Colossians 1:19

2. Divine plan of a universal reconciliation through Christ, Colossians 1:19-20.

19. It pleased Whether we translate, as Ellicott, “Because in him the whole fulness was pleased to dwell;” or, as Alford, “For in him God was pleased that the whole fulness should dwell,” or, as in the text, which on the whole is preferable, supplying God, however, rather than the Father, the doctrinal result is the same. The point in hand is to state the ground upon which the preeminence is given to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the human is in union with the divine, making him in so far different from the Son previous to the incarnation. It is explained by the two great facts which it pleased God, not arbitrarily, but as the deliberate outflow of his infinite wisdom and love, to embody in his plan. The first relates to his qualification: that in him the whole fulness should permanently dwell. But fulness of what? Various answers are given, of which we think the true one is the fulness of those attributes which fit him for this supremacy and for his redeeming work, such as power, authority, grace, wisdom, and love. They are not partial or limited in him, but perfect. This is, doubtless, the same as saying that the divine perfections dwell in him, while it is not quite the statement of Colossians 2:9, where the divine essence is spoken of, which is not in question here.