Colossians 1: 24 – Filling up the afflictions of Christ

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for you, and am filling up in my flesh, in His stead, the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ, for His body, which is the ecclesia.

Shortly before this (1:20), Paul wrote about the comprehensive reconciliation that God will ultimately realize. That’s later. Now, however, God gathers together for Himself a cry (=ekklesia), which has already been reconciled (1:21). It is for the sake of this ekklesia, the body of Christ, that Paul undergoes suffering. He is referring to his captivity.

The fact that Paul, through his suffering, supplements in his flesh “the deficiencies of Christ’s afflictions for the sake of (…) the ecclesia” has caused many an interpreter to worry. For to some this seems to suggest that “the blood of the cross” (1:20) would be deficient and insufficient. That is of course a big misunderstanding.

“The blood of the cross” guarantees the reconciliation of ‘all’. There is nothing missing. But… “the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body” refers to the persecution that the ecclesia is experiencing in the present tense. If one member of the ecclesia is oppressed, Christ himself is oppressed (Acts 26:14,15). Hence, in his sufferings, Paul supplies “the deficiencies of the afflictions of Christ for the benefit of the ecclesia.”

Delen: