Colossians 1:19

It pleased the Father. The words “the Father” are supplied. Commentators are divided as to whether they are correctly supplied or whether “all fulness” should be made the subject of the sentence, which is grammatically possible. According to the latter construction the verse would read, “For all the fulness was pleased to dwell in him” (cf. RSV). The Father seems to be the subject of v. 20, so that it is not unnatural to have it the implied subject in v. 19 also. The passage also makes good sense when “all fulness” is made the subject. Either reading suits the context.

Fulness. Gr. pleroma, “plenitude,” “fullness,” “that which has been completed,” “complement.” Pleroma was used in secular Greek to designate the full complement of a ship’s crew or of reserves of troops, to describe a population reaching the saturation point, to indicate the total amount necessary to complete a financial transaction, and to designate the materials necessary to complete a building. In the NT it generally has this meaning of completeness (see Mark 2:21; 6:43; Rom. 13:10; 1 Cor. 10:26; Gal. 4:4; Eph. 1:10, 23). It appears that the false teachers at Colossae, like the later Gnostics, maintained that some of the functions of the Deity, such as mediation and certain powers of creation, resided in angels or lesser orders of created beings. Paul is telling the perverters of truth that the sum totality of every function of Deity resides in Christ. Thus He is Lord of all created things. This fullness resided in Christ from the beginning.

Dwell. Gr. katoiked, “to have a permanent and settled abode” (cf. ch. 2:9). The false teachers maintained that Divinity resided in Jesus only partially and temporarily. Paul is setting the Colossians right on this point. Not only does Jesus possess, as a permanent prerogative, the fullness of divine purpose and power, He also expresses in fullness the traits of the divine personality (Eph. 1:23; 3:19; 4:13; Col. 2:9). The Saviour was the expression of the Father’s glory; He was the visible image of His person (Eph. 1:15). In Christ is realized the perfect expression of the Godhead completely and eternally. This expression of Divinity reached its complete manifestation only when the sacrifice of the Saviour took place, because the sacrificial aspect of His divine perfection was not seen prior to His death.