What does Colossians 2:9 mean?

Oneness believers see three different manifestations in the Godhead. The following quote from Oneness author David K. Bernard helps illustrate the point:

"It is necessary to distinguish clearly between the deity and the humanity of Christ. While Jesus was both God and man at the same time, sometimes He acted from the human viewpoint and sometimes from the divine viewpoint. As Father, He sometimes spoke from His divine self-consciousness; as Son He sometimes spoke from His human self-consciousness. Only as a man could Jesus be born, grow, be tempted by the devil, hunger, thirst, become weary, sleep, pray, be beaten, die, not know all things, not have all power, be inferior to God, and be a servant. Only as God could He exist from eternity, be unchanging, cast out devils by His own authority, be the bread of life, give living water, give spiritual rest, calm the storm, answer prayer, heal the sick, raise His body from death, forgive sin, know all things, have all power, be identified as God, and be King of kings. In an ordinary person, these two contrasting lists would be mutually exclusive, yet the scriptures attribute all them to Jesus, revealing His dual nature." (Essential Doctrines of the Bible, by David K. Bernard, pp. 9,10)

Deuteronomy 4:35 - Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

Deuteronomy 6:4 - Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

II Samuel 7:22 - Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Isaiah 43:10 - Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

Isaiah 44:8 - Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? Ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God: I know not any.

Mark 12:32 - And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he.

Galatians 3:20 - Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

I Timothy 2:5 - For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Jacob

Oneness Pentecostal

Colossians 2 9

We believe that Jesus Christ was born miraculously of the virgin Mary, by the work of the Holy Spirit, and that at the same time He is the one and only true God (Romans 9:5; 1st John 5:20). The God of the Old Testament took upon Himself human form. (Isaiah 60:1-3). "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..." ( John 1:14). "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (1st Timothy 3:16).

We believe that in Jesus Christ the divine attributes of God were incorporated with human nature in an incomprehensible yet perfect way. Having been born of Mary, He was human, and having been begotten in Mary of the Holy Spirit, He was divine. That is why He is called the Son of God and the Son of Man. Therefore, we believe that Jesus Christ is God, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).

He is the Creator of all (Colossians 1:16,17; Isaiah 45:18). He is Omnipresent (John 3:13; Deuteronomy 4:39). He performed miracles as the Almighty God (Luke 5:24-26; Psalms 86:10). He has power over the sea (Mark 4:37-39; Psalms 107:20,30). He is the same yesterday , today and forever (Hebrews 13:8; Psalms 102:27).

gatita

Apostolic Believer In One God, Jesus

Reference Colossians 2:9:

"For" - because. Their "philosophy" (Col 2:8) is not "after Christ," as all true philosophy is, everything which comes not from, and tends not to, Him, being a delusion;

"in him dwelleth" - Inhabiteth, continually abideth, as in a temple, all the fulness of the Godhead. Believers are filled with all the fulness of God, Eph 3:19.

"all the fulness" - the most full Godhead; not only divine powers, but divine nature; Col 1:19, John 14:10.

"of the Godhead" - The Greek (theotes) means the ESSENCE and NATURE of the Godhead, not merely the divine perfections and attributes of Divinity (Greek, "theiotes"). He, as man, was not merely God-like, but in the fullest sense, God.

"Bodily" - Personally, really, substantially. The very substance of God, if one might so speak, dwells in Christ in the most full sense.bodily-not merely as before His incarnation, but now "bodily in Him" as the incarnate word (John 1:14, 18). Believers, by union with Him, partake of His fulness of the divine nature (Joh 1:16; 2Pe 1:4; see also Eph 3:19). The union of God and man, is substantial and essential.

There is one all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God, who has revealed Himself as our Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and as the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is God manifested in flesh. He is both God and man.

Deuteronomy 6:4, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Ephesians 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Colossians 2:9, For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

I Timothy 3:16, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Each and everyone of these scriptures declare that Jesus is the Mighty God in Christ!!

Jerry

Oneness Pentecostal

Archie, Thanks for the asking,

Certainly, this is the most important revelation about the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord.

He did not see fit to declare this mystery to His disciples when in flesh. They were not ready nor able to accept this great revelation. Neither did He say to them, (Worship me). But at the end you read "And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great Joy" Luke 24:52 The angels also as in Heb.1:6

This verse you quoted means that in that Fragile body, God Almighty was dwelling. Like the fire burning in the bush at the time of Moses, and the Bush was not consumed. Jesus as a man, and in His humanity, He was les than God, since He "Lowered Himself" Phil.2:5-8. Yet in His deity, He is our God, and there is no other God beside Him. He said "That all may honor the Son as they honor the Father" John 5:23

It means that all God is and has dwells in Jesus in bodily form. All includes everything and excludes nothing!

*** Edit

To clarify, Collette is correct. God is not "crammed into" the person of Jesus Christ. All of the divine *attributes* exist in Him.

"Godhead" is an erroneous translation. The evidence of that is that there are three distinct Greek words which are all translated as "Godhead" in English, i.e. θειότης, θεότης, and θεῖος. Even laypeople should recognize the folly of such an etymological fallacy.

It is translated in Latin as "deitas," which according to Lewis & Short's lexicon, means "the divine nature; deity." Thayer's Lexicon defines it as "deity," whereby theotes differs from theiotes as deity differs from divinity, and essence from quality or attribute.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/image....

In short, "For, in him all the fullness of the deity dwells bodily."

Like the Temple of aforetime in which God's presence dwelt, the fullness of the deity (nature of being God) dwells bodily in the Messiah. He is both fully man and fully God.

You have to read the whole chapter to understand that ONE scripture. It is talking about not building your faith in man but in Christ Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. If you put your faith in man what have you accomplished? Man will always let you down. But anyways, that is the round about meaning of it. God Bless!

It is often questioned how it could be that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily (Colossians 2:9). God is too big for such a small place! Trying to get the fullness of the omnipresent God into one man is harder than the wicked stepsisters trying to get their big feet in Cinderella's glass slipper!

Some have conceived of the incarnation as the time at which God ceased inhabiting the heavens in order to dwell in Christ. Then, upon ascension, God returned to His heavenly abode. This is what is commonly called the "Jesus Only" view. Jesus is thought of as the divine Shop Vac that sucked all of God out of heaven and into one man. From Scripture we know that this is not so because Jesus said the Father was in heaven (Matthew 5:16; Mark 11:26, et al). Surely God continued to exist beyond the incarnation. As the Fathers often said, "He remained what He was while becoming what He was not." The same God who began to exist as man in the incarnation continued to exist as He always had as God, beyond the incarnation, and unchanged.

So how is it that God's fullness could dwell in Christ and yet also continue to inhabit the heavens as He always had? Well, how is it that God fills us with His Spirit? Does He only fill us with a portion of His Spirit? Is it a diluted form of His Spirit? Such would not possible. God is fully God no matter where He is. It is not possible for there to be more of God in one place than in another, or for only a part of God to be in one place but not another, or for more of God to dwell in one person than in another. This is because God is a qualitative being, not a quantitative being. God is of a divine quality, not a divine quantity. God is a Spirit and cannot be measured, because as a Spirit being God does not consist of matter.

When we conceive of God we often think of Him in material terms, however. While such terms of conception are in error, it is wholly understandable seeing that we are part of the material world and are bound to such ways of thought. We cannot transcend the material world to understand the true nature of the spiritual. For something to possess the fullness of something in the material world demands that it possess all of the material substance. For the fullness of the coffee in the coffee pot to be in my cup requires that every drop of coffee fit in my cup. If all the coffee will not fit, the cup cannot be said to contain the fullness of the coffee. Why is this so? It is because coffee is a quantitative substance. God, however, is not a quantitative being, and thus cannot be measured like coffee. As a qualitative and omnipresent being God is everywhere, and everywhere God is, He is in His fullness. Jesus does not possess the fullness of God's quantity, for God is not a quantity. Rather, Jesus possesses the fullness of God's quality. Everything that makes God who He is, Jesus is. All of the divine attributes that are peculiar to God dwell in Christ qualitatively. Once we can grasp the fact that God is a qualitative being rather than a quantitative being we will be able to understand, in part, the manner in which Christ can be fully God, and yet at the same time God can continue to inhabit the heavens.

Joan

Apostolic Believer In One God, JESUS