What does the Bible say about the fullness of the Godhead?
Colossians 2:9 states that 'in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,' meaning that Jesus embodies the entirety of God's nature.
The nature of Christ as true God and true man is pivotal for the Christian faith, for through His incarnation, we are granted access to the divine. The divine-human union evident in Christ allows the believer to approach God intimately. As Jesus stated in John 14:9, seeing Him is tantamount to seeing the Father, which emphasizes the essential role of Christ in revealing God's nature to humanity. The mystery of the God-man invites believers into a relationship with God through Jesus, paving the way to understand and experience the divine love and grace that the Father extends to His children.
Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 10:5, Matthew 26:38, John 14:8-9
How do we know Jesus is the true God and man?
The Bible reveals Jesus as the true God and man through the fulfillment of prophecy and His own claims about His nature.
Additionally, Jesus' life and ministry demonstrated His divine authority. He performed miracles, forgave sins, and ultimately triumphed over death, which reinforces His identity as God incarnate. The union of divine and human in Christ is not merely a theological assertion but foundational to the believer’s faith. Through this union, believers can relate to God in a personal and transformative way, as Jesus mediates our relationship with the Father and reveals divine grace and truth.
Colossians 2:9, Psalm 40, John 10:30
Why is the doctrine of the Incarnation important for Christians?
The Incarnation is crucial for Christians as it reveals God's nature and provides the means of salvation through Jesus.
Furthermore, the Incarnation is foundational to the work of salvation. Only as God incarnate could Jesus serve as the perfect mediator between God and man, enabling Him to bear the sins of humanity. His holy and sinless life, in conjunction with His atoning death and resurrection, is essential in accomplishing the redemptive plan of God. This profound mystery is not just a historical event but a source of assurance and hope, as believers can approach the Father through Christ, enjoying fellowship and communion with God who is both transcendent and intimately involved in our lives.
Colossians 2:9, John 1:14, Hebrews 7:25
"For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."
— Colossians 2:9
The temple erected by Solomon in Jerusalem, and the tabernacle set up by Moses in the wilderness were but types of the true temple, the Lord of life and glory. The Lord himself said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," speaking of his own body. All the beauty and glory of the temple were, therefore, figurative; they typified and shadowed forth the glory of Immanuel, for "in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." God the Son has taken to himself a body, according to those words in the fortieth Psalm, as quoted by Paul (Hebrews 10:5)—"a body have you prepared me;" a holy body, a sinless, spotless body. According to those words—"Therefore that holy one who shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God;" and not only a holy body, but united to it a holy, spotless soul. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied." "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38). This holy body, as united with a holy soul, the two forming his spotless human nature, the Son of God took into union with himself, and thus became the God-man, Immanuel, God with us.
It is this glorious mystery of godliness that a living soul pants to know. We cannot approach pure Godhead; we cannot understand it; it is a mystery too high and too deep for us; for who, "by searching, can find out God? It is as high as heaven; what can you do? deeper than hell; what can you know?" (Job 11:7, 8.) But when God would make himself known to the children of men, he made himself known by his only begotten Son, the second Person in the glorious Godhead, taking into union with himself the flesh and blood of the children; and thus we can, so far as the Lord gives us faith, approach to an invisible God through the visible God-man; as John says, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." "No man has seen God at any time—the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him." And, therefore, when Philip said to him (John 14:8), "Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us;" Jesus said, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father?" And why, but because as he says in another place, "I and my Father are one."
The desire, then, of every living soul (I am sure it is my desire when the Lord is pleased to work it in my heart) is to be led by the Spirit of God into an acquaintance with the God-man; to behold the glory of God in Jesus Christ; to see the Godhead shining through the manhood, and yet to see the manhood veiling and yet deriving glory from the Godhead; and thus to come to Jesus as a high priest that is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him; to feel nearness of access to the Father by approaching him through the Son of his love; and thus to enjoy sweet communion with Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God making himself known by taking our flesh and blood into union with himself.
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