“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church...” Colossians 1:24 ESV
 
In Sunday’s sermon I made reference to several reasons we suffer as Christians. One reason is to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ.
 
On its face such an assertion seems not only wrong but even heretical. Christ’s suffering was perfect and accomplished all God intended it to accomplish! How could we describe it as lacking?
 
We begin by acknowledging that Paul was the first to describe it this way, and that he did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is left to us, then, reading that Scripture as the Spirit illuminates our hearts and minds, to come to a right understanding of Paul.
 
First, it would indeed be heretical to suggest that Christ’s suffering, with respect to its intended purpose, was somehow lacking. Inasmuch as Christ suffered in our place to take away the stain of sin, His work is complete and accomplishes that end perfectly and forever. No one, not even the Apostle Paul can add anything to it. The author of Hebrews, for example, (perhaps the Apostle Paul?) repeatedly asserts that Christ’s atoning work was “once and for all” (Heb. 7:27; 9:12, 26; 10:10). So, we should dismiss thisunderstanding of Paul from our minds.
 
Instead, we must understand Paul’s words through the language with which Paul and others understood the Church’s identity. The Church is the body of Christ. In this sense, the suffering we endure as Christians and as the Church is Christ’s suffering. He suffers with us because He is the head, and we are His body. The Father has ordained thissuffering, and it is not yet complete. It is lacking not in quality but in quantity. For thisreason, all of our suffering for our faith is filling up what is lacking in the suffering that God has ordained.
 
It is instructive that Paul calls it "Christ’s afflictions”. Though we are the ones physically suffering, Paul so completely embraces our union with Christ - our identity with Him - and places such a priority upon Christ as the one in whom and through whom we are in covenant relationship with God, that these sufferings are first Christ’s sufferings; first in historical order and first in priority order. It is Christ who suffers and therefore we, who are his body, suffer.
 
Perhaps this was one of the first lessons Paul ever learned about the Christian faith when Christ met him on the road to Damascus and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). You see, Paul was persecuting the Church for their faith in Jesus Christ. However, Christ expresses that suffering as His own. It was not first (in priority) the Church that was afflicted by Paul, but Christ and therefore the Church.
 
Honestly, meditating on this stunning truth makes me put my hand over my mouth. Christ so closely identifies with our suffering on His behalf that He calls it His suffering. Our union with Christ is so complete that when we are rejected, it is actually Christ who is rejected. When we are struck, it is actually Christ who is struck. Both in His earthly ministry and now in His glory, Christ intimately knows our suffering for His name’s sake.
 
So be encouraged, All Saints! If we suffer for Christ, it is Christ who suffers. And He has promised us joy and an eternal reward when that suffering is complete.
 
Your fellow servant in Christ,
Matt