What does the Bible say about suffering for the church?
The Bible teaches that believers may suffer for the church, echoing Christ's sufferings, which are complete yet involve His sympathetic presence with His people.
The essence of Paul's statement lies in the fact that believers share in Christ's sufferings, which He deeply empathizes with. Jesus remains intimately connected with His church, participating in their struggles and sorrows throughout their afflictions. This fellowship in suffering is a source of encouragement, reminding believers that they are not alone; their sufferings are known to Christ, who bears their burdens alongside them. The same compassion that He demonstrated on earth continues in His exalted state.
Ultimately, this teaching reinforces the theological principle of union with Christ: His righteousness and merits are imputed to believers, while He bears their sorrows and ensures His love and support in every trial they experience. The comforting truth underlying this scripture is that Christ identifies with His people, making their struggles part of His own experience, thus inviting them to trust in His sustaining grace.
Colossians 1:24, Isaiah 63:9
How do we know Christ's sufferings are sufficient?
Christ's sufferings are complete and sufficient for redemption, validated by His perfect sacrifice and declared in Hebrews 10:14.
Moreover, the theology of substitution firmly establishes that Jesus, as the just one, suffered for the unjust, thus ensuring that His sacrifice was fully encompassing of human sin, erasing the debt of transgressions through His shed blood. His suffering was unique and unparalleled, proof of His divine mission to reconcile humanity with God. Because of this, there remains no more sacrifice needed for sin, emphasizing the finality and completeness of His redemptive work.
Consequently, the believer's confidence in the sufficiency of Christ's sufferings is rooted in the assurance of His perfect righteousness imputed to them and the promise of eternal redemption. This reality brings consolation, reinforcing the understanding that in Christ, all that is necessary for salvation has been accomplished, allowing His followers to rejoice even in their tribulations, knowing He has satisfied every requirement of divine justice.
Hebrews 10:14, 1 Peter 3:18
Why is union with Christ important for Christians?
Union with Christ is vital as it assures believers of their identity in Him, sharing in His sufferings, righteousness, and eternal life.
Moreover, this union entails participants being clothed in Christ's righteousness, meaning that they are seen as justified before God solely through Christ's merits. This imputation of righteousness assures believers that their sins are forgiven and that they possess the necessary standing to enter God's presence. In essence, their eternal life, sanctification, and hope are intricately linked to their unity with Christ.
Finally, the importance of this doctrine translates into practical Christian living. It shapes how believers view their sufferings, causing them to rejoice even amidst affliction, fully aware that Christ is present with them. Union with Christ offers not just spiritual blessings, but it transforms their perspective on life, suffering, and redemption, emphasizing that they are never alone in their struggles, thus inviting them into a deeper communion with the Savior.
Romans 6:5, Galatians 2:20
"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."—Col. i. 24.
— Colossians 1:24
What can the apostle mean from these expressions? Not, surely, that the sufferings of Jesus were incomplete, or that the sufferings of his people were to make up a deficiency: for in treading the wine-press of the wrath of God against sin, Jesus trod it alone, and of the people there was none with him. And so perfectly finished and complete was the whole work of redemption by Jesus, that by the one offering of himself, once offered, "he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." But what a sweet scripture is this of the apostle's, when it is interpreted with reference to Jesus, that in all the sufferings of his people Jesus takes a part! Jesus suffered in his own person fully and completely, when as an expiatory sacrifice for sin he died, the just for the unjust, to bring his people to God. These sufferings as a sacrifice were full, and have fully satisfied: they cease for ever, and can be known no more. But the sympathy of Jesus with his people gives him to bear a part in all their concern. And the consciousness of this made the apostle tell the church that he rejoiced in all his exercises, because Jesus took part, and thereby endeared the affliction. My soul! cherish the thought also. Thy Jesus knows all, measures out all, bears part with thee in all, and will carry thee through all, and finally crown all with his love and blessing. The same interest that Jesus felt in the persecution of Saul over his afflicted ones, when he called from heaven to restrain Saul's rage, and said, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"—the same interest he feels in every minute event, with which his redeemed are exercised now. "Whosoever toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye." Blessed Lord! may my soul keep in remembrance those endearing views of thy love. Give me to keep alive the recollection of the oneness between the glorious head, and all his exercised members. I see that a child of thine cannot mourn, but Jesus marks it down, and puts the tears in his bottle. He notes his sorrows in his book. So that by this fellow-feeling, Lord! our interest in thee is most fully proved. And while thy people partake in thy righteousness, thou takest part in their sorrows. As it was in the days of thy flesh, so is it now in the fulness of thy glory: "in all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them and carried them all the days of old."
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