1:24 filling up what is lacking. Given the context of this passage, which stresses the total sufficiency of Christ, as well as what he says elsewhere (e.g., Rom. 3:21–26; 2 Cor. 5:17–21), Paul does not mean that Christ’s saving work on the cross is deficient in some respect. Rather, because the church is called to suffer for Christ (2 Cor. 4:7–12; 1 Thess. 3:2–4), there is a divinely appointed requisite of suffering to be endured by Christians. Paul may also have in view here the sufferings which will accompany the endtimes (Matt. 24:21, 22), a period ushered in by the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 13:11–14; 1 Cor. 7:29). This also explains the reference to Paul’s suffering for the sake of the church (Eph. 3:13; 2 Tim. 2:10). As a servant of the gospel, Paul rejoices in his opportunity to participate in the sufferings of God’s people. The passage does not mean that the church is a continuing incarnation of Christ whose members by suffering add saving merit beyond what Christ achieved.