When we think of the Cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ during the Holy Week, we think of what Jesus declared on the Cross before He gave up His Spirit to God.
Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
John 19:30
What, then, is the true meaning and significance of “it is finished [Greek “teleō”]”?
“Teleō” speaks of “bringing to an end”, “complete”, “fulfilled”, “accomplished”, “performed”, or “finished”. It speaks of the accomplishment of a design or purpose for which one is sent to accomplish; it marks the completion of a mission; it speaks of bringing to the end of an era or ‘kairos’, which may also mark the beginning of a new era or ‘kairos’.
So, if Jesus said, “It is finished!”, then what did Paul mean by “what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ”?
Colossians 1:24-29 (LEB)
Now I rejoice in my sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the church, of which I became a minister, according to God’s stewardship which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been revealed to his saints, to whom God wanted to make known what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, by admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ, for which purpose also I labor, striving according to his working which is at work powerfully in me.
If the work and afflictions of Christ were finished on the Cross, in the way that we perceive “finished” today, then what was still lacking of the afflictions of Christ? Did Apostle Paul think that the afflictions of Christ in His flesh were still lacking or unfinished, and now he had to fill up and finish up in his own flesh what was still lacking of Christ’s afflictions?
In other words, does this mean that “it is finished” is not really “finished”?
Let us look at the Amplified version of the scripture.
Colossians 1:24 (AMP)
[Even] now I rejoice in the midst of my sufferings on your behalf. And in my own person I am making up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed [on our part] of Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of His body, which is the church.
“What is lacking of the afflictions of Christ” can be rephrased as “whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed, on our part, of Christ’s afflictions”.
In other words, Christ’s afflictions enabled Him to finish His work in the days of His flesh, but what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions is that He cannot do the work that must be continued and finished by our part in the days of our flesh.
To understand how we are to make up for whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed, on our part, of Christ’s afflictions, we must understand how we are sent by the Jesus Christ into the world.
“Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”
John 17:18 (AMP)
When Jesus had finished the Father’s work on earth, He commissioned us to continue the Father’s work in the same manner in His stead.
Even though Jesus the “Christos” brought His era in the eternal plan of God to a perfect end in His flesh, He marked the beginning of a new era for Christians (“Christianos”; Acts 11:26) to continue from where He left off, so that “Christianos” can make a perfect end to the eternal plan of God in their flesh, just like He did in His flesh; for in the same manner that the Father sent Him into the world, He has also sent us into the world. Thus, like “Christos”, like “Christianos”.
This is the reason why Jesus said, “He who does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38; see also Matthew 16:24-27; Mark 8:34-36; Luke 9:23-25) If “Christianos” do not follow after “Christos” in like manner in the eyes and commission of the Father, then these so-called “Christianos” are not His true disciples (c.f. Luke 17:27), hence they are not worthy of Him.
So, while Jesus Christ in His flesh had finished completely and brought to a perfect end, once for all, whatever were needed from His part in God’s redemption plan through the Cross, there remains a subsequent part that He had to leave to his disciples in the new post-Cross era to take up their own cross and follow after Him, that is, imitating Him in the days of His flesh, just like how the Father had sent Him.
Therefore, there is still a part that remains to be filled up and completed BY US in our flesh after Jesus Christ had finished His part of the afflictions of the flesh. While He can and will enable us with power when the Holy Spirit has come upon us (c.f. Acts 1:8), it remains for us to fill up in our own flesh what He could not do in our stead, that is, to take our own responsibility according to our own free will to take up our own cross and follow after Him and His example, so that we will show ourselves worthy of Him.
So, what are still lacking and remain to be completed, on our part, of Christ’s afflictions? What must we do to fill up in our flesh what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions, to continue what remains of the work of His afflictions, so that we can follow after His example of the afflictions leading up to the Cross and become worthy of Him?
In other words, if we are to be imitators of Paul, just as he was also imitators of Christ (c.f. 1 Corinthians 11:1), what does it mean to “fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ?”
1 Peter 4:12-13
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
Firstly, to fill up in our flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ is to share or partake the sufferings of Christ. This means that, just as Christ lived and walked a life of sufferings, we join or follow Him to live and walk a life of sufferings as well.
Hebrews 5:8
Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Secondly, the purpose, or rather the desired outcome, of the afflictions of Christ is to learn obedience – by denying the lusts of the flesh, even unto death.
Sufferings are for our testing, that is, to test our obedience to God even when our flesh is suffering and desires to do otherwise.
So, to fill up in our flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ means that there remains our part of learning obedience to be like Christ’s obedience by emulating Christ’s lifestyle of sufferings; for Christ has sent us in the same way as the Father had sent Him.
In other words, what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ is not what is lacking on His part, but what is left to us to walk in His footsteps of sufferings through total and uncompromising obedience; so that, like the “last Adam” (1 Corinthians 15:45), we will not disobey like the “first Adam”.
1 Peter 5:9-10
But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.
Thirdly, it means that whatever is lacking in the finished and perfected work of the afflictions of Christ in His flesh is the beginning of the good work that must be completed and made perfect by us in our flesh and through our flesh (c.f. Philippians 1:6); for only then the Christ Himself will “perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish” us.
In other words, Jesus had fully accomplished the “Christos” mission for which He was sent, by defeating sin and death in the flesh through holy living despite bodily afflictions, even until death on the Cross, so that “Christianos” can imitate Him and conform to the same image of His holy living despite bodily afflictions. Now, the only thing that is still lacking and remains to be completed of His afflictions is our part in following after His example and conforming to the image of His holiness, so that we can defeat sin and death in our flesh for the sake of His body of which we are members. This was the “Christianos” mission of Paul on behalf of the “Christos” body which is the church.
In short, by finishing His work as the Messiah, He made it possible for us as His Messianic people to be like Him, and finish the Father’s continuous Messianic commission on earth in His stead.
Isaiah 46:9-10
“Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;”
Fourthly, what God began, He desired it to be an everlasting end, because God did not plan to fail from the beginning or at the end. In other words, what God envisioned as perfect for His people in the dust of the earth on earth, He began it from the beginning in Eden through His perfectly obedient Adam and Eve. Even if disobedience disrupted His good pleasure, His end purpose will still be established.
This is where Christ’s afflictions are lacking after being the perfectly obedient “second Adam” in the dust of the earth on earth; for His people must learn perfect obedience through their own sufferings such that the Edenic purpose of God can be established on earth just like how He declared it from Eden in the beginning.
What God desired and began as Eden on earth from the beginning is what God desired and declared as Edenic on earth for the end; and what God established and intended to multiply through the first Adam in God’s holy image is what God is establishing and intending to multiply through the second Adam in God’s holy image.
Thus, the finished work of Christ on the Cross is the full, final, and complete provision of the second Adam for the continuing work that God has begun through the first Adam, until all things are consummated in Him at the fullness of the times. This means that every providence that we need to multiply ourselves as “Christianos” of “Christos”, and establish the Edenic mission for which God has created the earth, has now been made complete and available to us by the second Adam to fill up in our flesh for the establishment of this mission.
Philippians 1:29-30 LEB
because to you has been graciously granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on behalf of him, having the same struggle which you saw in me and now hear about in me.
Fifthly, to fill up in our flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ is to suffer in the flesh on behalf of Christ for the sake of the continuing work of Christ, which He could no longer do in the flesh because of His death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father.
In fact, suffering on behalf of Christ is the graciousness of God granted to us, because if we share in His sufferings, we will also share in His glory (c.f. Romans 8:17; 2 Corinthians 4:7-17), even the glory in the likeness of the days of His flesh at the Mount of Transfiguration (c.f. Matthew 17:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:7-18). Indeed, “if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?” (2 Corinthians 3:8) There is indeed Christ’s glory in the dust of our flesh on earth after sharing in Christ’s sufferings!
Thus, to fill up in our flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ is to fill up in our flesh the surpassing glory that transfigured His flesh once the sanctification of our flesh through afflictions is complete in the likeness of His sanctification through afflictions (which we will touch on later).
This is why Paul rejoiced in His sufferings, even suffering on behalf of Christ’s body which is the church, because he was convinced that the ongoing work of God since the beginning of Eden to establish His Edenic vision on earth through an obedient ekklesia formed from the dust of the ground will be fulfilled and finished by “Christianos” who stand on the finished work in the image, likeness, commission, and stead of “Christos” through their faithful sharing in His afflictions, hence their partaking of His transfigured glory, in the flesh.
This brings a fresh understanding of what Paul wrote to the Romans concerning “the revealing of the sons of God”.
Romans 8:16-21
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Indeed, Paul suffered greatly in filling up what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His church (c.f. 2 Corinthians 1:3-10), labouring and striving to fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that he might present every man mature and complete in Christ; for when we are made complete according to the “standard of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13), the glory of Christ which is more radiant than the fading glory on the face of Moses will also be transfigured in us and revealed through us, from glory to glory (c.f. 2 Corinthians 3:7-18).
This is our Edenic future that God declared from the beginning from Eden. In this Edenic “garden”, the serpent may entice, deceive, and persecute the “Christianos” to cause great afflictions of the flesh in the world, but “Christianos” who share the sufferings and glory of “Christos” in their flesh will overcome the world, just as “Christos” Himself had overcome the world in His flesh (c.f. John 16:33).
So, what is the KEY to filling up in our flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ?
Let us read the starting verse in Colossians again.
Colossians 1:24-29 (LEB)
Now I rejoice in my sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the church, of which I became a minister, according to God’s stewardship which was given to me for you, to complete [“plēroō” or make full] the word [“logos”] of God, the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from the generations, but has now been revealed to his saints, to whom God wanted to make known what is the glorious wealth of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, by admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ, for which purpose also I labor, striving according to his working which is at work powerfully in me.
When Paul said that “I rejoice in my sufferings on behalf of you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, on behalf of his body which is the church”, he related it to the ministry of “God’s stewardship which was given to me for you, to complete the word of God”.
Paul further related “to complete the word of God” to “Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we proclaim, by admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, in order that we may present every person mature in Christ, for which purpose also I labor.”
Thus, the key to filling up in our flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ is to make full the Word of God in us until it is complete in us; and since Christ was “the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), the key to making full the Word of God in us is to make full the Christ in us until Christ is completely formed, matured, and made flesh in our flesh.
This is why Paul also said to the Galatians, “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19)
This makes sense because how can we stand in the image, likeness, commission, and stead of Christ when Christ is not fully formed in us? How can we be sent by Jesus in the same way that the Father had sent Him when Christlikeness is not made complete in all our ways? How can we actualise the hope of sharing in His glory when we do not fill up in our flesh the sufferings of Christ?
Therefore, while “it is finished” on Christ’s part in the days of His flesh, He is still awaiting a full and complete filling up of what is still lacking of His afflictions in OUR flesh, to the end that we may present (or reveal) the body of Christ complete, perfect, and glorious in the days of our flesh, just as Jesus was presented (or revealed) complete, perfect, and glorious in the days of His flesh.
Hence, what is lacking in presenting ourselves complete, perfect, and glorious in the days of our flesh is our sanctification in the truth, which is the Word of God, until we embody fully the complete truth, where the Word becomes flesh and dwells amongst men, just like Jesus.
John 17:19
“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth… For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.”
If Jesus, as the Son of God born perfectly sinless and without sin nature as the Son of Man, had to sanctify Himself in truth, then what is sanctification and why is it important?
Sanctification is the process of being sin-free or remaining sin-free through total obedience to the Word of God (“logos”) and truth of the Spirit (“rhema”).
In the beginning was the Word made flesh, and at the end was the flesh sanctified and standing perfect in the Word.
Jesus Christ, in the likeness of man, was the workmanship of God. He sanctified Himself in truth, and He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, so that He could become the perfect workmanship of the Father, and the fullness of the Father dwelling in bodily form (c.f. Colossians 2:9). As a result, He could finish His work as the perfect Lamb of God according to the will of the Father.
The way that Jesus sanctified Himself in truth and learned obedience from the things which He suffered, is the same way that we will sanctify ourselves in truth and learn obedience from the things we suffer, thus filling up what is lacking of Christ’s sufferings in our flesh.
Therefore, what is lacking of Christ’s afflictions is the part of our sanctification by the Word of truth, even if it is through much sufferings of our flesh as a result of our obedience to the Word.
So, why is sanctification important?
Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’“
Sanctification is not a ‘good to have’ but a ‘must have’ in the process of salvation, because without explicit obedience in doing the will of the Father like Jesus did, we will not enter the kingdom of heaven; for “to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17)
Hence, not all Christians who call Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven, even if they prophesy, cast out demons, and perform miracles using the name of Jesus; for practicing disobedience is practicing lawlessness, and he who practices lawlessness is not a “Christianos” of “Christos”.
Hebrews 12:14
Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
Indeed, without pursuing sanctification, no one will see the Lord, both in this age and the age to come.
So, if we want to be true “Christianos” and not just Christians, we must practice the sanctification of the “Christos” in us.
We are the only ones who can and must make up whatever is still lacking and remains to be completed of Christ’s afflictions in our flesh; for to think that the fullness of the Father will dwell in human bodies lacking godliness is derogatory to the holiness of God; to think that the church can consummate all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth, without the stature of the fullness of Christ is false humility; and to think that Christ will return to receive a spotted, blemished, and idolatrous bride is preposterous.
Revelation 19:7
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
So, just as Jesus Christ has made Himself perfect and ready to be joined as one with a pure and spotless bride, the church, which is the bride of Christ, has to make herself perfect and ready to be joined as one to the pure and spotless Christ.
Indeed, the bride of Christ must make herself ready – spotless, unblemished, and Christ-like – before God will send His Son of His holy image to receive her in marriage (c.f. Revelation 19:11).
The centrality of the gospel of the Kingdom is “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. Therefore, by the workmanship of God according to the power that mightily works within us, the image and likeness of Christ must be made perfect in us in accordance to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ, because we are standing in Christ’s stead on earth as His body.
Only then will the hope of glory become (1) the substance of glory in the sons of God, (2) the manifestation of glory in the church, and (3) the radiant glory of the gospel of the Kingdom in the nations; and only then will the world know that the Father loves us, and has sent us, just as He did with His Son.
John 17:18 (AMP)
Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
Now, we can fully appreciate what it means to stand in the stead of Jesus on earth; for just as the Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus is sending us into the world to complete what is lacking of His afflictions in us and through us. Thus, adopted sons in the image and likeness of the begotten Son will be standing in the stead of the begotten Son to make full what is still lacking of the finished work of the begotten Son. Such is the grace, power, and glory of our hope in Christ; and it is finishing by us in Christ!
John 17:22-23
“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”
We can also fully appreciate what Jesus meant when He prayed that “they may be one, just as We are one”.
Can you fathom the day when we, the body of Christ, will be in perfect unity with Christ and in complete oneness with the Father, just as Jesus was in perfect unity and oneness with the Father in the days of His flesh?
Can you see the day when the Spirit of truth will guide us into “ALL the truth” (John 16:13-14), hence there will no longer be “agreeing to disagree” between one another, just as there is no “agreeing to disagree” between the Father and the Son?
Can you see the day when the world will see Christ in all His fullness when they see the church, just as they saw the Father in all His fullness when they saw Jesus in the days of His flesh (c.f. John 14:9-12)?
Can you see the day when the “one” glory which the Father had given to the Son on the mount of transfiguration (c.f. Matthew 17:1-2; Mark 9:2-3; Luke 9: 28-29) will also be given to us in the days of our flesh? This is the hope of our glory in Christ (c.f. Colossians 1:27); for the glory that the Father has given Him, He has given to us for our manifestation when we, the sons of God, attain to the stature which belongs to the fullness of the Son of God; and it is finishing.
This is the confidence that we have in the three “oneness” prayers of Jesus (c.f. John 17:11, 21, 22-23), for His prayers shall come to pass! Indeed, it is finished by prayer, and it is finishing in fulfilment of that prayer.
This is the eternal purpose that God has predestined His sons in His Son; this is the perfect workmanship that God has prepared for those who love Him, for those who are called according to His purpose; this is the consummation of all things that Jesus is waiting for since He finished His work on the Cross.
It is finished, and it is finishing! It is finished by Christ, and it is finishing by us through the finished work of Christ!
Romans 8:29
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Thus, let us fill up to the fullest of what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ, which is making full the Word of God, in our flesh until we see Him face to face, fully conformed to the same image and glory as He was and is and is to come!
This post is an edited excerpt from my book, Poiēma, God’s Workmanship. Do follow the link to get a free preview of 60 pages of the book.
This post is part of the ‘In Between The “Already But Not Yet”‘ Series.
This message is also a follow-on message to the previous post, “The Context and Significance of the Passover“.
You may also wish to read my earlier posts, “The Hope of Glory in Times of Shakings“, “Transfiguration in Glory” and “Perfect Obedience, Perfect Workmanship“, for more knowledge related to this post.
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