KenTheExegete

COLOSSIANS 2:9 in other Translations:

KJV For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

NKJV For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

CJB  For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is.

LSB  For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily,

NIV  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 

ESV  For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

HCSB  For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ,

GNT For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity,

The context prior to Colossians 2:9 is the Apostle Paul had just warned the believers in the church of Colossae not to be taken captive by the philosophies and traditions of men that are not grounded in the truth of Christ (v. 8).  

Now, let’s investigate in context what Paul means when he says “ For in Him all the fullness of “Deity” (theotēs) dwells bodily. 

STRONG’S LEXICON 2320

theotés: Deity, Godhead, Divine Nature

Original Word: θεότης
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: theotés
Pronunciation: theh-ot’-ace
Phonetic Spelling: (theh-ot’-ace)
Definition: Deity, Godhead, Divine Nature
Meaning: deity, Godhead.

Word Origin: Derived from θεός (theos), meaning “God.”

Usage: The term “theotés” refers to the essence or nature of being God. It encapsulates the fullness of divine attributes and the state of being God. In the New Testament, it is used to express the complete and perfect nature of God, particularly in relation to Christ.

Cultural and Historical Background: In the context of Hellenistic philosophy and early Christian theology, the concept of “theotés” was significant in discussions about the nature of divinity and the relationship between God and creation. The term underscores the Christian belief in the full divinity of Christ, countering early heresies that denied His divine nature. The understanding of “theotés” was crucial in the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, affirming that Jesus Christ possesses the full nature of God.

Link: BibleHubStrong’sLexicon

The following excerpt is taken from the monumental work titled The Incarnate Christ and His Critics: A Biblical Defense, authored by Robert M. Bowman Jr. & J. Ed Komoszewski, published by Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, 2024, Part 2: Like Father, Like Son: Jesus’ Divine Attributes, Chapter 16: The Paradoxical Person, pp. 308.

JESUS CHRIST: BOTH GOD AND MAN

Our second predication is that we will find statements referencing Christ’s divine and human natures together in some way. Colossians 2:9 is perhaps the clearest and most emphatic such statement in the Bible. “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”. “Deity” refers to Christ’s divine nature; “bodily” refers to his human nature. This is important enough text that we will discuss its meaning in some detail. 

The word translated “deity” (theotēs) means “the nature or state of being God.”10 The King James Version translated the word as “Godhead”, which was accurate in the English of Shakespeare’s day but somewhat misleading today. Many people use the term “the Godhead” to refer to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit considered collectively. However, the suffix —head in English usually meant statues, state, or nature, and in modern English has been largely displaced by —hood (e.g., bachelorhood is the status or state of being a bachelor womanhood in the status, state, or nature of being a woman). Thus, the equivalent word for “Godhead” today would be Godhood- and this word is about as exact a translation of the theotēs as one could want.

In case someone might misconstrue “deity” here as meaning the nature or state of being a god— as through Christ were simply one of group of gods– Paul states that the “fullness of deity” dwells in Christ. ¹¹ The word “fullness” makes it explicit that nothing of deity is missing in Christ. To put it another way, deity in its fullness dwells in him. The statement recalls and expands on an earlier statement in the same epistle: “For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell” (Col. 1:19 NABRE). ¹² The point is that God in his fullness chose to dwell in Jesus. In both passages Paul says that all of the fullness dwells in him– which in a sense is redundant (if it’s the fullness, then it’s all of the fullness!), but Paul wants to emphasize the point in the strongest way possible. Murray Harris’s paraphrase nicely expresses Paul’s use of redundancy for emphasis. “It is in Christ, and Christ alone, that the sum total of the fullness of the Godhead, no part or aspect expected, permanently resides in bodily form.”¹³

End Notes

10.  Louw and Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s12.13 (1:139). The word theotēs is simply the Greek word for God (theos) with an ending indicating nature or state (-tēs).

11. We are not here addressing the question of what false teaching at Colossae Paul may have been combating in his epistle to the church there. In any case, Paul was criticizing seeking divine power or help from any source other than Christ. The pace-setting book on the subject is Clinton E. Arnold, The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae, WUNT 2/77 (Tubingen: Mohr, 1995; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996).

12. On the translation of Colossians 1:19, see Harris, Colossians and Philemon, 88-89; R. McL. Wilson, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Colossians and Philemon, ICC (London and New York: T&T Clark, 2005), 151-52.

13. Harris, Colossians and Philemon, 99.