Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (oti en autw katoikei pan to plhrwma thv qeothtov swmatikwv). In this sentence, given as the reason (oti, 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, deitav) and not to be confused with qeiotev in Romans 1:20 (from qeiov, the
quality of God, divinitas), here only in N.T. as qeiothv only in Romans 1:20. The distinction is observed in Lucian and Plutarch. Qeiothv occurs in the papyri and inscriptions. Paul here asserts that "all the plhrwma of the Godhead," not just certain aspects, dwells in Christ and in bodily form (swmatikwv, late and rare adverb, in Plutarch, inscription, here only in N.T.), dwells now in Christ in his glorified humanity (Philippians 2:9-11), "the body of his glory" (tw swmati thv dochv). The fulness of the God-head was in Christ before the Incarnation (John 1:1, John 1:18; Philippians 2:6), during the Incarnation (John 1:14, John 1:18; 1 John 1:1-3). It was the Son of God who came in the likeness of men (Philippians 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.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
John 1:16
Acts 17:29
Acts 20:28
Romans 1:20
1 Corinthians 8:6
Ephesians 4:10
Colossians 1:19
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