Colossians 1:19
“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →It pleased the Father that the fullness of God should dwell in Christ.
What Does Colossians 1:19 Mean?
This verse states why Christ holds such supremacy. The Father was pleased -- it was his own glad will -- that in the Son all fulness should dwell, all the completeness of God himself.
Nothing of God is missing in Christ; the whole divine fullness makes its home in him. This directly answers any teaching that would treat Jesus as one mediator among many, a partial link in a chain of lesser powers. Paul says the entire fullness resides in him, by the Father's own delight. The word dwell suggests a permanent home, not a temporary visit. So the Colossians need not look elsewhere to reach God; everything of God they could ever seek is present in Christ. To have the Son is to have all the fullness the Father was pleased to lodge in him -- nothing left over to find anywhere else.
In the Original Language
Pleroma (πλήρωμα), 'fulness' -- the complete sum, the whole; here the entire fullness of God dwelling in Christ.