‘The Godhead dwells in Christ’ — Colossians 2:9
The Godhead dwells in Christ — Colossians 2:9
Question — Colossians 2:9 tells us that the Godhead dwells bodily in Christ, so they obviously aren’t three separate and distinct beings, as taught by Joseph Smith.
Answer —
- Colossians 2:9 states that ‘the fulness of the Godhead’ dwells in Christ, not ‘the Godhead’ dwells in Christ. So what is the ‘fulness of the Godhead’?
- Ephesians 3:19 — ‘And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God’.
- Ephesians 1:23 — ‘Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”
- Doctrine and Covenants 109:15 — “…that they may grow up in thee, and receive a fulness of the Holy Ghost…”
- The three verses listed directly above define the ‘fulness of the Godhead’.
- Colossians 1:18-19 — In Christ dwells the fulness, meaning He has preeminence in all things.
- Ephesians 1:20-23 — Christ’s fulness includes all principalities, powers, mights, and dominions.
- Ephesians 3:19 and John 1:16 — Saints can be filled with the fulness of Christ.
- Colossians 2:10 — We are complete in Christ as Christ is complete in God.
- Doctrine and Covenants 93:12-14 — Christ didn’t receive a fulness at first (power, glory), but progressed to a fulness.
- Doctrine and Covenants 93:16-17 — Christ’s fulness included glory and power.
- Doctrine and Covenants 93:20 — WE can receive a fulness! Also, ‘bodily’ means He is the personification of all godly attributes, and in Him is the ultimate physical representation of power, purity, perfection, etc.
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