Colossians 2:9

King James Version

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

Geneva Bible (1587)
For in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily.

Christian Standard Bible®
For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ,

Hebrew Names Version
For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

Darby Translation
For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily;

Easy-to-Read Version
I say this because all of God lives in Christ fully, even in his life on earth.

Amplified Bible
For in Him all the fullness of Deity (the Godhead) dwells in bodily form [completely expressing the divine essence of God].

American Standard Version
for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,

Berean Standard Bible
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form.

Contemporary English Version
God lives fully in Christ.

Complete Jewish Bible
For in him, bodily, lives the fullness of all that God is.

International Standard Version
For in him the whole fullness of God lives in bodily form.John 1:14; Colossians 1:19;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
in whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Murdock Translation
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity corporeally.

King James Version (1611)
For in him dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodily.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For in hym dwelleth all the fulnesse of the Godhead bodyly:

English Revised Version
for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,

Lexham English Bible
because in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,

Literal Translation
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

New American Standard Bible
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

New Century Version
All of God lives fully in Christ (even when Christ was on earth),

New English Translation
For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form,

New King James Version
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

New Living Translation
For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.

New Revised Standard
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Because, in him, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporeally.

George Lamsa Translation
For in him is embodied all the fulness of the Godhead.

Good News Translation
For the full content of divine nature lives in Christ, in his humanity,

World English Bible
For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For in him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

Weymouth's New Testament
For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For in hym dwellith bodilich al the fulnesse of the Godhed.

Webster's Bible Translation
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Revised Standard Version
For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For in him dwelleth all the fulnes of the godheed bodyly

Update Bible Version
for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,

Young's Literal Translation
because in him doth tabernacle all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,

Bible in Basic English
For in him all the wealth of God's being has a living form,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For in him dwelleth all the fulnes of the Godheade bodely,

Mace New Testament (1729)
for in him all divine plenitude does substantially reside.

New Life Bible
For Christ is not only God-like, He is God in human flesh.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus is God in human form. One who we can talk to, listen to, and relate to.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,

Legacy Standard Bible
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily,

Contextual Overview

⁴ And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. ⁵ For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. ⁶ As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: ⁷ Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. ⁸ Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. ⁹ For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. ¹⁰ And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: ¹¹ In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: ¹² Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

in: Colossians 2:2, Colossians 2:3, Colossians 1:19, Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, John 10:30, John 10:38, John 14:9, John 14:10, John 14:20, John 17:21, 2 Corinthians 5:19, 1 Timothy 3:16, Titus 2:13, 1 John 5:7, 1 John 5:20

bodily: Luke 3:22, John 1:14, John 2:21

Reciprocal: Exodus 15:2 - an habitation Exodus 23:21 - my name Leviticus 8:35 - the tabernacle Deuteronomy 12:5 - habitation 1 Chronicles 17:12 - He shall 1 Chronicles 23:25 - that they may dwell in Jerusalem 2 Chronicles 6:20 - put thy name 2 Chronicles 7:16 - eyes Psalms 68:18 - for men Ezekiel 37:27 - tabernacle Ezekiel 48:8 - the sanctuary Haggai 2:7 - I will fill Zechariah 8:3 - dwell Matthew 12:6 - General Matthew 23:21 - and by Luke 14:22 - and yet John 1:16 - of his John 3:34 - for God John 14:6 - the truth John 16:15 - General John 17:10 - all John 17:23 - made Romans 1:20 - Godhead Ephesians 1:23 - fulness Ephesians 3:19 - that ye Ephesians 4:10 - that he 2 Thessalonians 1:12 - and ye 1 John 2:5 - hereby Revelation 13:6 - and his Revelation 21:22 - the Lamb

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:9
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 3:3
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Deuteronomy 6:25
And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

Proverbs 3:18
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Proverbs 11:30
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

Isaiah 44:25
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

Isaiah 47:10
For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

Ezekiel 31:16
I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. This is to be understood, not of the doctrine, or Gospel of Christ, as being a perfect revelation of the will of God; but of Christ, and particularly of his human nature, as consisting of a true body and a reasonable soul, in which the Godhead dwells in a most eminent manner: God indeed is everywhere by his powerful presence, was in the tabernacle and temple in a very singular manner, and dwells in the saints in a way of special grace; but resides in the human nature of Christ, in the highest and most exalted manner; that is to deity what the human body is to an human soul, it is the house in which it dwells: so Philo the Jew t calls the "Logos" the house of God, who is the soul of the universe; and elsewhere says u, that God himself has filled the divine Logos wholly with incorporeal powers. The Godhead dwells in Christ as in a tabernacle, in allusion to the tabernacle of Moses, which looked mean without side, but glorious within; where God granted his presence, and accepted the sacrifices of his people; the human nature of Christ is the true antitypical tabernacle, which God pitched, and not man; and sometimes is called a temple, in allusion to Solomon's; and which is filled with the train of the divine perfections, signified by fulness here: for not the fulness of grace, or a communicative fulness, is here meant; nor the relative fulness, the church; but the fulness of the divine nature, of all the perfections of deity, such as eternity, immensity, omnipresence, omnipotence, omniscience, immutability, necessary and self existence, and every other; for if anyone perfection was wanting, the fulness, much less all the fulness of the Godhead, would not be in him. The act of inhabitation denotes the union of the two natures in Christ, and expresses the distinction of them; and is to be understood of the Godhead, as subsisting in the person of the Son of God, and not as subsisting in the person of the Father, or of the Spirit; and shows the permanency of this union, it is a perpetual abiding one; and this fulness is not dependent on the Father's pleasure; it is not said of this as of another fulness, Colossians 1:19; that it pleased the Father that it should dwell in him: the manner in which it dwells, is "bodily"; not by power, as in the universe; nor by grace, as in the saints; nor by any glorious emanations of it, as in heaven; nor by gifts, as in the prophets and eminent men of God; nor by signs symbols, and shadows, as in the tabernacle and temple; but essentially and personally, or by personal union of the divine nature, as subsisting in the Son of God to an human body, chosen and prepared for that purpose, together with a reasonable human soul; which is the great mystery of godliness, the glory of the Christian religion, and what qualified Christ for, and recommends him to us as a Saviour; and is a reason why, as these words are, that the Gospel should be abode by, continued in, and that with thankfulness: nor should any regard be had to vain and deceitful philosophy, to the traditions of men, or rudiments of the world: Christ only is to be looked to, attended, and followed, who has all fulness in him.

t De migr. Abraham, p. 389. u De Sommiis, p. 574.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For in him dwelleth - That is, this was the great and central doctrine that was to be maintained about Christ, that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him. Every system which denied this was a denial of the doctrine which they had been taught; and against every thing that would go to undermine this; they were especially to be on their guard. Almost all heresy has been begun by some form of the denial of the great central truth of the incarnation of the Son of God.

All the fulness - Notes, Colossians 1:19.

Of the Godhead - Of the Divinity, the divine nature - θεότης theotēs. The word is one that properly denotes the divine nature and perfections. Robinson, Lexicon. It occurs nowhere else in the New Testament.

Bodily - σωματικῶς sōmatikōs. This word also is found nowhere else in the New Testament, though the adjective bodily - σωματικὸς sōmatikos - occurs twice; Luke 3:22, “in a bodily shape;” and 1 Timothy 4:8, “for bodily exercise profiteth little.” The word means, “having a bodily appearance, instead of existing or appearing in a spiritual form;” and the fair sense of the phrase is, that the fullness of the divine nature became incarnate, and was indwelling in the body of the Redeemer. It does not meet the case to say, as Crellius does, that the “whole divine will was in him,” for the word θεότη theotē - “godhead” - does not mean the will of God; and it is as certainly true that the inspired prophets were under the control of the divine will, as that the Saviour was. Nor can it mean, as Socinus supposes, that the fulness of divine knowledge dwelt in him, for this is not the proper meaning of the word (θεότης theotēs) “godhead;” nor can it mean, for the same reason, that a fullness of divine gifts was intrusted to him. The language is such as would be obviously employed on the supposition that God became incarnate, and appeared in human form; and there is no other idea which it so naturally expresses, nor is there any other which it can be made to express without a forced construction. The meaning is, that it was not anyone attribute of the Deity that became incarnate in the Saviour; that he was not merely endowed with the knowledge, or the power, or the wisdom of God; but that the whole Deity thus became incarnate, and appeared in human form; compare John 14:9; John 1:18. No language could, therefore, more clearly demonstrate the divinity of Christ. Of what mere man - of what angel, could it be used?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 9. For in him dwelleth all the fulness — This is opposed to the vain or empty doctrine of the Gentile and Jewish philosophers: there is a fulness in Christ suited to the empty, destitute state of the human soul, but in the philosophy of the Jews and Gentiles nothing like this was found; nor indeed in the more refined and correct philosophy of the present day. No substitute has ever been found for the grace of the Lord Jesus, and those who have sought for one have disquieted themselves in vain.

By the Godhead or Deity, Θεοτης, we are to understand the state or being of the Divine nature; and by the fulness of that Deity, the infinite attributes essential to such a nature.

Bodily. — Συματικως signifies truly, really; in opposition to typically, figuratively. There was a symbol of the Divine presence in the Hebrew tabernacle, and in the Jewish temple; but in the body of CHRIST the Deity, with all its plenitude of attributes, dwelt really and substantially: for so the word σωματικως means; and so it was understood by the ancient Greek fathers, as is fully shown by SUICER, in his Thesaurus, under the word.

"The fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ 'bodily,' as opposed to the Jewish tabernacle, or temple; truly and really, in opposition to types and figures; not only effectively, as God dwells in good men, but substantially or personally, by the strictest union, as the soul dwells in the body; so that God and man are one Christ." See Parkhurst.