I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His Body, which is the church....
Is Christ lacking afflictions? Does He desire Christians to suffer the remainder? What does this mean? The NKJV Nelson Study Bible notes say we are not coredeemers:
"In this verse, Paul is not saying that Christ's death was insufficient or that somehow he was a coredeemer with Christ. Paul is making the point that a Christian will endure the sufferings that Christ would be enduring if He were still in the world. Christ had told his disciples that if the world hated Him it would hate His followers. If people persecuted Him they would persecute His followers. Paul believed he was suffering the afflictions God wanted Him to endure. Instead of facing his difficulties with dread Paul saw his troubles as a sign of joy, because they were producing an eternal reward."
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
Paul's focus is for others, as he agonizes. He's thinking about the Gentiles for their salvation and the Church for their perfecting. He writes similarly of the same issue in 2 Corinthians 1:5-7.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.
Here I notice that the consolation is for Paul and the consolation is also for others. The consolation to Paul is so that he might "give aid" (another definition of being "effective") to those who are enduring affliction in the present. This goes far beyond eternal gain. What kind of aid is being dispensed in the midst of Paul's sufferings? Salvation? Sanctification? I think I'm hearing both.
I still wonder about those "lacking afflictions" (Col. 1:24) with which Paul is being filled. Aren't his descriptions of purpose and design in those passages a very Isaiah 53 feel? Verse 5 of this Old Testament prophecy about Jesus Christ says:
But He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
Jesus and Paul appear to be doing exactly the same business. This is the Way in which justification and sanctification are catalyzed.
Jesus came not to do His own will, but the will of the Father. He emptied Himself of the privilege to exercise His Deity nature, so that everything He had came to Him directly from the Father. In His affliction He was modeling for us this new Way; He was effecting for us our total salvation (deliverance from the punishment, power & presence of sin). But He did not surrender being fully God. He is the perfect Lamb of God from before the beginning of time and this is why we are not coredeemers with Christ. It is so important for the lost person to come to conviction that Jesus is the Son of God. He may have suffered like a criminal or heretic. He may have been crucified in weakness. He sure looks like we do and us Him. He was afflicted and we all after Him, but He is also eternally Messiah. Let that be part of the testimony as Comfort flows out.
13 comments:
According to The Reign of the Servant Kings by Dr. Jody Dillow, soteria is means deliverance from hell 35% of the time in the New Testament.
In the other instances it means to deliver from an outward danger, or to be healed, or salvation from inward fleshly battles, or it is associated with patient endurance. It also of course in other places signifies the glorious salvation at the revelation of Jesus Christ in the end.
Dr. Dillow writes about 2 Cor 1:6:
"Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer."
that "salvation" (soteria) is a "salvation of the troubled" (pg. 114). So should I rule out an interpretation as soteria being the salvation which is a "deliverance from hell"?
I will need to look at other passages in scripture to know for sure how suffering is tied with spreading the gospel.
Try this on for size:
2 Cor 4:1-6:10
Seriously.
Spring break is a misnomer!
I have been reading and thinking about a lot of stuff and I've got my notes spread out. 2 Cor 4-6 is a great place to read more about how believers participate in Christ's work of redemption. I've begun starring in red every passage which speaks about our Christlikeness in suffering and the work of redemption and I hope to be consistent enough of a blogger to at least finish what I've started.... Help me LORD.
Thanks for the passage Jim!
I had this thought. Christ alone provided the atonement for our sin through the sacrifice of His very life (Hebrews 9:24-26). He only did this once. This is a theologically essential truth to the gospel.
For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Did Christ only suffer affliction on the cross? There may be more to affliction for Christ and His Body (the Church) than just the cross....
Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin - praise be to Jesus who was innocent and took our sentence!
In preparation for Easter celebration, this scripture is worthy of pause
For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us
This video is especially for those who appreciate artistic imagination of the throne of God
here
It is truly humbling that there is any significance of man (in Christ) when I consider who Christ is, where He came from, and what He did from love....
2 Corinthians is a long epistle with a few themes running through it. I might do separate posts on these.
The theme of Colossians is the supremacy of Jesus Christ, and our good works in light of the reconciliation He obtained for us with God on the cross. Excluding the greetings and prayers in the opening and conclusion of the book, Paul only talks about himself and what he is up to in a small section in the middle, from 1:23-2:5. It is in the beginning of this discussion of himself that he says, "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His Body, which is the church...."
It seems to be a summary statement without the defensiveness and theology in 2 Corinthians. He claims what he is up to very plainly. He is certain that he is filling up in his "flesh" afflictions meant for Christ.
Should abiding Christians plainly and boldly testify that they also fill up in their flesh the afflictions meant for Christ, for the design of redemption? If they do, does that sound like pride? 2 Corinthians makes me think the answer to the pride question, is no.
To be afflicted means
1) a pressing, pressing together, pressure
2) metaph. oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress, straits
The word flesh in Col 1:24 can mean
1) the physical body
2) the soft part of the body (what can be stripped off the bones)
3) the physical nature of man as subject to suffering
4) denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God
I see a lot of evidence that Paul does not mean merely a physical suffering in his body, especially since in that context of 2 Corinthians 4-6, Paul talks often about how believers "No longer consider others according to the flesh" but instead are oriented by the things unseen and eternal. This is one of the reasons why I want to write separately about 2 Corinthians. It is the same Greek word used by the same author.
When Paul says that his flesh is being afflicted like/for Christ, and rejoices that these sufferings are "for you," is he saying that he is crucifying his human nature? Paul is "opposing," putting "pressure" on it, "distressing" his human passions?
Very likely since a little beyond Colossians 1:24, Paul says
To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
Col. 1:29
Michele,
I just wanted to say thank you for the special link in your sidebar; that means alot! Can't wait until the doc can get in there and take it all out!!!
Hi Bobby,
I have not been the faithful prayer warrior for you of late and I hope you will forgive me. I look forward to reading your latest.
God bless you
Michele
Michele,
Good catch! Lots of people just slide over that passage without noticing the weirdness.
Jesus did not physically carry the gospel to Asia Minor and Europe, nor endure in His physical body the privations, sufferings and hardships involved in so doing. Paul, a part of Christ's Body, did. Paul endures the physical suffering for the sake of [ministry to] the Colossians that Jesus did not.
There is a doctrine of ministerial substitutionary suffering here (and as you're noting, in a number of places in Scripture). Paul applies it foremost as a grace given to him (Eph.3), and then afterward he says "but to each one of us grace was given..." (Eph.4:6).
This is something not often taught in pastoral training, and it should be.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for leaving a comment. I wasn't sure not knowing much of the history of Paul whether he had indeed suffered physically, for the Colossians as you said,
Paul endures the physical suffering for the sake of [ministry to] the Colossians that Jesus did not.
It's hard for me to understand for sure what Paul might include as physical suffering? Usually I imagine it as beatings or tortures.... I have more studying to do, probably from 2 Corinthians.
I was reading I believe yesterday in The Reign of the Servant Kings about a concept called illegitimate totality transfer. It is defined as an error of importing all the meanings of a word into the reading of a passage. ...I think I've done that a lot.
So when I think about how Paul uses the phrase "fill up in my flesh" he may indeed only mean the physical body and not other meanings such as crucifying the sinful nature. I suppose I don't know the rules of hermeneutics well enough to know for sure how to handle 2 Corinthians. There's that famous last use of the word where Paul speaks mysteriously about a thorn in his "flesh," and from what I know there is debate to interpret that thorn as being either in his physical body or a word-picture for some sinful aspect of his own humanity.
James 5:10-11 says
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord--that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
I appreciate Tim's comment about grace given to each person, and this verse shows me that various services to Christ probably should be considered as a suffering. For the person who continues to declare the truth in spite of opposition, here this scripture acknowledges it as suffering without a physical component.
I confess, I tend to think of the physical as a more severe sort of suffering. But why should I think that? Contrary to the worldly saying 'Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me,' words are oftentimes more painful and lasting than a wound to the body. Is Christ just as pleased by the sacrificial offering of someone's emotions as He was by Paul's (foolishly/boastfully recounted) physical beatings?
Michele,
Yes, a number of times "flesh" means "body" rather than something like "sin nature." I'd tend to say more often than not. FWIW, this carries over into the early church. The various versions of the Apostles' Creed read "I believe in the resurrection of the flesh [carnis/sarkos]." They wanted to make it most clear that they were referring to the physical body.
Re. "Is Christ just as pleased by the sacrificial offering of someone's emotions as He was by Paul's (foolishly/boastfully recounted) physical beatings?"
Christ is pleased when each of His sheep does He requires of that sheep. We all live according to the grace given to us: Paul according to the grace given to him, you according to the grace given to you. It's perhaps a little beside the point to wonder if what He requires of someone else is more valuable to Him.
Remember back in the old covenant when for certain sacrifices one person would offer a young bull because he could afford to, and another would offer two turtledoves because he was poor? When the gifts were placed on the altar, which did God prize more?
Tim,
Thanks for your response. This year my church is doing a Book of Daniel bible study by Beth Moore. In her video lectures she is inspiring us to become Daniels in our lavish society and get a picture behind the veil of the seen of all God is powerfully working in prophecies already fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled.
Some of her words are "if we can just keep our noses clean, ladies" ... "we will influence the influential" ... "are you ready to just lose your life; just lose it, lose it, give it away?" Strokes fanaticism for sure.
It's difficult to reconcile my munching on a buffet & comfortably watching a video of Beth, and actually losing my life for Christ. It is amazing that I can strain? to serve Him ...in our society which is so pampered and so affluent and so free.
How many Americans suffer in their body for Christ? God uses us still in consideration of our environment, I think your point would make.
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