imprisonment, always associates it with the Lord, "the prisoner of the Lord", "the

prisoner of Jesus Christ", "an ambassador in bonds", and never with the malice of Israel,

or of Satan, or Rome, so may all the children of God take comfort from the fact that by

the time any affliction reaches them it has done so by divine permission, and we may

cease to think of the human or spiritual adversary, while we glory in the fact that all such

may become "afflictions of Christ", and be endured by us as members of His body.

At first we are apt to think that the expression, "the afflictions of Christ", should read,

"the afflictions for Christ", and in our anxiety to preserve the truth concerning His one

great sacrifice, we may be tempted, as it were, to put out our hand to save the ark of God.

In II Cor. 1: 5 we meet with a similar expression: "For as the sufferings of Christ

abound unto (eis) us, so through (dia) Christ abounds also the consolation." In

Eph. 3: 13 he says: "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you,

which is your glory", and in II Tim. 2: 9, 10, he says: "I suffer trouble as an evil doer,

even unto bonds . . . . . Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may

also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with aionion glory."

These things, while having a fullness of meaning when written of the apostle Paul, are

not entirely without application to ourselves. No service rendered in the name of Christ

for the truth of the mystery, and for the church which is His body, will be devoid of some

measure of affliction, but it will be a priceless comfort to us all if we can ever remember

that such sufferings are "of Christ" and "for His church", and that they are permitted,

overruled and sanctified.

In the preceding article, we set out the structure of Col. 1: 23-28, and afterwards

devoted most of the space to that aspect of ministry which is associated with the

sufferings of Christ for His body's sake, which is the church. The ministry of the

mystery expounded in Col. 1: 23-28 is twofold, and in order that none shall miss this

fact, we will repeat here one section of the structure which will be found complete on

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