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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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:

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