Did Paul Think Jesus didn’t Suffer Enough?
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church ”
If you’ve read this passage before, maybe you too were puzzled: How can Jesus lack anything when earlier in his letter, Paul touts the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ? What does Paul mean by “filling up” and “lacking”?
TACKLING THE ISSUE
In this verse, Paul is not talking about Jesus’s suffering on the cross. When Jesus said “it is finished” (John 19:30), his atoning sacrifice really was finished. Instead, Paul directly points to the object of Christ's (and Paul's) suffering. Paul is acting by the Spirit of Christ, for the sake of Christ , as a servant of Christ in order to benefit the bride of Christ, His Church. He therefore rejoices in his suffering "for your sake", as proof of Christ's continual care for his people. It’s not that Paul is able to do something Jesus couldn't. Rather, in Paul’s suffering, Jesus’s personal care for his church continued in an ongoing way. This is made clear when, just a few verses later, Paul reveals the secret of his endurance on behalf of the Church, Christ’s power working through Paul:
Col. 1: 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
This verse touches on a central reality of the Christian life: Jesus intimately and perpetually shares his life with his people. This deep union with us is, for example, why in Acts 9:4-5, Jesus took Saul’s persecution of the early church personally.
Additionally, the interweaving of our lives with Christ produces several benefits.
1. He continues to care for us—Paul endured suffering and toil by the very Spirit of Christ energizing and directing him. This is not an example of Paul working separately from Jesus but the practical effects of Paul’s deepening union with Jesus.
2. He cares for others by partnering with us—On numerous occasions Paul recounts how his own lack (both spiritually and materially) were supplied by other believers:
2 Cor. 11:9a And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need.
Rom. 1:11-12 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith
In fact, a hallmark of the early church was the Christ-fueled generosity toward one another (Acts 2:45).
3. Our suffering brings deeper fellowship with him and one another—Partnership with Christ in his suffering is not just an “apostle thing”, we too are invited into fellowship with Christ in every aspect of his life, just as he entered fully into our humanity (Heb. 2:14-15 and with each other in mutual solidarity.
2 Cor. 1:3-7 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
Rom. 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
CONCLUSION
It is not that Jesus’s suffering was lacking but that he is intimately connected to us in our suffering. Through the Father’s initiating love and the Spirit’s regeneration, we are wrapped in the life of Christ to partner with him in his work and share with him in his glory.