Readings
- Exodus 20:1–21
- Colossians 1:24–2:7
- Matthew 4:1–11
- Psalms: 37:1–18; 37:19–42
Colossians 1:24–2:7
I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its minister according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.
For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you and for those in Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face. I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love, so that they may have all the riches of assured understanding and have the knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I am saying this so that no one may deceive you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your orderly conduct and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Notes
Verse 24 is the sort of sentence that has alarmed readers for two millennia: "in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." Something is lacking in Christ's afflictions? Heresy! Probably not. Paul's mysticism is on full display here. Elsewhere he says, "not I, but Christ in me." The other direction is just as true for him: me in Christ. When Paul suffers, he suffers in the Messiah. And the Messiah's suffering is apparently not yet complete, because Paul and the rest of us are still suffering.
This also loosens a bad theology that has attached itself to the cross — the idea that Jesus suffered in our place so that we wouldn't have to. No. Jesus did not suffer instead of us; he suffered ahead of us. Jesus suffered because the world is cruel and the empire kills dissidents. The world is still cruel, and we still suffer. The good news is not that Jesus took our suffering away. The good news is that what we suffer, God now suffers with us — and what God suffers, we suffer with God. That is mystical union, and it is the gospel.
Verse 25 names Paul's vocation as making "the word of God fully known." Worth slowing down here: the word of God is not the Bible. Neither is the "mystery hidden throughout the ages." Both are Christ. Paul is not a pamphleteer for a text; he is a witness to a person. Verse 27 makes the mystery explicit: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Not Christ above you, or Christ after you. Christ in you. Right now.
Verse 28 gives us the goal of all of this proclamation: "that we may present everyone mature in Christ." The word for "mature" is teleios, which translations often render as "perfect." It does not mean morally flawless. It means brought to its goal, its end, its purpose. Keep that in mind with a verse like Matthew 5:48 — "be teleios as your heavenly Father is teleios." Not flawless; brought to fullness.
Verse 29 has one of my favorite Greek wordplays. The NRSVue reads, "For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me." A more literal rendering: I toil and agonize with all the energy that he energizes within me. The same root — energeia / energoumenēn — twice in one breath. And the verb behind "strive" is agōnizomai: agony, struggle, the effort of the wrestler. Paul is not trying hard on his own steam. The energy that drives him is the energy that is being energized in him. That is a very different picture of ministerial effort than gritting your teeth.
Paul carries that same verb into 2:1: "I agonize for you, and for those in Laodicea." The concern is real enough to be called struggle.
Notice what he wants for them: encouraged hearts, united in love, all the riches of assured understanding, the knowledge of God's mystery, the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom. Knowledge. Understanding. Assured understanding. Paul is not anti-intellectual, and neither is the Bible. Despite what you may have heard in certain Christian subcultures, the life of the mind is a gift to the faith, not a threat to it.
Then 2:6–7 gives us another cascade of verbs.
- Received — the formal language of education; you have been taught.
- Continue to walk — the metaphor of daily life.
- Rooted — plant language; you are drawing nutrients from somewhere.
- Built up — construction language; you are under construction.
- Established — a legal term for putting a matter beyond doubt.
- Taught — didaskō, the root of "didactic"; your formation is not an accident.
- Abounding in thanksgiving — eucharistia, the word that gives us Eucharist.
Education, walking, rooting, building, establishing, teaching, thanksgiving. Paul never gives us just one metaphor for the Christian life. He gives us six at once, and tells us to hold them all.
Questions for reflection
"What we suffer, God suffers with us; what God suffers, we suffer with God." Where in your life do you need to hear that your suffering is not evidence of divine absence but of divine presence?
Paul piles up metaphors for formation — received, rooted, built, established, taught, abounding in thanksgiving. Which of those is most alive for you right now? Which has gone dormant and needs tending?
