Colossians 2:9:
KJ reads: “In him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead [Greek,
the·oʹte·tos] bodily.” (A similar thought is conveyed by the renderings in
NE, RS, JB, NAB, Dy.) However,
NW reads: “It is in him that all the fullness of the divine quality dwells bodily.” (
AT, We, and
CKW read “God’s nature,” instead of “Godhead.” Compare
2 Peter 1:4.)
Admittedly, not everyone offers the same interpretation of
Colossians 2:9. But what is in agreement with the rest of the inspired letter to the Colossians? Did Christ have in himself something that is his because he is God, part of a Trinity? Or is “the fullness” that dwells in him something that became his because of the decision of someone else?
Colossians 1:19 (
KJ, Dy) says that all fullness dwelt in Christ because it “pleased the Father” for this to be the case.
NE says it was “by God’s own choice.”
Consider the immediate context of
Colossians 2:9: In
verse 8, readers are warned against being misled by those who advocate philosophy and human traditions. They are also told that in Christ “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” and are urged to “live in him” and to be “rooted and built up in him and established in the faith.” (
Verses 3, 6, 7) It is in him, and not in the originators or the teachers of human philosophy, that a certain precious “fulness” dwells. Was the apostle Paul there saying that the “fulness” that was in Christ made Christ God himself? Not according to
Colossians 3:1, where Christ is said to be “seated at the right hand of God.”—See
KJ, Dy, TEV, NAB.
According to Liddell and Scott’s
Greek-English Lexicon, the·oʹtes (the nominative form, from which
the·oʹte·tos is derived) means “divinity, divine nature.” (Oxford, 1968, p. 792) Being true “divinity,” or of “divine nature,” does not make Jesus as the Son of God coequal and coeternal with the Father, especially since this divine nature or divinity that dwells in Jesus Christ became his because his father and God decided this to be so. Noone decided that The True God would have Divine nature or have true divinity.