Jesus was the head over all power and authority

JESUS WAS THE HEAD OVER ALL POWER AND AUTHORITY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Colossians2:10 10and in Christyou have been
brought to fullness. He is the head over every power
and authority.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Fulness Of Humanity
Colossians 2:10
W.F. Adneney
I. WHEREIN THE FULNESS OF HUMANITY CONSISTS. St:Paul has
been writing of the fulness of the Godhead. He now turns his thoughts to our
poor, naked, hungry humanity, and he shows how there is a completion and a
satisfactionthat may be calledour fulness, in some way corresponding to the
fulness of God.
1. The full satisfactionofour wants. We are empty, hungry, and needy. We
require pardon for sin; strength for trouble, temptation, and toil; light in
darkness;innumerable graces forinnumerable distresses. Ourfulness must
be the quenching of the soul's thirst, the satisfactionofthe aching void within.
2. The full attainment of the perfectionof humanity. We may have every
known desire satisfiedand may be full up to the measure of our present
capacity, and yet not have attained to the fulness of humanity. Our capacity

may be enlarged, new aspirations may be inspired in us. To attain to the
stature of the perfect man, to he quite like Christ, is to reachour spirit's
prime and to have our human fulness. This will be a fulness of knowledge, of
goodness,ofpower for spiritual service.
II. FROM WHAT THE FULNESS OF HUMANITY IS DERIVED. By the
word "fulness" St. Paul means that which fills as well as that which is
perfectedin itself. Christ alone can fill and perfect us.
1. We must find the fulness in Christ. Becausehe is filled with the fulness of
God he is himself a perfectedMan and the Source of the same grace for us.
We have to learn, then, that to reach our fulness we must have what is in
Christ. Perfecthumanity is not possible without God. When we become
possessedby the Spirit of God we become true men. This true religious life
does not make us less human; it perfects our humanity. Notby science,nor by
learning, nor by energyin affairs of the world, nor by any purely human
effort, though all these things have their missions, but through Christ, we may
attain the true ideal of humanity.
2. We can attain to this fulness by personal union with Christ. We must not
simply learn the method from Christ, nor seek the blessing as a gift of his, but
derive it from close, living fellowshipwith him. The secretis to be "in Christ,"
"rooted" as the tree by being rootedin the soil derives nourishment
therefrom, and "builded up in him" as the temple stands firm when erected
on a solid foundation. - W.F.A.

Biblical Illustrator
Ye are complete in Him. The false teachers atColossae were Jews,but not
Judaizers. They were philosophers. They designed to substitute philosophy for
Christianity, not by denying the latter, but by explaining it. They
distinguished betweenfaith and knowledge. Faithwas for the people,
knowledge forthe educatedfew. The objects of faith were the historicaland
doctrinal statements of the Bible. The objects of knowledge were the
speculative truths underlying those statements, and into which they were to be
sublimated. Paul's objectis to prove
Colossians 2:10
Ye are complete in Him
T. Jones, D. D.
1. Christ is the one infallible Teacherofthe Church. Elsewhere youtread on
the deceptive sand or treacherous marsh which by an appearance ofsolidity
lures you to proceedand then sinks under your weight. His teaching alone
places you on the rock. Ancient mariners sailedby the light of the stars, but
when clouds intervened they were beset with dangers. Taking the words of
Jesus you shall cross the sea oflife with safety, but if you allow human
philosophy, tradition, priesthoods, etc., to intervene, your course must be
perilous.
2. He is the Head of the Church, and alone has a right to command in spiritual
things. We honour the Fathers, love the names of saints and reformers, but we
must not make them lords. "One is your Master."(1)The constitution of His
Personqualifies Him for this spiritual throne. Divine knowledge, wisdom,
power, dwell in Him, united to tenderesthuman sympathies.(2)MoreoverHe

purchased us with His ownblood, and His people are made willing subjects by
the powerof His Spirit.
3. The spiritual increase ofthe Church is derived from Him. Religious
progress is a growing up into Him in all things. Christ is our life. RejectHim,
and you are castforth as a severedbranch and burned; but united to Him a
Divine virtue shall pass into your soul, and you shall be made "perfectand
entire, wanting nothing."
4. These things being so, the teaching that has a tendency to draw us away
from Christ is to be rejected. The apostle warns the Colossiansagainsterrors
which would have this effect. The things he names are still in the world under
different forms, and his advice is as needful as ever. They were in danger from
—
I. PHILOSOPHY.
1. St. Paul does not speak againstlove of knowledge, forthis is as natural as
the desire for food. Nor did he suppose that the gospelhad anything to fear
from it. False religions may thrive in ignorance as bats in the dark, but: pure
Christianity, like the eagle, delights to look the sun in the face. Be
philosophers if you will, explore the wonders of nature, and the gospelwill no
more suffer than the finding of new planets will extinguish the sun.
2. But the Colossianphilosophy was the vain and bewildering theories of men.
Speculations concerning Godare of little value, for He is found not by our
searching, but by his revealing, and that in Him in whom dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead. Extinguish this light and hold in your hand the torch
of philosophy, and what do you make of the black expanse before you — the
many gods of the heathen, the no-God of the atheist, the blind necessityofthe
fatalist, or nothing but matter with the materialist, or nothing bat Godwith
the pantheist?
3. Three things are certain.
(1)Man must have a religion.
(2)He cannot discovera satisfying one by himself.

(3)He should receive thankfully that provided by Christ, who is our life and in
whom we are complete.
II. THE TRADITIONS OF MEN.
1. By tradition we mean doctrine, precept, custom not named in the Word of
God. Jewishtraditions, embodied in the Talmud, were mingled at Colossae
with mental philosophy and the truths of the gospel. This Paul regardedas
injurious to spiritual life.
2. The belief in tradition is not extinct. The Greek and Roman Churches
receive it as a rule of faith co-ordinate with the Bible. And other Churches,
more pure and enlightened, are not entirely free.(1)There are traditional
systems of spiritual truth. Men of other days melted the Divine doctrines and
castthem in human moulds. The gospelbears the same relationto these forms
as a painting to its frame. We may change the frame, but must not efface a
single feature of the picture.(2) There is a traditional mode of speechwith
which you must clothe the truth or be suspectedof heresy.
3. Tradition is at best an uncertain guide. It may be a pillar of fire, or an ignis
fatuus. But we have the words of Jesus, the glorious and everlasting gospel;
and our faith should rest in that, and not in fairy tales of Jewish, Roman, or
Protestanttradition. "Ye are complete in Him."
III. THE SACRED SITES AND SEASONS OF A FORMER
DISPENSATION(ver. 16). Many are still Jewishin their feelings.
1. To many the Lord's day is still the JewishSabbath. Yet its very name shews
it to be a different day, and can we fear for its sancitity while we regardit as
commemorative of the resurrection. Moreover, it is necessaryfor rest and
devotion. Keep it, then, as given, not by Moses, but by Christ.
2. Baptism as setforth in the New Testamentis beautiful and instructive. It
acknowledgesoursinfulness, symbolizes the purification of the Spirit, and
puts a sealon the baptized that he belongs to Christ. But when it is regarded
as regenerative, and as creating a relation which it only recognizes, the sign is
mistakenfor the thing signified, and a simple ordinance converted into a
fruitful error.

3. The Lord's Supper, in its simplicity, is an impressive representationof
Christ's sufferings, a vivid expressionof His love, an historicalevidence for
the gospel. Menhave built monuments to keeptheir names in human
memory, but time has blotted them out. Therefore our Saviour ordained for
His memorials productions of nature that will last as long as the world.
Penetrate their meaning, and you will understand what Christ is to you. But
when the idea of spiritual magic is introduced, instead of being helpful to
piety, it becomes a stumbling-block and an offence.
IV. THE WORSHIP OF ANGELS (ver. 18). This old error still lives. The
honour paid by Rome to angels exceedsthat paid to Christ. It was an error to
think that we in England had done with her for ever. She is very busy in this
land, and wherever her teaching is receivedangels are worshipped. We should
avoid her and repudiate her claims. Begone, spirit of error; that we may
behold God in Jesus Christ. We are "complete in Him."
(T. Jones, D. D.)
Complete in Christ
J. Vaughan, M. A.
"Complete" is carried on from ver. 9. "The fulness of the Godhead," "and ye
are full (same word) in Him."
I. FULNESS IN CHRIST. If you had heard Christ speak you would have said
nothing can be takenawayor added to those words without diminishing their
force or beauty. If you had seenChrist actyou would have felt that His action
came up to the fulness of which that actionwas capable. His heart was nothing
but love; and His work, although confined to a few years, fulfilled the infinite
counselof the Trinity. The Fatherlookeddown and saw no flaw and was
satisfied.
II. THIS FULNESS WAS TO BE THE ONE TREASURE-HOUSE OF THE
CHURCH FOR EVER (John 1:16; Ephesians 4:7). And every believer being
separatelyendowed, the whole Church is made His body, "the fulness of Him

that filleth all in all." So we are filled, complete; and the Church is the
complement of Jesus.
III. THE PROCESSBY WHICH THE COMPLETENESS IS EFFECTEDIS
UNION WITH CHRIST.
1. The union is a simple, positive fact once for all. The Holy Spirit enters a
man's mind and unites his thoughts, feelings, desires, etc., with those of
Christ, and that Spirit in both is union.
2. If there be union the completeness willfollow, just as a vesselmust fill itself
from the fountain with which it is connected.
IV. WE NATURALLY YEARN AND STRIVE FOR COMPLETENESS,
BUT FAIL EVERYWHERE.
1. No man ever yet came up to the point of which he knew his powers were
capable.
2. None of those sources ofgratificationwith which God has furnished us ever
gave entire satisfaction.
3. There is not a man who has not his weak points; but above all men the
Christian feels his incompleteness. The better he prays the more he feels his
prayer deficient. The higher his attainments the farther off he seems from
what he wants. And no Christian friend, no Church, no ordinance, no grace, is
all he once expectedthey would be.
4. Life is one vast incompleteness.
V. WE ARE COMPLETE IN HIM.
1. From His cross ourLord said"It is finished." From the time of creation
down to that hour those words could not have been spokenabout any human
undertaking. But He said it, and mark the consequence. Youhave to do with a
salvationwhich is perfectly complete. If you think you are to do anything you
detract from the completeness ofChrist.

2. We have a twofold completeness.(1)Thatwhich we draw from Christ. The
whole disposalof God's gifts is delegatedto Christ. In Him all things are
treasuredup for our sakes.Hence He will supply
(a)our temporal needs. The Christian, therefore, must not be anxious about
them.
(b)Strength and wisdom for every work we have to do. The Christian, then,
must not despair about his weaknessand ignorance.
(c)Grace for Christian growth and comfort. The Christian must not despond
when deprived of outward means and help.(2) That in which we stand in
Christ. God sees allwho believe in Christ, and accepts Christfor them. Hence
everything we do in faith loses itselfin some corresponding thing that Christ
has done. Our prayer, e.g., mingles with Christ's intercession. Whatis
wanting He supplies, what is redundant He deducts. His perfume gives it
sweetness,and so it goes to the throne, how different from when it left us,
"complete." He is "made unto us wisdom and righteousness," etc.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Complete in Christ
E. P. Terhune, D. D.
1. Every valuable mechanism represents a principle peculiar to itself. It may
have many important adjuncts, but there must be one principle which imparts
its force to all the rest.
2. In the same manner men are of large or small account as they recognize
their individuality. Eachstone is hewedfor its specialplace, and to fail to
appreciate our purpose is to degrade our manhood and to insult the
prescience ofthe Divine Architect.
3. The claim of Christianity to be is that it, in like manner, embodies one
distinctive fact. Ethically consideredit has much in common with other
systems;but its central feature or force is, as its name indicates, the Christ

element. The degree in which Christ is present in the heart marks the purity
of the Christianity.
4. The declaration, "Ye are complete in Him," goes much further than the
recognitionof Christ as an historic characteras we associate Mahometwith
Islam, etc. It is Christ interpenetrating Christianity at every point. The
Scriptures assert for Christ comprehensive, all-filling characterand
capacities."Iam the Way," etc. "Without Me ye can do nothing." "In Him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead," etc. Observe —
I. THIS COMPLETENESS IN CHRIST IN CONTRAST WITHALL
OTHERS.
I. No life is or can be in itself alone. We sustain a multitude of important
relations, family, civil, He., but it would not be possible to apply the language
of the text to them. Of no relation, even the most valuable, can it be said,
"This is essential." It seems to be the destiny of man to grow out of existing
states, and use them only as the oar employs the water that it dips as a
leverage for progress. And we may thank God that in a world where death
spares nothing that there is no person or condition wherein our completeness
lies. The king, hero, father dies; the nation, community, family mourns as if
nature had stopped in its courses;but to-morrow the world moves on
unchanged save that one grave more has furrowed its surface. That any of us
is essentialto the place he occupies is but a fiction of his own weaknessora
flattering adulation of his admirers. Only in God all things consist.
2. The reasonof this, and as marking the essentialdifference betweenour
relations to any other and to Christ, is that the former are in a sense
conventional. We found them, we have become habituated to them,
nevertheless they are not essential. Ofone only can this be said. That we are
complete in Christ renders necessarythe preceding declarationwhich shows
that what God can do for us Christ can do.
II. THAT WE ARE COMPLETE IN CHRIST NECESSARILYIMPLIES
THAT APART FROM HIM WE HAVE NO MORAL STANDING PLACE.

1. I care not to argue the question of degrees.Incompletenesswhere perfection
is demanded, where the judgment is by an infinitely holy standard, is as
condemnatory and destructive of our moral basis as any degree of sin. Some
years ago a large object glass was prepared for a telescope.With all the care
employed, a single defective spot was found upon the otherwise perfectlens. It
was not broken, there was no flaw, but it was condemned. Its purpose was to
be a clearundeviating eye turned towards the heavens accuratelyto
determine localities, etc. Thatsingle imperfection was its entire condemnation.
This is the idea of human depravity. The defect in the webof the cloth renders
the whole piece unmarketable. Slight incompleteness is still incompleteness,
and when the judgment is upon righteousness the ground is taken from our
feet.
2. It would be curious to investigate by what process so many coolyconclude
to risk the greatordealupon their personal moral standing, which even their
fellow-men pronounce defective. A principle that may wellcommand. this
easy-going complacencyto halt is that the nature of sincere virtue is ever
discontent with attainments. As eminence with the pencil or chisel leads to the
detectionof manifold deficiencies anddesire for a higher ideal, so the advance
towards holiness, insteadof satisfying, always reveals a disheartening lack,
and as invariably leads to a searchfor some other mode of satisfying the
requirement of conscience.
3. May it not be that this failure to perceive our own incompleteness, andthe
necessityofa better justifying righteousness, is rather to be ascribedto moral
blindness than acceptedas an evidence of superior virtue? For if once our
incompleteness out of Christ be admitted, then the neglectto obey the gospel
is reduced to a childish trifling with our eternalinterest.
4. Yet how can one more fully commend the completeness there is in Christ
than to point to that spotless life consummated by the sacrificialdeathof the
cross? Forall the way through — where the suffering by innocence must
either mean injustice on the part of God, or justice receiving satisfactionfor
us — there is not a stepor actwhich is not eloquent with the perfection of that
sacrifice. You are askedto trust a Saviour of whom it is asked, "Who is he
that condemneth," etc. Here is your completeness. It pleads no weak

abandonment by God of His holiness. Redemption in Christ is the crown of
that holiness as it is the expressionof God's love.
III. THIS COMPLETENESSGATHERS IN THE CIRCLE OF ITS
EMBRACE EVERYCONSCIOUS WANT. It keeps as well as saves. Christ's
intercessoryprayer is not a supplication such as we offer, but a claim and
recapitulation of what had been securedby His expiation. And in virtue of
that Christ will bring with Him His saints, and stand at heaven's gates
claiming for them admissionby His victory over the grave. Christ's
completeness must be one which does not exhaustitself on a past forgiveness.
It must not only cleanse, but keepme clean.
2. The independence of God of every human condition, for the success of
Christ's kingdom, and the completeness forall its requirements, is found in
Christ. Men have come and gone;some have seemedso important that hope
almost expired in their departure, as Melancthon felt when Luther died. Yet
how localare all such influences. God uses men, and so do we; but even with
us how inconsiderable is a man. How quickly is the gap filled. God's Church is
not complete in man, but in Christ.
(E. P. Terhune, D. D.)
Christians complete in Christ
E. Cooper, M. A.
I. WHAT IS MEANT BY CHRISTIANS BEING COMPLETE?
1. The word means "full, wanting nothing"; and as applied to Christians, it
means that they have everything necessaryfor life and godliness, happiness
and immortality.
2. The things needed in order to being complete.(1)Wisdomand knowledge —
meeting natural ignorance of, and conflicting theories about, God and the way
of salvation.(2)Pardon and righteousness. As sinners men cannotstand before
God in judgment. They are unclean in His sight, and without forgiveness and
acceptancethey must perish.(3) Holiness and purity. The heart is naturally

evil, and by habit and indulgence acquires strength for evil. Unless this is
cleansedthere can be no meetness forheaven.(4) Consolationandpeace.
Forgivenessis not enough, there must be a consciousnessofit, so that the
sense ofshame, the deepestof our discomforts, may be banished, and the
sense ofreconciliationwith God take its place.(5)Support and strength in
view of trials, labours, enemies.(6)Deliverancefrom the powerof death and
the grave.
II. How CHRISTIANS BECOME COMPLETE. "InChrist." Becausebeing
God and man all fulness dwells in Him, and out of this fulness all our need is
supplied.
1. "In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." ByHis Word
He instructs, by His providence He guides, and by His Spirit He opens the
mind to instruct both.
2. "He is the propitiation for our sins," and has thus brought in an everlasting
righteousness, by means of which believers are accepted.
3. His grace creates the heart anew, subdues sin, and developes in holiness.
4. He brings peace to the troubled conscienceandconsolationto the broken
heart.
5. He is the strength, defence, and support of His people.
6. He hath abolished death.
(E. Cooper, M. A.)
Believers complete in Christ
A. Fletcher, D. D.
I. ON EARTH.
1. In their union to Christ.
2. In their justification.

3. In Christ's fulness.
4. In their title to heaven.
II. In heaven.
1. As regards their persons — the union of body and soul with the perfection
of nature and grace.
2. As regards their mental faculties — in receptivity and memory.
3. As regards the gracesofthe Spirit- faith lost to sight, hope in fruition, love
in God.
4. As regards their fellowship- undivided, uninterrupted, with our
predecessors,contemporaries, followers, God.
5. As regards their happiness — perfect enjoyment, perfect service.
(A. Fletcher, D. D.)
Completed life
W. L. Watkinson.
We are to look to Christ alone.
I. FOR THE FREEING OF OUR SPIRIT FROM ALL EVIL. But how shall
this greatpurification and perfecting be attained? The appealis to
Omnipotent Grace. And God's response is made known in Jesus Christ: "It
pleasedthe Father that in Him should all fulness dwell" of pardoning and
cleansing grace. In Him "who is the head of all principality and power" are
we to look for the sin-expelling force — the force to correct, to purify our
deepestlife.
1. And we must not callin any foreign aid; we are "complete in Him." These
Colossians were tempted by Gentile philosophy on one side, and Jewish
ecclesiasticismonthe other, but the apostle reminds them that everything they

wanted was in Christ, and they were to confine themselves severelyto His
fellowship.
2. And Christ can save us completely, "Whiter than snow." Letus remember
that Christ aims at our "completeness,"and let us not rest short of that ideal.
It is a present blessing.
II. FOR THE PERFECTING OF OUR NATURE IN ALL ITS POWERS."It
pleasedthe Father that in Him should all fulness dwell." In Christ we behold
the fulness of "the Godhead bodily," and also the fulness of humanity.
1. We need not travel beyond Christ — He is the ideal and the perfecter of the
race. All colours are in the sun, and all the infinite differentiations of colour
found on the landscapes ofnature, in the vapours of the firmament, in the
play of the sea — all are in the light. And in Jesus we have the full-orbed
humanity, all the graces by which man can be adorned. When we study the
characterof ordinary men it is like entering an ordinary garden, in which are
a few fair flowers with an unfortunate admixture of weeds;when we study the
moral characterof extraordinary men it is like entering the grounds of some
greatrose-groweror orchid connoisseur — many delightful things greeting
our eyes. But on beholding Christ, it is like being set down in Kew Gardens,
where the vegetationof the whole earth blooms. In these days certaincritics
are very anxious to send us to the sacredwritings of China, India, Arabia,
Persia. Very valuable indeed are those writings from certainpoints of view,
but they have nothing to add to the ideal of humanity given in Christ.
2. In Christ we are to attain the perfectionof our nature. We have not only
completeness in Him, but we arc to become complete in Him. Men talk about
the narrowness ofChristianity, its commandments and prohibitions; they
want a system of religion, wider, freer. Now, the tree on the heath or in the
streetmay rebel againstthe iron bars which girdle it. Says the grumbling
sapling, "I don't like this iron cage;I want liberty, I want room." Rooml it
has plenty of room at the top. It has room for its branches to stir with every
wind of heaven, to catchall the dew of the morning, all the light of the sun, all
the wealthof the shower;room for the singing birds, room to leaf, to blossom,
to fruit. Room!The iron bars protect you from beneath, but a whole sky is

waiting for you up above. So, whilst the New Testamentrings us round with
protective prohibitions, Jesus Christ stands over us like a sky, pouring down
upon us richest influence, and drawing forth all the powers of our nature to
their fullest perfection. There is room for our whole personality, our bodily
instincts, mental faculties, imagination, wit, judgment, logic, speculation;for
our socialinstincts, all the sensibilities of kinship, friendship, patriotism; for
our ethicalsense, for our heart with all its wealth of affection. Christianity is
not wide enoughfor a theatre at one end and a prize ring at the other, but
wide enough for whatever is true and pure in knowledge,science, art,
pleasure, patriotism, business, love. We are not straitened in Christ; let us not
be straitened in ourselves, but so live in the faith of the Lord Jesus that all the
riches of our nature may be realized, that we may "come to the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ."
III. FOR THE STRENGTHENINGOF OUR LIFE IN ALL
RIGHTEOUSNESS.
1. In Christ we attain completeness alike in spiritual and in practicalvirtue.
Holiness is that side of goodness whichlooks towards God;morality is that
side which looks towards society. And in both Christ perfects us — filling us
with reverence, admiration, love toward God, and strengthening us to fulfil all
practicalvirtue.
2. In Christ we attain completeness in universal virtue. If we have the Spirit of
Christ, it will display itself in every possible virtue — that Spirit being the
essenceofuniversal virtue. Just as in the doctrine of the convertibility of
force, we are taught that heat may become light, and light electricity, and
electricitymagnetism, and magnetism chemicalaffinity, and chemicalaffinity
be changedinto motion — one force with many manifestations — so the Spirit
of Christ displays itself, now as meekness, now as courage, now as
temperance, now as purity, just as circumstances require, but yet is all the
time the one same Divine force. It makes ofone a goodmaster, anothera good
servant; one a goodprince, another a goodsubject; one a goodhusband,
another a goodwife; one a goodparent, another a goodchild. The Spirit of
Christ fits men for every rank, adorns them with every grace. Ye "are
complete in Him." Conclusion: We must feel condemned for our

incompleteness;and yet from time to time how near we come to a life
altogetherfull, rich, glorious 1 One of our magazines had a striking
paragraph, entitled, "I have touched the gold," and it went on to relate how a
diver uttered these words on coming up from a sunken gold ship, and the
writer proceededto show how in religionwe often touch the gold and yet
never quite realize it. Oh! how often have we touched the gold — the strength
that more than overcomes, the perfect peace, the faith which asks and
receives, the love that many waters cannotquench, the purity that keeps itself
pure, the joy that is unspeakable, the hope full of glory — we touch the gold,
we always know when we touch gold it is such a pleasant feeling, and yet fail
to possessit. Let us trust in Christ- with all our heart; let us do it now, so shall
every man be presentedperfect in Him.
(W. L. Watkinson.)
The completing of the soul
H. Bushnell, D. D.
If we are only to be complete in Christ, then we must be incomplete without
Him. It follows then that a soul after being made is still to be completed. It
may be a germ to be developed, or a blasted germ to be restored. Here then is
the true work of Christ's salvation, the completing of the soul.
I. WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THE COMPLETING OF THE SOUL?
1. We constantly assume the necessityof a greatafterwork to be done on the
soul of our child to make it the complete man or woman we desire it to be.
What we calleducation is only our attempt to bring it to completeness. The
result is a being in higher quantity and finer quality, and of enlargedcapacity
for actionand enjoyment.
2. But it is not to be assumedthat we are right in all our conceptions ofwhat
takes place in the training of minds.(1) They will not be complete if only fully
educatedintellectually. Sometimes they will be hampered by scholarly
attainments, drugged by greatauthorities, and incapacitatedby the overload

they have taken. Perhaps one hour with God would have done more in the
widening of consciousness andthe kindling of divinist fires than whole years
of schooldrill.(2) Sometimes we think our child is only going to be complete
when educatedaway from certainranges of employment. If he canonly be a
blacksmith, or a schoolteachereven, we think that we have not made enough
of him. Were he a qualified commander, physician, lawyer, etc., we should
think him more nearly up to the measure of his possibilities. But God does not
grade our completeness by any such law. He may have rated Bezaleelthe
brazier far above Aaron the priest. Whoevercame nearer to being mated with
Shakespeare thanthe tinker Bunyan? A greatsoul canbe fashionedanywhere
if only God is with him. God nowhere allows that souls are keptback from
completeness by their employments.
3. No mere schooling, to whatever grade of life or socialestimationit may
lead, is any but the faintestapproximation to the completion of the soul.
II. How DOES IT APPEAR TO NEED ANY SUCH COMPLETION?If this
were a question relating to Adam in his innocence, we should saythat he was
a full-grown, beautiful child, but yet a child; that his perceptions are all to be
gotten, his will trained, habits formed, etc. Until then he is so incomplete that
he will not stand fast in good, but plunge into wrong. Our first man,
commonly thought so grandly perfect, is put on probation only that he may
get his nature so matured in goodthat he will come out able to stand. Our
question after this relates to him under the conditions of moral disasterinto
which he has fallen.
1. The soul scarcelyat all answers its true end. There is a feeling everywhere
that souls are going wide of the mark. A watchis complete when it keeps time,
not when it quarrels with the notations of suns and dials and almanacks.A
vintage process is complete when it makes wine, not when it makes vinegar.
Souls in like manner are complete when they make the goodthey were made
for.
2. Their enjoyment is not full, but confessedlya greatway short of it. Their
instincts are unfulfilled, their wants unsupplied, their objects not found. They
are tormented with a generalunrest. It would not be so if they were complete.

They would be exactly full of enjoyment, just as by their inborn necessitythey
crave to be. No bee misses the shape of its cells, no bird the direction of its
flight, no plant the colour and kind of its flower. No more will a soul its
enjoyment unless incomplete, sweltering in some torment of inbred disorder.
3. Souls do not fulfil the standards of beauty, truth, and right. These are
standards we all admit, just as all flowers and fruits have standard colours
and figures of their kind. An apple is not complete when it comes out a gourd;
nor a rose when it comes forth blue. When a soul, then, misses its kind, and
puts forth itself in deformity, falsity, and wrong, it is a witness to its
incompleteness.
4. Take a more surface view, and let the question settle itself under mere first
impressions. How then is it that there is so much meanness, passion, wantof
self-governmentin individuals; and so many quarrels, acts of injustice, and
bloodshed in society? Who can imagine mere creatures complete in their
order? Suppose all the grains in a bushel of wheat were to acton themselves
and towards one another thus! And the reasonwhy they do not do so is
because they are complete creatures, resting in their ownperfect mould, and
in harmony with eachother — they that are at the top lying just as heavily,
and those at the bottom supporting the weightjust as bravely as they must.
Souls completed in their order would do the same, just as all God's finished
worlds and societies in glory do, without one rasping of a bad thought, or
pang of mutual accusation.
5. We have a way of saying concerning a man that he is rained or blasted by
his vices:in which we refer mentally to the incomplete state of the flower
which we sayis blastedwhen it does not come to fruit. And the figure is
rightly chosen. Suchmen are incomplete.
6. It is a very curious distinction of souls that, being finite, they have yet
infinite wants and aspirations;their very longing is to be completed in the
outspreading of some infinite possession. Whata falling short, therefore, is it
when they fall short of God.
III. How IN CHRIST THEY CAN BE MADE COMPLETE.Here we discover
three greatagencies provided for the purpose.

1. Inspirations.(1)Separatedfrom God man is nothing. Existing in mere self-
hood he cannot push himself out in any wayso as to be complete as from
himself. A sponge might as well complete itself in dry air; it must let in and
possessthe sea. Justso a soul must have God's properties flowing in and
through — liberty and life in His life, power in His power;it must be true in
His truth, righteous in His righteousness.(2)Now, it is in this inspiration force
that Christ arranges for in His gift of the Spirit. He enters the soul to fill out
every lack, configuring it inwardly to all that is most perfectin Himself,
turning its very liberty towards all it wants and needs to receive.
2. We have ideals in Christ, who lives God in human figure and relation, so
that we have in Him all that requires to be completed in us. Christ is the
mirror that glassesGod's image before us, and the Spirit is the plastic force
within that transfers and photographs that image, so that "beholding as in an
image," etc. (2 Corinthians 4:6).
3. To make the provision perfect, we are setin a various scheme of relations
that we may have a training in duties and qualities, and be perfectedby means
of them. And we have as our remarkable advantage Christ the Divine man
with us in these relations, so that trying to do the exactChristly thing in them
all we are to getbenefit in so many forms and degrees, andbe brought when
all is done and suffered to a completenessin the will of God. In this wondrous
mill every blemish is to be removed, till at last there will be no spot or wrinkle
or any such thing.
IV. THE GOSPELOF CHRIST IS THE ONLY POWER ABLE TO BRING
MEN THUS FORWARD.
1. We try education, getting much from it, but never anything which
approaches a standard of completeness.
2. What we call self-improvement is a poor desultory affair, polishing one
thing, while another goes roughby neglect, and all issuing in a greatself-
consciousnesspainful to behold, and in itself how dry.

3. We try self-governmentunder the standards of morality, but the most we
obtain is to pile up what we think goodacts on one another, as a man piles his
day's wages, but then they will be as dry and with as little continuity.
4. There is another way greatly praised — philosophy. But its ideals are for
ever out-running its possible attainments, and the fine philosophic
consciousnesswillbe only a kind of equilibrium under dryness and felt
limitation. .And the wars of the mind are perhaps kenneledby it but not
composed.
5. There is nothing, in short, but religion that can be lookedto for the
completing of the soul; because as nothing else does —(1) It takes hold of the
soul s eternity and its sin, to raise up, harmonize, purify, and settle it in a rest
of everlasting equilibrium in God.(2) It takes hold of all possible conditions,
completing as truly the menial as the employer, the unlettered as the
scholar.(3)It completes one degree ofcapacityas certainly as another,
preparing the feeblestto fill out his measure as roundly and blissfully as the
highest.
(H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Every need of man supplied in Christ
C. Clemance, D. D.
I. THE ERRORS PAUL DESIRES TO COUNTERACT.These were the
current "philosophy" of the day. There were many forms of thought which
precededChristianity. For hundreds of years men had been indulging in
speculation, groping after light, and weaving systems;and the Colossian
philosophy seems to have been an amalgamationof the four principal.
1. The philosophy of Plato, with its mystic doctrine of everything having an
archetypal model.
2. Jewishfables and endless genealogiespickedup by the exiles in Babylon.
3. Ceremonialismand the observing of days, etc.

4. Gnosticism, the affectationof superior knowledge.
II. THE DOCTRINE WITHWHICH HE WOULD COUNTERACT THESE
ERRORS."Ye are complete in Him."
1. Note who and what Christ is. The glory of Christ is set.over againstthese
speculations.(1)He possessesthe loftiest ideal — "All the fulness of the
Godhead," not one of His emanations, and that fulness "bodily," brought
within the comprehensionof man.
2. He has done a greatwork (Colossians1:20). It is not matter that is sinful,
but man, and from this Christ redeems him.(3) He sustains a glorious relation
to the universe (Colossians1:15, 18;Colossians 2:19). He is not one of an
illustrious order, but Creatorand Head of all.
4. He maintains a close union to the man who accepts Him (Colossians 1:27).
2. If Christ is all this to a man, then that man is complete in Him.(1) If a man
be striving after the knowledge ofGod, he is complete in Christ. This has been
the problem of philosophy from Thales till now. What is the first principle?
Water, air, fire, mind, love, have eachin turn been the answer. And now a
"philosophy" is confessing the problem insoluble, calling God by a name more
hopeless than that on the Athenian altar — the Unknowable. But who that
knows Christ can ever be thus in the dark (John 14:9).(2) If a man would
approachGod he is complete in Christ. Afar from Godman cannot rest, but
sin keeps him away. But through Christ we have access(John14:6; Hebrews
10:19)and close fellowship.(3)If a man is anxious about his standing before
God he is complete in Christ. Through Him we may have a better and firmer
one than Adam's. In Christ a man stands acceptedand welcomedwith nought
wanting to the fulness of his redemption.(4) If a man wants to lead a holy life
he is complete in Christ. This was the aim of the Gnostics;not holiness indeed,
but freedom from the impurities of matter. Hence they tried asceticism. But
sin is not to be purged by scourging the body. Christ howevercan kill it by the
powerof a new life which His Spirit implants.(5) If a man is longing for light
on the greatquestions of destiny he is complete in Christ, who has brought life
and immortality to light.(6) Do we ask for a bond of brotherhood in the
human race? We are complete in Christ in whom there is neither Jew nor

Greek, etc.(7)Do we ask for a redemption that shall perfect body, as well as
soul and spirit? We are complete in Him who is "the Saviour of the body" and
"the resurrectionand the life."
III. THE SUITABILITY OF THIS DOCTRINE FOR COUNTERACTING
MODERN ERRORS.The true method of meeting false doctrine is to show
that all our nature craves is to be found in Christ. But since Christ is enough
in Himself He must be acceptedas being so, and not as the mere complement
of some other system.
1. Are you in peril of Rationalism? Learn what Jesus is, and you will find
reasonand conscienceto say, "Here is one at whose feetwe cansit to be their
enlightener and lord."
2. Are you attractedby Positivism? Here in Christ is all that is attractive in its
assertions, andnought of its dismal negations. Theyworship they know not
what in worshipping "Humanity." But no one who has ever caught a glimpse
of Christ canever barter a living Saviour for that. One in the race and yet
over it. Over it, that He might redeem, educate, and glorify it; and yet who
can give to eachmember eternallife.
3. Do the claims of a so-calledpriesthoodattract you? If you knew what
Christ is you would let no one have the impertinence to come betweenyou and
Him. We need a mediator betweenGodand man; but none betweenus and
Jesus. Conclusion: This doctrine is grand enough for the philosopher, yet
simple enoughfor us all. We are complete in Christ for living or dying; for
time or eternity.
(C. Clemance, D. D.)
Completely furnished
C. H. Spurgeon.
Manton says "He that is in a journey to heaven must be provided for all
weathers:for though it be sunshine when ha first sets forth, a storm will
overtake him before he cometh to his journey's end." Have faith in Christ and

you are ready for anything, thankful for everything, afraid of nothing. "Ye
are complete in him."
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Which is the head of all principality and power
Angels
N. Byfield.
I. IN THEMSELVES. Fortheir excellencyof nature, as they are here called
principalities, so elsewhere they are called "stars ofthe morning," "sons of
God," yea, "Gods."
II. IN RELATION TO CHRIST so they are implied to be of the body, and
Christ to be their Head. Now we may not marvel at it, that Christ should be
the head of angels, for there be divers distinct benefits, which angels from
thence do receive, which by natural creationthey had not.
1. They are vouchsafeda place in the mystical body under Christ, that they
might be received, as it were into the new order in Christ.
2. A peace is made betweenthem and man in Christ.
3. The room of angels fallen is supplied by the elect, the societyof angels being
much maimed by their fall.
4. They are refreshed with singular joy for the conversionof the elect;besides
the enlarging of their knowledge, that they are vouchsafedthe understanding
of the secrets ofthe gospel.
5. They receive from Christ confirming grace, and so assurance thatthey shall
never fall: which is their chief benefit.
6. Their obedience in its own nature is imperfect, though not sinful, and
therefore may need to be coveredby Christ's perfections.
III. IN RELATION TO THE BODYOF CHRIST.

1. They are like masters and tutors, to whom the greatKing of heavensends
out His children to nurse. Goddoth adopt children, and after commit them to
be kept by those most noble citizens of heaven.
2. They execute judgment upon the enemies of the Church. They attend us at
the hour of death, and carry our souls to heaven. They shall gather our bodies
togetherat the last day.
3. Forthe accomplishmentof all designments for our good, they stand always
looking on the face of God to receive commandments.Conclusion:Inasmuch
as Christ is the head of all principalities and powers, we may comfort
ourselves divers ways.
1. If Christ fill the angels, how much more canHe out of His fulness fill us in
the supply of all our wants.
2. Shall we not rejoice in the grace here is done to us, in that we are united
into communion with angels under our Head? yea, and that such glorious
creatures, are appointed to be our attendants, why should we fear when
Christ and His angels will be so ready about us.
3. This may also instruct us, we need not be ashamedof Christ's service,
seeing the very angels follow Him and depend upon Him. A prince that kept
greatprinces to be his domestic servants, were like to be much soughtto for
preferment of such as would follow him. Oh! how should we long after Christ
who is Head over such glorious creatures as the angels are!
(N. Byfield.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Ye are complete.—Literally, ye have been filled up in His fulness, as in
John 1:16. So St. Paul had prayed for the Ephesians that they might be “filled
with (or rather, up to) all the fulness of God,” and “grow into the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 4:13). To
partake of the divine plerorna is not the specialprivilege of the initiated; it
belongs to all who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Principality and power.—SeeColossians 1:16. His headship over all angelic
natures is dwelt upon (as in Hebrews 1:1-14) with obvious reference to the
worshipping of angels. Theyare our fellowservants under the same Head. (See
Revelation22:8-9.)
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
2:8-17 There is a philosophy which rightly exercisesour reasonable faculties;
a study of the works of God, which leads us to the knowledge ofGod, and
confirms our faith in him. But there is a philosophy which is vain and
deceitful; and while it pleases men's fancies, hinders their faith: such are
curious speculations aboutthings above us, or no concernto us. Those who
walk in the way of the world, are turned from following Christ. We have in
Him the substance ofall the shadows of the ceremoniallaw. All the defects of
it are made up in the gospelof Christ, by his complete sacrifice for sin, and by
the revelationof the will of God. To be complete, is to be furnished with all
things necessaryforsalvation. By this one word complete, is shown that we
have in Christ whateveris required. In him, not when we look to Christ, as
though he were distant from us, but we are in him, when, by the power of the
Spirit, we have faith wrought in our hearts by the Spirit, and we are united to
our Head. The circumcision of the heart, the crucifixion of the flesh, the death
and burial to sin and to the world, and the resurrectionto newness of life, set
forth in baptism, and by faith wrought in our hearts, prove that our sins are
forgiven, and that we are fully delivered from the curse of the law. Through
Christ, we, who were dead in sins, are quickened. Christ's death was the death
of our sins; Christ's resurrectionis the quickening of our souls. The law of
ordinances, which was a yoke to the Jews, and a partition-wall to the Gentiles,

the Lord Jesus took outof the way. When the substance was come, the
shadows fled. Since every mortal man is, through the hand-writing of the law,
guilty of death, how very dreadful is the condition of the ungodly and unholy,
who trample under foot that blood of the Son of God, whereby alone this
deadly hand-writing can be blotted out! Let not any be troubled about bigoted
judgments which related to meats, or the Jewishsolemnities. The setting apart
a portion of our time for the worship and service ofGod, is a moral and
unchangeable duty, but had no necessarydependence upon the seventh day of
the week, the sabbath of the Jews. The first day of the week, orthe Lord's
day, is the time kept holy by Christians, in remembrance of Christ's
resurrection. All the Jewishrites were shadows ofgospelblessings.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
And ye are complete in him - Having no need, for the purposes of salvation, of
any aid to be derived from the philosophy of the Greeks, orthe traditions of
the Jews. All that is necessaryto secure your salvationis to be found in the
Lord Jesus. There is a completion, or a filling up, in him, so as to leave
nothing wanting. This is true in respect:
(1) to the wisdom which is needful to guide us;
(2) the atonement to be made for sin;
(3) the merit by which a sinner canbe justified; and,
(4) the grace which is needful to sustain us in the trials, and to aid us in the
duties, of life; compare the notes at 1 Corinthians 1:30.
There is no necessity, therefore, that we should look to the aid of philosophy,
as if there was a defect in the teachings of the Saviour; or to human strength,
as if he were unable to save us; or to the merits of the saints, as if those of the
Redeemerwere not sufficient to meet all our wants. The sentiment advanced
in this verse would overthrow the whole papal doctrine of the merits of the
saints, and, of course, the whole doctrine of papal "indulgences."
Which is the head - See the notes at Ephesians 1:21-22.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary

10. And—And therefore;and so. Translate in the Greek order, "Ye are in
Him (by virtue of union with Him) filled full" of all that you need (Joh 1:16).
Believers receive ofthe divine unction which flows down from their Divine
Head and High Priest(Ps 133:2). He is full of the "fulness" itself; we, filled
from Him. Paul implies, Therefore ye Colossians needno supplementary
sources ofgrace, suchas the false teachers dreamof. Christ is "the Head of all
rule and authority" (so the Greek), Eph 1:10; He, therefore, alone, not these
subject "authorities" also, is to be adored (Col 2:18).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
And ye; ye saints and holy brethren, Colossians 1:2, who have receivedChrist,
Colossians 2:6,7, and so are mystically united to him, in whom dwelleth all
fulness (as you have heard); being in him, having one Spirit with him, as
members with the head, Romans 8:1,9 Eph 1:23,
are complete;are implete, or filled, and so mediately and causallycomplete
from the all-fulness that is in your Head, yet not immediately and properly
complete with it (as some have been apt to think). But
in him ye have that completeness andperfection which is reckonedand made
over to you and acceptedforyou to justification, so that of his fulness ye
receive, and grace for grace, John1:16 1 Corinthians 1:30 2 Corinthians 5:21
Ephesians 1:6 Philippians 3:9; derive in and from him all spiritual blessings,
Ephesians 1:3; so that every one hath grace sufficient, 2 Corinthians 12:9, to
do all things incrumbent on him, through Christ strengthening him,
Philippians 4:13. It is true there is here in this state no being complete or
perfect actually, as to glorification, yet, virtually and seminally, that may in a
sort be said of true believers not only in regard of their Head, but in regardof
their certain hope of being saved in Christ, yea, and indeed as to the earnest,
the seedand root of it, having already that life which shall never have an end,
John 3:36 4:14 Romans 5:2 Ephesians 4:30 2 Thessalonians2:13 Hebrews
9:15 10:14 1 Peter1:3,4 1Jo 5:12.

Which is the head of all principality and power:the apostle, for consolationof
the saints, and in oppositionto those who did endeavour a withdrawing from
Christ to the worshipping of angels. Colossians 2:18, doth further infer, from
the personalunion, the dignity of the human nature of Christ, in regardof the
goodangels, which are here meant by
principality and power, by reasonof their excellencyby nature and grace, and
their authority delegatedto them by Godover other creatures, Matthew 24:36
2 Corinthians 11:14 1 Timothy 5:21. Christ having the fulness of the Godhead
dwelling in him bodily, is Head unto the goodangels in regard of his
excellencyand eminency above them, who are far below him in perfection,
Ephesians 1:21 Hebrews 1:4; the best of them are ministering spirits and
subject to him, and so under his authority and at his command, Matthew
13:41 16:27 24:31 Ephesians 3:10 Hebrews 1:14 1 Peter 3:22 Revelation1:1
22:16.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
And ye are complete in him,.... Or "filled up", or "filled full" in him; that is,
are perfectin him: saints are in Christ, and all fulness being in him, they are
full too, of as much as they stand in need, and are capable of containing:for
these words are not an exhortation to perfection, as the Arabic version reads
then, be ye complete in him, like those in Genesis 17:1;but are an affirmation,
asserting not what the saints shall be hereafter, or in heaven, but what they
now are; not in themselves, forin themselves none are perfect, not even those
who are truly sanctified;for though all grace is seminally implanted in them,
and they have a perfectionof parts, of all the parts of the new man, or new
creature, and are perfect in comparisonof what they sometimes were, and of
profane persons and hypocrites, and with respectto weakerbelievers, yet
none are absolutelyperfect; the goodwork of grace is not yet finished in them,
sin dwells in them, they are full of wants and complaints; the best of them
disclaim perfection as attained to by them, and express their desires of it; but
they are perfect in Christ their head, who has all fulness in him, in whom they

are chosenand blessed:they are complete and perfect in him as to
sanctification;he having all fulness of grace and holiness for them, they have
it in him; and he is made perfectsanctificationto them: and as to justification,
he has perfectly fulfilled the law for them, he has made full atonementfor sin,
has obtained eternal redemption, brought in a complete and perfect
righteousness, by which they are justified from all things; are freed from sin,
and made perfectly comely, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing: and as
to knowledge, thoughit is imperfect in them in their presentstate, yet in
Christ all the treasures of it are, and they have no need to go elsewhere for
any; they are filled with the knowledge ofGod and of his will, and are
complete therein in Christ; and what knowledge theyhave, is eternal life, the
beginning, pledge, and earnestof it; so that they have no reasonto be
beholden to angels ormen, only to Christ:
which is the head of all principality and power;not only of the body the
church, and who is to be held unto as such, from whom all light, life, grace,
and strength, are to be derived; but of all others, though in a different sense;
and not only of the kings, princes, and potentates of this world, who hold their
kingdoms, and receive their crowns from him, and rule by him; but also of the
angels, goodand bad, often calledprincipalities and powers;especiallythe
former is here meant, of whom Christ is head, being their Creator, Governor,
and upholder; who not only maintains them in their beings, but has confirmed
them in their state of holiness;so that they are dependent upon him, and
beholden to him for all they have and are: with the Jews, "Metatron", which
with them is the name of the angelin Exodus 23:20 and seems to be a
corruption of the word "mediator", and to design the Messiah, is said (w) to
be King over all the angels. This is mentioned, partly to setforth the glory and
excellencyof Christ; and partly againstworshipping of angels, making use of
them as mediators, or applying to them on any account, since Christ is the
head of these, and of every creature; therefore no creature is to be lookedand
applied unto, trusted and depended on: unless rather should be meant the
Jewishrulers, Scribes, and Pharisees,their doctors, wise men, and Rabbins,
calledthe princes of this world; the Jews'tutors and governors, to whom
Christ is superior; he is the only master and Father, and in whom perfection

of wisdom is, and not in them; and therefore should not regard them, their
vain philosophy, worldly rudiments and traditions,
(w) Zohar in Deut. fol. 120. 8.
Geneva Study Bible
And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
Colossians 2:10. Καί ἐστε ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρ.] still depending on ὅτι:and (since)
ye are filled in Him, i.e. and since the πληρότης which ye possess rests onHim,
the bodily Bearerof the divine πλήρωμα. The two are correlative:from the
πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος, whichdwells in the exalted Christ, flows the
πεπληρωμένον εἶναι of the Christian, which has its basis, therefore, in no
other than in Christ, and in nothing else than just in fellowship with Him.
Filled with what? was self-evidentto the consciousnessofthe reader. It is the
dynamic, charismatic πλήρωσις, which Christians, in virtue of their union of
life with the Lord, whose Spirit and ζωή are in them, have received, and
continuously possess, outof the metaphysical πλήρωμα dwelling in Christ, out
of the πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος.
The emphasis is not upon ἐστέ, but, as shownby the subsequent relative
definitions, upon ἐν αὐτῷ. If the πεπληρωμένον εἶναι depends on Him, on
nothing and on no one but on Him, then everything else which men may teach
you, and with which they may wish to seize you and conduct you in leading
strings, is οὐ κατὰ Χριστόν. With due attention to this emphasis of ἐν αὐτῷ,
we should neither have expectedὑμεῖς (in opposition to de Wette; comp.
Estius and others: “etvos”) nor have explained ἐστέ in an imperative sense (in
opposition to Grotius, Bos, Heumann); which latter view is to be rejected,
because the entire connectionis not paraenetic, and generally because, whilst
a πληροῦσθε (Ephesians 5:18) or γίνεσθε πεπληρ. may, ἐστε πεπληρ. cannot,
logicallybe enjoined.[94]There is, moreover(comp. also Hofmann), nothing

to be supplied with πεπληρ. (usually: τῆς θεότητος, seeTheophylactand
Huther; de Wette, Bleek:τοῦ πληρώμ. τ. θεότ.), since the specifically
ontologicalsenseofthe purposely-chosenθεότητος wouldnot even be
consistentwith the supposedequalization of the Christians with Christ (οὐδὲν
ἔλαττονἔχετε αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ πεπληρωμένοι καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐστε τῆς θεότητος,
Theophylact), and this equalization does not exist at all, because Paulhas not
written καὶ ὑμεῖς. In what their being filled consisted, was knownto the
readers from their own experience, without further explanation; their
thoughts, however, were to dwell upon the fact that, since their being full
depended on Christ, those labours of the false teachers were ofquite another
characterthan κατὰ Χριστόν.
ὅς ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ κ.τ.λ.]This, as also Colossians2:11, now supplies
confirmatory information regarding the factthat they have their being filled
not otherwise than just in Christ; namely, neither through ἀρχαὶ κ. ἐξουσίαι,
since Christ is the head of every ἀρχή and ἐξουσία;nor yet through
circumcision, since they have receivedin Christ the real ethical circumcision.
πάσης ἀρχ. κ. ἐξουσ.] is not more preciselydefined as in Ephesians 3:10;
hence, in virtue of the munus regium of the Lord quite generally:every
principality and power, but with the tacit apologetic reference:consequently
also of the angelic powers (Colossians1:16)belonging to these categoriesand
bearing these names, to whose mediation, to be attained through θρησκεία,
the false teachers directyou,—a reference which Hofmann, understanding the
expressions in the sense ofspiritual beings ruling arbitrarily and in opposition
to God especiallyover the Gentile world (notwithstanding the fact that Christ
is their Head!), groundlessly denies; see Colossians 2:18. If Christ be the Head
of every ἀρχή and ἐξουσία, i.e. their governing sovereign, the Christian cannot
have anything to expect from any angelic powers subordinate to Christ,—a
result involved in the union in which He stands to the Higher, to Christ
Himself.

With the reading ὅ ἐστιν (see the critical remarks), which is also preferred by
Ewald,[95]Lachmann has placedκαί ἐστε ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρ. in a parenthesis.
But, while this important thought would neither have motive nor be
appropriate as a mere parenthesis, it would also be improper that the neuter
subject ΤῸ ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑΤ. ΘΕΌΤ. shouldbe designatedas Ἡ ΚΕΦΑΛῊ
Κ.Τ.Λ., which applies rather to the personalpossessorofthe ΠΛΉΡΩΜΑ, to
Christ.
[94] Calovius has wellsaid: “BeneficiumChristi, non nostrum officium;”
comp. Wolf. In complete opposition to the context, Grotius brings out the
sense:“illo contenti estote,” whichhe supports by the remark: “quia quod
plenum est, nihil aliud desiderat.”
[95] Inasmuch as he takes ὅ ἐστιν directly as scilicet, utpote, and regards this
usage as a linguistic peculiarity of this Epistle. But this rendering is not
required either in Colossians 1:24 or in Colossians 3:17;and respecting
Colossians 1:27, see the critical remarks.
Expositor's Greek Testament
Colossians 2:10. καὶ ἐστὲ ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι. This still depends on ὅτι.
ἐστὲ is obviously not an imperative. We should, perhaps, rejectthe view of
Ellicott and Lightfoot that there are two predicates. The thoughts thus
obtained that they are in Him, and that they are made full, are true in
themselves. But, as Abbott points out, the context requires the emphasis to be
thrown on the αὐτῷ, so that the sense is “and it is in Him that ye are made
full”. πεπλ. is chosenon accountof πλήρωμα in Colossians 2:9, but we cannot
explain it as filled with the Godhead, because suchan equalising of Christians
with their Lord would have been impossible to Paul, and would have required
καὶ ὑμεῖς to express it. This meets Oltramare’s objectionto the translation
adopted. He says that if πεπλ. means filled, they must be filled with something,
but since the most obvious explanation that they are filled with the fulness of
the Godheadis so largely rejected, it is clearthat the translation breaks down.

He translates “in Him you are perfect,” and urges that this also overthrows
the usual interpretation of πλήρ. τ. θεότ. But apart from the factthat
πλήρωμα does not mean moral perfection, τῆς θεότ. cannotbe supplied. What
Paul means is that in Christ they find the satisfactionof every spiritual want.
It therefore follows of itself that they do not need the angelic powers.—ὅς
ἐστιν ἡ κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχῆς καί ἐξουσίας: cf. Colossians 1:18. ThatChrist is
the Head of every principality and power is a further reasonwhy they should
not seek to them. All they need they have in Christ. Paul does not mention
here the thrones or lordships as in Colossians 1:16. But it is a questionable
inference that they, unlike the principalities and powers, had no place in the
false teaching. The latter are probably adduced only as examples.
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
10. And ye are complete in him] Lit. and better And ye are (emphatic) in Him
filled full; or perhaps, with Lightfoot, And ye are in Him, filled full—two
statements in one; you are in Him, and you are filled full in Him. You are in
immediate union with Him, and in that union you possess,potentially and as
you need it, all grace, as possessing Him in whom is all the Fulness. Cp.
Ephesians 1:23 and our notes.—The wordrendered “complete” is a
grammaticalecho of the word just above rendered “Fulness” or“Plenitude.”
Such are the resources ofthe believer, and of the Church, in their wonderful
union with the Lord. What need then of alien and lowersecrets ofsuccourand
strength?
which is the head &c.] See on Colossians 1:19 above. All the personal Powers
of the Unseen, howeverreal and glorious, are but limbs (in their order of
being) of this Head; therefore no nearerto Him than you are, and no less
dependent on Him. Live then on the Fountain, not on Its streams;use to the
full the fulness which in Christ is yours.
Bengel's Gnomen

Colossians 2:10. Καὶ) and therefore.—ἐστὲ)ye are.—πεπληρωμένοι,filled up,
made full [complete]) John 1:16. The fulness of Christ redounds to the
Church; Psalm 133:2. Therefore His fulness is infinitely more abundant. He
Himself is full; we are filled [by and from Him] with wisdom and power.—ἡ
κεφαλὴ πάσης, the head of all) Ephesians 1:10.—πάσης ἀρχῆς, ofall
principality) Therefore we ought to present our petitions to Christ, not to
angels.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 10. - And (because)ye are in him made complete;or fulfilled (Ephesians
1:3, 7-11, 23;Ephesians 3:18, 19;Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 4:19; Galatians
3:14, 24;Galatians 5:1, 4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Corinthians 2:2). A complete
Christ makes his people complete; his pleroma is our plerosis. Finding the
whole fulness of God brought within our reach and engagedin our behalf
(Philippians 2:7; Matthew 20:28) in him, we need not resort elsewhere to
supply our spiritual needs (Philippians 4:19). "In him" is the primary
predicate (see Alford, Ellicott, againstMeyer:comp. ver. 3): "Ye are in him"
is the assumption (Romans 8:1; Romans 16:7); "(ye are) made complete" is
the inference. (On the verb πληρόω (the basis of pleroma), used in perfect
participle of abiding result, see notes, Colossians 1:9, 19.)This completeness
includes the furnishing of men with all that is required for their present and
final salvationas individuals (vers. 11-15;Colossians 1:21, 22, 28), and for
their collective perfectionas forming the Church, the body of Christ (vers. 2,
19; Colossians 1:19;Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 5:26, 27); for this twofold
completeness,comp. Ephesians 4:12-16. Who is the Head of all principality
and dominion (vers. 15, 18; Colossians 1:16;Ephesians 1:21; Philippians 2:10,
11; 1 Corinthians 15:24;Hebrews 1:6, 14;1 Peter3:22). (On "principality,"
etc., see note, Colossians 1:16.)The Colossianswere being taught to replace or
supplement Christ's offices by those of angelpowers (see notes, vers. 15, 18).
Philo ('Concerning Dreams,'1. §§ 22, 23) writes thus of the angels:"Free
from all bodily encumbrance, endowedwith larger and diviner intellect, they
are lieutenants of the All ruler, eyes and ears of the greatKing. Philosophers
in generalcall them demons (δαίμονες);the sacredScripture angels, forthey
report (διαγγέλλουσι)the injunctions of the Fatherto his children, and the
wants of the children to their Father.... Angels, the Divine words, walk about

[comp. 2 Corinthians 6:16] in the souls of those who have not yet completely
washedoff the (old) life, foul and stainedthrough their cumbersome bodies,
making them bright to the eyes of virtue." In such a strain the Colossian
"philosopher" may have been talking. But if Christ is the Makerand Lord of
these invisible powers - (Colossians 1:15, 16), and we are in him, then we must
no longer look to them as our saviours.
Vincent's Word Studies
Ye are complete in Him (ἐστε ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι)
Rev., made full. Compare John 1:16; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:19;
Ephesians 4:13. Not, ye are made full in Him, but ye are in Him, made full. In
Him dwells the fullness; being in Him, ye are filled. Compare John 17:21; Acts
17:28.
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Colossians 2:10 And in Him you have been (PAI) made complete (RPP) and
He is (PAI) the head overall rule and authority (NASB: Lockman)
Greek:kaieste (PPAI ) en auto pepleromenoi, (RPPMPN)os estin(3SPAI) e
kephale pasenarche kaiexousias,
Amplified: and you are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life
[in Christ you too are filled with the Godhead--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--
and reachfull spiritual stature]" (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Barclay:and you have found this fullness in him who is the head of every
powerand authority. (Colossians 2 Commentary)
Phillips: Moreover, your own completeness is only realisedin Him, who is the
authority over all authorities, and the supreme powerover all powers.

Wuest: And you are in Him, having been completely filled full with the
present result that you are in a state of fullness, in Him who is the Head of
every principality and authority
Young's Literal: and ye are in him made full, who is the head of all
principality and authority,
IN HIM YOU HAVE BEEN MADE COMPLETE:kai este (2PPAI) en auto
pepleromenoi (RPPMPN):
Jn 1:16, 1Cor1:30, Ep 1:23, 3:19, 4:13
Colossians 2 Resources -Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Colossians 2:8-10:Philosophy or Christ - John MacArthur
Colossians 2:8-23 The Sufficiency of Christ - John MacArthur
Colossians 2:8-23 The Sufficiency of Christ Alone - John MacArthur
Colossians 2:10-15:Complete in Christ - John MacArthur
so you have everything when you have Christ, and you are filled with God
through your union with Christ." (TLB)
you have been given full life in union with him" (GNB)
Moreover, your own completeness is only realisedin Him (Phillips)
And you are in Him, having been completely filled full with the present result
that you are in a state of fullness" (Wuest)
You are ready for the voyage of life in Him" (McGee)
In Him (see related phrases in Christ and in Christ Jesus)is first in the Greek
sentence for emphasis, this important phrase denoting the believer's vital
union with the Christ our life. Because ofour union with Christ every
spiritual need is fully met. Possessing Him, we possessall we need for life and
godliness. The Colossians neededto understand their position and their
possessionsin Christ so that they would be able to resistthe persuasive
arguments of empty philosophy, Mosaic ritual, and worship of angels. The

Colossians neededto restin the truth that all they needed was found in Jesus
Christ, a truth brought out in Wesley's greathymn…
JESUS, LOVER OF MY SOUL
by Charles Wesley
Click to play hymn
Hide me O my Savior,
Hide, till the storm of life is past…
Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee…
Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
More than all in Thee I find…
Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to coverall my sin…
Thou of life the Fountain art,
Freelylet me take of Thee…
Spring Thou up within my heart,
Rise to all eternity
W H G Thomas writes that Paul's use of the phrase in Him…
very plainly shows that the source of all spiritual powerlies in the union of the
soul with Christ. But not only so--we are circumcised, and buried, and raised,
and made alive with Him (see notes Colossians 2:11;12;13), suggesting a
spiritual fellowship. All this is associatedwith a definite confidence in God as
the objectof our trust and as the source ofall spiritual blessing. Scripture is
very emphatic in regard to the way in which faith links us to God as the
means of obtaining grace and power.

Thus at every point Christ and the believer are identified. When our Lord was
circumcised, we were circumcisedwith Him; when our Lord died, we died in
Him; when He was buried, we were buried; when He rose, we were raised;
and when He was quickened, we were quickened. To these greattruths we
may add that when He ascended, we ascended;and, as in one of the parallel
passagesin Ephesians 2 (see notes Ephesians 2:4; 2:5; 2:6), now that He is at
God's right hand we are seatedwith Him in heavenly places. In this spiritual
unity will be found the only guarantee of faithful adherence to what is true
and of fearless abhorrence ofwhat is false. This emphasis on the spiritual life
as distinct from mere knowledge and even philosophy (see note Colossians
2:8) will be found as potent today as ever. When facedwith ideas which under
specious guises ofone sort or another tend to leadus astray, it is not too much
to urge that a careful attention to a passagelike this one will do more than
anything else to protect against them. Thus, old errors, which continue to
appear in new forms, may be met and vanquished just as in St. Paul's day.
Yes, union with Christ affects both thought, the full exercise ofmental powers,
and action, the translation of thought into redeemed, victorious living.
Have been made complete (4137)(pleroo from pleres = full) means to be
completely filled with one of the implications being that one is to be totally
controlled by that which fills them. Paul's main thrust here howeveris that
believers have come to completion, a state of having no deficiency. To be sure
we are all "works in progress" but Paul's point is that in contrastto empty
philosophy, believers are filled with the One in Whom are all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge!Do we really believe this? Why then do we run hither
and yon looking for "deepertruth"?
Pleroo - 86v in the NT - accomplish(1), accomplished(1), amply supplied(1),
approaching(1), complete(1),completed(3), completing(1), elapsed(1), fill(3),
filled(16), fills(1), finished(1), fulfill(5), fulfilled(35), fully carry out(3), fully
come(1), fully preached(1), increasing(1), made complete(2), made full(5),
make complete(1), make full(1), passed(2), supply(1).
Matt. 1:22; 2:15, 17, 23; 3:15; 4:14; 5:17; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35, 48;21:4; 23:32;
26:54, 56;27:9; Mk. 1:15; 14:49; Lk. 1:20; 2:40; 3:5; 4:21; 7:1; 9:31; 21:24;
22:16;24:44; Jn. 3:29; 7:8; 12:3, 38; 13:18;15:11, 25; 16:6, 24;17:12f; 18:9,

32; 19:24, 36;Acts 1:16; 2:2, 28; 3:18; 5:3, 28; 7:23, 30; 9:23; 12:25; 13:25, 27,
52; 14:26;19:21;24:27; Rom. 1:29; 8:4; 13:8; 15:13f, 19;2 Co. 7:4; 10:6; Gal.
5:14; Eph. 1:23; 3:19; 4:10; 5:18; Phil. 1:11; 2:2; 4:18f; Col. 1:9, 25;2:10;
4:17; 2 Thess. 1:11;2 Tim. 1:4; Jas. 2:23;1 Jn. 1:4; 2 Jn. 1:12; Rev. 3:2; 6:11
Complete is the same in the Greek as fulfilled and so God's purpose in
creating eachman and womanis fulfilled when he or she is truly "in Christ".
MacArthur explains further that "As a result of the Fall, man is in a sad state
of incompleteness. He is spiritually incomplete because He is totally out of
fellowship with God. He is morally incomplete because he lives outside of
God’s will. He is mentally incomplete because he does not know ultimate
truth. At salvation, believers become “partakers ofthe divine nature” (2Pe
1:4-note) and are made complete. Believers are spiritually complete because
they have fellowship with God. They are morally complete in that they
recognize the authority of God’s will. They are mentally complete because
they know the truth about ultimate reality. (MacArthur, J. Colossians.
Chicago:Moody Press)(Bolding added)
Pleroo is in the perfect tense which indicates a past completedaction with
present ongoing effector result and so the verse can be more literally
translated "you are in Him, having been filled full, with the present result that
you are in a state of fulness.” In other words, the results of our having been
filled are eternal.
Vincent says
Not, ye are made full in Him, but ye are in Him, made full. In Him dwells the
fullness; being in Him, ye are filled.
Wuest adds the warning that believers "must be careful to note that the
fulness of God communicated to the saints does not consistof the divine
essencewhichis alone possessedby Deity, but of such qualities as holiness,
righteousness, andthe like, as in Ep 3:19-note."
Paul is not teaching that believers have been made "little Christ's", a not
uncommon new age "theosophywhich is specious make - believe" (Moffatt).

Believers are not filled with the fullness of Godhood for Christ alone has that;
but, being filled “in Him”, they have in Him all that they need or canhave.
Paul prays for the saints at Ephesus "to know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge,that you may be filled up (pleroo) to all the fulness
(pleroma) of God." (see note Ephesians 3:19)
As we learn in Colossians2:10, positionally believers are complete in Christ,
but practicallywe enjoy only the grace that we apprehend by faith. To make
this more practicalremember that whateverfills us will controlus and if we
choose notto be filled with the fullness of God (especiallymanifest as control
by His Spirit), then we have by default, chosento be filled with self. Paul is
praying for the former condition to prevail in their everyday walk and for
them to daily surrender their will to His perfectwill and control. Paul desires
that the saints find the satisfactionofevery spiritual want in Christ Alone and
not elsewhere. Christis all believers will ever need and He Alone meets our
every need. Let us "drink" only from Christ and not be led astrayfrom "the
fountain of living waters, to hew for (ourselves)cisterns, brokencisterns that
can hold no water." (Jeremiah2:13)
Spurgeonwrites…
You are like vessels filled up to the brim. You are like warriors thoroughly
furnished, fully armed for the fight: “Ye are complete in him.”
The Jew boasts that he is a circumcisedman, but you have spiritually all that
circumcisionmeant literally. Even though you have not the wounded your
flesh, you have more than that, for you have the death of the flesh and your
very flesh has been buried with Christ. All that circumcisioncan possibly
mean you have in Christ.
All that the Jew ever had you have in Christ, only you have the real
purification of which his rite was but a symbol.
Anything goodthat there was in Judaism, you have securedto you in Christ.
Whateverthere was of blessing and privilege in the covenant mark in the flesh
of those whom God made to be his people in the olden time, you have handed
on to you by the death of Christ.

Calvin adds that "Ye are made full does not mean that the perfection of
Christ is transfusedinto us, but that there are in Him resourcesfrom which
we may be filled, that nothing be wanting in us
J Vernon McGee sums this sectionup by reminding us that "You “are
complete in him.” “Complete” is a nautical term, and it could be translatedin
this very vivid way: You are ready for the voyage of life in Him. Isn’t that a
wonderful wayof saying it? You are ready for the voyage of life in Christ, and
whateveryou need for the voyage of life you will find in Him. This is where we
say that Christ is the answer. Whatis your question? What is it you need
today? Are you carried awayby human philosophy? Then turn to Christ. Are
you carriedaway by enticing words? Are you carried awayby the systems
and traditions of men? Turn to Christ. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible
Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
AND HE IS (continually) THE HEAD OVER ALL RULE AND
AUTHORITY: os estin (3SPAI) hê kaphalê pases arches kaiexousias:
Colossians 2 Resources -Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
Colossians 2:8-10:Philosophy or Christ - John MacArthur
Colossians 2:8-23 The Sufficiency of Christ - John MacArthur
Colossians 2:8-23 The Sufficiency of Christ Alone - John MacArthur
Colossians 2:10-15:Complete in Christ - John MacArthur
And He is the Head of all rule and authority [of every angelic principality and
power] (Amp)
Who is the authority over all authorities, and the supreme power over all
powers" (Phillips)
Is (estin) is present tense indicating Christ's continual headship and the
indicative mood emphasizing that this is an actual reality.
Head (2776)(kephale)refers to the head and in this context emphasizes Christ
authority, the One over all.

Kephale - 75x in 67v - chief(3), hair(1), head(50), heads(19), very(2).
Matt. 5:36; 6:17; 8:20; 10:30; 14:8, 11; 21:42;26:7; 27:29f, 37, 39; Mk. 6:24f,
27f; 12:10;14:3; 15:19, 29; Lk. 7:38, 46;9:58; 12:7; 20:17; 21:18, 28;Jn. 13:9;
19:2, 30;20:7, 12;Acts 4:11; 18:6, 18;21:24; 27:34;Rom. 12:20; 1 Co. 11:3ff,
7, 10;12:21; Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col. 1:18; 2:10, 19;1 Pet. 2:7; Rev. 1:14;
4:4; 9:7, 17, 19; 10:1; 12:1, 3; 13:1, 3; 14:14; 17:3, 7, 9; 18:19; 19:12
Lightfoot adds that the image of Christ's headship "expresses much more
than the idea of sovereignty;the head is also the centerof vital force, the
source of all energy and life.
Robertsonwrites that "Christ… is first in time and in rank. All rule and
authority comes after Christ whether angels, aeons (Greek wordfor a long
period of time or age), kings, what not.
Paul had earliertaught that "by Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or authorities—allthings have been createdby Him and for Him." (see
note Colossians 1:16)
Christ "is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in
everything (pas). (see note Colossians1:18)
All (3956)(pas)means all without exception. Paul emphasizes that the One in
Whom the saints themselves are complete is above all and is not subservient to
any angelic or human hierarchy. This truth should give the Colossians
confidence to boldly resist any assaults on the Personand Positionof the
Messiah. All they need they have in Christ in Whom they are complete.
Eadie adds that "there is no exception; the entire hierarchy, even its mightiest
and noblest chieftains and dignities, ownsubmission to Christ, and form a
portion of His spiritual dominions. (Colossians2 Commentary)
Rule (746)(arche from archo to rule or govern) and authority (exousia = the
right and the might) in context appear to be referring to angelic hierarchies.
When God raised Christ

from the dead, and seatedHim at His right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come." (see notes Ephesians
1:20; 1:21)
Authority (1849)(exousia is derived from éxesti= it is permitted, it is lawful
meaning liberty of action. Exousía in short refers to delegatedauthority and
combines the idea of the "right and the might", these attributes having been
granted to someone. Exousía means the powerto do something and was a
technicalterm used in the law courts, of a legalright.
Vine explains that exousía evolved
from the meaning of "leave or permission" or "liberty of doing as one
pleases"and passedto that of "the ability or strength with which one is
endued," then to that of the "powerof authority," the right to exercise power
or "the power of rule or government," the powerof one whose will and
commands must be obeyed by others. (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete
Expository Dictionary of Old and New TestamentWords. 1996. Nelson)
Vincent adds that "Authority or right is the dominant meaning in the New
Testament. (Word studies in the New Testament. Vol. 1, Page 3-171)
To the Philippians Paul wrote of the risen Christ that
God highly exalted Him, and bestowedonHim the name which is above every
name" (see note Philippians 2:9)
The parallel truth is reiteratedby the writer of Hebrews who describes Christ
as
having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more
excellentname than they." (see note Hebrews 1:4)
Peteradds that Christ
is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and
authorities and powers had been subjectedto Him." (see note 1 Peter 3:22)

Vine - The false teachers taughtthat angelic beings were mediators, a teaching
that was, and is, derogatoryto the honor which alone belongs to the one
mediator, Christ Jesus. Moreoverit detracts from the blessedness ofrealizing
that from Christ as our fullness we have everything sufficient for all our
needs. (Vine, W. Collectedwritings of W. E. Vine. Nashville: Thomas Nelson)
MacDonald- The Gnostics were greatlytakenup with the subject of angels…
But Christ is head over all the angelic beings, and it would be ridiculous to be
occupiedwith angels when we can have the Creatorof angels as the objectof
our affections and enjoy communion with Him. (MacDonald, W & Farstad, A.
Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson)
SINGLE SATISFACTION - A friend of mine, Elizabeth-Ann, is in her sixties,
single, and radiantly contented. "But how is that possible?" she is often asked.
To answerthis question she wrote a book titled Complete As One, which is
basedon Colossians 2:10. She recalls being challengedyears ago by a
comment about a friend: "You know what I appreciate about June? She's so
satisfiedwith Christ."
That phrase, "satisfiedwith Christ," left a profound impact on Elizabeth-
Ann. She was 21 at the time and had been converted3 years earlier. Her
friends were getting engagedand married, and she was happy for them. But
she was hearing comments like, "Have you seenhow radiant Mary is?" and
"I've never seenJohn so happy." This set her to thinking: These friends are
Christians. Certainly it is appropriate for them to radiate happiness, but why
do they have to geta partner before they experience the joy and fulfillment
Christians should have? So she beganpraying, "Lord, I don't want to marry
until I have learned to be satisfiedwith You."
Even though Elizabeth-Ann is still single, she believes that God has answered
her prayer. She is rootedand built up in Christ. And that's the keyto
completeness--whethermarried or single. --J E Yoder (Our Daily Bread,
Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All
rights reserved)

The world is filled with so much good
That brings us joy and pleasure,
But Christ can fill our lives with joy
Above all earthly treasure. --Sper
For lasting satisfaction, put God's will first.
IT COMES WITH THE TICKET - Author PeterKreeft tells the story of a
poor European family who savedfor years to buy tickets to sailto America.
Once at sea, they carefully rationed the cheese and bread they had brought
for the journey.
After 3 days, the boy complained to his father, "I hate cheese sandwiches. IfI
don't eat anything else before we getto America, I'm going to die." Giving the
boy his last nickel, the father told him to go to the ship's galley and buy an ice-
creamcone.
When the boy returned a long time later with a wide smile, his worried dad
asked, "Where were you?"
"In the galley, eating three ice-creamcones anda steak dinner!"
"All that for a nickel?"
"Oh, no, the food is free," the boy replied. "It comes with the ticket."
The apostle Paulwarned his readers about false teachers who were offering
them "bread and cheese" insteadof"steak."Theywere in danger of
forgetting Christ's sufficiency and relying on their own self-effort(2:8, 20-23).
We who have trusted Christ for salvation have been assurednot only of safe
passageto heaven but also of everything we need to live for Him here and now
(Col. 1:13-14;2:6-15).

Christ has all we need. It comes with the "ticket."--Dennis J. De Haan (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
God freely gives His grace to all
Who on His Word rely,
For they have learnedthe secretof
His infinite supply.-- D J De Haan
Live the Christian life the same way you beganit -- by trusting Christ.
"And ye are complete in Him..."
(Col. 2:10).
The emphasis on the words "in Him" (vv. 9-11)very plainly shows that the
source of all spiritual power lies in the union of the soul with Christ. But not
only so--we are circumcised, and buried, and raised, and made alive "with
Him" (vv, 11, 12, 13), suggesting a spiritual fellowship. All this is associated
with a definite confidence in God as the objectof our trust and as the source
of all spiritual blessing. Scripture is very emphatic in regard to the way in
which faith links us to God as the means of obtaining grace and power.
Thus at every point Christ and the believer are identified. When our Lord was
circumcised, we were circumcisedwith Him; when our Lord died, we died in
Him; when He was buried, we were buried; when He rose, we were raised;
and when He was quickened, we were quickened. To these greattruths we

may add that when He ascended, we ascended;and, as in one of the parallel
passages, Ephesians 2:4-6, now that He is at God's right hand we are seated
with Him in heavenly places. In this spiritual unity will be found the only
guarantee of faithful adherence to what is true and of fearless abhorrence of
what is false. This emphasis on the spiritual life as distinct from mere
knowledge and even philosophy (v. 8) will be found as potent today as ever.
When faced with ideas which under specious guisesofone sort or another
tend to lead us astray, it is not too much to urge that a careful attention to a
passagelike this one will do more than anything else to protect againstthem.
Thus, old errors, which continue to appear in new forms, may be met and
vanquished just as in St. Paul's day. Yes, union with Christ affects both
thought, the full exercise ofmental powers, and action, the translation of
thought into redeemed, victorious living.
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31
Colossians 2:10-15
Realizing that all of the fullness of the Godheaddwells in bodily form in the
Lord Jesus Christ, it is then awesome to considerthat we "are complete in
him" (Col. 2:10). We are filled with His fullness. Notice it does not say we
ought to be complete in Him; it says we are complete in Him. Of course,
believers are to constantly grow in the knowledge ofHim as they progress
from babes in Christ to those who are spiritually mature. But the
completeness exists from the moment of salvation. This is why it can be saidin
2 Peter1:3 that Christ "hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and
godliness."
Even in our day, it is common for people to tell believers, "It is wonderful that
you know Christ as Saviour and that you are endeavoring to live the Christian

life the best you can, but you need something specialin order to really have all
that God wants you to have." They may not sayit in quite these words, but
this sort of teaching is causing mass confusionamong Christians today. But
what we need to understand is that, having trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour,
we are complete in Him and need nothing else. There is no specialordinance
or any specialexperience that needs to be tackedon to the Personand work of
Christ. What can be added that the believer does not already possess in Jesus
Christ? Our need is simply to appropriate what we have in Christ and thus,
by faith, live accordingly.
"Blessedbe the God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessedus
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 1:3).
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72
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR
Colossians 2:10
Ye are complete in Him.
The false teachers atColossae were Jews,but not Judaizers. They were
philosophers. They designedto substitute philosophy for Christianity, not by
denying the latter, but by explaining it. They distinguished betweenfaith and
knowledge. Faithwas for the people, knowledge forthe educatedfew. The
objects of faith were the historicaland doctrinal statements of the Bible. The
objects of knowledge were the speculative truths underlying those statements,
and into which they were to be sublimated. Paul’s objectis to prove
I. That philosophy was an utter failure. He pronounces it--

1. Vain, i.e., void
2. Deceit. It disappointed expectation, and betrayed those who trusted to its
guidance. This was no slight matter, and so he warned his readers lest any
man in this way should make a prey of them to their utter destruction.
II. That all the objects which philosophy vainly attempted were effectually
accomplishedin Christ.
1. What does Paul mean by philosophy? Some say heathen as opposedto
Christian philosophy; others that particular system that prevailed at
Colossae--the Gnostic.Everyone would sayfalse and not true, yours and not
mine. There must be some way of deciding this question. The apostle decides
for us.
(a) The nature of God, or of absolute Being.
(b) His relation to the world, or what the world was in relation to Him.
(c) What the origin, nature, and destiny of man.
(d) What Christ is, and how he effects the restorationof man.
(a) He argues that these are matters about which, from the nature of the case,
we can know nothing. They are matters of revelation(1 Corinthians 2:9-11;
John 1:18).
(b) He shows that God in the Scriptures has declaredthe wisdom of this world
to be folly (1 Corinthians 1:20).
(c) Experience has proved that the world by wisdom knows not God.
(d) God has determined to save man not by philosophy, but by the gospel.
2. Paul does not depreciate reason. The senses have their sphere; so has
reason. But there is a supernatural or spiritual sphere into which reason
cannot enter. We might as well judge of a syllogismby the tongue. This
conclusionis sustainedby consciousness.Whatdo you know? There lies the
grave!Where does it lead to?

3. We see, therefore, that Paul by philosophy does not mean--
III. All that philosophy vainly pretends to do is done in Christ.
1. As to knowledge. Thatis necessary, evenof these supreme problems. In
Christ are all the treasures of wisdomand knowledge, andHe is the only
source of knowledge. The knowledgeHe gives is sure, satisfying, sanctifying.
2. Redemption.
3. Restorationto our former status, to the kingdom of light: it is exaltation.
This is done by being made partakers of the glory of Christ.
4. All this depends on our union with Him, which is--
Lessons:
1. We must not trust to our own reasonor to that of others for instruction in
these greatpoints.
2. We have sure knowledge in the gospel, and to rejectit is certain perdition.
(C. Hodge, D. D.)
Ye are complete in Him
1. Christ is the one infallible Teacherofthe Church. Elsewhere youtread on
the deceptive sand or treacherous marsh which by an appearance ofsolidity
lures you to proceedand then sinks under your weight. His teaching alone
places you on the rock. Ancient mariners sailedby the light of the stars, but
when clouds intervened they were beset with dangers. Taking the words of
Jesus you shall cross the sea oflife with safety, but if you allow human
philosophy, tradition, priesthoods, etc., to intervene, your course must be
perilous.
2. He is the Head of the Church, and alone has a right to command in spiritual
things. We honour the Fathers, love the names of saints and reformers, but we
must not make them lords. “One is your Master.”

3. The spiritual increase ofthe Church is derived from Him. Religious
progress is a growing up into Him in all things. Christ is our life. RejectHim,
and you are castforth as a severedbranch and burned; but united to Him a
Divine virtue shall pass into your soul, and you shall be made “perfectand
entire, wanting nothing.”
4. These things being so, the teaching that has a tendency to draw us away
from Christ is to be rejected. The apostle warns the Colossiansagainsterrors
which would have this effect. The things he names are still in the world under
different forms, and his advice is as needful as ever. They were in danger
from--
I. Philosophy.
1. St. Paul does not speak againstlove of knowledge, forthis is as natural as
the desire for food. Nor did he suppose that the gospelhad anything to fear
from it. False religions may thrive in ignorance as bats in the dark, but: pure
Christianity, like the eagle, delights to look the sun in the face. Be
philosophers if you will, explore the wonders of nature, and the gospelwill no
more suffer than the finding of new planets will extinguish the sun.
2. But the Colossianphilosophy was the vain and bewildering theories of men.
Speculations concerning Godare of little value, for He is found not by our
searching, but by his revealing, and that in Him in whom dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead. Extinguish this light and hold in your hand the torch
of philosophy, and what do you make of the black expanse before you--the
many gods of the heathen, the no-God of the atheist, the blind necessityofthe
fatalist, or nothing but matter with the materialist, or nothing bat Godwith
the pantheist?
3. Three things are certain.
II. The traditions of men.

1. By tradition we mean doctrine, precept, custom not named in the Word of
God. Jewishtraditions, embodied in the Talmud, were mingled at Colossae
with mental philosophy and the truths of the gospel. This Paul regardedas
injurious to spiritual life.
2. The belief in tradition is not extinct. The Greek and Roman Churches
receive it as a rule of faith co-ordinate with the Bible. And other Churches,
more pure and enlightened, are not entirely free.
3. Tradition is at best an uncertain guide. It may be a pillar of fire, or an ignis
fatuus. But we have the words of Jesus, the glorious and everlasting gospel;
and our faith should rest in that, and not in fairy tales of Jewish, Roman, or
Protestanttradition. “Ye are complete in Him.”
III. The sacredsites and seasonsofa former dispensation(verse 16). Many are
still Jewishin their feelings.
1. To many the Lord’s day is still the JewishSabbath. Yet its very name shews
it to be a different day, and can we fear for its sancitity while we regardit as
commemorative of the resurrection. Moreover, it is necessaryfor rest and
devotion. Keep it, then, as given, not by Moses, but by Christ.
2. Baptism as setforth in the New Testamentis beautiful and instructive. It
acknowledgesoursinfulness, symbolizes the purification of the Spirit, and
puts a sealon the baptized that he belongs to Christ. But when it is regarded
as regenerative, and as creating a relation which it only recognizes, the sign is
mistakenfor the thing signified, and a simple ordinance converted into a
fruitful error.
3. The Lord’s Supper, in its simplicity, is an impressive representationof
Christ’s sufferings, a vivid expressionof His love, an historicalevidence for
the gospel. Menhave built monuments to keeptheir names in human
memory, but time has blotted them out. Therefore our Saviour ordained for
His memorials productions of nature that will last as long as the world.
Penetrate their meaning, and you will understand what Christ is to you. But

when the idea of spiritual magic is introduced, instead of being helpful to
piety, it becomes a stumbling-block and an offence.
IV. The worship of angels (verse 18). This old error still lives. The honour
paid by Rome to angels exceeds thatpaid to Christ. It was an error to think
that we in England had done with her for ever. She is very busy in this land,
and whereverher teaching is receivedangels are worshipped. We should
avoid her and repudiate her claims. Begone, spirit of error; that we may
behold God in Jesus Christ. We are “complete in Him.” (T. Jones, D. D.)
Complete in Christ
“Complete” is carried on from verse 9. “The fulness of the Godhead,” “andye
are full (same word) in Him.”
I. Fulness in Christ. If you had heard Christ speak you would have said
nothing can be takenawayor added to those words without diminishing their
force or beauty. If you had seenChrist actyou would have felt that His action
came up to the fulness of which that actionwas capable. His heart was nothing
but love; and His work, although confined to a few years, fulfilled the infinite
counselof the Trinity. The Fatherlookeddown and saw no flaw and was
satisfied.
II. This fulness was to be the one treasure-house ofthe Church for ever (John
1:16; Ephesians 4:7). And every believer being separatelyendowed, the whole
Church is made His body, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” So we are
filled, complete;and the Church is the complement of Jesus.
III. The process by which the completeness is effectedis union with Christ.

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