Colossians 1:24: What is lacking in Christ's afflictions?

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Colossians 1:24
“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.”

Can someone explain this passage a bit for me. What is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions?
 
From Haydock Bible Commentary
Ver. 24. And fill up those things…in my flesh for his body, which is the church.[5] Nothing was wanting in the sufferings or merits of Christ, for a sufficient and superabundant redemption of mankind, and therefore he adds, for his body, which is the church, that his sufferings were wanting, and are to be endured by the example of Christ by the faithful, who are members of a crucified head. See St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine. (Witham) — Wanting. There is no want in the sufferings of Christ himself as head; but many sufferings are still wanting, or are still to come in his body, the Church, and his members, the faithful. (Challoner) — St. Chrysostom here observes that Jesus Christ loves us so much, that he is not content merely to suffer in his own person, but he wishes also to suffer in his members; and thus we fill up what is wanting of the sufferings of Christ. (St. Chrysostom) — The wisdom, the will, the justice of Jesus Christ, requireth and ordaineth that his body and members should be companions of his sufferings, as they expect to be companions of his glory; that so suffering with him, and after his example, they may apply to their own wants and to the necessities of others the merits and satisfaction of Jesus Christ, which application is what is wanting, and what we are permitted to supply by the sacraments and sacrifice of the new law.
[5] Ver. 24. Adimpleo quæ desunt; Greek: ta usteremata. See St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine in Psalm lxxxvi. tom. 4. p. 922. B. restabant Christi passiones in corpore, vos autem estis Christi Corpus, et membra. See St. Chrysostom, Greek: om. d. p. 109.
 
Colossians 1:24
“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.”

Can someone explain this passage a bit for me. What is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions?
This is a good book on the topic- available for reading online, for free. desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bfac/bfac.pdf

A relevant quote from early in the book says this: “Christ’s suffering is for propitiation; our suffering is for propogation” (Pastor Joseph Tson of Romania). The recurring theme is this: Suffering is not only the result of taking the Gospel to the nations, but it is also the means. Through suffering, the Gospel of Christ is spread.
 
This always reminds me of when I was painting the house and the children were small. They wanted to help. So I left a couple of square feet unpainted and let them paint it. They filled up what was lacking in my work.
 
This is a good book on the topic- available for reading online, for free. desiringgod.org/media/pdf/books_bfac/bfac.pdf
On page 22, this source addresses the verse you asked about. I’ll just quote it directly.

"In his suffering Paul is ‘filling up what is lacking in Christ’s sufferings for…the church.’ What does that mean? It means that Paul’s sufferings fill up Christ’s afflictions not by adding anything to their worth, but by extending them to the people they were meant to save.

What is lacking in the afflictions of Christ is not that they are deficient in worth, as though they could not sufficiently cover the sins of all who believe. What is lacking is that the infinite value of Christ’s afflictions is not known and trusted in the world…

So the afflictions of Christ are ‘lacking’ in the sense that they are not seen and known and loved among the nations. They must be carried by missionaries. And those missionaries ‘complete’ what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ by extending them to others."

I will only add that Paul is the first great example of someone who took the Gospel to the nations. His suffering “filled up the afflictions of Christ” in doing so. Suffering was not just the result of doing this- it was also the means.
 
My idea about this is that each one of us is a unique individual, and Jesus couldn’t
be everybody, He could only be Himself. So now what kind of a soccer player would
He be? How about a grandma? A president? A computer programmer? A sister?
In all those people that Jesus couldn’t be, we have to fill in, and try and do like He would do…if He were that, instead of the son of Mary and Joseph, only child,
carpenter, then itinerant preacher. It is for us to fill up all the “missing” parts.
How will we suffer, and how will we give our lives?
 
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