constantly points to it as a sign of his unity with Christ. However, the exact formulations in Colossians are something new. “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (1:24). To speak of Paul’s suffering for the body and of completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions is not the way Paul himself normally talks. These are curious phrases that have caused much puzzlement