“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am making up what is lacking in Christ’s AFFLICTIONS on behalf of His body, which is the church” (Col1:24)

I said Colossians chapter one wasn’t easy (previous post). So much so that I’ll just restrict myself to a single verse for this post. I have read a number of commentaries, and they all (rightly) affirm that Paul cannot be saying that there was anything deficient about Christ’s suffering on the cross. It achieved, in full, the redemptive purposes which God intended for it.

That is one reason I have capitalized “afflictions” [Greek Θλίψεων], for as a number of commentators have pointed out that word is never used in respect of Christ’s sufferings at Calvary, which would more likely be “Παθήμασι”, used earlier in the verse regarding Paul’s experiences. Nevertheless, the deficiencies he mentions do refer to “Christ”, but which Christ?

A great mystery

This relates to what Paul (from his language) appeared to regard as the greatest mystery of all time, when he wrote “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church”. (Eph5:31-32). He speaks of two (man + woman) becoming one (flesh) and directly relates this to Christ and the Church becoming one body.

 Numerous times the apostle refers to the Church as the body of Christ and on several occasions simply as “Christ” (1Cor12:12). Effectively he does so again when he wrote: “Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? (1Cor6:15). Likewise: “For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many are one body, so also is Christ”. (1Cor12:12)

Going back to Paul’s conversion and his encounter with the risen Lord, what did Jesus say to him: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting ME?” Not “Why are you persecuting My followers/My Church/My people” but “why  are you persecuting ME”. “Who are You, Lord?”  asks Saul, to which the Lord replied, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts9:4-5). The Lord’s language is uncompromising, He insists on referring to the Church as Himself: Jesus/Christ.

The resolution

It should be clearer to what Col1:24 refers: the fact that Paul delighted in his sufferings on the Colossian believers’ behalf, for it supplemented the affliction that the Church as Christ’s body should experience in the present. But this is not just an issue for heroes of the Faith such as Paul, but each member of the body. For they are to be “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom8:17).

Providential implication

In view of the above – the fact that God’s elect on earth are existentially the very body of Christ; they are joint-heirs with the incarnate Word of God, and shall be corporately married to the Lamb and share His throne, (Rev3:21), it should be evident that these cannot be the totality of humanity who are to gain access God’s eternal kingdom.  Rather they are to be its princes, or else Christ Himself would be neither royal nor divine: “For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from One; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Heb2:11).

That wondrous news is what these posts are seeking to demonstrate. And it is not based on texts such as this alone but scripture in its entirety. But in the context of “Christ” referring to the Church, check out this final text concerning what shall occur at Christ’s coming, keeping in mind that it cannot be the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who shall be “made alive” – Christ, the first fruits must be referring to the Church:

“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive; but everyone in his own class: Christ the first fruits; afterwards those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1Cor15:22-23) 😲

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