Pleroma in the Greek Index, Tohu and Bohu in the Hebrew Index, and Fullness, Ages,

Dispensation, Human Destiny and Satan, etc., in the Subject Index.

Two words are translated "Godhead" in the A.V.; and it is necessary to differentiate

between them if the truth of each is to be clearly seen. The two words are Theiotes and

Theotes; the first should be translated Divinity, the second Deity. Dr. Wette expresses

the distinction in his German translation, rendering Theiotes by Gottlichkeit and

Theotes by Gottheit:--

In both cases there is the manifestation of the invisible. In Romans "the invisible

things" of the Creator are shown in His works, but in Col. 1: 15 and 2: 9 the invisible

God Himself dwells fully and bodily in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is essential that we should grasp the truth contained in the word "bodily"

(somatikos). While it is a truth, in which we rejoice, that the church is the body of Christ,

this must not cause us to forget or ignore the fact of His own literal body. In Col. 1: 22

we have the expression, "In the body of His flesh"; which shows that the epistles of the

mystery use this word soma both literally and figuratively. It is the spirit of Antichrist

that denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (I John 4: 3), or that He is coming in

the flesh (II John 7). This in itself is a proof that the truth denied is of the first

importance. If Christ came not in the flesh, we have no Kinsman-Redeemer (Heb. 2: 14,

15). If the Word was not made flesh and dwelt among us, we yet await the glory of the

Only Begotten of the Father (John 1: 14). If Christ was not of the seed of David

according to the flesh, there could be no gospel of God concerning His Son (Rom. 1: 1-3),

neither could we tell Israel that their Messiah has already come (Rom. 9: 5). In His

flesh, stricken for sin on the cross, He abolished the middle-wall of partition between

believers (Eph. 2: 15) and the veil between the believer and his Lord (Heb. 10: 20). The

very mystery of godliness is that "God was manifest in the flesh" (I Tim. 3: 16). When

we add to these statements many others--the Lord bearing our sins in His own body

(I Pet. 2: 24), the offering of the body of Jesus Christ (Heb. 10: 10), His being found in

fashion as a man (Phil. 2: 8)--we see that the literal meaning of the word "bodily"

(Col. 2: 9) cannot be denied without disastrous consequences to the faith.

There are several parallel references in the Gospel of John to the mystery and purpose

of this manifestation of the Godhead in the flesh, that may help us further in our