<p>2:9 <i>For in him, in a bodily form, dwells all the fullness of all that God stands for</i>- Colossians and Ephesians emphasize the reconciling of both Christians and Angels through the death of Christ, perhaps due to the cross taking away the Angel-coordinated Mosaic system which separated man from God and the Angels. &quot;Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things (a phrase which elsewhere includes Angels- e. g. Heb. 2:8) unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in Heaven&quot; (Col. 1:20). What are the things in earth and Heaven if they are not Christians and Angels? In Christ &quot;dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily&quot; (Col. 2:9)- the fulness of Gentiles, Jews and Angels. &quot;And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power (i.e. Angels- Col. 2:15)&quot;- 2:10. As Christ is the head of the Angels, so if we are in the body of Christ, He is our head too, and we are therefore with the Angels in the same body. There is thus no need to worship them, nor the Mosaic ordinances they instituted. This seems to be a major theme in Col. 2 &quot;Let no man beguile you of your reward in&hellip; worshipping of Angels... and not holding the Head (Christ), from which all the body (both Christians and Angels, whose head is Christ, v. 10,15) by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together (Angels and Christians) increaseth (both of us growing in knowledge of God) with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the elements of the (Mosaic/ Angelic) world, are ye subject to (Mosaic/ Angelic) ordinances... ?&quot; (v. 18-20). The evident&nbsp; similarities between Colossians and Ephesians invite us to interpret Ephesians 1 in the same way: &quot;In the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth (Angels and Christians, Jews and Gentiles)&hellip; in whom we also (as well as Angels- it is hard to understand why Paul, being a Jew, should speak like this about Gentiles also, as well as Jews, obtaining an inheritance) have obtained an inheritance&hellip; (God) raised (Christ) from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the Heavenly places, far above all principality and power (i.e. Angels- Col. 2:15), and might, and dominion (Angels- Jude 8,9), and every name that is named (Christ &quot;hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name&quot; than Angels- Heb. 1:4), not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things (literally all things- including Angels) under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all&quot; (Eph. 1:10,11,20-23). The reference in Eph. 3:15 to &quot;the whole family in Heaven and earth&quot; probably refers to the Angelic and human parts of the family of God in Heaven and earth respectively being united by the sacrifice of Christ. Christ's parables of the lost coin&nbsp;and lost sheep lend support to this. The woman and the shepherd on one level represent Jesus searching for the lost saint, calling together the friends to rejoice on finding him (Lk. 15:9,29). These friends represent Angels, we are told (v. 10). However, those in the ecclesia are also members of God's household; Christ laid down His life for us His friends; &quot;Ye are My friends... I have called you friends&quot; (Jn. 15:13-15). The parables of Luke 15 were initially directed at the Pharisees, implying that they as the shepherds of the ecclesia should be mixing with the weak of the flock to win them back (Lk. 15:2-4; n. b. &quot;which man of you...&quot;). Thus Jesus also expected the woman, shepherd and friends to refer to members of the ecclesia on earth. Yet He also specifically says that they have reference to the Angelic household in Heaven. Thus both Angels and earthly believers are part of the same &quot;family in Heaven and earth&quot; of Eph. 3:15. See on Jude 6; Heb. 9:23.</p><p>Col. 2:8,9 reasons that because in Christ dwells all the fullness of God, so far is He exalted, that we therefore should not follow <em>men</em>. A man or woman who is truly awed by the height of the Lord's exaltation simply will not allow themselves to get caught up in personality cults based around individuals, even if they are within the brotherhood.<br />Many of the 'difficult passages' in the New Testament are only difficult because they are alluding to, and even quoting phrases from, popular contemporary ideas and writings and seeking to deconstruct them. This technique is found throughout the Bible, especially with respect to false yet popular ideas about evil. To take an example: Valentinus taught in the second century that there was a <em>pleroma</em>, a &quot;fullness of the Godhead&quot;, comprised of 30 aeons of time. Like most thinkers, he was drawing on ideas that had circulated a century before him, and so it's reasonable to think that the philosophical idea of a &quot;fullness of the Godhead&quot; was around in the first century. And Paul uses just this phrase when explaining how the entire fullness of the Godhead was to be found in the person of Jesus Christ (Col. 2:9). No need for philosophy and wild guesses at the structure of God. The fullness of the Godhead was and is in the personality of Jesus. However, this isn't Paul's only allusion to this idea. The lowest of the 30 aeons, Sophia, &quot;yielded to an ungovernable desire to apprehend God's nature&quot;. And Paul alludes to this in Phil. 2:6,7, saying that Jesus by contrast didn't even consider apprehending God's nature, but instead made Himself a servant of all. As more and more is known of the literature and ideas which were extant in the first century, it becomes the more evident that Paul's writings are full of allusions to it- allusions which seek to deconstruct these ideas, replacing them with the true; and by doing so, presenting the Truth of the Gospel in the terms and language of the day, just as we seek to.</p><p>The fullness of God dwells in the body of Christ- and Paul often uses this idea with reference to the body of baptized believers. Within us and amongst us, over time and space, there will have dwelt (by the time of Christ's return) all the fullness of God's moral perfection and characteristics; one may have His love and grace, another His judgment, etc. This is confirmed by 2:10.</p>