Colossians 2:10
Now in Colossians 2:10–11, three effects or results of
Christ being the very tabernacling presence of God are stated. The first part
of verse 10 says that Christ’s divine temple-presence has resulted in believers
“in him” (possibly “through him”) having “been made full” or “hav[ing] been
filled” (for the latter, see ESV, NET). Viable also is the NIV 1984’s
rendering, “You have been given fullness in Christ.” The perfect tense focuses
on the “full” condition that believers are in. Some have acknowledged the possible
problem if this means that in 2:9–10 Christians are said to “have all the
fullness of deity within them, just as Christ does.” But commentators generally
equate the “filling” here with the reality that the fullness of salvation is
only in Christ or that it meets all the spiritual needs of believers, in
contrast to the false teachers’ views. These general, vague proposals by
commentators are understandable, since Pauline theology would not let the
interpreter think the believer could be divine like Christ! But these proposals
are too general and do not satisfactorily answer the problem just addressed.
However, if the “fullness” that is “in Him” (v. 9) expresses Christ’s divine
presence as the true temple, then it is likely that “[believers who] have been
filled in him” (2:10) has something to do also with the filling of the temple
by Christ—an inference that is borne out by the verbal parallelism in Greek
between verse 9 and verse 10a:
|
Colossians
2:9 |
Colossians
2:10 |
|
because
in him all the divine fullness dwells in bodily form (hoti en auto katoikei
pan to plērōma tēs theotētos sōmatikōs) |
and in
him you have been filled (kai este en auto peplērōmenoi) |
Believers’ union with Christ means that, just as Christ
has become the divine temple presence of God, so they have begun to be
identified with and to experience the effect of being “filled” with that
tabernacling presence of Christ’s divine “fullness,” just as their union with
him in verses 11–13 means they have been circumcised in him, buried with him,
and raised with him. Thus verse 10a is to be understood in line with other
Pauline passages about the church being identified with the temple because
believers are in Christ. This is similar to 1 Corinthians 3 and Ephesians 2,
where Christ is the foundation of the new end-time temple and believers are
built on him as a part of that temple (cf. 1 Cor. 3:10–17; Eph. 2:19–22). In
Ephesians 1:22–23 “the church” is “the fullness [to plērōma] of Him
[Christ] who fills [tou . . . plēroumenou] all things [not only the
church] in every way.” This is developed in Ephesians 3:16–19, where God’s
“glory” is given to believers, and the work of the “Spirit” in them results in
Christ “dwell[ing]” in them. This dwelling leads to saints comprehending that
they are part of the temple in Christ (v. 18) and “know[ing] the love of
Christ,” in order that they “may be filled up [plērōthēte] to all the
fullness [to plērōma] of God.” Ephesians 3:16–19 is a development of
the temple text in Ephesians 2:20–22. In light of the “filling” parallel of
Ephesians 3:16–19 with Colossians 2:9–10, it should not be surprising that the
“filling” language in the Colossians passage should also be about Christ
filling the temple of believers and that this “filling” is equivalent to the
glory of deity filling the church. (G. K. Beale, Union with the Resurrected
Christ: Eschatological New Creation and New Testament Biblical Theology [Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2023], 143-44)
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