The Fullness of Christ

April 16, 2008

Colossians 2:9-15

"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by Christ having been buried wiht him in baptism and raised in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the corss. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross."

To unpack this in a VERY simplistic way this comes down to the functionality of Chrisitan living. For Paul, that meant that we live in the fullness of Christ. Christ was completely divine and completely human. By virtue of our dedicated relationships to Christ, we are now privileged to share in that fullness. What made that fullness possible for us was Christ's death and subsequent resurrection on the cross. It was that event that elicited the forgiveness of our sin and freed us from the strictures of the law that God's followers prior to Christ had to observe. We then received the ability to strive toward modeling his living.

The passage probably raises more questions that it offers answers and thus I would encourage you to take hold of Biblical commentaries and investigate the passage for yourself.

The predominant question is, though, what does it mean to be in the fullness of Christ? That is a question that you will have to answer for yourself.

For me it means a cessation of anything that stands in the way of my relationship with God. My relationship with God is nurtured in those early morning hours of reading spiritual things and meditating/listening for God's direction. It is found in the stillness of nature. It is found in the ability to focus on the present moment and seek to see the holiness in that moment. If I miss those times, then my day and its experiences are the less for it. My life is thus less full and my joy is diminished.

Paul understood it in the sense of "putting off" of old ways. The Greek phrase would have suggested a quick and thorough break--a sort of stripping off of every old way of life to embrace new life--life that would bring growth and lead one more toward the fruits of God's spirit. The fullness of life would then be found in such things as love, joy and peace that could only come from that divine connection with God.

In your day to day existence, what does it mean to claim the fullness of Christ? Whatever it means for you, I hope that you will claim it this day and know the fruits of God's Spirit in their fullness. Amen.