Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageNow I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my own flesh I am completing what remains of the Messiah's afflictions—for the sake of His body, which is the church.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GNow I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is still lacking in the afflictions of the Messiah—for the sake of His body, which is the assembly.
KJV
King James VersionWho 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:
BSB
Berean Standard BibleNow I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
Footnotes
τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων τοῦ Χριστοῦ ("what is lacking in the afflictions of the Messiah") is among the most exegetically contested phrases in Paul's letters. It cannot mean that Christ's atoning sacrifice was deficient—the surrounding verses (vv.14, 20, 22) assert its absolute sufficiency. Rather, Paul almost certainly draws on the Jewish apocalyptic concept of the "messianic woes" (חֶבְלֵי הַמָּשִׁיחַ)—a fixed quota of tribulation that the covenant community must endure before the age to come fully arrives (cf. 4 Ezra; 2 Baruch; Mark 13:8). Paul is filling up his own appointed share of those corporate birth-pangs on behalf of the community—not supplementing Calvary, but completing his assigned portion of the Messiah's collective sufferings borne in and through His body.