The Fullness of God (Part I)

"He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross."


As we think about the concept of the redemption of man, His relationship with and to God, and the results of these things this passage helps shed some light on numerous issues. Obviously the main thrust of this passage is the notion that Christ is fully God and fully Man, and the preeminence of Christ as the First among all things. This passage focuses slightly more on the diety of Christ, but at the heart of it is the truth that He is the one who brought reconciliation between God and His creation.

I have been thinking about this passage in a bit of a different light though recently. "For in Him the fullness of God was pleased to dwell..." has been weighing on my thoughts as it affects the idea of the indwelling of the Spirit of God in the believer.

We are told in Galatians 4 that "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might recieve adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

The mind-numbing thing about this passage is that the God of all creation has sent forth to us His very Spirit to dwell, or live within us. Paul tells us here in a subtle reference that it is not ourselves but the very Spirit of Christ who cries out to God as "Father." Meaning that without the Spirit it is impossible for us to come to God as our Father and plead before Him as a child of the King.

But what I wish to focus on is the idea of the indwelliing itself. This is an amazing thing to think about, and a truly under-taught doctrine in my humble opinion.

Under-taught in more than one way; first that it is simply not talked about enough. And moreover the implications are just not laid out for the people of God in their unbelieveable fullness.

Christ has given us a little peek into the reality of this doctrine in John 14. Here our blessed Lord is beginning to give His final words to His Disciples before His arrest and crucifixion.

At verse 15 He begins:
"If you love Me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you... Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you..." "If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

"The Spirit of truth... He dwells with you and will be in you." These words are remarkable, and their implication is staggering to the imagination. The dwelling of the Spirit is presented here in a two-fold manner, "with you" and "in you." This, I believe, is significant.

First the idea of the Spirit being "with" us. Here Christ is mirroring Moses in Exodus 33 and 34. In this instance the Israelites had defiled themselves at the foot of Mt. Sinai by creating and worshipping a Golden calf. Moses intercedes to God for the people saying, in essence, "if you are pleased with me, go with us."

Throughout this "High-Priestly prayer" Christ has expressed to His Father His willingness to consecrate (or set aside) himself for the sacrifice of the Cross, and declaring that those who love and follow Him will have the Spirit "with" them. As with Moses and Israel Christ declares boldly "if You are pleased with Me, go with them." The first Advent of Christ was (in part) about God going FOR us. Taking on our sin, taking our infirmities, our shame, and at the climax of His mission and the apex of human history, He bore the consequence of our sin.

And now He has promised to those that love Him, to those who have partaken of His sacrifice and it's implications, that the Spirit would go WITH them.

He goes with us. For Israel God went with them as their guide; as the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. He dwelt with them in the midst of the company of Israel in the Tabernacle to be their focus of worship. He rested between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenat as their Judge. He went with them as their God.

He goes with us as ours, but it goes further than this.

The thought of God living with us is unbelievably amazing. The idea that He would condescend to live among us is more that I can grasp. And just as this becomes too much to handle our Lord hits us with the next promise; that the Spirit of God will not only be with us but IN us.

This is an unprecedented reality, but one that was promised and foretold long before it took place! The Lord long before promised to "write His law upon" our hearts. And Christ has revealed how this is accomplished to us; by sending His very Spirit to live in our hearts. He promised His disciples that the Spirit would "teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."

The Holy Spirit points us to Christ, reminding us always of what Christ has done and said. He convicts us, rebukes us, comforts and counsels us. This is all a wonderfully Trinitarian thing; the Holy Spirit always points to, shows us and glorifies Christ, and in turn, he who has seen Christ "has seen the Father," and the Father is the Head and Master of all, who lives in holy unity with the Spirit and the Son.

Now for the ridiculousness.

The fullness of God rests in all three members of the Trinity; Father, Son and Spirit.

Christ came and upon Him "the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." Christ then send us the Spirit, who is the presence of Christ in the midst of the people of God (the Church). As the presence of Christ dwells in the midst of His people, He also dwells in us.

Which brings the mind-boggling truth to us that the fullness of God dwells in His people.

Catch that? The Spirit comes and dwells in our hearts, the same Spirit who is the mystical presence of Christ, Christ who in turn is the "image of the invisible God."

When the Spirit dwells within His people then the TRINITY dwells within them! The Father dwells in me, the Son dwells in me, and the Spirit dwells in me!

This has enormous implications. First, and probably most important, is the simple (and mystical) truth that GOD IS HERE!

This should mold our worship. Our worship can not be one dimensional, focusing entirely on the Father, or Jesus, or the Spirit only. But rather the whole of our worship should scream "Glory to the Father, AND to the Son, AND to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and shall be forever! World without end. Amen!"

The worship of the people of Christ should be focused on the Trinity because the God we worship is a Trinitarian God. To focus more on one person of the Godhead over the others is to be engaged in worship that is not true to orthodox Christianity.

Whether we know it or not (or better said, whether we want to admit it) most of modern Christendom is guilty of this. It's not that they deny the Trinity. More often than not it's likely that in most churches the Trinity is only mentioned using the following words; "I Baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

This is a problem. People must know, and LIVE in the knowledge of the Triune God. We must be taught about God in His fullness, because God in His fullness dwells with us and in us! "How can we know Him of whom we have not heard?"

How can we truly know our God if He is not proclaimed, acknowledged, worshiped and adored AS HE IS?

The Spirit of God dwells in our midst and in our hearts. We must come before Him in humility, repentance and adoration. Longing with all our hearts to worship Him "in Spirit & in truth."

In Spirit because the Spirit brings us to worship, crying out to the Father from within us, and drawing His people together in ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC, and APOSTOLIC Church!

In Truth because we must come to Him longing to understand and worship Him as He is. Because God will not accept false worship. Because He is worthy to recieve Orthodoxy (lit.; "right-glory"), and He is worthy to be pursued with our whole hearts as well as our whole intellect. It is not enough that we blindly worship Him. We must also seek after Him, and long with all our hearts to "know Him."




In Part II I will look at the implications of the presence of the Holy Spirit for the Holy Body of Christ, the Church.


"Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, +++
as it was un the beginning, is now and shall be forever. Amen."