Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh
what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for his body, that is, the church. (Colossians 1:24 CSB17)
Paul’s phrase “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” should
catch our attention. How could the sufferings of Christ be “lacking”? Wasn’t
His suffering enough? Stopping and thinking about what Paul meant, as well as
what he didn’t mean, can lead us to a deeper understanding of our role in God’s
work.
Let’s begin by thinking about what Paul did not mean:
What Paul
Didn’t Mean
Paul does not mean that Christ’s suffering and death were somehow insufficient
to redeem us.
We can be confident that the cross was enough to pay for our sins.
In many places the Bible speaks of Jesus suffering and dying for us. In fact,
just two verses before our focus verse Paul tells us that Jesus “has reconciled you by his physical body through his death” (Colossians 1:22
CSB17). And just two verses before that, we are told that God reconciled
everything to Himself in Christ “by making peace through his blood, shed on the
cross” (Colossians 1:20 CSB17). Neither in these verses, nor in any of the
other many verses throughout the Bible which teach that Jesus redeemed us on
the cross, is there any hint that our redemption required help from the
sacrifice of other people.
Not only that, but the author of Hebrews emphasizes that the
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was a one-time sacrifice which was sufficient
for all (see Hebrews 7:27; Hebrews 9:12-14; and especially Hebrews 10:10). Peter
also teaches that Jesus “suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18). This is the clear and consistent teaching of the
New Testament.
Besides all this, there is that fact that Paul could not have
helped pay for the sins of others because he needed Jesus to pay for his own
sins. Paul says that Jesus “loved me and gave himself
for me” (Gal. 2:20 CSB17). Like all Christians, Paul was a sinner who was
redeemed from sin and death through the blood of Christ.
Still, Paul writes of “what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions”.
This is part of the Bible, so it must mean something that is true.
What Paul
Did Mean
Often we can find hints (and sometimes explicit answers) to
questions about a verse just by reading the verses around it. Let’s look at the
seven verses which come after Colossians 1:24:
CSB17 Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh
what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for his body, that is, the church.
25 I
have become its servant, according to God 's commission
that was given to me for you, to make the word
of God fully known,
26 the
mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
27 God
wanted to make known among the Gentiles the
glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
28 We proclaim him, warning and
teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we
may present everyone mature in Christ.
29 I labor for this, striving with his strength that
works powerfully in me.
2:1 For I want you to know how greatly I am struggling
for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen me in
person.
2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and
joined together in love, so that they may have all the riches of complete
understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery-- Christ
All the phrases highlighted in red help me to understand what Paul
meant when he said he was completing what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions.
Christ’s afflictions were all the afflictions that were needed to redeem us. This
is good news. This is the gospel. However, it was never God’s intention that
Christ’s afflictions would be all the suffering needed to spread the good news
to all nations.
Paul (and all Christians) are commissioned by God to make His good
news about Jesus known among all nations (note: the Greek word for “Gentiles”
is the same as the Greek word for “nations” used in the Great Commission). It
is God’s plan for His gospel to be spread by us. And the work of spreading His
gospel in a hostile world often requires sacrifice and suffering.
It’s not just the initial spread of the gospel which requires
struggle, labor, sacrifice, and suffering. We also are called to help each grow
in Christ as we all learn to obey all that Christ commanded (see Matthew 28:20).
We are also called to help guard each other from false teaching and deception
(this was part of Paul’s struggle on behalf of the Christians at Colossae).
Paul did not think he was the only one called to suffer for the
sake of Christ. He specifically urges Timothy to suffer for the same cause (2
Timothy 1:8; 2 Timothy 2:2). It’s not just Paul and Timothy. We are all called
to suffer for the sake of the gospel (see Matthew 16:14; Mark 10:29; Philippians
1:29-30; Revelation 2:3).
There are many Christians who seem to live as if their purpose in
this life is to have as much comfort, safety, and pleasure as possible while
avoiding like the plague any risk of suffering. That’s not the type of
Christianity described in the New Testament. Of course, we don’t want to
suffer. Neither did Christ or the Apostles. But like them, we should be willing
to suffer for the sake of the gospel. We should make sacrifices and face danger
to spread God’s truth. It is part of our calling. If more Christians would wake
up to this truth, it might just change our world.
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