It might have been a surprise to the church in Colossae to hear that something was lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Wasn’t Jesus the perfect sacrifice? Isn’t Christ’s sacrifice that in which I am placing my faith so that my sins could be forgiven?

In what way, exactly, are Christ’s afflictions lacking?

Let’s try to understand what Paul is saying. Here is the passage that I’m referring to:

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. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:24-27

You can see how this could quickly become confusing quickly. If Paul is saying that Christ’s afflictions are lacking in some way, then we have an imperfect sacrifice. And if we have an imperfect sacrifice, then we have nothing in which we can place our faith and we cannot be forgiven. And finally, if we cannot be forgiven, we are lost. We are destined to receives God’s wrath and punishment. We cannot be saved. We cannot be part of God’s kingdom. We are not his people.

But of course, many, many other places in the scriptures have already told us that Jesus is the perfect sacrifice – one sacrifice for all time, for all people, for all sin. Jesus is the one who takes our sins upon himself so that we can be healed. Here is just one example from the book of Hebrews:

And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

“This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he adds:
“Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more.”

And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

Hebrews 10:10-18

We can see here that no other sacrifices are necessary. Jesus’s sacrifice was sufficient for all people, for all time. Jesus was, in fact, given as one sacrifice for sins by God himself, through Christ our high priest, and no further sacrifices are necessary. In fact, to offer further sacrifice would be to say that God’s sacrifice was not sufficient. To continue to strive in an effort to please God would be tantamount to saying that the blood of Christ was not enough. Instead, we would be acting as if we believe that we need more.

No, we have received the perfect sacrifice in Jesus Christ. He was bruised and beaten. He was hung on the cross and died, and then he rose again three days later, defeating death and taking away the sin of anyone who would place their faith in him.

If that is true, then, what is Paul talking about? How can he say that there is something lacking in the afflictions of Christ?

Even further, how can Paul, although truly a great man, but just a man like any one of us, make up for anything that is related to Christ’s sacrifice? That certainly isn’t possible, is it?

We need to be sure to read what Paul is saying in context. Paul is referring to the presentation of the message of the Gospel. He is talking about the message that has been hidden from people throughout the centuries but that has now been made known to the Gentiles. He is talking about the fact that the message now must be spread to the rest of the world.

The sacrifice of Christ hasn’t been magically or automatically communicated to everyone. It hasn’t been, in some way, electronically transmitted to everyone’s heart and mind. No, instead, God has decided that people, each of us, would be the way that the message would be communicated and taken to everyone everywhere. We are his ambassadors, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians. In this way, Paul is saying that he is taking on what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.

Christ’s afflictions have taken on the wrath of God in our place. He died so that we can live, but he did not go to everyone throughout the world to take this incredible message to all people. That is the role that God has given us to carry out. That is the job that he has given us to do.

Let’s take this discussion one step further, however. Paul actually doesn’t just say that he is the bearer of the message. Instead, he says that he fills up in his flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. Paul takes this message within him, within his flesh, and carries it to the whole world.

Paul had taken the beatings. He had been jailed. Like Christ, his flesh bore the marks, the wounds of the Gospel, as he took the message to the whole world. When you heard the message from Paul, you also saw the wounds on his flesh. You saw the marks of Christ upon him. He was full of the message of Christ, even within his flesh. Paul did not just preach the words of the Gospel, but he bore upon himself the true marks of Christ.

In this important way, Paul fills up within himself that which is lacking in Christ’s afflictions. He isn’t sacrificing himself for the people. He is giving himself to Christ, for the cause of Christ and to Christ’s glory, so that the mystery of Christ would be revealed to all people and the whole world may hear of the salvation that comes from God.