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is impossible for one who has always been strong and healthy. So it may not be easy for
everyone to sympathize in depth; yet we should be compassionate to all.
The dictionary gives sympathy Fellow feeling, compassion.
The A.V. does not seem to contain the word "sympathy" but in the Greek we find the
word sumpatheo which occurs twice in Hebrews. So let us begin by looking at these two
references:
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4: 15).
The literal translation is:
"We have not a high priest not able to sympathize with our infirmities, but (Who) has
been tempted in all things according to (our) likeness, apart from sin" or we may say "sin
excepted".
Our Lord has lived on this earth as a man, and experienced all kinds of suffering and
deprivation. Surely He could say, "I too have been through it all and I know about your
particular experience" and so He fully sympathizes with us.
Paul tells the Hebrews that he knew how they sympathized with him, and had
experienced loss similar to his own losses. The literal translation begins "For both with
my bonds, ye sympathized . . . . .". The A.V. reads:
"For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance"
(Heb. 10: 34).
Then in Peter's epistle, he writes that we should extend compassion to one another:
"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren,
be pitiful, be courteous" (I Pet. 3: 8).
The literal translation is:
"Finally, all being of one mind, sympathizing, loving the brethren, tender hearted,
friendly . . . . .".
This then should be our attitude of mind, being sympathetic one to another.
The Greek word sumpascho means to suffer together, and this is an extension of the
thought that we should sympathize.
"And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be
honoured, all the members rejoice with it" (I Cor. 12: 26).
Paul is writing about the members of a body and shows how each member shares with
the experiences of any one member. This word also occurs in Romans where Paul writes
about the sharing of the sufferings of Christ. He writes: