Charles Ellicott Commentary Colossians 1:19

"For it was the good pleasure [of the Father] that in him should all the fulness dwell;" — Colossians 1:19 (ASV)

For it pleased the Father.

1. The construction is doubtful. There is nothing corresponding to “the Father” in the original. Our translation involves supplying the nominative God, i.e., “the Father,” or Christ to the verb, so that the sentence would read, the Father or Christ resolved according to His good pleasure that, etc. Supplying the nominative “Christ” is easier grammatically, but it is inconsistent with the invariable reference of all things, both by our Lord Himself and His Apostles, ultimately to the good pleasure of the Father. Moreover, the verb is so constantly used of God that supplying the nominative “God,” though unprecedented, is quite admissible.

   The simplest grammatical construction would, indeed, be to take “the fulness” as the nominative, and render it as in Him all the fulness (of God) was pleased to dwell. But the personification of “the fulness,” common in Gnostic speculation, is not characteristic of St. Paul. Perhaps, on the whole, the translation in our version (which is usually adopted) is to be preferred, especially as it aligns better with the following verse.

2. The sense is, however, quite clear, and is enforced by Colossians 2:9, In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

On the word “fulness” (pleroma), see Note on Ephesians 1:23. The “fulness of the Godhead” is the essential nature, comprising all the attributes, of Godhead. The indwelling of such Deity in the humanity of Christ is the ground of all His exaltation as the “Head,” “the beginning,” the “firstborn from the dead,” and the triumphant King, on which St. Paul had already dwelt. By it alone can He be the true Mediator between God and man.