The Fullness of Deity. Colossians 2:9. Paul used the beginning of the letter to the Colossians to prepare them for the main lessons he wanted to teach. He clarified who they were as believers and why he was writing. In these verses, he begins his rebuke of false teachers with a clear statement of the truth. There is not more than one way to view God—all aspects of God are seen in bodily form in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is only One Mediator, only One God revealed to us in Christ; there is only One who holds all power and authority under His rule. There is only One who is Head over everything; there is only One who is the Ultimate Source and Maintainer of all.
Who could ever explain or even define God? If we could, He wouldn’t be God. But once, a remarkable thing happened in the world. God came to earth, appearing as a man. God walked along the Galilee Road, the road through Jericho, and the streets of Jerusalem too. He even strolled on the water of the Sea of Galilee. God came to earth and took on a human form. Every work He did and every word He spoke was true. He looked like a man but was far above an ordinary human. He was both God and man at the same time.
If I want to see what God the Father is like, I must look closely at the Son. Although He was in a human body, He took on humanity when He was born of “the seed of the woman,” and the Lord Jesus and the Father remained One. The actions He performed and the places He visited were sometimes guided by God the Holy Spirit. That is the Spirit of God who grants new birth to those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God used the Son's voice so that people might hear God's word, and He was sent by the Son to dwell in the bodies of believers. The Spirit of God employed holy men to record the words He wanted us to know.
The love of the Father and the love of the Son share the same physical body to show the grace that brings us salvation. When we see the One, we have seen them all in the same body that the three Persons of the deity use. The ongoing ways of God that continue to bless us come through Him in whom all the fullness of the Godhead lives. There is no question about that, but trying to define the Godhead in words will take more than one eternal lesson.
The incarnation of Christ challenges the ideas of both ancient and modern Gnostics who taught that physical bodies are evil because they can commit evil acts. Their explanation of Jesus being God is that He was either a spirit or a man who taught good spiritual truths. Paul’s message was a clear declaration that Jesus embodied deity and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all dwelled in the human body of our Lord Jesus Christ. He openly refuted the teachings of those who misled believers at Colosse.
“Fullness” leaves no room for anything else to be added. Fullness in the physical body of our Lord Jesus leaves no room for speculation that something was missing in Him. Nothing about fullness invites imagination or speculation that something was lacking in Him. When we worship the Father in spirit and truth, we address the One who dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ and focus our minds on Him whom the Spirit of God leads us to honor.
Our love, gratitude, worship, and obedience are directed to the Godhead that dwells in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are one in Christ. We who are part of the body of Christ are many, but we form one body, the Lord. Yet, each member plays a vital role in the body.
The Lord Jesus embodies the truth in positive terms. He is not merely an agent of truth, nor a god-like man. The fullness of God resides permanently in our Lord Jesus. God is active within Him, not just a part of Him. All the intermediaries that the Gnostics taught about were false then, and they remain false now. They have no real connection with God as mediators. Angels, as well as any other person or effort to find a way to God or learn about God apart from the Holy Spirit revealing Christ to us, are wrong. Everything is found in our Lord Jesus Christ, and we are complete in Him, needing no other requirement for salvation.
He is God, even though He has a human body; He is not just an ethereal spirit or a shadowy form of God. He is the only true God-Man who has bridged the gap between God and man. As believers, we are complete in Him - in a state of fullness. We do not need to turn to philosophers or rabbis to find the truth. Jesus is the Truth. All fullness resides in Christ, so why should we seek anyone else or look for anything else? Our faith is in Him!