I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, (Colossians 1:24)
"Rejoice" is a common Greek word meaning "to be glad or to be delighted. It is an intense word, some forms used to mean "Greetings!" or perhaps "Hail!" or (in the imperative) "Rejoice!". This is the word Jesus used when He told his disciples in Matthew 5:11–12:
“11 Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Paul used this word when he gave his famous counsel in Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" The idea is that of the joy of meeting, the happiness of meeting with a loved acquaintance, family of one's beloved. "Now" is a frequently used adverb of time - Paul indicating that he is rejoice at this specific time, namely the time (and the events) specified in the following phrases of the verse.
"Sufferings" is a noun, "Pathhmai" or "misfortune" or "passion". It is used of both physical sufferings as well as of mental and emotional suffering. The word is related to the more fundamental noun "Pathos", "to suffer". That major word means “to suffer,” primarily denotes whatever one suffers or experiences in any way; hence, “an affection of the mind, a passionate desire.” Used by the Greeks of either good or bad desires, it is always used in the NT of the latter, bad or sinful desires. For instance, in Romans 1:26, Paul says:
"For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature."
Elsewhere is Colossians he uses the same word to speak of "inordinate affections" (Col. 3:5). To the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 4:5) he speaks of the "passion of lust".
The derivative word, the one used here, has the basic meaning what a person experiences, does not occur in the LXX, and occurs 16 times in the NT. Twice it designates passion experienced as a force, elsewhere the suffering / torment of Christians and of Jesus Christ.
"My", of course, refers to Paul himself. "...for you..." means "on your behalf" or on the behalf of the Colossian believers. Of course, the specific reference is to his imprisonment under the Romans. (Acts 28:16, 20)
Lastly, "And" is a simple conjunction that connects this first phrase with the following one. The idea of this first phrase is that Paul greets these suffering with joy. These things that normally would be very negative and terrible things, we will see, because of the purpose that they serve for the body of Christ, he greets cheerfully and even with a kind of relish.
To "fill up" is to complete, to supplement or to fill up. It can mean to supply as a substitute or balance. When speaking of a process it speaks of taking one’s turn in filling up a thing.
The noun "what is lacking" is the noun form of a more widely used verb meaning to be in need, be destitute, or to lack. The noun form can refer to a deficiency, to that which is behind or a want.
"Afflictions" is "thlipsion" and refers to distress, oppression, or tribulation. It can refer to the act of trouble or to a "time" of trouble (as in Mark 13:19). The verb form of the wored means “to press,” “squash,” or “hem in,” then “to be narrow.” Thlípsis at its' most baisc means “pressure” in the physical sense, for example, medically of the pulse. Figuratively the verb means “to afflict,” or to “harass” with the nuances “to discomfit,” or “to oppress” or “vex.” Philosophically the group is used for life’s afflictions.
The form here is not a verb, but is a noun and is plural. It refers, then, not to the action of afflicting, but to the fact or presence of the affliction itself, here to mor than one of of those "presences" or the the afflictions considered as a whole or as a unit. The terms are common in the NT (especially in Paul), and are mostly figurative. Both believers and apostles undergo affliction. It is factual (Acts 11:19 etc.) but also unavoidable (Jn. 16:33). Israel is a type in this regard. Paul as an apostle suffers particular affliction (cf. 1 Th. 3:3–4; Acts 20:23; 2 Cor. 1:4–5).
These sufferings are Christ’s own sufferings, which, as this passage proclaims, are not yet exhausted. The apostle experiences Christ’s own passion as he is given up to death for the church (2 Cor. 4:10–11). In proclaiming the word, he exemplifies it.
It is important to recognize that this affliction is resulting affliction, that is, it is the result of association with Christ. It is not redemptive. As we will see, this passage is NOT saying that work of Christ was not complete on Calvary and was left to be fulfilled by His people in their "sufferings" during their lives (or even after in the case of the RC doctrine of purgatory).
They are "of Christ" in that Christ was beset by the world. Our afflictions are not His afflictions, they are "like" His. This is a metaphor. A metaphor is an indirect comparison. This is not a one-to-one comparison, Paul is not telling the Colossians that He, or the Colossians believers are finishing our what Christ began. He is saying that our afflictions are similar to Christ's afflictions. We are afflicted in the same fashion as Christ was afflicted. Actually, Paul specifies what he is saying in the next phrase - we are afflicted for the same REASON - for the sake of His body.
There is nothing redemptive here. We do not gain righteousness or favor with God or in any way add to the work of Christ that was finished at Calvary. That is a certainty - for Christ proclaimed at the cross "It is Finished" forever sealing the truth that His work was accomplished, fully accomplished before God.
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