PT-3 "The Suffering of the Ministry" (Col. 1:24b)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/14/2017 10:35 PM

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-3 “The Suffering of the Ministry”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Colossians 1:24b

            Message of the verses:  “24 in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”

            I promised to give a rather long quote from the pen of John MacArthur as we finish up this section from Colossians 1:24b.

            “The statement ‘in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions’ has been the subject of much controversy.  Roman Catholics have imagined here a reference to the suffering of Christians in purgatory.  Christ’s suffering, they maintain, was not enough to purge us completely from our sins.  Christians must make up what was lacking in Christ’s suffering on their behalf by their own suffering after death.  That can hardly be Paul’s point, however.  He has just finished demonstrating that Christ alone is sufficient to reconcile us to God (1:20-23).  To do an about face now and teach that believers must help pay for their sins would undermine his whole argument.  The New Testament is clear that Christ’s sufferings need nothing added to them.  In Jesus’ death on the cross, the work of salvation was completed. Further, the Colossians heretics taught that human works were necessary for salvation.  To teach that believers’ suffering was necessary to help expiate their sins would be to play right into the errorists’ hands. The idea that Paul refers to suffering in purgatory is ruled out by both the general content of the epistle and the immediate context, as well as the obvious absence of any mention of a place like purgatory in Scripture.  Finally, thlipsis (‘afflictions’) is used nowhere in the New Testament to speak of Christ’s sufferings.

            “In my flesh’ refers to Paul’s physical pain.  When he says ‘I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) he is indicating that the physical pain he endures at the hands of Christ-hating persecutors is the result of what he does to benefit and build the church.  It was not his personality that offended and brought hostile injury to him, but his ministry for the Body of Christ.

            “In what sense were Paul’s sufferings ‘filling up that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions?’  In that Paul was receiving the persecution that was intended for Christ.  Jesus, having ascended to heaven, was out of their reach.  But because His enemies had not filled up all the injuries they wanted to inflict on Him, they turned their hatred on those who preached the gospel.  It was in that sense that Paul filled up what was lacking in Christ’s afflictions.  In 2 Corinthians 1:5 he wrote that ‘the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance.’  He bore in his body the marks of the blows intended for Christ (Gal. 6:17; cf. 2 Cor. 11:23-28).  He not only suffered for Christ, but also for the sake of the church (2 Tim. 2:10).  Those who wish to represent Christ and serve His church must be willing to suffer for His name.”

2/14/2017 10:52 PM