NOW I REJOICE in what was suffered 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. 25I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—26the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. 27To 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.
28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.
1I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. 2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. 5For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Original Meaning
THIS SECTION, WHICH begins the body of the letter, fits Paul’s pattern of updating the recipients of his letters with details about his personal missionary endeavors and concern for them after his thanksgiving section (see Rom. 1:11–15; 2 Cor. 1:8–2:4; Phil. 1:12–26; 1 Thess. 2:17–3:11). Not all of the recipients of this letter know Paul personally, so this section functions as a sort of introduction. He is not trying to establish his authority for what he is about to say by outlining his calling as an apostle of Christ.1 His authority is a given. He simply expands on his last statement in 1:23, “of which I, Paul, have become a servant,” and emphasizes the divine revelation of God’s mystery, which he preaches.
Paul wants to restore the Colossians’ confidence in their hope and to arm them theologically against the glib arguments of those who sell short the Christians’ claims (2:4, 8) or vaunt their own superiority (2:16, 18).2 All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found in Christ, and no beguiling pamphleteering by others should persuade them to look elsewhere. He also wants to show his care for them. Physically absent from them, he is present with them spiritually. He suffers for them (1:24); his commission is for them (1:25); and he struggles for them (2:1).
While Paul may not have intended any chiastic structure in 1:24–2:5, it may help us to follow his train of thought better by mapping it out in chiastic fashion.3
A The apostle’s sufferings for them for the sake of Christ’s body (1:24)
B The apostle’s commission: To present the word of God in its fullness (1:25a–c)
C The apostle’s message: The glorious riches of the mystery of Christ in you, the hope of glory (1:25d–27)
B′ Carrying out the apostle’s commission: Proclaiming, admonishing, and teaching with all wisdom to present everyone perfect in Christ (1:28)
A′ The apostle’s toil and struggle empowered by Christ (1:29)
A The apostle’s struggle for them even though many have not met him personally (2:1)
B The apostle’s commission: To encourage and bring complete understanding (2:2a)
C The apostle’s message: The mystery of God, namely, Christ (2:2b–3)
B′ The apostle’s commission: To prevent them from being deceived by fine-sounding arguments (2:4)4
A′ The apostle’s presence with them in spirit though absent in the body (2:5)
This chiastic outline helps us see how Paul focuses on his apostolic commission, and it sheds light on his conception of that commission. Key ideas emerge:
• His suffering (1:24), toil, and struggle (1:29; 2:1)
• His commission as God’s servant (1:25, 28; 2:2, 4)
• The mystery he proclaims (1:26; 2:2)
The Apostle’s Suffering and Struggle (1:24, 29; 2:1)
THE “NOW” OF our reconciliation (1:20, 22) and the revelation of the mystery—Christ’s lordship over all creation (1:26)—has not changed the “now” of Paul’s imprisonment. But the word “now” in 1:24 is probably logical, not temporal: Now Paul rejoices in his sufferings because of the truth he has outlined for them.5 Paul links his suffering directly to his labors for Christ. The connection between his suffering and his calling from God is stated explicitly in Acts: “But the Lord said to Ananias, ‘Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’ ” (Acts 9:15–16; see 1 Cor. 4:9–13; 2 Cor. 11:23–33; 13:4; Gal. 6:17).
But complex exegetical questions immediately confront us in trying to interpret Paul’s statement on his suffering in 1:24. A literal translation helps reveal the problems: “Now I rejoice in the sufferings on your behalf and I fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh in behalf of his body, which is the church.” Several questions need answers. How can Paul connect his sufferings to the afflictions of Christ? How can these sufferings be understood as for the sake of the Colossians, a church he did not found and may not have visited? How does Paul dare to think that he can suffer in behalf of others as Christ did? More specific questions concern the meaning of various words and expressions: What does the verb “fill up” mean? What does the phrase “Christ’s afflictions” mean? What is the “lack” in Christ’s afflictions that his sufferings fill up? We will deal with the specific issues of what the terms mean first and then come back to the larger questions.
Some argue that the preposition anti in the verb “fill up” (antanapleroo) makes it mean “instead of,” so that Paul refers to a “vicarious filling up.” That is, he fills up the suffering that the Colossians, and all Gentiles, would have otherwise had to endure.6 Others argue that the prefix signifies that the supply comes from an opposite quarter for the deficiency; the filling replaces the lack.7 But the prefix is not decisive for interpreting the meaning of the verse, and the verb antanapleroo is no different in meaning from anapleroo.8 It means that Paul “fills up” the lack that Christ cannot. But this meaning leads to another question: What was lacking in the afflictions of Christ? The “still” in the NIV is not in the text and is misleading.
Interpreters have massaged the varied uses of the genitive case in tou Christou (“of Christ”) to come to a satisfactory answer. Some interpret it as an objective genitive, sufferings “for the sake of Christ.” Others describe it as a genitive of quality, sufferings like those of Christ. The question in both cases is how can it be said that Christ’s sufferings are lacking. Lightfoot interprets it to mean the afflictions “which Christ endured.” He makes a distinction between the sacrificial efficacy of his suffering and its exemplary impact. We do not share in his sufferings that reconciled us to God, but we do share in his repeated acts of self-denial that build up the church.9 Lightfoot contends that those sufferings we endure for the building up of the church are incomplete. The problem with this view is that the New Testament does not differentiate the sufferings of Christ, and Paul does not suggest that his sufferings serve to build up the church. He simply says that he suffers for the sake of the body.
Other scholars have argued that the “afflictions of the Messiah” (Christ) is a technical term that refers to the messianic woes (or birth pains) of the last days that are antecedent to the new age. It refers to a measure of afflictions that had to be completed before Christ would return in glory.10 The use of the definite article in the phrase “the afflictions of Christ” also might suggest something well known, such as the birth pains of the Messiah.11 Jewish apocalyptic writings foretold disasters coming on the world as a prelude to the end time ushering in the new age.12 If one assumes that the people of God had to endure a certain quota of suffering before God’s purposes were complete (see Rev. 6:11; see 004033), then Paul rejoices because he believes his sufferings add to the grand total and speed up the coming of the end.
Several problems make this interpretation unlikely. The Colossians must infer all this from a presumed knowledge of Jewish apocalyptic expectation, because Paul does not say it explicitly and does not expand on end-time speculation elsewhere in the letter.13 How would the Colossians have recognized that “the afflictions of the Messiah” was a technical term? No text contemporaneous or predating the New Testament specifically refers to the “the afflictions” or “the woes of the Messiah.” Nowhere else in Colossians does “Christ” refer to “the Messiah,” but it appears consistently as a reference to the historical person, Jesus Christ (see 2:11, 17; 3:15–16; 4:3; see also 1:1; 4:12).
In addition, Paul believes it is the lot of all Christians to suffer (1 Thess. 3:3; see Acts 14:22). He never argues that his suffering cuts down on the sum of suffering his fellow believers must endure. Paul tries to help the Corinthians recognize that he has been afflicted so that they might be comforted; but since they share the same sufferings, his afflictions do not help them escape it (2 Cor. 1:5–7). How could Paul have thought that his suffering, even as the apostle to the Gentiles, would make a significant dent in the universal tribulation of the end time?14 If he did believe that his suffering was filling up a quota of affliction and hastening the dawning of the future glory, why would he not want as many Christians as possible to suffer to hasten it even more? When Paul talks about his suffering elsewhere, he does not relate it to some divinely set number of afflictions. Suffering comes with the territory of serving the gospel: “For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Cor. 4:11; see 1 Cor. 4:9–13; 1 Thess. 2:1–2; see Mark 13:10–13).15 Paul’s expressed goal is not to complete a quota of suffering but to make the word of God fully known (Col. 1:25). His struggle to accomplish this goal brings suffering in its wake, and he understands that suffering “in some strange sense, as not his own, but Christ’s.”16
More ominously, this interpretation reopens the door to the false doctrine of a store of merits from which others can draw indulgences. It mistakenly implies that Paul’s suffering gives others a bye from travail. Paul rejoices, instead, because he bears his share of suffering for the benefit of the church, which all those joined to Christ must bear.
A more reasonable case can be made for a literal translation that connects the phrase “in my flesh” with what immediately precedes: “I complete what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ in my flesh.” Houlden comments: “It is not Christ’s sufferings which are being completed but Christ’s sufferings-in-Paul.”17 What is lacking or incomplete is Paul’s own experience of Christ’s afflictions, not something defective in Christ’s suffering. This interpretation contends that Paul rejoices because what he now suffers on behalf of Christ’s church allows him to pay off the balance of his own debt.
In my opinion, Paul’s thought reflects his sense of unity with Christ, something he stresses in the letter. Christians have been buried with Christ, raised together with him, and made alive together with him (2:12–13, 20; 3:1, 3).18 As Christ’s body, the church has a corporate personality. If Christians share in dying and rising with Christ, they also share in his sufferings (Rom. 8:17; 2 Cor. 1:5–6; 4:10–12; Phil. 1:29; 3:10; see 1 Peter 4:13) and he with theirs.19 Christ, therefore, continues to suffer in his body, the church (see Acts 9:4–5). This statement reflects Paul’s deeply held conviction that he ministers as Christ’s representative (2 Cor. 5:20). Christ lives in him (Gal. 2:20), and he serves in Christ’s place as one who died with him and who lives for him (2 Cor. 5:14). He describes “our present sufferings” as sharing in Christ’s sufferings (Rom. 8:17–18). It is no great jump, then, for him to label the suffering he endures on Christ’s behalf and as a member of Christ’s body as “the afflictions of Christ.”
But what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings? The word “lack” (hysterema) appears nine times in the New Testament and is used to refer to “need” or “poverty” (Luke 21:4; 2 Cor. 8:14; 9:12; 11:9), “what is lacking” (1 Thess. 3:10), and “making up for a group’s absence by representing them” (cf. 1 Cor. 16:17; Phil. 2:30). The latter usage fits our passage because the same root verb “fill up” (anapleroo) appears with the noun “lack.” Paul tells the Corinthians that he rejoiced when Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus arrived, “because they have supplied what was lacking from you” (1 Cor. 16:17). He tells the Philippians that Epaphroditus risked his life “to make up what was lacking in your service to me” (Phil. 2:30; lit. trans.).
The modern reader might imagine that Paul was ungraciously complaining that the Philippians’ service (their gift to Paul) was somehow deficient, and that Epaphroditus had to dip into his pockets to make up for a stingy offering. The NIV correctly alleviates the harshness of the literal translation. Paul is not complaining that they have failed to supply anything material. What is lacking is their personal presence with Paul, which Epaphroditus, as their representative, supplied. This same meaning applies in our text. What is lacking is Christ’s bodily presence. Paul’s physical suffering as a member of Christ’s body represents Christ’s continuing suffering for the world through his servants.
We can now give the answers to the questions. This conclusion explains how Paul connects his sufferings to the afflictions of Christ. He suffers as the representative of Christ, who is absent in body but present in spirit (see 2:5). “What is lacking” has nothing to do with some measure that must be filled but is an idiom for representing Christ bodily (see Phil. 1:20). Paul’s suffering for the cause of Christ is emblematic of his ministry, which conforms “to the pattern of Christ’s suffering that was worked out on the cross.”20 He presents himself as an example of the indwelling mystery of Christ’s cross working itself out in a human life, and he makes the astonishing claim that he is suffering for them as Christ would suffer were he present bodily.
How can these sufferings be understood as “for the sake of” the Colossians? Paul’s suffering, unlike Christ’s death on the cross, does not save them from their sins. Instead, it is connected to his Gentile mission and comes as the byproduct of preaching the gospel to a hostile, pagan world. Paul was in prison because he proclaimed the gospel (see Eph. 3:1), and that struggle on their behalf (Col. 2:1) has brought the benefits of the gospel to them.21 These sufferings did not hinder the proclamation of the gospel but were part of furthering it (see Phil. 1:12–14). Paul also firmly believes in the solidarity of Christians with one another. He can be present with them in spirit (2:5) because both live in Christ. He also believes that when one member of the body suffers, all members suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26); when one member is comforted, all members are comforted (2 Cor. 1:3–7). Both suffering and joy spread from one member to the whole.
Paul’s Commission As Servant of the Church (1:25, 28; 2:2, 4)
PAUL AGAIN IDENTIFIES himself as a “servant” in 1:25 (see 1:23). He was a steward commissioned to carry out an assignment for his Master.22 The stewards of estates in the ancient world were usually slaves. Paul therefore does not view his commission as an appointment to high office but as the exalted privilege and duty of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. He does recognize it as a divine gift that brings divine power to fulfill it.23 The same divine force that raised Jesus from the dead (2:12) gives him the stamina to carry out his mission, to endure its toil and strain, and to accept suffering joyfully (see 1:11; 1 Cor. 15:10; Phil. 2:12–13; 4:13).
Paul’s mandate is “to present to you the word of God in its fullness” (lit., “unto you to fulfill the word of God”). This phrase may mean that Paul was charged with preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), with finishing an assignment by making the word of God fully known (Acts 14:26; Rom. 15:19; see Col. 4:17), or with proclaiming the word of God and setting in motion the full effect of its power (2 Tim. 4:17). Paul believed his first responsibility—what God commissioned him to do—was to “proclaim” Christ as Lord (Col. 1:28). This central task is linked to a twofold emphasis on “admonishing and teaching.”
The goal of the preaching, teaching, and admonishing is to “present everyone perfect in Christ” (see 1 Thess. 2:19–20). The Greek idea of perfection as something without a flaw or as some self-acquired moral virtue has influenced our understanding of the term. For most, then, perfection is some impossible ideal that no one will ever attain. For the Hebrew, however, something was “perfect” if it fulfilled its purpose. Those who are wholehearted, sincere, and in right relationship to God are described as perfect in Scripture. Christ’s work is “to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (1:22). This holiness is connected to being “established and firm” in one’s faith (1:23). To “present everyone perfect in Christ” (1:28) is similar. Paul does not offer a ten-step program that leads to some kind of spiritual quintessence. Whoever belongs to the exalted Christ and has unwavering trust that he is Lord over all other powers and forces will be “perfect in Christ.”24 Perfection can be found in nothing else, and the Colossians should not allow others to dampen their faith in this hope or to entice them with enchanting arguments to try another way.
“Everyone” is repeated three times in 1:28 (in the Greek text, only twice in the NIV) to emphasize the gospel’s inclusiveness. As no part of the universe is left untouched by Christ’s redemption, so the church’s saving mission extends to all humankind. The gospel bursts through all ethnic discrimination, all sectarian exclusivism, and all intellectual hubris, denying entry into this perfection to no one who submits to Christ. The emphasis on “everyone” also means that no portion of Christian teaching is earmarked only for the initiated. “All the truth of God is for all the people of God.”25 Everyone, not just a charmed circle, is to become mature in Christ.
Christians were not to be picky about who could respond to God’s grace and, in theory, could not exclude anyone who repented and confessed Jesus as Lord. This blanket acceptance of potential converts from any race or strata of society contrasts with the apparent exclusivism of their Jewish critics and may have evoked their derisive censure. The gospel teaching is not some arcane doctrine that is to be kept inviolable under the seal of secrecy, as was true of the mystery cults. It is like computer shareware, free to anyone who wants to download it. God commissions servants to broadcast it worldwide in the public squares and from the housetops.
Paul’s purpose is to bring others to maturity in Christ so that they can fend off false teaching (2:2). (1) In this task, he struggles for them so that they may be encouraged and comforted in heart.26 Discouragement may cause the Colossians to look for answers elsewhere, and Paul wants to assuage troubled minds and pump up deflated spirits.
(2) Paul wants to strengthen the bonds of love that hold them together. Conviction and understanding that is not leavened by love is barren and empty (see 1 Cor. 13:2). Love binds everything together in a perfect unity (Col. 3:14). Wright aptly comments: “Living in a loving and forgiving community will assist growth in understanding, and vice versa, as truth is confirmed in practice and practice enables truth to be seen in action and so to be fully grasped (cf. 1:9–11).”27
(3) Paul wants to lead the Colossians to “the full riches of complete understanding” of God’s mystery. Such understanding is not simply an intellectual exercise, like comprehending a mathematical theorem. It involves the heart as well as the head. Paul has in mind the full assurance that understanding brings. A greater grasp of God’s saving purposes in and through Christ will enable his readers better to fend off false teaching. If they are firmly rooted in understanding the rich mystery of their faith, the Colossians cannot be deceived or deluded by arguments no matter how persuasive or plausible.
The Mystery Kept Hidden for Ages and Generations (1:26; 2:2)
PAUL WANTS THE Colossians to know “the mystery of God” (2:2; cf. 1:26–27; 4:3).28 In modern parlance, a “mystery” refers to a whodunit or some impenetrable puzzle. In the Colossians’ pagan religious environment, the word “mystery” referred to information about initiatory rites and symbols—things that had to be kept hidden from the uninitiated. Paul’s use of this word accords with Jewish usage. The mystery is something related to God’s purposes, which can only be imparted by divine revelation. Humans cannot know or discover this mystery on their own, no matter how clever they might be. For ages no one, not even generations of faithful Jews, guessed the course that God was heading, although there were signposts along the way (Rom. 11:33–36). All that God intended to do was quite inconceivable to human minds. The mystery went against all human reason simply because it was above all human reason.
In the New Testament, the mystery refers to a secret once hidden but which has now been revealed and understood (Matt. 13:11, 17; Rom. 16:25–26). In fact, God calls apostles to make it known to all who have ears to hear and eyes to see. Abraham received a preview of the gospel (Gal. 3:8), and the prophets caught glimpses of it (Eph. 2:17; Heb. 1:1; 1 Peter 1:10); but the apostles lived in the time of its fulfillment and were the first to unveil its glory fully.29 Instead of guarding this secret from others, they proclaimed it to the entire world. God did not call Christians to control a monopoly on the truth but to share it with others.
The key element of the mystery that is stressed in this text is that the riches of God’s glory are among the Gentiles—“Christ in you” (1:27). What made this so mysterious to many Jews was their conviction that the “adoption as sons … the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law … and the promises” belonged to Israel and to Israel alone (Rom. 9:4). The “Christ” also belonged to the race of Israel (9:5), and most took for granted that his purpose in coming was to restore glory and privilege to Israel (see Acts 1:6). Christ among the Gentiles and for the Gentiles seriously undermined most Jewish expectations. It seemed at best to be a betrayal; if true, God was acting in contradiction to an agreed course of action. Gentiles were “separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12), and many presumed that God intended to leave things that way. When, therefore, Gentiles began to respond to the gospel, it outraged many Jews and created a serious identity crisis for many Jewish Christians. It also brought into question the integrity of God. Had God reneged on his promises to Israel and abandoned her for the Gentiles?30
The mystery revealed to Paul was that God intended to save the Gentiles from the very beginning. Christ “among the Gentiles” was not Plan B after the gospel had been rejected by Jews. Rather, it was God’s eternal purpose. The letter to Ephesians develops this idea more fully: “His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility” (Eph. 2:15b–16). Christ “among the Gentiles” and “the hope of glory” for them was startling news to many Jews. For Gentiles, it was the good news that should cause them to rejoice. Paul rejoices because God has chosen him to make this mystery known to Gentiles everywhere. Even though it has cost him an enormous toll in suffering, Paul rejoices to be an active participant in God’s astounding plan for creation.
Bridging Contexts
IN BRIDGING THE contexts we need to look at how misinterpretations of the phrase “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings” have caused serious theological errors. We will then examine the biblical roots of the word “mystery,” which carries a different connotation in our culture.
Filling up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings. Misinterpreting the difficult reference to “filling up what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions” can lead to problems. Some might mistakenly infer that Paul suggests that Christ’s redeeming work was insufficient and needed supplementing. Nothing could be further from Paul’s mind. (1) Such a view would lend credence to the arguments of the opposing “philosophy” that cast aspersions on the Christian hope and would undermine his whole argument in chapter 2. (2) Paul is not referring to Christ’s redeeming work in this passage. When he does refer to it elsewhere, he points to his “blood,” “cross,” or “death,” not to his afflictions. (3) Paul has just concluded praising Christ for reconciling all things to himself on the cross (1:20, 22). He understands this redemptive work to be finished, completed, perfected. Nothing remains to be done, and the suffering of Christ’s followers does not put the finishing touches on the triumph of Calvary. (4) Paul does not believe that suffering has any atoning benefit for himself or for others. It does, however, “serve to increase Paul’s living knowledge of Christ.”31
The classic misinterpretation of this verse appeared in the church’s doctrine of a treasury of merits. The papal bull Unigenitus, issued by Clement VI in 1343, drew from this text for support.32 Such a mistaken view should be rejected out of hand. It contradicts Paul’s view of the full achievement of Christ’s death and misdirects worship from Christ to worthy saints.
Today, most people view pain and suffering as a curse. They resent it when it invades their lives and make every effort to keep it at bay. Inadvertently perhaps, the medical community has led us to believe that physical suffering can be alleviated if we spend enough money for the right treatment. But no one is immune to it. Many popular self-help authors wrestle with the question: Why does an all-powerful God allow good people to suffer? If we ask instead a question that is implied in the previous one, “Why did God not make a world where we can all enjoy endless pleasure?” the answer becomes more obvious.
Willimon speculates that “suffering is part of the price we pay for our humanity and our freedom.”33 This is all the more true in a fallen world where sin runs amok. But the New Testament has no interest in answering questions about why people suffer, and the suffering that Paul speaks of in 1:24 is not the sort that indiscriminately overtakes any human. Paul offers no help for the questions we have about suffering. His focus is only on suffering that is willingly chosen because of an earnest commitment to preach the gospel. Whenever we choose to confront the many manifestations of evil in this world for the sake of the gospel as Paul did, persecution and suffering inevitably follow. Paul’s devotion to his commission as Christ’s servant, assigned with the task of carrying the gospel to the Gentiles, meant that he was willing to take on himself Christ’s suffering. He did not try to explain it. Instead, he met it and rejoiced in it.
In today’s world we expect people to rejoice in their accomplishments, their blessings, their peace, their health and wealth. Consequently, Paul’s rejoicing over his suffering jolts a worldview that values comfort and ease as the highest good. We should note that Paul does not say that he rejoices in spite of his sufferings but in them. He does not rejoice after the trials are over but during them. The apostle obviously did not view his suffering as a problem or as something to be escaped, as we moderns might. Nor did it engender the resentment, hatred, despair, hopelessness, or cynicism that so often accompany travail. Paul accepted suffering as the call of God, and this call led him to look at things from a new perspective.
Paul recognized that Christ had reigned from a tree on Golgotha and that God raised him from death. After Jesus’ death and resurrection by God’s power, the suffering of his followers took on a new dimension of meaning. Paul understood Christian suffering as a divine necessity (1 Thess. 3:4) in the apocalyptic struggle between God and evil and as the continuation of the afflictions Christ himself suffered. He understood that his apostleship involved “work to be done and sufferings to be borne if the body of Christ is to be built up and the life of Christ to be diffused to new members.”34
The mystery. Paul’s use of the term mystery may cause confusion for modern readers who think in terms of a puzzle or something unintelligible. The term derives from Paul’s Jewish tradition, but his usage differs from it in three significant ways. (1) In the Old Testament, the mystery is revealed to “the wise.” By contrast, Paul says that it has been “disclosed to the saints.” He may have in mind specific saints, such as the holy apostles (Eph. 3:2–6); but it is more likely that he refers to all believers (Eph. 3:9).
Paul declares in this letter that Gentiles have learned this mystery because God wanted to make it known to them (1:27). He understands himself to be God’s appointed servant who was commissioned to publish this mystery for everyone. The mystery is, therefore, open to the public. Anyone, regardless of race, class, gender, intellect, past virtue, or age, may apprehend it.
This universal publication of the mystery makes Christianity disagreeable to anyone who wants to be part of an elite group with exclusive prerogatives—whether as a special, holy people that excludes Gentiles or as exceptional individuals with unique knowledge kept hidden from the vulgar herd. Ferguson writes, “To find that the experience of God reported by a rocket scientist or a saint may to a significant degree be consistent with the experience of God reported by an illiterate farm labourer, a punk rocker, or Miss America is jarring to our sense of the appropriateness of things.”35 Jarring as it may be to some, God’s mystery is no arcane puzzle that only highbrow prodigies can crack. It has been revealed to everyone (see Matt. 11:25–27; 1 Cor. 1:18–2:5).
(2) The term mystery was used in Jewish apocalyptic tradition for God’s secret plans for the last days.36 Paul does not apply the term to the cryptic timing of end-time events but to a person, Christ (2:3).37 His incarnation and death on the cross are the heart of the mystery. In Ephesians and Colossians, the mystery applies to God’s saving purposes for the redemption of humankind in Christ, which includes the incorporation of Gentiles and Jewish believers together into the body of Christ. Paul defines this mystery as “Christ in [or among] you” in 1:27 (see Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Gal. 4:19). The mystery, therefore, also involves the inclusion of Gentiles with Jews in salvation.
Ephesians develops this idea more fully.38 Gentiles are not incorporated into the Messiah’s community as temporary guests or as an auxiliary people. They are equals with Jewish believers. Paul appeals to this mystery in Romans 15:8–12 (citing Isa. 49:6) to encourage his readers to accept each other as Christ accepted them so that they will bring praise to God.39
(3) Paul affirms that in Christ “are hidden all … treasures.” The adjective “hidden” appears at the end of the sentence for emphasis: “in whom are all treasures, hidden.” “In whom” echoes the poetic exaltation of Christ in 1:14, 16, 19. Paul believes that humans cannot know God or God’s purposes apart from Christ. In Christ, however, “we have access to unlimited stores of truth, which are by their nature ‘secret,’ not the public property of the human race, but belonging to the deep things of God (1 Cor. 2:10).”40 The deep things that lay bare God’s heart are not hidden from view, but we cannot see them except though faith in Christ. Everything we can know about God and God’s purposes are therefore summed up in Christ. Christ enlightens our eyes to see the riches of God’s glory (Rom. 9:23; Eph. 1:18; 3:16; Phil. 4:19), wisdom (Rom. 11:33), and grace (Eph. 1:7; 2:7).
Contemporary Significance
PAUL’S UNDERSTANDING OF his own personal suffering for Christ can help us in coming to grips with suffering in our world. His view of his calling can also help us improve our understanding of the church’s purpose in the world.
Suffering with a purpose. Chamberlain contends that the greatest defect in the modern church is its cowardly retreat from the high demands of the Christian faith by seeking refuge in gentle sentiments. Our day is no different from Paul’s in requiring heroism, daring, and sacrifice from Christians.41 Paul’s remarkable statement in 1:24 gives us an opportunity to rethink our view of suffering and our commitment to Christ.
(1) The Church is “the body of the crucified Messiah,” something Wright contends has been forgotten by the modern church.42 That body continues to suffer because reconciliation is “a costly business.”43 No one knew that better than Paul, who believed that all Christians must share in the suffering of their Lord. Menno Simons also understood this and wrote: “If the Head had to suffer such torture, anguish, misery, and pain, how shall his servants, children, and members expect peace and freedom as to their flesh?”44 Because the servant is not greater than the Master and because the world has not changed in its hostility to God, Christians can expect no better treatment than their Lord received. Suffering thus belongs to the Christian calling.
Wright’s comments again are apt, “Just as the Messiah was to be known by the path of suffering he freely chose—and is recognized in his risen body by the mark of the nails (Lk. 24:39; Jn. 20:20, 25, 27)—so his people are to be recognized by the sufferings they endure.”45 Christ does not promise us immunity from affliction; he promises only that he will be with us in it. Roston rings the bell with this comment:
In the biblical model in either testament, to be chosen by God is not to be protected from suffering. It is a call to suffer and to be delivered as one passes through it. The election is for struggling with and for God, seen in the very etymology of the name Israel, “a limping people.”46
This truth becomes clear in biblical narrative of the church’s early history. As House puts it, “Acts has no purpose, no plot, no structure, and no history without suffering.”47 But all human efforts to thwart the spread of the gospel and to browbeat and terrify Christians backfire. Nothing impedes the gospel’s advance, and the Christians’ suffering only results in more and greater victories.
(2) Paul did not view his suffering as heroic or as entitling him to join the long line of God’s righteous who have always suffered (see Matt. 5:11–12). He believed it bore the imprint of Jesus’ suffering on the cross. He said that he always carries around in his body the death of Jesus and was always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 4:10–11). How so? “In the sense that he reflects in his person the weakness and humility of Christ and so must endure the same—if not exactly in substance at least in principle—sort of ridicule and scorn, and even physical abuse, which Jesus experienced in his dying on the cross.”48 This allows him to become like Christ in his death (Phil. 3:10; cf. 2 Cor. 4:10–11). We know Jesus best when we share his deepest humiliation with him. It is the glass through which we see God most clearly.
Those who think that Paul gladly drew the enemy’s fire to keep the Colossians from facing persecution miss this point. Every disciple must take up the cross of Christ, and Paul did not think that he could somehow lighten the load for others. Nor did he want to. Paul bore his suffering joyfully because he knew that he belonged to Christ. His suffering for the gospel confirmed that. Being conformed to Jesus’ death resulted in being conformed to the divine likeness and advancing from one level of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18; 4:11). Paul’s scars revealed more of the glory and power of God than his titles and offices, his public recognitions and diplomas.
(3) Paul did not turn in on himself in the midst of his sufferings. He believed that his life had a special purpose for others, and he viewed suffering as a privilege (cf. Acts 5:41). Paul did not suffer as a private discipline that would bring him some personal spiritual benefit. He looked at the benefits it brought to others. He suffered for them (Col. 1:24); he struggled for them (2:1) and for the sake of Christ’s body, the church. In Ephesians 3:13, he asks his readers “not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory” (see 2 Tim. 2:10). He did not expect the churches to serve him; he served the churches (Mark 10:45). He trusted that his suffering would make the faith of others stronger. His joy sprang from the deep well of this willingness to lose his life for others.
Carrigan describes this same spirit in Jean Donovan’s response to friends pleading with her not to return to El Salvador, where she courted certain death.
I love life and living. Several times I have decided to leave. I almost could, except for the children, poor bruised victims of adult lunacy. Whose heart could be so staunch as to favor the reasonable thing in a sea of their tears and neediness? Not mine, dear friend. Not mine!49
We live best when we put the purposes of God and the needs of others first, even if it means that it brings danger and distress to our own lives. We handle suffering in our lives best when, in the midst of it, we reach out to help others instead of focusing on our own private pain and anguish.
(4) Paul saw Christian suffering as part of the toppling of this present evil age. The suffering of Christians is not senseless but has meaning in the grand scheme of things. Those who afflict the apostle belong to the old order and its stunted, enfeebled powers. God’s power, which works through him, far outstrips them. When the opposition is through with its scorn, torture, and instruments of death, it is through; but God is not. God’s power, which raised Christ from the dead and turned the discarded stone into the precious cornerstone, will raise us to reign with Christ.
(5) Paul knew that his suffering produced greater faith. Savage captures the spiral of faith:
By faith Paul preaches the gospel, which in turn brings affliction, which then produces in him greater faith, which in turns creates greater boldness of speech, which then provokes additional affliction. For the minister of Christ, the pattern of believing-speaking-suffering is inescapable and perpetual.50
Opponents seek to crush this faith through oppression, but oppression backfires on them as it leads to still greater faith. Paul expresses this paradox in Romans 5:3–5: “We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.” Understanding the origin of such devotion, courage, and confidence in the face of suffering is more important than understanding the origin of evil.
The identity and purpose of the church. Paul sketches out his understanding of his commission from God. He is a servant, and his concept of ministry provides a good guide for the identity and purpose of local and national church bodies. God has charged him:
• to present the word of God in its fullness and make known its glorious riches
• to proclaim Christ and admonish and teach in all wisdom so that believers are firm in their faith
• to create believers encouraged in heart, united in love, and full of understanding
• to reach out with good news to those whom some may deem unworthy or excluded.
As Paul served others with dedication and sacrifice, so churches today should take seriously their servant role in the world. Churches are not here to serve themselves or even simply to serve Christ. They are to serve like Christ as instruments of God’s reconciliation.51 Hanson writes:
The church is not some curious or pitiable relic of the past seeking to justify itself either by appeal to an archaic golden age or by attempts to appear more progressive and radical than the latest protest movement, but is an agent of reconciliation and healing basing its identity on its sense of being present where God is present in the world, and for the same purpose.52
The church is to fulfill the same tasks that Paul saw were his. The task is not to spread the church’s institutional umbrella but to spread the faith.
(1) To present the word of God in its fullness and make known its glorious riches. For Paul, “the word of God” refers to the good news of God’s promises having been fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Rom. 9:6; 2 Cor. 2:17; 4:2; 2 Tim. 2:9). For us, the word of God has been canonized in the Scriptures. Too often, we read only selected portions of that Word, or we try to reshape it to fit our preconceptions rather than allow it to challenge and judge us. A preacher once titled his sermon cleverly, “This Is the Lord That the Day Hath Made.” While we need to bring the world into the church, we must guard against bringing the pagan mindset of the world into the church. The Scripture provides our only weapon against the incursion of culturally based values. Rightly heard, it fends off the danger that we will mistake our false, selfish hopes for divine truth and recast the true Lord into a false one.
The proliferation of ersatz truth in our world today makes it all the more imperative that the church present the world with the truth revealed in Jesus Christ. A popular American science fiction television show intones that the truth is out there. Some wag has responded, “But the lies are in your head.” Before we can beware of falsehood, we need to be aware of the truth. Unfortunately, too many Christians are underexposed to the Word of God. We boast that we live in an “information age,” but all too many are woefully uninformed about the Bible’s contents. When trouble floods their lives, they can call up to memory nothing from Scripture.
My wife is conducting research on families and faith development.53 She shared with me her surprise that when she interviewed families of faith and asked what character or story from the Bible they would most readily identify with, many could not think of any. The explanation must be that they do not study Scripture and do not hear biblical truth and biblical stories preached with any regularity.
This fact was driven home to me when I visited a congregation on an Easter Sunday. I was greatly disappointed to hear a sermon that consisted only of long summaries of recent movie plots, which were then applied to a recap of the week’s news. The Scripture was read but then completely ignored in the sermon. While movies and literature may help illustrate, support, and corroborate the Scripture, they can never be a substitute for it. They may help us gain insight into the human situation, but they do not bring us to God. Only the Word of God has the power and authority to do that and to change lives. Another pastor boasted in a national news magazine that he does not preach on old, stale Bible stories but on things like “Bosnia, peace, and justice.” Apparently, he does not realize that the old Bible stories define our understanding of peace and justice. We learn how to act toward others from the way God acted toward us in salvation history.
Throughout history, countless persons have attested that a single line of the Bible has changed their lives, sustained them, or consoled them in trying times. Many have attested that the Scriptures not only addressed their fears, needs, and worries but set them face to face with God. The Bible challenges our reprehensible injustice, constant strife, and smug complacency. It also helps us realize a new purpose for our lives. Our task, then, is to present God’s Word in such a way that others will see its hidden riches, which we discover more and more as we study. Armed with that Word written on our hearts, Christians will not be vulnerable to imitation truth. The neglect of Scripture for more current fascinations spells doom for the church.
Buttrick tells the story of a boy
who heard of a hillside from whose rocks, seen from a distance, a massive shield had been carved—as though some giant had left it lying amid sloping meadows. The shield, he was told, was a place of vision and resolve; and he went to seek it. But no sooner had he crossed the valley than, looking back, he saw the shield clearly patterned on his own hillside. One of its quarters was the garden in which he played.54
We may be tempted to look elsewhere for words of eternal life, but we already have them in our Scripture. An unreflecting familiarity with it may make it seem like old hat. A casual neglect of it may make it seem inessential. Only presenting the Word of God in its fullness helps us plumb its great riches.
(2) To proclaim Christ and admonish and teach in all wisdom so that believers are firm in their faith. Paul links proclaiming Christ to a twofold emphasis on admonishing and teaching (1:28).55 We understand the task of teaching, but admonishing may suggest an image of reproving wrongdoers. Paul does use the verb (parakaleo) with this disciplinary meaning (1 Cor. 4:14; 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess. 3:15; see the noun form in Titus 3:10), but it can also mean “instructing” or “reminding.” According to Acts 20:31, Paul spent three years “admonishing” the Ephesians. He did not spend that entire time upbraiding them, but instructing them (cf. Col. 3:16). Admonition therefore involves encouraging, instructing, and prompting, as well as reproving others when necessary. Note too that Paul did not believe that this task was his responsibility alone; it belonged to the entire community (see 3:16 again).
Roehlkepartain reports a number of unorthodox beliefs making inroads among members of mainline denomination churches. He notes that “one-third of adults believe ‘that through meditation and self-discipline I come to know that all spiritual truth and wisdom is within me.’ Nine percent believe in reincarnation and astrology. And 7 percent believe it is possible to communicate with the dead.”56 The task of teaching and admonishing remains urgent so that Christians have a firm grounding in their faith and its biblical foundations.
(3) To create believers encouraged in heart, united in love, and full of understanding. Most people want to experience growth, to feel appreciated and respected. They also want to feel a sense of community—that they belong. They want to develop deeper relationships that will break into the loneliness and isolation that our modern world has seemed to intensify. We are mistaken if we think that people are simply looking for friendly churches; they are looking for friends. They yearn to be connected to others who will give them encouragement and support.
Note how much Paul encourages the Colossians in this letter. He never berates them but tells them, “I am present with you [not watching over you] in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is” (2:5). Most people respond better to encouragement rather than to reproach. Paul provides a model of this in this letter. He publicly affirms the Colossians’ strengths and praises them for it. He wants their faith to blossom even more under the rain of the opponents’ harsh criticism. Rather than chastise them for error, he sets forth more clearly the truth to which they have given their lives.
The church should be a place of hope, good cheer, and encouragement, the place where others affirm the areas of growth in our lives and help us on the way to maturation, the place where we are fortified for daily battle in the midst of despair and hopelessness, and the place where we do the same for others. In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, as the pilgrims cross the river in the final stage of their journey, Christian begins to sink amid terrible fears. His companion, Hopeful, does all he can to keep his head above water:
Yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then, ere a while, he would rise up again half dead. Hopeful also would endeavour to comfort him, saying, “Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by to receive us”; but Christian would answer, “It is you, it is you they wait for; you have been Hopeful ever since I knew you.” “And so have you,” said he to Christian. “Ah, brother,” said he, “surely if I was right he would now arise to help me; but for my sins he hath brought me into the snare, and hath left me.” Then said Hopeful, “My brother, you have quite forgot the text, where it is said of the wicked, ‘There are no bands in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.’ Psalm 73:4, 5. These troubles and distresses that you go through in these waters are no sign that God hath forsaken you; but are sent to try you, whether you will call to mind that which heretofore you have received of his goodness, and live upon him in your distresses.”
(4) To reach out with good news to those whom some may deem unworthy or excluded. Paul suffered as an apostle to the Gentiles. Most of his opposition came from Jews, who saw his gospel as dangerously undermining their privilege and special identity. But God never intended for the church to be a holy ghetto where “our kind of people” gather. His purpose has now been made crystal clear: The church is to be inclusive of all peoples, drawing in those with whom we may not have much in common and may not much like. We cannot draw limits on who is eligible for God’s glory or who is not, and we may not make a test of fellowship what God does not make a condition of salvation.
Paul eventually died a martyr to this vision of God’s grace, which swept aside venerable and long-cherished divisions to bring archenemies together in Christ. The church is to embody this reconciliation in its acceptance of all who name Christ as Savior, in its mission to reach every person, and in its teaching to make every person mature in Christ.