For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him,
Parallel translations
- WEB For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him;
- KJV For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
- NKJV For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,
- NASB For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
- NLT For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Christ. The complete divine nature resides in the Son.
Overview
'All the fullness' refers to the totality of God's own being and perfections, which dwell in Christ by the Father's good pleasure. This directly counters any view that divine fullness was spread among many intermediaries or angelic beings. In Christ alone the believer meets the fullness of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Col 2:9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.
- John 1:16From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
- Eph 1:23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
- Col 2:3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- Col 3:11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.
- John 3:34For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
- Eph 4:10He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.
- Eph 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
- Luke 10:21At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
- Eph 1:5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
- Matt 11:25–27At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, in whom all things hold together and all the fullness of God dwells bodily — supreme over every power.
How Colossians 1:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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