Biblical This & That

One of the great mysteries of the Bible is the relationship that exists between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Almost all Christians have struggled to understand the nature of the Godhood, or the Trinity as it is sometimes called. We have often done this with very little success because our small minds simply cannot grasp the having of One True God in three persons. However, the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, refers to the nature of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit from time to time, and does so with a matter-of-factness that will often cause us to overlook the deep truth that is found in a given text.

In Colossians 1:19-20, after pointing out that Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body, the church and that he is the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might stand in first place, the apostle Paul wrote these words: "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross." This passage of Scripture almost incidentally tells us something of the nature of God and of Christ, and of the relationship sustained between them so far as the reconciliation of the world is concerned.

Let us direct our attention to the fact that in Jesus, while he lived upon the earth, and possibly even now, dwelt or resided, all the fullness of God. If the word fullness means anything at all in this passage, it means that Jesus was completely God during the time that he lived upon the earth. The word fullness in this passage comes from a word (pleroma) which means "the full development; completion." So, the Apostle Paul told the Colossian Christians that in the Lord Jesus Christ resided the full development of God. If this is true, and who would deny it, then there can be no doubt about whether Jesus was (is) fully God. In a very real sense, the Father and the Son acted as one in bringing salvation to mankind.

It also pleased God to reconcile, that is, restore to his favor, all to himself whether on earth or in heaven, and he did this by making peace with man through the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. As a matter-of-fact, this is the reason for which Jehovah granted Jesus the fullness of himself. He did not do this just to make jokes or to have fun, but Jesus was the fullness of God in order that mankind might have spiritual peace through the blood that Jesus shed upon the cross. This is the same theme that the apostle struck in verse fourteen when he told the Colossians that "we have redemption through His blood," and that this redemption is "the forgiveness of sins."We could not be favored with this redemption, this reconciliation, this forgiveness of sins if the God had not fully and perfectly dwelt in the Lord Jesus when he came to save men.

Men may wonder and argue over how Jesus could be fully God and fully man at the same time, but it is enough for us to know, in this life, that such was and is the case. Perhaps on the day when we take our places with him in heaven we will understand more completely than we do! Until we come to that place in our spiritual development, let us rejoice in what God has revealed to us in his Word, and continue to give all diligence to show ourselves approved of God through a study of his divine Word (2 Timothy 2:15).