Meditations

Passage to be considered:

Colossians 1

²⁴ Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:  -kjv

²⁴ Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.  -niv

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.  -hcsb

Question from moody radio listener on April 8, 2017:

There’s a verse colossians 1:24 and I have an amplified bible and it says:

²⁴ [Even] now I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf. And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.

Can you shed some light on that? I mean I feel that Jesus did it all, you know and what is Paul talking about?

Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik:

The word that is used here for affliction is never used in the new testament of the Messiah’s death. Never. It means distress, it means pressure or trouble and it refers to trials in life. I don’t believe the atoning sacrifice of Jesus and his passion has to be supplemented by anything but rather I think it has more to do with … do you remember when the Lord Jesus meets Paul on the road and he said why do you persecute me? Paul was not persecuting Jesus, he was persecuting His body but yet it was taken personally because we have this organic bond as from the body to the head and so as we suffers, he suffers, it’s not his suffering on our behalf was not complete, that’s a different word but it completes the man of suffering so to speak as described in Isaiah 53, acquainted with grief, it is part of his identification with humanity and as we suffer, we identify with him in doing that and that’s what we are talking about. It’s not talking about we somehow supplement the substitionary suffering and the passion of the Lord Jesus on our behalf. It’s a different idea, it’s more of the affliction of life, in this world we will have tribulation and we have the organic bond with him and we are connected as a body to the head, therefore he suffers with us.