Paul’s Labor for the Church

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

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24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings on your behalf. And with my own body I [a]supplement whatever is lacking [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, on behalf of His body, which is the church.

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Footnotes

  1. Colossians 1:24 I.e. since the church is Christ’s body, figuratively speaking, whatever the church suffers can be considered additional sufferings by Christ Himself, and all such suffering was ordained and destined by God; what is left to suffer in God’s plan is what is “lacking of Christ’s afflictions.” Paul, as a member of the church, was destined to suffer through persecution etc., thereby taking his share of the church body’s divinely-ordained suffering.

Paul’s Work for the Church

24 I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church.

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24-25 I want you to know how glad I am that it’s me sitting here in this jail and not you. There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God’s way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth.

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