In Colossians 1:19, Paul tells us that in Christ “all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” Here the word fullness is personified. If the fullness were not a person, how could the fullness be pleased to dwell in Christ? The expression was pleased to dwell indicates that the fullness is the divine person. This divine person, the fullness, was pleased to dwell in Christ. This fullness—God Himself expressed—was pleased to dwell in Christ, to reconcile us with Himself, and to present us to Himself.
The fullness in verse 19 refers to the image of God in verse 15, who is Christ, a living person. The image of the invisible God is the full expression of the unseen God. For the fullness to dwell in Christ means that all the expression of God, all of His image, was pleased to dwell in Him.
From verses 15 through 19 Christ is revealed as the first both in the old creation and in the new creation. As the One who is first in both of God’s creations, Christ is the expression of God. God is expressed in Him because all things have come into being in Him, through Him, and unto Him, and they subsist in Him. This is true not only of the old creation but even the more of the new creation. The new creation, the church, is Christ’s Body, of which He is the Head. Through His subjective relationship to creation, Christ is the fullness of the unseen God, the image of the invisible God. The fullness in verse 19 is not a thing; it is a person who is the expression, the image, of the Triune God.
All the fullness refers to the fullness in both the old creation and the new creation. The word fullness has no modifier, indicating that this fullness is the unique fullness. It denotes not the riches of what God is but the expression of those riches. The full expression of the rich being of God, in both creation and the church, dwells in Christ. All creation and the whole church are filled with Christ as the expression of God’s riches. Such a fullness is pleased with this. This is pleasant to Christ.
The rich being of God is expressed both in the old creation and in the new creation through Christ as the One in whom, through whom, and unto whom all things came into being and as the One in whom all things subsist. It is in such a way that the invisible God is expressed. When we consider the universe and the church, the old creation and the new creation, we see all the fullness of the Triune God. We behold the expression of the Triune God. This fullness was pleased to dwell in the Son and to reconcile all things to Himself for His expression. Furthermore, this fullness will present us holy, blameless, and without reproach to Himself so that He may have His expression in the new creation.
In verse 20 Paul goes on to say, “Through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross—through Him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.” The expression through Him means through Christ as the active instrument through which the reconciliation was accomplished. Verse 20 speaks not of “all people” but of “all things,” referring not only to human beings but also to all creatures, which were created in Christ and now subsist, cohere, in Him (vv. 16-17) and are reconciled to God through Him. To reconcile all things to Himself is to make peace with Himself for all things. This was accomplished through the blood of the cross of Christ. This indicates that Christ is the Redeemer not only of mankind but of all things. Consider the picture of the ark built by Noah. The ark saved not only the eight members of Noah’s family but also saved animals of every kind (Gen. 7:1-9; 8:1). What an extensive Redeemer Christ is, and what an extensive reconciliation He has accomplished!
Both the things in the heavens and things on the earth needed to be reconciled to God because of Satan’s rebellion and man’s fall. God created the universe and committed the universe to His archangel. Yet he with other angels rebelled against God and became God’s enemy, thus polluting the entire universe and particularly contaminating the heavens. God then restored the polluted universe, created man, and gave man dominion over the universe, making man the head of the creation. However, man followed Satan and fell, thus polluting the earth. For this reason, both the things in the heavens and the things on the earth need to be reconciled to God. The blood of the cross of Christ was for not only man but also all the creatures in the heavens and the earth. Through the blood of Christ’s cross, that is, through His death on the cross, God has reconciled to Himself all things both on the earth and in the heavens.
According to Colossians 1:21-22, among all His creation, Christ also reconciled us, the saints, to God in order to present us holy, without blemish, and without reproach before God. This reconciliation of the saints mentioned in verse 22 is from the reconciliation of all things mentioned in verse 20.
We need to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as the portion of the saints. As the image of the invisible God, He is the center of God; as the Firstborn of all creation, He is the center of the old creation; and as the Head of the Body, He is the center of the church. In resurrection He is the Firstborn from the dead. In Him all the fullness of God as the divine person was pleased to dwell. Through Him all things in the universe were reconciled to God, and through Him we, the saints, have been reconciled to God so that He may have a group of people who are holy, without blemish, and without reproach before Him.