⁸Beware 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. ⁹For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. ¹⁰And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:8–10, KJV)

Does the phrase “in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily” mean that Christ is an incarnation of the person of the Father? That is the Onenessian idea that we want to address, and refute, here.

In Chapter Two and again in Chapter Thirteen, we discussed what “indwelling” means. Indwelling means precisely the opposite of identity. We are told that we are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and this specifically means that we are not to confuse the “Spirit of God in us” with us being able to do the things of God by ourselves.

What is this verse actually saying? For that, as usual, we will search the Scriptures to see how it aligns with scripturally stated teachings and truths.

So what does the Scripture mean by the word “fullness”? Let’s begin with these passages:

… Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13)

Does saying that we will eventually attain to “the fullness of Christ” mean that we will eventually become incarnations of the person of Christ himself? No. It simply means that we will be brought to a point where we can walk completely, or fully, in the goodness, holiness, and righteousness that Christ attained through faith in God. So the word “fullness” itself is not equal to “personality,” as if to say Christ was the “personality” of God.

Earlier in Ephesians, Paul had written this:

¹⁷…That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17–19)

So the goal for us is to also be filled with all fullness, even as Christ was! Was Paul exhorting us to become incarnations of the person of God, since he exhorted us to come to the point where we would be “filled with all the fullness of God”? Obviously not. Being “filled” with the fullness of God means the opposite of being the identity of God. It means, though you aren’t God, you allow God to fully influence your life, thoughts, and actions!

Thus, in Colossians 2:9, Paul was plainly saying the opposite of what Onenessians think he meant!

Even earlier in Ephesians, Paul made another reference to “fullness”:

¹⁷…The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory… ²²He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly , ²³which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:17–23)

Now here is a remarkable thing! Was Paul describing the body of Christ, the assembly, as the fullness of Him who fills all? We can properly understand this passage when we read it in harmony with these other verses on the same topic:

When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all . (1 Corinthians 15:28)

There are various kinds of workings, but the same God, who works all things in all. (1 Corinthians 12:6)

This means that in Ephesians, Paul was saying the body of Christ, the believers, will attain to being filled with all the fullness of God to the same extent that Jesus was!

Now notice what Paul said leading up to the statement in Colossians 2:9:

¹⁴…In whom (the Son) we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins; ¹⁵who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For by him were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. ¹⁷He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. ¹⁹ For all the fullness was pleased to dwell in him; ²⁰ and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:14–20)

Now here we have the “fullness” being “pleased to dwell in him [the Son], and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him.” These are two “hims,” or two “whos” if you will. The one in whom the other One is dwelling, and the One who dwells within the one, who also reconciled all things through the other who or him. This is simply language that is describing God in Christ.

These Scriptures are not saying that God is Christ or Christ is God. Rather, these Scriptures are simply talking about what is clearly taught in other passages. For example:

¹Jesus… lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, “Father… ⁹I pray for them… for those whom you have given me, for they are yours… ¹¹… Holy Father…that they may be one, even as we are … ²⁰Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, ²¹That they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us … ²²The glory which you have given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” (John 17:11, 21–22)

In other words, God is in Christ, and Christ is in God, in the same way that we are to be in Christ and God, and that God and Christ are to be in us. This is indwelling, not identity. It is unity of mind and purpose, but not identity of person (“that they may be one even as we are one”). This is true (expressed and defined) biblical oneness that has no relation to the modalistic Monarchian “Oneness.” Christ is no more God Himself because all fullness dwells in him than we are God because we dwell in him and God dwells in us! Both are specified so that there is no confusion for those who have ears to hear, rather than those who simply want to “reason these things in their hearts” contrary to what the Scriptures actually, and clearly, teach.

Here are some interesting passages that are referring to this same interchangeable unity of Christ in us and us in Christ:

¹⁰…Put on the new man, that is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator, ¹¹where there can’t be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondservant, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:10–11)

¹⁵Don’t you know that your bodies are members of Christ?… For, ‘The two,’ says he, ‘will become one flesh.’ ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:15–17)

¹¹But the one and the same Spirit works all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires. ¹²For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. ¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit. ⁹For the body is not one member, but many. (1 Corinthians 12:11–14)

The Snake-Handler Factor:The idea based on Colossians 2:9 that Jesus is God bodily incarnate can’t even really be given the benefit of being a snake-handler factor. Even the actual snake-handler proof texts actually do say what the snake handlers say they say. Colossians 2:9 does not at all say what the Onenessians imply that it means. Their position on this verse is nothing but…

Jumping to Conclusions. In this chapter we’ve reiterated that “indwelling” does not mean “identity”; in fact it means the opposite. We also saw that fullness can mean being full of the attributes of God, such as saints are exhorted to be filled with the fullness of God, but that doesn’t mean we will be God incarnate ourselves. So using Colossians 2:9 as a proof text for modalistic monarchian “Onenessianism” is definitely jumping to conclusions in a very big way; that is, it is a very big jump over a very big gap in ideas!

The OT Schoolmaster.The OT never taught, and no true Jew ever believed, that the Messiah would be God Himself bodily incarnated.

Teach No Other Doctrine. Nowhere did the apostles expound on the idea that Jesus claimed to be God the Father personally, nor did Jesus. However, Jesus is the body of God in the same way that we are the body of Christ, which doesn’t mean we are personally Jesus. The same goes for Jesus and God. To claim otherwise is teaching a doctrine the apostles never preached or taught.

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