2:9

For: Beginning with 2:9, Paul gave the Colossian believers some reasons why they should not believe the false teachers. The Greek word hoti that the Berean Standard Bible translates For connects 2:9 with 2:8. Paul was saying: “⌊Do not let them deceive you,⌋ for …”

in Christ all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form: This verse is similar to 1:19. In 1:19 Paul said that God decided to have “all His fullness” live in Christ. In 2:9 Paul explained more clearly what this meant. He says all the fullness of the Deity dwells bodily in Christ. In the Greek sentence structure, Paul emphasized the words in Christ (literally: “in him”). You may be able to express this: “For it is in Christ ⌊and in Christ alone⌋ that all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

all the fullness of the Deity: See the note on 1:19. When Paul said that all the fullness of the Deity is in Christ, this implied that Christ alone has all the power and authority that God has.

Deity: The Greek word theotēs that the Berean Standard Bible translates Deity comes from the Greek word theos “God.” It means all that God is: his nature, his power, and his perfection. So when Paul said that “all the fullness of the Deity” lived in Christ, he meant that Christ is fully God. All that God is, Christ is also.

dwells: The Greek verb katoikeō that the Berean Standard Bible translates dwells means, “stays, lives, remains.” Paul used the same verb in 1:19, but there he used a past tense. Here he used the present tense, and so it means that all God’s nature is now permanently in Christ.

in bodily form: This refers to the fact that Christ was born and he became a human being with a human body. Even then, Christ had all of God’s nature in him.

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