complete verse (Colossians 2:9)

Following are a number of back-translations of Colossians 2:9:

  • Uma: “So, don’t be deceived, because it is in the person/body of Kristus that all the character and power of God dwell with no lack.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Because Almasi, even though he was born like our (incl.) human shape/appearance nevertheless/but all God’s customs and thoughts/mind were gathered there in him;” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “The reason I say this to you is because Christ became a person. He had a body; but in spite of that, everything that was there in God was also there in Him.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because the truth-of-the-matter concerning Cristo is that he became a person but there was nevertheless in him all of the godhood of God.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “For this Cristo, there is no difference between his Godship and the Godship of God, for they are one living-entity. But his has been embodied.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “Christ appeared in that he became a person, but not a bit was lacking of the power of God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Colossians 2:7-12 as a bullet list

In Nicholas King’s English translation of the New Testament (2004), the translator decided to use bullet point lists in some case in the Ephesians, Colossians, and Titus. “There are elaborate groups of nouns strung together, and the sentences are rather long. I have tried, not entirely successfully, to make these long sentences more manageable by the use of bullet points.” One such list is Colossians 2:7-12:

 

Watch out that someone does not take you prisoner through philosophy and empty falsehood,

  • according to the tradition of human beings, according to the elementals of the universe, and not according to Christ,
  • because in Christ dwells all the fullness of divinity, in bodily form, and you are fulfilled in him,
  • who is the head of all rule and authority
  • in whom also you have been circumcised, with a circumcision not made by hands, by the stripping off of the body of flesh, by Christs circumcision, being buried with him in baptism
  • in which you have also been raised through faith in the activity of God, who raised him from the dead.

Translation commentary on Colossians 2:9

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 .

SIL Translator’s Notes on Colossians 2:9

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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