Filled with All the Fulness of God

“…that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19)

I’d suggest the perfect cross-reference and the perfect example of being filled with all the fulness of God is Christ Himself in Col. 2:9 –

“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Does this mean that all of God is literally physically residing inside of Christ? Or that the entire Holy Spirit is dwelling inside of Christ? No, of course not.

Paul means that the essential natures of both God the Father and the Holy Spirit can be seen in the person of Christ. The sum total, the fulness, or total embodiment of the natures of God the Father and the Holy Spirit can be seen in Christ. In His incarnation, and in His exaltation now, Christ exemplifies the nature, the characteristics, the essence of both the Father and the Spirit. The entire, unadulterated essence of God eternally resides within the person of Christ, In Him can be seen all divine fulness.

When Paul says “dwell” in Col. 2:9, he means – permanently. The natures of the Father and the Spirit have taken up eternal residence in their fullness in the person of Jesus Christ.

I would argue that the same point that is true for Christ in Col. 2 is Paul’s prayer request for believers in Eph. 3. Paul’s prayer for believers is to experience the highest possible degree of sanctification and spiritual strengthening and for us to manifest as much of God’s essence and nature as humanly possible.

In both passages, Paul speaks of fulness. In both passages, he means fullness in the sense of the complete natures of God the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is the prayer that you might be so permeated by God’s nature, that you are the perfect reflection of God Himself. You embody divine life on earth. When people encounter you, they experience a divine likeness — the believer being a living vessel reflecting God’s moral nature, His wisdom, and love.

In Christ, the fulness of God dwells completely. In believers, the fulness of God dwells conditionallythrough the study of His Word.

So here’s the spiritual logic of the Flow of Divine Fullness:

1. The Father is the source of all fullness.
2. The Son embodies that fullness bodily (Col. 2:9).
3. The Spirit imparts that fullness to believers (Eph. 3:16–19).
4. The Body of Christ exhibits His fullness in the world (Eph. 1:23).

It’s a divine chain of transmission — from the Father → in the Son → through the Spirit & the Word → into the believer → modeled by the Church → unto the glory of God.

Col. 2:9 tells us the divine fullness is in Christ’s person — the Godhead’s nature dwelling bodily in Him. Eph. 3:19 prays for experiential fullness in the believer — through study, through love, through the comprehension of His will. God’s fulness in Christ is absolute. God’s fulness in us is participatory through study.

[This was a portion from Joel’s recent sermon on being filled with all the fulness of God.]