For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him [Jesus] …
Summary: Imagining the fullness of God is a challenge. One way to picture this is to think about where we live.
What do you suppose the “fullness” of God means?
John, writing in his Gospel account, records Jesus saying:
“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:10)
What other human being who has ever lived throughout the long history of mankind can say such a thing? How does that even work? How is it possible that God lives in someone?
Imagine, for a moment, that you are alone in the world, and you decide to build a house for yourself. You gather your resources and hire the help you need. Permits are purchased, materials ordered, and a contractor is hired.
Soon, there is a gleaming new house on your parcel of land. The workers are gone, the landscaping is complete, and the widows are sparkling clean. You walk inside for the first time and marvel at the space. Every room is a blank canvas.
Sunlight beams through windows without curtains. Light falls on freshly painted walls and new floors. Everywhere there is space. Each room is empty, waiting to be put to use. Every cupboard and closet is uncluttered. Nothing is out of place because there is nothing in the house to detract from the new emptiness.
Moving day is here.
You start to fill the house with furniture and the things you need for daily life. The kitchen is filled with cooking utensils, plates, cups, glasses, and groceries. Windows are fitted with curtains and shades of various kinds. All of your favorite pictures are framed and hung on the walls. Furniture is brought in and placed in the various rooms. Finally, all your personal items, clothes, shoes, and toiletries are stored away. All is ready.
Time passes.
After a while, even more things have made their way into the house. Unfinished projects, packing materials from new purchases, and bits of hardware and paint. Yet, for all the things that have been brought into the house, it still feels empty. So, you decide to invite someone to live with you.
Moving day arrives again. It is time for your friend to move in. You show them to their room and explain the house rules. They agree and move into “their” room.
Of course, they need to use other parts of the house, too.
The friend has to use the bathroom and the kitchen. They need to share the living room and the sitting room. Occasionally, they like to use the garage for a project or the back porch for a nap.
Now, imagine that you have been away for a few days and return to find that your friend has moved all of your belongings out of the house. The walls have been repainted in different colors and the carpets changed for others completely different. Instead of your pictures on the wall, there are new ones. Where your furniture was, there is different furniture. Even the little things in the bathroom and kitchen have been replaced.
It doesn’t feel like your house anymore.
This is what it was like for Jesus to be filled with the fullness of God. Everything in his life was the way God wanted it. There was no room for anything that wasn’t God, and Jesus was just fine with that.
Application: Ask God for help making room for Jesus in your life.
Food for Thought: If Jesus was filled with the fullness of God, what was left in Jesus’ life that was uniquely his?
Interesting question. 🙂
Jesus was the Word in flesh. Also, He was human; He hungered, slept, and felt emotions just as we do. Compassion for people, righteous anger at the merchants in the Temple, frustration with His disciples when they “didn’t get it.” I think also, Jesus had personality. I look in Matthew 23:13-37 and can see a bit of Jesus’ personality in what He said in His rebuke of the Pharisees (the 7 woes).
He didn’t just rebuke them, I think what He said was a bit poetic. And, to me, the stream of thought starts out with His statement of how the Pharisees were doing the opposite of what God intended, and then he proceeds to tell them how and why, drilling down to the condition of their hearts, and the actions they take as a result of that condition. He leads them to a place of contemplation between self-service and serving God, and the consequences in not serving God.
He uses examples that both a child would understand and would leave grown-ups in a serious state of reflection. He gave them wisdom and hard truth, in a very graceful way. It comes a bit at “rapid fire” too. I would image the ones that were present would have had a hard time not listening and reflecting on it.
Thank you, Chris!
Jesus had flesh and he had personality. This was the “house” or “tent” as Peter would call it (2 Peter 1:13) that God lived in. 🙂
If Jesus was filled with the fullness of God, what was left in Jesus’ life that was uniquely His?
To be filled with the fullness of God is to reject, Ignore the desires of our flesh, which call us to lead lives depending on things of this world, powers of our flesh, to be the foundation of our eternal value.
Submitting ourselves to the will of God is to step out of the power of these temporary bodies and into the eternal, unlimited power of God. The power of God does not bind and restrict our spiritual powers but does in fact place our bodies in submission to the spiritual life given to believers by God.
The fullness of God is what all believers strive for as we walk toward a life in full obedience to the will of God.
Romans 8:6, To be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus Is tested in the wilderness. Chooses Gods will, powers over His own.
Luke 1:37, For nothing will be impossible with God.
Great point, Ron!
To use our metaphor again, Jesus willingly let God pick all the furnishings and decorations.
I’d say everything because Jesus is God and He and the Father are one (John 10: 30; Deuteronomy 6: 4). In your analogy I’d say they already had the same furniture and pictures. So there is no feeling out of place with the father. Now with the world through the Incarnation – that might be a different matter.
I agree
Thanks Paul! 🙂
Thank you, Rich!
Absolutely! Both are “at home” in the same environment.
You note that, “Now with the world through the Incarnation – that might be a different matter.” — I would be interested in hearing more on this.