Colossians 1 v 24
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Paul rejoices in the sufferings he endures for the Colossians, even though he has never met them. He sees his sufferings as filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of the church. Paul has suffered greatly from the start of his ministry, not shying away from difficulties, as it is for the benefit of others.
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Colossians 1 v 24
- 1. Welcome to Grace “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Revelation 12:11
- 3. Colossians 1:24-27 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. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – 27 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people.
- 4. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction 2.I rejoice 3.I fill up
- 5. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing, v. 24 “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you …”
- 6. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering - παθημα
- 7. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering – παθημα • ὑπ ὲ ρ ὑ μ ῶ ν • ὑπὲρ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ ὅ ἐστιν ἡ ἐκκλησία
- 8. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road
- 9. Acts 9 ““In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he answered. 11 The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’ 13 ‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’ 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’”
- 10. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road • From the start of Ministry
- 11. Acts 9 Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. 20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. 21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who caused havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?’ 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah. 23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.
- 12. Acts 9 26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. 27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. 28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He talked and debated with the Hellenistic Jews,[a] but they tried to kill him. 30 When the believers learned of this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
- 13. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road • From the start of Ministry • NOT shied away from
- 14. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road • From the start of Ministry • NOT shied away from • Right up to the present day
- 15. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road • From the start of Ministry • NOT shied away from • Right up to the present day – Paul’s PURPOSE in suffering • “… for you”
- 16. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road • From the start of Ministry • NOT shied away from • Right up to the present day – Paul’s PURPOSE in suffering • “… for you” • He’s never met them!
- 17. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing – Suffering • From the Start … Damascus Road • From the start of Ministry • NOT shied away from • Right up to the present day – Paul’s PURPOSE in suffering • “… for you” • He’s never met them! • He’s nowhere near them!
- 18. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing • The SIGNIFICANCE of Paul’s suffering “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”
- 19. 2 Corinthians 1 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
- 20. 2 Corinthians 1 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
- 21. 2 Corinthians 1:5 ὅτι καθὼς περισσεύει τὰ παθή ματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς οὕτως διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ περισσεύει καὶ ἡ παρά κλησις ἡμῶν
- 22. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing • The SIGNIFICANCE of Paul’s suffering “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” – The sufferings of the Messiah in Judaism
- 23. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing • The SIGNIFICANCE of Paul’s suffering “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” – The sufferings of the Messiah in Judaism – The sufferings of the Messiah in Christianity
- 24. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing • The SIGNIFICANCE of Paul’s suffering “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” – The sufferings of the Messiah in Judaism – The sufferings of the Messiah in Christianity – Filling up the deficiency in Christ’s sufferings
- 25. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing • The SIGNIFICANCE of Paul’s suffering “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” – The sufferings of the Messiah in Judaism – The sufferings of the Messiah in Christianity – Filling up the deficiency in Christ’s sufferings – For your sake
- 26. Colossians 1:24 • Introduction • Paul’s rejoicing • The SIGNIFICANCE of Paul’s suffering “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” • Conclusion
Editor's Notes
- Paul’s statement that he is a servant of the Gospel (see v. 23, which we looked at last time) is now going to be developed in this next section where he describes his suffering as an apostle and its relationship to his God-given task (vv. 24-25) as the Apostle to the Gentiles. His big purpose is the public proclamation of the Gospel, which focuses on Christ as the hope of the Gentiles (vv. 26-27) … and this purpose then dictates his everyday aims as they are set out in vv. 26-27. This is what enables him to instruct these churches in the Lycus Valley (2:1-5) So … the whole paragraph where Paul deals with his ministry can be divided into two sections, 1:24-29 and 2:1-5 Verse 24 is as far as we’ll get today, and you can divide that into two logical sections: Paul rejoices, and Paul fills up. Each of those sections begins with a finite verb in the first person singular: ‘I rejoice’, ‘I fill up’ Each of those ‘headings’ gets followed up with prepositional phrases explaining what the rejoicing and the filling up are all about. There’s a lot more said, though, in the second one than the first. Here it comes …
- The funny thing is … Paul is rejoicing about what most of us, well, do the opposite of that about … and it really seems od that he should do so. (But it won’t by the end!)
- You don’t get very far into experience of human life without noticing that there’s actually a whole lot of suffering that goes on. Danny O’Donoghue made a big play about this in one edition of the last series of ‘The Voice’ … he said that art is the only justification for suffering. Well, that’s all very fine. SOMEtimes suffering gets channelled into producing good writing or music or painting. But to say that art justifies suffering is a bit much for me! What if you are suffering like crazy but you can’t paint, write or sing?! I can see that art in some form or another can help some people express – or even overcome – the damage it can otherwise do to the personality … but JUSTIFYING suffering? Whatever the paintings in the Tate cost, whatever the revenues raised by Mozart’s music I don’t think they are fairly distributed or (frankly) WORTH it! There’s suffering there and we have to deal with it – and we all need to find ways not only to deal with it but to make some sense of it and go on finding value we can add to the sum total of human benefit IN SPITE of it, or else we end up in a descending spiral of junk living! Now, Paul knew a lot more about suffering than many … and in his case, of course, it was all resent-able and unjust. Human beings in the 21 st century get very worked up about pain and suffering. And as 21 st century people, of course, we identify fully with that and can very much see why! But we need to be conscious of this … Our generation in our particular culture appears to be singularly suffering averse. Now let’s be honest about this – I for one am extremely grateful for modern anaesthetics, but there is such a total aversion to pain and suffering in our era that being without it seems to have come to be considered a right rather than a privilege, whereas in fact suffering belongs as an ever present element to the fallen world we live in. Now, of course, Paul has spoken about his sufferings before, but here he goes beyond all of that to make statements about the meaning of his sufferings that are utterly unique in the NT. What he says here suddenly becomes terribly personal … there have been lots of plurals in play in the previous verses: ‘we give thanks’ (v. 3), ‘we do not cease to give thanks for you’ (v. 9), etc. So the emphasis here then is that Paul is having HIS say … ‘this is MY position’ … what follows is a reference emphatically made about himself. Just remember the situation he’s talking about here … He’s a man who knows about suffering, and suffering inflicted on him or coming to him because of his faith and ministry. The Greek word παθημα here (it’s in the plural παθήμασιν the way that word usually is, but let’s not quibble) was used from the Greek tragedies onwards to denote that which befell a man that he just had to accept. You can see that we’re out of the 21 st century’s comfort zone already? Now this is important so let me quote P T O’Brien: “Paul uses the word to designate the afflictions in which all Christians participate as part of the sufferings of Christ (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor 15-7; cf. Phil. 3:10).” They are tied up in these verses here with proclaiming the Gospel of God.
- When he uses that neuter noun (NIV here pretty poorly translates: ‘what I am suffering for you’) Paul is talking here (given the context) about his own sufferings down at Ephesus for the Gospel of God which made it possible for these Colossians (through Epaphras) to hear the Good News about Jesus. He IS currently suffering in Rome, but Paul can’t say that was suffered FOR THEM! What he has said is that he rejoices about his sufferings ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν on behalf of you and ὑπὲρ τοῦ σώματος αὐτοῦ ὅ ἐστιν ἡ ἐκκλησία However, what we do have to recognise is that Paul is clear throughout his writings that his sufferings ARE tied up with his call to preach the Gospel. They are essential to his calling as an Apostle of Christ (1 Corinthians 4:9-13, 2 Cor. 11:23-33, 12:9-10, 13:4 & Gal. 6:17) As such these sufferings were tied in with the clear proclamation of the Gospel (2 Cor. 4:4-18, 5:18-6:11 etc.) It’s part of being a faithful servant of Christ which in Paul’s clear view involves being a fearless witness to and herald of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Preaching that message brought Christ a load of grief and suffering, and it brings a load of suffering to everyone else that Christ calls to proclaim it on His behalf. Paul learned about this first at the moment he met with Christ …
- Acts 9:16 – “In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, ‘Ananias!’ ‘ Yes, Lord,’ he answered. 11 The Lord told him, ‘Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.’ 13 ‘Lord,’ Ananias answered, ‘I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. 14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.’ 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’” Look – it is part of the Apostle’s original CALLING to follow the Lord in suffering for the sake of the Gospel. It comes with the territory … and when he deals with the heretics at Corinth Paul makes it clear that authentic Gospel suffering authenticates authentic Christian life and ministry. It’s been with Paul from the start of his Christian life!
- Paul is a believer who was born into God’s service and clearly born straight into battle
- Paul as he writes to them is again locked up in prison, in Rome, under Nero … trying to get to (arguably) the most pagan, scheming, treacherous, godless, immoral, incestuous person in the entire Empire (who just happened to be in charge of the whole shooting match). Why on earth is he doing that? Because he’s pursuing the clear call of God to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth – yes, no doubt. But why on earth is he suffering so much for doing so? I’m suffering, he tells them, …
- What?! Now – that’s all very well Paul … but they don’t want you to suffer! And, frankly, you have to realise, that for the majority, who do not share your perspective, this is quite a remarkable thing to say! ‘ For you’ … ?!!!
- What does he possibly care about them – it’s odd that he even bothers himself to write a letter to them as they’ve almost certainly (most of them) never even MET! Now there’s an important lesson for 21 st century Welsh Independent Evangelicalism here! He is not their Pastor, they don’t provide his manse or stand guard over Paul’s payroll … but they have reached out to be generous towards Paul and to care for him, and he reaches out to share what he has with them in laying his life again on the line for the truth of God they really need to hear and believe and act upon … as he writes them this letter. God’s church is a whole church, it has a variety of local manifestations (Carmarthen, Swansea, Llandeilo, Llandovery … and myriads of other places you’ve never heard of) and the servant of God should consider himself or herself the servant of them ALL to do them good – whilst always showing their primary and over-riding commitment to the brethren in their local Bible believing church. Paul looks at his suffering, his poverty, his imprisonment, his physical frailty and pain and he tells them he’s bearing it for them. We’ll see why he thinks that in a moment but please stop and pause there and consider your options.
- It only begins to make sense when you start to consider what Paul tells us about the significance of his suffering.
- Afflictions are a big source of Paul’s theological reflection in the epistles … and there’s what appears to be an important companion passage to this one to be found in 2 Cor. 1:3-11 that might shed a bit of light on what Paul is trying to say here …
- In this passage and in the one we’re looking at today the terms Paul uses for suffering … θλιπσις and παθημα both appear.
- In this passage and in the one we’re looking at today the terms Paul uses for suffering … θλιπσις and παθημα both appear. Paul tells the Christians in Corinth here (v. 8) about the troubles he’d experienced in Asia before getting to them. Really helpfully, he indicates (vv. 4 – 6) that the sort of suffering he experienced there is part of the sufferings of the Messiah (v. 5 - τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ )
- In this passage and in the one we’re looking at today the terms Paul uses for suffering … θλιπσις and παθημα both appear. Paul tells the Christians in Corinth here (v. 8) about the troubles he’d experienced in Asia before getting to them. Really helpfully, he indicates (vv. 4 – 6) that the sort of suffering he experienced there is part of the sufferings of the Messiah (v. 5 - τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ ) Now … the important phrase here is the sufferings of the Messiah: τὰ παθήματα τοῦ Χριστοῦ . The question of how on earth Paul’s sufferings are for the Colossian Christians of the Lycus Valley can only be answered with reference to this ‘sufferings of the Messiah’ reference here – so it’s important to understand this for that reason and because it also cracks the matter of the apparent comment about the inadequacy of Christ’s sufferings in the next verse or two!
- The word θλίψις used here for the sufferings of the Messiah is used a lot in the OT to describe the affliction and oppression of God’s people. So, for example, the oppression in Egypt and the affliction in Exile are described I these terms, as is the lot of the righteous in the Psalms. (9:10, 12:5, 31:7, etc.) By Daniel (12:1) we start to learn about a future time of great distress “unparalleled since the nations first came into existence”. So Schlier (quoted by O’Brien) “The judgement fulfilled in the history of Israel will be totally revealed in the eschatological θλίψις .” Jewish apocalyptic foresaw a future coming cosmic war that would usher in the coming anointed ruler of God. When these conflicts reached their climax (they thought), the end-time ruler would come. The afflictions of these last days are called ‘the sufferings of the Messiah’ and here we have that phrase in Colossians 1:24. These are the birth pains out of which (in 1 st century Jewish apocalyptic writing) the Messianic age is born. God – they thought – had set a definite limit to the extent and duration of these sufferings that His faithful people must endure and then He would come. Now THAT is the background to this phrase Paul uses in Colossians 1:24 about filling up the sufferings of the Messiah.
- The New Testament’s teaching about the end time and the sufferings of the Messiah is not unrelated to these Jewish expectations. There are some significant modifications though … It is not some unknown figure but Jesus Who will appear … the One coming on the clouds of Heaven is none other than the Risen and Glorified Jesus Significantly the time scale is different because with the coming of Jesus the End times have been inaugurated … and the present age still continues so that Christians live in the overlap between the two aeons What that second one means, then, is that the woes of the Messiah, the afflictions of the Christ, have begun and when their appointed limit has been reached the coming age will be consummated and the present evil age will finally pass away. In the NT, all Christians share in these sufferings, because through them all Christians enter the Kingdom of God! (Acts 14:22, 1 Thess. 3:3-7 etc.) That’s why Paul writes in Rom. 8:17 that suffering with Christ is a pre-requisite to being glorified with Him! There’s one BIG difference in the NT, then … These sufferings therefore lead ultimately to Glory … nothing can separate us during these afflictions from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39) There is the assurance that these present afflictions are not worth comparing to the Glory that will be revealed in us (Rom. 818) These sufferings lead ultimately to Glory (Rom. 5:3)
- So when the NT talks about the deficiency in Christ’s sufferings it’s talking about the sufferings of the Messiah, NOT the substitutionary death of the Saviour! (I hope you can now see why we’ve been going around the Apocalyptic bushes for a while and I hope it suddenly starts looking worthwhile?) Not only does this make sense of this verse it gives us a much more useful and positive outlook on the sufferings of Christians in this life – doesn’t it?! That word for deficiency has got the definite article (‘the’) in front of it suggesting the phrase ‘what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions’ points to something well known and agrees with the apocalyptic belief about there being a definite measure of affliction to be endured in the last days. So God has set a definite time limit (Mark 13:5-27) to the tribulations of the end times, so He has set a definite limit to the amount of the suffering that can be endured too. Paul is saying that this limit of the end time woes has not yet been reached. There are still deficiencies in it, which Paul through His sufferings is contributing to the process of completing. O’Brien cites Lohse: “By helping to fill up this predetermined measure Paul brings the end, the dawning of the future glory, so much closer.” There’s more.
- Paul’s contribution to the Messianic sufferings - through his service in the calling of Apostle to the Gentiles – is on behalf of Christ’s body, the church. By filling up the measure of a predetermined measure of afflictions that the righteous must endure, the thought seems to be that Paul is reducing the tribulations that other Christians (like those believers at Colossae) are to endure. O’Brien: “The more of these sufferings he personally absorbed, as he went about preaching the Gospel, the less would remain for his fellow Christians to endure.”
- Ok – I realise there have been quite a number of new ideas to soak up here in one sermon! But here’s how it all now starts to look: Paul is doing two things in this verse … he’s reflecting on the sufferings that underpin and authenticate his ministry and there are two points he makes: He rejoices in his afflictions because of his eschatology, which teaches him that he is Filling up the sufferings of the Christ. … and he’s both fulfilling his ministry of preaching the gospel to the lost (some of whom are getting saved) and in the process getting everyone nearer to the absolute limit God has set to human suffering before He comes and puts a stop to it all. His suffering therefore is very far from uncontrolled, indiscriminate, unfair or meaningless. On the contrary it has significance in the outworking of the eternal plan and purpose of God to save! So let me ask you … in this age so averse to suffering and where the church is so immersed in the spirit of the age, had you ever heard that this was the teaching of the Bible, before? In all those books we’ve read and sermons we’ve heard on the subject of (speak it softly & put your head on one side) ‘suffering’, did you ever hear anything like this? No. Neither did I. But it does seem to me to be an extremely positive, helpful, radical and Biblical way for us to proceed.