We need to see the difference between the fullness and the riches of God and of Christ. In John 16:15a the Lord said, “All that the Father has is Mine.” All that the Father God is and has, is the Son’s. This means that the riches of God in His fullness are the riches of Christ. The Lord also said that all that the Son is and has is declared as reality to the believers through the Spirit (vv. 14-15).
Now we need to consider the items of the riches of God. God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness. God is also life, power, wisdom, mercy, kindness, grace, peace, faithfulness, patience, joy, glory, and salvation. He is our spiritual food, our spiritual drink, our clothing, our dwelling place, and our healing. He is our hope, honor, glory, and beauty. We need to read the Bible just to find out what God is. He is so many items to us. Whatever God is, is an item of His riches. Hebrews 5 indicates that our faculties need to be exercised and trained to discern what God is (v. 14). Our faculties, or senses, are not trained to know these things.
We need to see that the riches produce the fullness. We enjoy the riches, and we become the fullness. A husky American man is the fullness of America because he has eaten, digested, and assimilated all the riches of America. Ephesians 1:23 tells us that the church as the Body of Christ is the fullness of Christ. The church is the fullness of Christ because the church enjoys all the riches of Christ. The church enjoys Christ as life, wisdom, light, and love. Day by day we feed on Christ and drink of Him to enjoy Him. We enjoy His riches, and eventually, we become the fullness. The riches are the content, and the fullness is the manifestation, the expression. The fullness is the expression of all the riches, and all the riches are the content of the fullness.
God’s fullness is the manifestation, the expression, of God’s riches (Col. 1:19; Eph. 3:19). All that God is, is manifested, expressed, in Christ the Son. The fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ (Col. 2:9). What dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead but also the expression of the riches of what God is. Thus, God’s riches have become the riches of Christ. When Christ expresses all these riches, this is the fullness of Christ. John 1:16 says, “For of His fullness we have all received....” This does not say we receive of His riches, but of His fullness. The riches are the content; the fullness is the content with the expression. We receive the riches from Christ’s fullness.
The difference between the riches and the fullness can be illustrated by a cup of water. A cup which contains water has the riches of water, but these riches cannot be seen until the water fills the cup to overflowing. Now the riches have become the fullness, which is the expression of the riches. When we drink the water, we receive the riches of its fullness. The riches are the content; the fullness is the expression, the manifestation. We receive the content, not the fullness, but we receive of the fullness, from the fullness.
John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality. Then verse 16 says that of His fullness, we receive grace upon grace. We receive grace upon grace, not fullness upon fullness. We do not receive the fullness. We receive the content, the riches. The fullness is the expression, the manifestation, of the riches. The apostle did not preach the fullness. He preached the riches of Christ in a full way to produce the church as the fullness of Christ (Eph. 3:8; 1:22-23). From Christ’s fullness we receive His riches, and eventually we become the fullness of Christ. This means we become the expression, the manifestation, of the riches of Christ. The riches produce the fullness.
When the riches of Christ are full, that is the fullness of Christ. The church receives the riches of Christ from the fullness of Christ. Then these riches fill the church, and the church becomes the fullness of Christ. Actually, the riches of God are the riches of Christ, and the riches of Christ are the riches of the church. The riches of God become the fullness of God. Then Christ receives of this fullness, and the riches of Christ become the fullness of Christ. Then of this fullness, we partake of the riches of Christ to become the fullness of Christ. The fullness of Christ is the Body of Christ, which is the full expression of all that Christ is. All the items of what Christ is are the riches, and the full expression of what Christ is, is the fullness. Always keep in mind that the riches are the items as the content, and the fullness is the expression of the content.
All the items of what God is are the riches of God, and all these items produce the fullness. Christ received of this fullness to partake of all that God is. Then these riches became the content of Christ to become His fullness. Then of this fullness of Christ, we receive the riches of Christ. When we are filled with the riches of Christ, we become the fullness of Christ. We do not receive the fullness. Instead, from the fullness we receive the riches. So of His fullness we all received, not fullness upon fullness but grace upon grace. When our inner man is strengthened by the Spirit, Christ can make His home in all the parts of our being until we are filled unto the fullness of God (Eph. 3:16-19).
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