Colossians 2:9 – Pleroma, Theotes and Somatikos

For in Him all the fullness [Greek, pleroma, plenitude*] of Deity [Greek, Theotes; Strong's #2320**] dwells in bodily form and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power. — Colossians 2:9,10, New American Standard Bible translation.
*See: Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Pleroma“. “The New Testament Greek Lexicon”.
**See: Thayer and Smith. “Greek Lexicon entry for Theotes“. “The New Testament Greek Lexicon”.

All Hebrew and Greek words have been transliterated throughout.

The Bauer, Arndt and Gingrich Lexicon [BAGD], on page 359, defines the Greek word theotes as: “deity, divinity, used as abstract noun for theos…the fullness of a deity Col.2:9″. [abstract noun, a quality or attribute].

This form of THEOS, that is, *THEOTES*, only appears this one time in the Scriptures, thus we have a lack of scriptural comparison for its usage. We have, however, the Hebrew background of words that translated into Greek as THEOS, that is, forms of EL (Strong’s #s 410, 430, 433. We have presented elsewhere a study of the Hebriac usage of these words in the Hebrew scriptures, showing that when they are used of others than Yahweh (or idols of men), they take on a more general meaning of might, power, strength, etc.* Without assuming and adding to Colossians 2:9 the idea that Jesus is being spoken of here as Yahweh, the default is to reason that Paul used theotes to describe what God has given to Jesus in the way of power and might, not to assume any idea that Jesus is Yahweh.
*See: The Hebraic Usage of the Titles for “God”

The Greek form of Soma (body) that appears in Colossians 2:9, is *Somatikos* (Strong’s #4985; adverb form of “Soma”, bodily), which exact form likewise does not appear any where else in the Scriptures, although the adjective form appears in Luke 3:22 and 1 Timothy 4:8. Usually, forms of the Greek word “Soma” refer to some physical form. However, Paul speaks of Jesus’ spiritual, heavenly, body in the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:44), when he says that Jesus, the last Adam, “became a life-giving spirit.” (1 Corinthians 15:45) Likewise, in his words of Colossians 2:9 in its context, as well as by comparison of scripture with scripture, we conclude that Paul is speaking about Jesus’ spiritual body; we see no scriptural reason to think that Paul was speaking of Jesus’ body of flesh, which body Jesus had given to sacrifice to God for our sins.  — Ephesians 5:2; Hebrews 10:10.
See: Jesus Died a Human Being – Raised a Spirit Being

The plenitude of godship — ruling might — does dwell permanently in the mighty spiritual body of Jesus. It is not just an authority that is given to him, but this is speaking of power in his very being.  After he became the life-giving spirit, he now possesses all the power needed to carry out the works of his Father, thus “it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness [plenitude] to dwell in Him.” (Colossians 1:19, NAS) Having this plenitude of power given to him from the Source of all power, now he “is the head of all principality and power.” (Colossians 2:10) This might — godhead, godship — is given to Jesus by his God. — Psalm 45:7; Matthew 28:18; Hebrews 1:2,6,9; Philippians 2:9; Colossians 2:10; Psalm 2:7,8; 110:1,2; Isaiah 9:6,7; Luke 1:32; Jeremiah 23:5; Daniel 7:13,14.

For more concerning Colossians 2:9, see:

The Fullness of Deity

2 Corinthians 13:14 – Trinity?

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen. – 2 Corinthians 13:14, World English

This scripture is often presented by trinitarians as a though the scripture presents the Son of Yahweh as part of a triune God. In actuality, we find nothing in the scripture about three persons, all of whom are supposed to be the one true God.

That which is being prayed to with the Corinthian Christians is “Grace”, “love”, and “communion”, respectively of Jesus, God, and the holy spirit. “Grace” is not a person, nor is “love” a person, nor is “communion” a person.

Nevertheless, in order to see “trinity” in the verse, one has to imagine and assume that the triune God is not represented by the word “God”, but rather that only one of the alleged persons of “God” is represented by the word “God”, and then one has to imagine and assume that “the Lord Jesus Christ, is another person of, not the unipersonal “God” who is being spoken of in the verse, but rather the triune “God” who is being imagined, assumed and added to the verse. Then one has to do the same imaginings and assumptions, concerning the unipersonal God’s holy spirit, and add what they have imagined and assumed to the verse. Thus, not based on what the verse actually says, but rather what is being imagined and assumed upon the verse, the verse is then, by means of the circular reasoning employed, presented as proof of the triune God.

The reality is Paul never once presents the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as more than one person. Instead, Paul presents the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob uniperonsonally as “The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:31, World English) Any idea of a triune God does have to be imagined, assumed, added to, and read into, what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:14, or what any Bible writer wrote anywhere in the Bible.

One could say that there is a trinity in the sense that the only true God, the son of the only true God, and the holy spirit of the only true God, are one in agreement (1 John 5:8), but the trinitarian dogma of three persons in the one God cannot be found in this verse, or anywhere else in the Bible, except by means of what has to be imagined using the great spirit of human imagination, using that imagination to form assumptions into dogma, which dogma has to be added to, and read into any scripture to which the trinitarian dogma might be applied, including 2 Corinthians 13:14.

http://godandson.reslight.net/archives/1055.html

Of course, in doing so, the trinitarian dogma, by insisting that Jesus is still a man, strips and denigrates the purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world of mankind, of his obedience to the only true God which resulted in condemning sin in the flesh, and of the atoning sacrifice of his flesh, since, according to trinitarian dogma, Jesus still is flesh, a human being, etc., and thus, this is why such false teaching can be a hinderance to appreciably understanding the beauty of the ransom sacrifice that Jesus gave. — John 6:51; 12:47,48; 1 Timothy 1:15; 1 John 2:2; 4:2,3,10,14; 2 John 1:7; Hebrews 10:10; 1 Peter 3:18.

http://atonement.reslight.net/

Finally, the fact that “God” is presented as one person in 1 Corinthians 13:14, and that Paul does this throughout his letter when he uses the God to speak of the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, shows that Jesus is not being presented a person of a triune God.

For more related the trinity, see:

Jesus and His God

Isaiah 7:14 – Immanuel – God with Us

World English Bible translation, unless otherwise noted:

Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore [Yahweh]* Himself giveth to you a sign, Lo, the Virgin is conceiving, And is bringing forth a son, And hath called his name Immanuel. (Note: The Great Isaiah Scroll has the holy name in Isaiah 7:14)

Isaiah 8:8 – and it shall sweep onward into Judah; it shall overflow and pass through; it shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 – “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

This scripture is evidently cited by trinitarians and oneness believers because it has the name, Immanuel, and since Matthew applies the statement in Isaiah 7:14 to Jesus, and since the name Immanuel means “God is with us”, it is being imagined and assumed that this is proof that Jesus is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only Most High. Trinitarians would further imagine and assume that two persons of their alleged triune God are being spoken of in Isaiah 7:14, one who is the alleged “first person” of their alleged triune God, and another who is the alleged “second person” of their alleged triune God.

Of course, simply bearing the name expressing that “God is with us” does not mean that the one bearing that name is the God that the name declares is with us. The bearer of any name in which God is declared as being or doing something does not mean that the bearer of the name is God who is being declared by those names as being or doing whatever is being spoken of. Many in the Old Testament bore names that declared God as being or doing something, and no one thinks to apply the meaning of the name to the bearer so as to make the bearer of the name into God who is declared to as being or doing by the name.

In other words, for example, the name “Jehu” means “He is Yah” or “Yah is He.” Does that mean the man who bore the name Jehu is, in reality, Yahweh? Likewise with the name Eliathath, which means “God has come”. Are we to think that Eliathath is God Almighty because of the name given to him? We can look at another name, “Elnathan”, meaning “God has given”; does it mean that the bearer of this name is God who does the giving? When Abraham called the place where he sacrificed the ram “Yahweh-jireh”, meaning “Yahweh will provide”, was he saying that the place was Yahweh Himself? Did the name Daniel, meaning “Judgment of God”, mean that Daniel was God?

The name “Immanuel”, however, is not the personal name of Jesus, for the scriptures as translated by most translations show that personal name in English as “Jesus”, meaning “Yah saves” or “Yah is savior”. The name “Jesus” attributes salvation to the God and Father of Jesus. Likewise, the name “Immanuel” is a titular name, not the personal name of the one being spoken of being born.

Why should Immanuel be a name given to Jesus? Because by means of Jesus, God is with his people. How so? The scriptures tell us in Acts 10:38; “How God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Here “God” is depicted as one doing the anointing of Jesus, and is said to be with Jesus. (See Isaiah 61:1) If God was with Jesus, then, through Jesus, God was with his people. Bearing the titular name Immanuel does not mean that Jesus was his God who was with Jesus.

Additionally, Isaiah 8:8 is speaking of Sennacherib, a king of Assyria, would “pass through Judah.” This prophecy refers to
King Sennacherib, for Tiglath-pileser, who slew Pekah and Rezin, did not pass through Judah. Through Isaiah, the people of Judah were told that Yahweh would take care of them and they were not even to defend themselves. The army of Sennacherib did come to Judah. After prophesying about Tiglath-pileser, Isaiah abruptly starts to prophesy about Sennacherib and uses the same language. Sennacherib would overflow into Judah; in fact, he flooded the land almost to the capital (“the neck”), and there he had his spokesman call up to the people, “You had better give in and submit peaceably because your God is not able to defend you.” Isaiah counseled the people not to worry, for God would fight the battle. King Sennacherib was likened to a tremendous bird such as an eagle or a vulture. So large was the bird that “the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy [Immanuel’s] land.” To those hearing the prophecy in Isaiah’s day, “Immanuel” was Judah. The land of Judah was pictured as a person, the neck or head being Jerusalem. The name “Immanuel” depicts how God was with Judah. Judah was delivered from Sennacherib not by battle instruments but by Yahweh’s destroying angel in one night. Thus God was with Judah in that God fought for Judah. Thus, the name Immanuel as used in Isaiah 8:8 is speaking of God being with his people, that his favor and strength was with his people so as to deliver his people, not that God was a man dwelling amongst the people.

Outside the Bible, we cannot say for sure whether in any baby in Bible times was ever name “Immanuel” or not. We know that in later Jewish history, several have held the name Immanuel, without any thought that the bearer of the name was God Almighty.

For further study, see:
http://godandson.reslight.net/archives/1221.html

The Son is One With His Father — John 10:30

John 10:30 – I and my Father are one.

Jesus and the only true God, whom Jesus was with before the world (kosmos) of mankind was made (John 1:1,10; 17:1,3,5), are ‘one.’ Jesus was not saying that he and the only true God whom he was with are one only true God.

In the Greek, the Greek form that Jesus used for the adjective “one” is “hen” [which is neuter]. If Jesus had meant that he and the only true God whom he had been with are “one God,” he would not have used the Greek form “hen”, but he would have used the Greek form “heis” (masculine), as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 8:6. Since the Greek word Theos is masculine, it requires the masculine form of the adjective, not the neuter form. Nor is speaking of substance, as trinitarians use that terms, “three persons in one being.” If Jesus was talking about “one being,” he would not have used the Greek form “hen”, but rather he would have used the Greek form, “mia,” as in the trinitarian statement: treis hypostaseis en mia ousia (three persons in one being). Since “ousia” is feminine, it requires the feminine form of the adjective, not the neuter form. Thus, when Jesus said that he and the only true God are “one”, he was neither speaking of “one God” nor “one substance.”

Nevertheless, we find further in the book of John where Jesus uses the Greek form “hen” several times:

Jesus prays for his followers to be one [hen], just as he is with his God and Father. — John 17:11.

Jesus prays that his followers may all be one [hen], just as he is one with his God and Father. — John 17:21.

Jesus prays that his followers may be one [hen] in himself and his Father, just as he is with his God and Father. — John 17:21.

Jesus prays that his followers may one [hen], just as he is one with his God and Father. — John 17:22.

It should be obvious that Jesus was not praying that his followers become one “God” with him and his Father, nor is he praying that they become “one substance” with him and his Father. He is speaking in terms of unity, agreement. Likewise, when Jesus said that he and the only true God (John 17:1,3) are one, he is speaking of agreement. There is nothing in John 10:30 that means that Jesus was claiming to be the only true God.

For more regarding John 10:30, see:

http://godandson.reslight.net/archives/tag/john-1030

Regarding John 10:33, see:

http://godandson.reslight.net/archives/377.html

A Question Regarding 1 Timothy 2:5

A question has been raised:

If Jesus is not now a man, then why was this written long after his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension?

1 Tim 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, THE MAN Christ Jesus;

The problem is that one needs to read the entire sentence, which continues into verse 6:

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,  the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times

Paul was saying that it was the “man” Jesus who gave himself as an offsetting price – ransom. The offsetting price had to be a sinless man to correspond to Adam before Adam sinned. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22) Having living himself as a man in sacrifice to his God (Ephesians 5:2), he is no longer a man. If he is still a man, then he has not given himself in sacrifice, or else he has taken back what he had given. Either way, it would leave us without an  atoning sacrifice for sin, would annul the purpose for Jesus’ coming in the flesh, that is, to give his flesh for the life of the world. (John 6:51; 1 John 1:2; 4:2,3,10) Jesus is no longer in the days of his flesh. (Hebrews 5:7) If he is, then he is still a little lower than the angels, and there has been no offering for our sin. — Hebrews 2:9.

See:

The Man Jesus – Still A Man? – 1 Timothy 2:5

Jesus Died a Human Being – Raised a Spirit Being