In Him All Fullness Should Dwell

Colossians 1:13 – 23

The verb tenses in the paragraph are important.

(13)     The readers had been delivered previously into the kingdom

(14)     who presently have redemption

(15)     Jesus presently is the image of the invisible God and is most important in creation.

(16)     Jesus was the agent of creation, heaven and earth.

(17)     Jesus presently is most important and gives meaning to everything.

(18)     Jesus presently is the head of the church.

(19)     All the fullness of God presently dwells in Him, the church.

(20)     All spirits (angels and people of all races) were reconciled through His sacrifice.

(21)     The readers are part of the reconciled group

(22)     through His physical death in order to make the readers blameless

(23)     if the readers continue in faith.

Fullness

1. Used literally in Mark 8:20, baskets full of bread fragments.
2. “Fullness” is the noun form of the verb, “to be made full.”
   1. Literally, Acts 7:23, to reach completion, “being full of 40 years” and, John 7:8, “My time is not yet full.”
   2. Philippians 4:18, to have received more than enough.
   3. To be full of joy, Acts 2:28, 1 John 1:4, 2 John 12.
3. John 1:16 Of His fullness we have all received
4. Romans 11:12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness.
5. Romans 11:25 That blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
6. Romans 15:29 I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
7. 1 Corinthians 10:26, 28 The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness
8. Galatians 4:4 When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son
9. Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.
10. Ephesians 1:23 Which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all
11. Ephesians 3:19 That you may be filled with all the fullness of God
12. Ephesians 4:13 till we all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
13. Colossians 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell
14. Colossians 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily

Conclusions

1. The church is the fullness of Him; the individuals are filled (Ephesians 1:23, 3:19, John 1:16)
2. When the church is able to edify itself (Ephesians 4:16), “we will all come to…the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
3. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9) The present tense refers to Christ glorified, not Jesus during His public ministry.  So, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in His body, the church.  “In Him all the fullness should dwell” (Colossians 1:19) is after reconciling things on earth and things in heaven, so again the fullness is in His body, the church.
4. Christians are promised that this resemblance to Jesus was the plan all along (Romans 8:29, Hebrews 2:11, 2 Peter 1:4, 1 Corinthians 3:18) for those who have the faith of Jesus (Romans 3:26).