2008-12-17 - All Fullness

Colossians 1:19, "For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him."

Colossians 1:19 draws on the theme found in verse 18. In verse 18, we have it declared that Christ has preeminence - first place - in everything. We ourselves are to also give Christ the first place in everything. In our actions, desires, and thoughts, Christ should occupy the first position. He is the head of the church, which is His body, and He is to be given preeminence in everything we do, think, or say.

The phrase, "all fullness" is rather comprehensive. What is not included in "all fullness?" It is difficult to explore such a phrase, and impossible to exhaust what it contains, but we can gain a picture of what is in mind. We can start by considering ourselves. We, outside of Christ, are all emptiness. Our power is only in our imagination, and our merit or goodness is only known by its lack. We, being all emptiness, can grasp some of what all fullness means, because it is the opposite of what we are. In Christ, we partake of His fullness, but left to ourselves we are without hope and void of anything good or worthy. It should warm our hearts that we are united to Christ, and in Him we can experience the filling of all our void. When we understand that we are without strength in ourselves, it becomes an unsurpassed blessing that we are given all the strength we require through Christ's limitless, inexhaustible strength. While we are all sin, Christ is all mercy. While we are all misery, Christ is all joy and delight. His fullness is all we need.

It is an interesting part of this that in Christ, because of the completeness of His Atonement, God is more glorified in Him than He would have been in an unfallen world. If there had never been a fall into sin by our first parent, Adam, we never would have known the mercy, grace, and love of God as we do through Christ. God's mercy is understood in ways we never would have known, because Christ has undergone the humiliation of redeeming us from our sin. The fullness, as our verse says, is "in Him." That is where we truly find all our consolations. It is Christ's treasure, and it is not found in doctrines, commandments, or the means of grace (prayer, Baptism, Lord's Supper), but rather it is "in Him." This is where the fullness dwells, and we cannot separate Christ from the benefits that He has, is, and gives.

We have one more thing to consider here, and this is that it is the Father's good pleasure that this be the case. It is the Father's good pleasure to exalt Christ to the position of all fullness. If then it is the Father's good pleasure to give all the fullness to Christ, should it not also be our pleasure to draw from Christ all, and receive all, from Him? Fullness has always been in Christ. It was in the past, it is today, and it ever will be. The fullness of Christ is never exhausted or diminished. It never runs low. Every follower of Christ may draw on His fullness fully, and never find a tapped well. He is as able to forgive millions of millions, as He is able to forgive one. We cannot drain, wear out, or weaken the fullness that is in Christ because He has "all fullness," and having all fullness, His supply of grace is never wearied.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

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