SEV Biblia, Chapter 2:9
porque en l habita toda plenitud de la Divinidad corporalmente,
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Colossians 2:9
Verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness] This is opposed to the vain or empty doctrine of the Gentile and Jewish philosophers: there is a fullness in Christ suited to the empty, destitute state of the human soul, but in the philosophy of the Jews and Gentiles nothing like this was found; nor indeed in the more refined and correct philosophy of the present day. No substitute has ever been found for the grace of the Lord Jesus, and those who have sought for one have disquieted themselves in vain. By the Godhead or Deity, qeothv, we are to understand the state or being of the Divine nature; and by the fullness of that Deity, the infinite attributes essential to such a nature.
Bodily. - sumatikwv signifies truly, really; in opposition to typically, figuratively. There was a symbol of the Divine presence in the Hebrew tabernacle, and in the Jewish temple; but in the body of CHRIST the Deity, with all its plenitude of attributes, dwelt really and substantially: for so the word swmatikwv means; and so it was understood by the ancient Greek fathers, as is fully shown by SUICER, in his Thesaurus, under the word.
"The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ 'bodily,' as opposed to the Jewish tabernacle, or temple; truly and really, in opposition to types and figures; not only effectively, as God dwells in good men, but substantially or personally, by the strictest union, as the soul dwells in the body; so that God and man are one Christ." See Parkhurst.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily .] This is to be understood, not of the doctrine, or Gospel of Christ, as being a perfect revelation of the will of God; but of Christ, and particularly of his human nature, as consisting of a true body and a reasonable soul, in which the Godhead dwells in a most eminent manner: God indeed is everywhere by his powerful presence, was in the tabernacle and temple in a very singular manner, and dwells in the saints in a way of special grace; but resides in the human nature of Christ, in the highest and most exalted manner; that is to deity what the human body is to an human soul, it is the house in which it dwells: so Philo the Jew calls the Logos the house of God, who is the soul of the universe; and elsewhere says f20 , that God himself has filled the divine Logos wholly with incorporeal powers. The Godhead dwells in Christ as in a tabernacle, in allusion to the tabernacle of Moses, which looked mean without side, but glorious within; where God granted his presence, and accepted the sacrifices of his people; the human nature of Christ is the true antitypical tabernacle, which God pitched, and not man; and sometimes is called a temple, in allusion to Solomon's; and which is filled with the train of the divine perfections, signified by fulness here: for not the fulness of grace, or a communicative fulness, is here meant; nor the relative fulness, the church; but the fulness of the divine nature, of all the perfections of deity, such as eternity, immensity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, immutability, necessary and self existence, and every other; for if anyone perfection was wanting, the fulness, much less all the fulness of the Godhead, would not be in him. The act of inhabitation denotes the union of the two natures in Christ, and expresses the distinction of them; and is to be understood of the Godhead, as subsisting in the person of the Son of God, and not as subsisting in the person of the Father, or of the Spirit; and shows the permanency of this union, it is a perpetual abiding one; and this fulness is not dependent on the Father's pleasure; it is not said of this as of another fulness, ( Colossians 1:19); that it pleased the Father that it should dwell in him: the manner in which it dwells, is bodily; not by power, as in the universe; nor by grace, as in the saints; nor by any glorious emanations of it, as in heaven; nor by gifts, as in the prophets and eminent men of God; nor by signs symbols, and shadows, as in the tabernacle and temple; but essentially and personally, or by personal union of the divine nature, as subsisting in the Son of God to an human body, chosen and prepared for that purpose, together with a reasonable human soul; which is the great mystery of godliness, the glory of the Christian religion, and what qualified Christ for, and recommends him to us as a Saviour; and is a reason why, as these words are, that the Gospel should be abode by, continued in, and that with thankfulness: nor should any regard be had to vain and deceitful philosophy, to the traditions of men, or rudiments of the world: Christ only is to be looked to, attended, and followed, who has all fulness in him.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-17 - There is a philosophy which rightly exercises our reasonable faculties a study of the works of God, which leads us to the knowledge of God and confirms our faith in him. But there is a philosophy which is vai and deceitful; and while it pleases men's fancies, hinders their faith such are curious speculations about things above us, or no concern to us. Those who walk in the way of the world, are turned from followin Christ. We have in Him the substance of all the shadows of the ceremonial law. All the defects of it are made up in the gospel of Christ, by his complete sacrifice for sin, and by the revelation of the will of God. To be complete, is to be furnished with all thing necessary for salvation. By this one word "complete," is shown that we have in Christ whatever is required. "In him," not when we look to Christ, as though he were distant from us, but we are in him, when, by the power of the Spirit, we have faith wrought in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are united to our Head. The circumcision of the heart the crucifixion of the flesh, the death and burial to sin and to the world, and the resurrection to newness of life, set forth in baptism and by faith wrought in our hearts, prove that our sins are forgiven and that we are fully delivered from the curse of the law. Throug Christ, we, who were dead in sins, are quickened. Christ's death wa the death of our sins; Christ's resurrection is the quickening of ou souls. The law of ordinances, which was a yoke to the Jews, and partition-wall to the Gentiles, the Lord Jesus took out of the way When the substance was come, the shadows fled. Since every mortal ma is, through the hand-writing of the law, guilty of death, how very dreadful is the condition of the ungodly and unholy, who trample unde foot that blood of the Son of God, whereby alone this deadl hand-writing can be blotted out! Let not any be troubled about bigote judgments which related to meats, or the Jewish solemnities. The setting apart a portion of our time for the worship and service of God is a moral and unchangeable duty, but had no necessary dependence upo the seventh day of the week, the sabbath of the Jews. The first day of the week, or the Lord's day, is the time kept holy by Christians, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. All the Jewish rites were shadow of gospel blessings.
Greek Textus Receptus
οτι 3754 εν 1722 αυτω 846 κατοικει 2730 5719 παν 3956 το 3588 πληρωμα 4138 της 3588 θεοτητος 2320 σωματικως 4985
Vincent's NT Word Studies
9. Fullness. See on ch. i. 19.Godhead (qeothtov). Only here in the New Testament. See on Romans i. 20, where qeiothv divinity or godhood is used. Appropriate there, because God personally would not be known from His revelation in nature, but only His attributes - His majesty and glory. Here Paul is speaking of the essential and personal deity as belonging to Christ. So Bengel: "Not the divine attributes, but the divine nature."
Bodily (swmatikwv). In bodily fashion or bodily-wise. The verse contains two distinct assertions: 1. That the fullness of the Godhead eternally dwells in Christ. The present tense katoikei dwelleth, is used like ejstin is (the image), ch. i. 15, to denote an eternal and essential characteristic of Christ's being. The indwelling of the divine fullness in Him is characteristic of Him as Christ, from all ages and to all ages. Hence the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him before His incarnation, when He was "in the form of God" (Philip. ii. 6). The Word in the beginning, was with God and was God (John i. 1). It dwelt in Him during His incarnation. It was the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth, and His glory which was beheld was the glory as of the Only begotten of the Father (John i. 14; compare 1 John i. 1-3). The fullness of the Godhead dwells in His glorified humanity in heaven. 2. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him in a bodily way, clothed the body. This means that it dwells in Him as one having a human body. This could not be true of His preincarnate state, when He was "in the form of God," for the human body was taken on by Him in the fullness of time, when "He became in the likeness of men" (Philip. ii. 7), when the Word became flesh. The fullness of the Godhead dwelt in His person from His birth to His ascension. He carried His human body with Him into heaven, and in His glorified body now and ever dwells the fullness of the Godhead.
"O, for a sight, a blissful sight Of our Almighty Father's throne! There sits the Savior crowned with light, Clothed in a body like our own.
"Adoring saints around Him stand, And thrones and powers before Him fall; The God shines gracious through the man, And sheds sweet glories on them all."
WATTS
"What a contrast to the human tradition and the rudiments of the world" (Meyer). What a contrast to the spiritual agencies conceived as intermediate between God and men, in each of which the divine fullness was abridged and the divine glory shaded, in proportion to the remoteness from God in successive emanation.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
2:9 {For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily} (hoti en autwi katoikei pan to plerwma tes qeotetos swmatikws). In this sentence, given as the reason (hoti, because) for the preceding claim for Christ as the measure of human knowledge Paul states the heart of his message about the Person of Christ. There dwells (at home) in Christ not one or more aspects of the Godhead (the very essence of God, from qeos, deitas) and not to be confused with qeiotes in #Ro 1:20 (from qeios, the {quality} of God, _divinitas_), here only in N.T. as qeiotes only in #Ro 1:20. The distinction is observed in Lucian and Plutarch. qeiotes occurs in the papyri and inscriptions. Paul here asserts that "all the plerwma of the Godhead," not just certain aspects, dwells in Christ and in bodily form (swmatikws, late and rare adverb, in Plutarch, inscription, here only in N.T.), dwells now in Christ in his glorified humanity (#Php 2:9-11), "the body of his glory" (twi swmati tes doxes). The fulness of the God-head was in Christ before the Incarnation (#Joh 1:1,18; Php 2:6), during the Incarnation (#Joh 1:14,18; 1Jo 1:1-3). It was the Son of God who came in the likeness of men (#Php 2:7). Paul here disposes of the Docetic theory that Jesus had no human body as well as the Cerinthian separation between the man Jesus and the aeon Christ. He asserts plainly the deity and the humanity of Jesus Christ in corporeal form.
