“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” the Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:9.
When we believe in Christ for salvation and ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, we are filled with Christ by His Spirit. What does this mean in reality? How does a Christian live out of this truth?
Biblical Description of Fullness
The New Testament describes what the Christian receives upon adoption into the family of God. Paul wanted the church “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:19). The Greek word pléroó means “to make full, to complete.”
To be filled with Christ is to be complete in him. Christians are given this inheritance by which they can know Christ better. The Holy Spirit helps the Christian to make wise choices, resist temptation, and grow as individuals and corporately in “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)
Christ wants to live in us, and as we grow in spiritual maturity, we long to live in Him more and more. Although we have the Spirit of Christ living in us, we really live in Him, as evidenced by Paul’s use of that phrase 164 times, according to John Stott. “The commonest description in the Scriptures of a follower of Jesus is that he or she is a person ‘in Christ.’ [...] This personal relationship with Christ is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers.” This is a product of sanctification: our growing desire to know and obey Christ. The outward expression of this work in us is the Fruit of the Spirit: a heart that starts to see others with greater compassion, a greater desire, and boldness to share the gospel, a peacefulness in the midst of chaos.
Mark Ross wrote, “‘Mature in Christ’ is just another way of saying ‘conformed to the image of Christ.’ This is the end for which believers have been made. We can reach this goal only in union with Christ, as branches united to the vine (John 15:1–11).” Christ’s chief goal was to obey and worship the Father. This becomes our goal, more and more, as we grow into our faith as we walk with Jesus. What is unnatural to us, to obey, submit, and yield, becomes more and more natural despite the hurdles accompanying our sinful nature.
Are We Filled Now?
The Father “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places’. (Ephesians 1:3). Note the verb tense, which indicates a done deal; not “will be blessed with every spiritual blessing,” which would indicate an event to come. Adoptees in this family receive their inheritance right away, like the Prodigal Son. The Father gave his wayward son an inheritance, knowing the son would squander it. Christ gave us our gift, bought by His suffering and death at the cross, while we were still sinners. (Romans 5:8) This is a gift from Him. Believers do not earn it.
We do not have to wait until we get to heaven or until we get our act together. When people live in Christ, they have the whole Spirit - the fullness, not a small piece. We receive Christ’s fullness right away. He comes to dwell within us, making us more like Himself now, continuing to do so throughout our lives.
Since the hurdles mentioned above distract us from our purpose and disturb our peace. Our only hope is to fix our eyes on Christ and absorb his Word, our spiritual nourishment. We need to lean into His power and abandon our insufficient power. How do we know it is insufficient? When we try to live out our purpose (to know God, love Him, share Him with others) in our own strength, we not only have a difficult time in our pursuit, but we also forget our purpose. Our spiritual goals tend to be obscured by fleshly desire. But we don’t need to go down that road.
What This Produces In Us
We have all we need right here and know what it is for worship. Paul prays “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” (Ephesians 1:17). What he gives us is for our good and HIS glory.
John Piper commented on the wondrous nature of Christ’s fullness in us. For one thing, it is “the fullness of God - a divine fullness, an infinite fullness.” Secondly, this fullness is “accessible” because Jesus is Immanuel - God with us. “The divine fullness was being mediated to me not just from God, but through God” rather than by His angels, and yet it was delivered in such a way as to bless, not to “drown” us. Jesus’ fullness is not some kind of fable, a wishful whim; it “is rooted in rock-solid reality.” It is not a vague deity bestowing blessings upon us through positive things like food and clothing; it is a personal, present God blessing us with the joy of His friendship.
Piper’s response was to be overwhelmed by gratitude and joy. We can know God because His fullness came to be with us and continues to be with us through the work of the Spirit. We can access the God who could choose to destroy but prefers to build up. He is building us up, His children, into the likeness of His Son. Christ testified to God's goodness, reliability, and love, so we can also lean in on the reality that sustained Him to and upon the cross.
We should be so powerfully impacted by the truths John Piper laid out that we fall on our knees because the correct response to such mercy and grace and lavish love is worship. And this certainty should also give us such peace that, when others are falling apart, our calmness is noticeable. Not indifference or disregard but serenity, which acknowledges suffering but is not overwhelmed by it. This peace is not some kind of boast but is of good to those who are suffering.
We are filled, but we aren’t finished. We still worry, lose our temper, and behave selfishly. Why is that? We have free will, and out of that free will, we frequently choose to worship other idols. They vary from actual pagan “gods,” where we engage in the occult, to the idols of self-absorption. No one is free of idols. We all have them because we all sin. This is the nature we inherited from our forefathers. Romans 5:12 says that “sin came into the world through one man.” In a sense, God is choosing to replace one inheritance with another - a corrupt inheritance that destroys, replaced by the fullness of Christ, which saves.
A Finished Work
Christ said, “It is finished” as he breathed his last (John 19:30). He has done all we needed him to do, given us everything we need, and given us life, His life. When we die to self, having died with Christ, “we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:8). The way has been prepared for us and is guaranteed. We are full of Him, our Savior, awaiting the day when we can see His fullness with our eyes. That beautiful day is our hope, a hope which the Spirit fortifies within us. And by that same Spirit, we will know Jesus when He returns in ALL His glory.
Sources:
- https://biblehub.com/greek/4137.htm
- https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/in-christ-the-meaning-and-implications-of-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/)
- https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/mature-in-christ
- https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/enjoying-his-fullness
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