J. L. Terveen Colossians 2
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indispensable ontological christological foundation for what follows, and must be
examined briefly even though it is not the primary burden of this present study. The
second "in him" (2:10) moves the reader to the ruling perspective for the argument that
follows in 2:11-15, the Christians personal intimate union with Christ. Therefore,
ontological christology (2:9) moves to the more functional christology (2:10-15) that
rules Pauls argument in Col.2:8-15.
The densely constructed theologoumenon of Col.2:9 provides the reader with one
of the most provocative and compact incarnational statements in the whole of the New
Testament. Tinged here with polemical hues, Paul returns to the pleroma leitmotif
announced within the Christ-hymn earlier (1:19) and extrapolates concisely though
momentously upon it. With the impersonal subject from 1:19,
, Paul
once again in 2:9 likely presupposes the more personal idea of "God in all his fullness."
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With this distinctive phrase Paul likely tilts against the Colossian antagonists
devaluation of Jesus uniqueness in relationship to God. The term
with the article
pleonastically employed here with
suggests entirety,
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the sum total with
nothing whatsoever excepted. The verbally derived term
itself re-emphasizes
this concept of fullness or completeness.
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In the context of Col.1:15-20 it references
Gods full self-expression in and through the person of Christ, whether in creation, in
conquest of cosmological forces, in ontological supremacy, or in heilsgeschichte itself.
The entirety of divine immanence dwells in Christ, and in Christ alone.
In notable fashion Paul in 2:9 expands on the absolute
of 1:19
with the yet more explicit
, a unique and strong term which signifies the
very essence of God himself (=
) the state of being God,
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not just possessing