and humble, he will become more spiritual, powerful, wise, pious, gentle and humble.

Thlipsis is used 45 times in the NT (Matt. 13:21; 24:9, 21, 29; Mk. 4:17; 13:19, 24; Jn. 16:21, 33; Acts 7:10f; 11:19; 14:22; 20:23; Rom. 2:9; 5:3; 8:35; 12:12; 1 Co. 7:28; 2 Co. 1:4, 8; 2:4; 4:17; 6:4; 7:4; 8:2, 13; Eph. 3:13; Phil. 1:17; 4:14; Col. 1:24; 1 Thess. 1:6; 3:3, 7; 2 Thess. 1:4, 6; Heb. 10:33; Jas. 1:27; Rev. 1:9; 2:9, 10, 22; 7:14)  and is translated: affliction (inflicting on a person something that is hard to bear), 14; afflictions, 6; anguish, 1; distress (the state of being in great trouble), 2; persecution (harassment in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict), 1; tribulation (distress or suffering resulting from oppression or persecution), 16; tribulations, 4; trouble, 1.

Thlipsis is used 99 times in the Septuagint (LXX) ( Ge 35:3; 42:21; Ex 4:31; Deut. 4:29; 28:53, 55, 57; 31:17; Jdg. 10:14; 1 Sam. 1:6; 10:19; 24:19; 26:24; 2 Sam. 4:9; 22:19; 1 Ki. 1:29; 22:27; 2 Ki. 13:4; 19:3; 2 Chr. 15:6; 18:26; 20:9; Neh. 9:27, 37; Esther 1:1; 4:17; 8:12; Job 15:24; Ps. 4:1; 9:9; 10:1; 20:1; 22:11; 25:17, 22; 32:7; 34:6, 17, 19; 37:39; 44:24; 46:1; 50:15; 54:7; 55:3; 59:16; 60:11; 66:11, 14; 71:20; 77:2; 78:49; 81:7; 86:7; 91:15; 107:39; 108:12; 116:3; 118:5; 119:143; 138:7; 142:2; 143:11; Pr 1:27; 21:23; 24:10; Isa. 8:22; 10:3, 26; 26:16; 28:10, 13; 30:6, 20; 33:2; 37:3; 57:13; 63:9; 65:16; Jer. 6:24; 10:18; 11:16; 15:11; 50:43; Ezek. 12:18; 18:18; Dan. 12:1; Hos. 5:15; 7:12; Obad. 1:12, 14; Jon. 2:2; Mic. 2:12; Nah. 1:7, 9; 2:1; Hab. 3:16; Zeph 1:15; Zech. 8:10)