 |  |
#22. BEWARE.
"All the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (2: 9, 10).
pp. 210 - 216
Having seen in the preceding article something of the usage of the word "fullness",
and something of that mystical system condemned by the apostle as being "not after
Christ", we proceed to an appreciation of that glorious contrast to all such vain deceit, the
fullness of Christ Himself:--
"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in
Him, Which is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2: 9, 10).
Christ is here seen as the Mediator between God and men, for in Him dwells the
fullness (pleroma) of the Godhead, and we are filled full (pepleromenoi) in Him. And
because of this, stress is laid upon the word "bodily". God Who is spirit, invisible and
unapproachable, and man who is finite and fleshly, need a Daysman between them. No
man in the ordinary sense of the word could qualify for this high office, no angel, or
principality or power. The position could only be met by the mystery of godliness--
"God was manifest in the flesh."
One of the important subjects related to the conception of the "the fullness" is
concerned with the Lord's title as "Head", mentioned here in Col. 2: We learn from the
epistle to the Ephesians that "in the dispensation of the fullness of seasons there will be
"gathered together under one Head (anakephalaiomai), all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth" (Eph. 1: 10). The word which we have translated
"gathered together under one Head" supplies us with the substantive Kephale, "Head", in
the next passage:--
"And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the
church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1: 22, 23).
Again, in Eph. 4: 13-15, we have the association of the fullness with the Headship of
Christ:--
"The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ . . . . . grow up into Him . . . . .,
which is the Head, even Christ."
Coming to Colossians, we find Headship and fullness together again in the two
passages where the word pleroma occurs:--
"And He is the Head of the body the Church . . . . . for it pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell" (Col. 1: 18, 19).
"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are filled full in
Him, which is the Head of all principality and power" (Col. 2: 9, 10).