Beginning with this verse, and going through verse 15, in an extended meditation on Christ’s nature, Paul shows why the Colossians must take care not to be swept away by wrong thinking.

The full content of divine nature: the word translated “divine nature” (or “deity” Revised Standard Version) occurs only here in the NT. For the full content and lives see 1.19. As in 1.19, Paul here emphasizes that all of God’s nature is present in Christ, not diluted or dispersed among intermediary spiritual beings. This does not imply, of course, that there was no more “divine nature” left in God, nor does it say that Christ is God. It emphasizes the reality of the incarnation, the uniqueness of Christ. The full content of divine nature may be expressed as “his being just like God” or “his being no different from what God is.”

It is almost impossible in a number of languages to speak of a “divine nature in Christ.” One can readily say “Christ has this divine nature” or “Christ is just like God.” To attempt a strictly literal translation would be to suggest in some languages that Christ possessed only some kind of divine spark of deity, but did not have the true nature of God.

In his humanity translates the Greek adverb sōmatikōs (only here in the NT, compare adjective sōmatikos Luke 3.22, 1 Tim 4.8), translated “bodily” by Moffatt Revised Standard Version; Phillips Barclay New American Bible New International Version “in bodily form,” Goodspeed New English Bible “embodied,” Jerusalem Bible Translator’s New Testament “in his body,” Twentieth Century New Testament “incarnate,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “in the person of Christ,” Bible en français courant “For everything that God is has become embodied in Christ, to be completely present in him.” It does not seem that Paul means to say that the divine nature in Christ is a physical element (as “in bodily form” appears to indicate); rather he is stressing the reality of the divinity present in the human person of Christ. Lohse: the word indicates “that the divine indwelling is real” (compare Moule, Beare). (The idea that the “body” here is the church is held by a few interpreters; the majority, however, take it to be Christ’s own body.)

In his humanity may be best expressed in some languages simply as “when he was alive on earth” or “when he lived on earth as a person.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Colossians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1977. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .