Colossians 2:9 - Exposition

Because in him dwelleth all the fulness (or, completeness ) of the Godhead bodily ( Colossians 1:19 ; Philippians 2:6-8 ; Romans 1:3 , Romans 1:4 ; Romans 9:5 ; John 1:1 , John 1:14 ). In Colossians 1:18-20 we viewed a series of events; here we have an abiding fact. The whole plenitude of our Lord's Divine-human person and powers, as the complete Christ, was definitively constituted when, in the exercise of his kingly prerogative, "he sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." "From henceforth" that fulness evermore resides in him (comp. note, Colossians 1:19 ). The undivided plēroma of Colossians 1:19 now reveals its twofold nature: it is "the fulness of the Godhead," and yet "dwells corporeally in him." "Godhead" ( θεότης ) is the abstract of "God" ( θεός ), not of the adjective "Divine" ( θεῖος : the Vulgate therefore, wrongly, divinitatis: comp. Romans 1:20 ; Acts 17:29 ; Wis. 18:9), and denotes,"not Divine excellences, but the Divine nature" (Bengel); see Trench's 'Synonyms.' Schenkel and others, guided by a conjecture of Theodoret, have found here the Church, supporting their view by a very doubtful interpretation of Ephesians 1:23 . Still more groundless is the identification of this plēroma with the created world. The apostle unmistakably affirms that the Divine nature, in its entirety, belongs to the Church's Christ. The literal sense of "bodily" (maintained by Meyer, Alford, Ellicott, Lightfoot, Hofmann, after Chrysostom and Athanasius) has been avoided by those who render it "wholly" (Jerome); "essentially, substantially" (Cyril, Theophylact, Calvin, Klopper), as opposed to "relatively" or "partially;" "truly", as opposed to "figuretively" ( Ephesians 1:17 ). The adverb σωματικῶς (always literal in classical usage, along with its adjective) occurs only here in the New Testament; the adjective "bodily" in 1 Timothy 4:8 ; Luke 3:22 . "The body of his flesh" in Colossians 1:22 affords a truer parallel than the language of Colossians 1:17 , where σῶμα , bears an exceptional sense (see note). Elsewhere St. Paul balances in similar fashion expressions relating to the twofold nature of Christ (see parallels). The assertion that "all the fulness of Deity" dwells in Christ negatives the Alexandrine "philosophy,'' with its cloud of mediating angel powers and spiritual emanations; the assertion that it dwells in him bodily equally condemns that contempt for the body and the material world which was the chief practical tenet of the same school (comp. notes on Colossians 1:22 and Colossians 2:23 ).