Colossians 1:22

Body of his flesh] as against the false teachers who thought non-incarnate angels could redeem.

24—C. Colossians 2:3. Paul's sufferings, labours, and anxieties for the Church.

Paraphrase. '(24-26) I rejoice in the sufferings I endure for your sake, and fill up the measure of afflictions Christ has still to endure in my flesh on behalf of His body, the Church, which I serve in my office of stewardship entrusted to me by God, to set forth the gospel in its universal scope, that secret hidden from eternity but now revealed to His saints. (27) To them God has willed to make known how rich is the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is none other than the indwelling Christ, the pledge of your participation in the heavenly glory. (28, 29) This Christ we proclaim to all, that we may present each perfect in Him—an end to which I devote all the energy which He has made to work so mightily in me. (Colossians 2:1) For let me assure you how intense is my inward struggle for you and the Laodiceans, personally unknown to me though you are, that you may be strengthened and knit together in love to attain all rich fulness of insight, a full knowledge of Christ the divine mystery, in whom exist all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, not on the surface, but concealed where they must be discovered by earnest search.'