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believe it to be a mistake to use Colossians 2:9 as a proof of that wondrous
doctrine. The Church of the One Body is `the fulness of Him that filleth all
in all', but such a revelation does not justify the thought that the Church
is `Divine'. The prayer of Ephesians 3 is that the believer may be `filled
with all the fulness of God' and if to be filled with all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily teaches the Deity of Christ in Colossians 2:9, what does
Ephesians 3:19 teach of the believer? Identical language, pan to pleroma
`all the fulness', is found in Ephesians 3:19, Colossians 1:19 and 2:9, and
these passages cannot be separated and interpreted independently of each
other.
The `fulness' of Christ dwells `bodily' in the Church, even as the
`fulness' of the Godhead dwells `bodily' in Him. There are, moreover, many
contextual links that bind these references together as one whole. In
Ephesians 1:21 -23, the stress is upon the Headship of Christ as the Risen
and Ascended One, with all things under His feet, the Church which is His
Body, being the fulness of Him, Who in turn filleth all in all. In
Colossians 1:15 -20 the two creations are brought together, with Christ as
`Firstborn' in each (Col. 1:15,18), with Christ as pre -eminent in each (Col.
1:17,18). Things in heaven and earth were His creation (Col. 1:16) and they
are to be the objects of reconciliation (Col. 1:20).
When we come to Colossians 2:4-23, we have left the positive revelation
of truth, and have entered into the sphere of conflict with error. The
complete structure of this passage has been set out on page 84 of Volume 23
of The Berean Expositor, but for our present purpose we will give the opening
and closing members of this great correspondence:
A
a
4 -8. Plausible speech. Philosophy (sophos).
b
8.
Traditions of men.
c
8.
Rudiments of the world.
corrective. 8,9. Not after Christ.
Fulness pleroma.
10.Ye are filled full in Him
pleroo.
*
*
*
A
c
20 -22.
Rudiments of the world.
b
22.
Teaching of men.
a
23.
Wordy show of wisdom (sophos).
corrective. 23.
Not in any honour.
23.
Filling of the flesh
plesmone.
Whatever is intended by Colossians 2:9, `all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily', is closely and intentionally carried forward into verse 10, for the
word translated `complete' is pepleromenoi, even as conversely, the title of
the Church as `the fulness' is carried upward to Christ, as the One Who is
filling (pleroumenou) the all things in all. Colossians 2:4 -23 combats the
invasion of a vain and deceitful philosophy, supported by tradition and the
rudiments of the world, but `not after Christ', and later in the same
argument, not only intruding philosophies and traditions, but even Divinely
appointed `new moons and Sabbath days' are alike set aside as `shadows of
things to come' because `the body (substance here) is of Christ'.