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 Hijm,
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
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