Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Colossians 1:19

Colossians 1:19. Because; in proof of the last clause: ‘that in all things,' etc.

It pleased the rather, etc. The construction has led to much discussion. ‘All the fulness' may be the subject of ‘pleased,' or of ‘dwell' The sense is substantially the same in either case, since ‘God' (or, ‘the Father') is evidently in the Apostle's mind, and is the subject in Colossians 1:20. To supply ‘the Son' is far less natural. ‘Fulness' here means that with which anything is filled, possibly suggesting the accessory idea of ‘plenitude' The other senses of the word (comp. on Ephesians 1:10) are obviously inappropriate here. But ‘fulness' of what? Some supply ‘of the Godhead' from chap. Colossians 2:9 (comp. Ephesians 3:19); others ‘of the universe,' or even ‘of the Gentiles.' Of these the first alone is admissible; but as the Apostle's thought now concerns Christ's relation to the Church, it seems better to refer the phrase to the fulness of Divine grace which is in Christ and from which all supplies of grace proceed to us (so Beza). This fulness could dwell only in the Son, ‘the image of the invisible God,' etc. But the fact that it did thus dwell in the Incarnate Word is that on which the salvation of the Church rests. This fulness of ‘habitual grace' (as the scholastic theologians term it) shows the certainty of the fulfilment of the Divine purpose: ‘that in all things He might have the preeminence' (Colossians 1:18). Ellicott suggests that the use of this term had ‘special reference to some vague or perverted meaning assigned to it by the false teachers or theosophistic speculators at Colossæ;' comp. chap. Colossians 2:9.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Colossians 1:19

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