Objection: We Need to Fulfill What Is Left of Christ’s Sufferings in the Earth (Colossians 1:24)
It stretches my imagination that anyone could really think that you need to be sick to finish the sufferings of Christ on the earth. Ironically, this objection came from a very popular book that was generally written in favor of healing! It was a pitiful attempt to explain why some people remain sick. I suppose some anti-healing people might use this excuse too, but if all healing books were full of statements like this, we would not need anti-healing books.
The objection comes from mangling the meaning of Colossians 1:24:
“Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.”
Paul was referring to the repeated beatings he received for preaching the gospel. He could not possibly have been referring to normal sicknesses. See the reply to the objection about Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh if you are not convinced.
Christ Was Only Sick When He Took Our Sins and No Man Can Share in His Atoning Sufferings
Jesus was never sick during His preaching ministry. So being sick could not be one of Christ’s sufferings in the ministry.
Jesus was “made sick” (see Isaiah’s Prophecy of Redemption for notes) for us. That was the only time when He was sick, and He did not bear His own sicknesses anyway – He bore our sicknesses! No other man can take the sicknesses of another in an atoning way. No other man needs to. Since Jesus already bore your sicknesses, there is no need for you to bear them, and there was no need for the apostle Paul to bear them, either. There is no evidence that Paul was ever infirm except as a result of his beatings. Neither Paul nor you could join in Christ’s finished atoning sufferings. That would make you a coredeemer/coredemptrix with Jesus, and NO ONE will ever fill that category, not even Mary, despite the erroneous claims that some are making today.
Paul’s Physical Sufferings Were from Beatings, Not Sickness
Paul first preached in Galatia because of a physical “infirmity.” Lystra (part of Galatia) was where Paul was stoned and left for dead. The believers (who obviously believed in divine healing), prayed and raised Paul up.
This “infirmity” was not caused by catching some illness. Paul lists his many sufferings for Christ in 2 Corinthians 11:23-27, where illness is noticeably absent.
An Illness Could Not Benefit the Body of Christ, Yet Paul’s Sufferings Did
Have you ever heard of an illness that helped the Body of Christ? When one member suffers, all suffer (1 Corinthians 12:26). This verse does not say, “When one suffers, all are built up. When one gets a stomach virus, everyone benefits.”
Paul said that he suffered for the sake of Christ’s Body, the Church. Therefore, his suffering had to benefit others. That is because his suffering came from being beaten for preaching the gospel, not from the current year’s flu strain. Paul was willing to get beaten up all the time because it advanced the Church. Simply getting sick does not advance the Church at all. It is a drag on the Body because it forces you and often others to give up otherwise productive time to care for your illness.
Paul said that his sufferings were for you (the Church). Just getting sick with some disease would have hurt the Church, not helped it, because it would have hindered Paul from getting the gospel out.
Do You Rejoice at Someone’s Sickness?
Paul also said that he rejoiced in his suffering for them. Does anyone you know rejoice because he is sick? No, the only ones rejoicing would be Satan, his demons and maybe a few modern Pharisees who don’t want you to get healed if you preach divine healing. However, Jesus said to rejoice when men revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for His sake (Matthew 5:11-12), so there is Scripture for rejoicing in persecution. Recall how Peter and John rejoiced that they were worthy to suffer shame for Jesus’ name (Acts 5:41). Jesus never said to rejoice because you’re sick; He removed sicknesses rather than rejoicing in His spirit in front of the sick because they were sick.
Is It Finished or Not?
Jesus said, “It is finished.” This meant that He had fulfilled everything He was supposed to do on the earth, which included doing all the suffering on the earth at the end of His life that was necessary for the plan of redemption. He didn’t say, “It is MOSTLY finished, but some other people will have to finish My redemptive work that I started while on the earth.”
Whose Sickness Are YOU Bearing?
Jesus redeemed us from sicknesses by bearing our sicknesses in our place. Isaiah said that He bore OUR sicknesses (Isaiah 53:4). The mangled reading of the verse in question would require you to bear SOMEONE ELSE’S sickness to redeem that person whom Christ somehow did not redeem. So do you really believe that you are literally bearing a sickness that is not your own, but one that belongs to someone else? Do you really believe that your sickness will prevent the other person from having to be sick? (Assuming, of course, that the other person in turn is not bearing yet ANOTHER sickness for ANOTHER person whom Christ somehow failed to redeem during His life.) Do you see how ridiculous this gets? It is clear from Scripture that Jesus bore EVERYONE’S sins and sicknesses; He did not leave any part of the job for someone else to finish.
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