Gospel Encounter 13
‘THE GODHEAD’
Col 2:8-10 (KJV)
(8) Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (9) For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (10) And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power:
WARNING!!!
Here is a warning from God! We had better take heed! Maybe we had better check up on where we stand? Subject of warning is WHAT IS NOT CHRIST. The thinking that will pull us down consists of PHILOSOPHY, DECEIT, TRADITIONS OF MEN and RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD which have all infiltrated Church teaching and operations within it.
If you are a sincere believer, you will have an inbuilt desire to know what the Bible actually says and not what you have been told it says!
Our subject is ‘The Godhead’ . . . let me state what the Godhead is not and that usual understanding comes right out of Babylon, right out of the darkness of religious minds. Because they are much used, we receive these thoughts as though they were from God. Much usage causes one to believe it solidly and defend it to the death! . . . let’s see?
The average Churchgoer will talk about ‘God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit’. As Preston Eby shared . . . “Do you know there is not a scripture in the Bible that talks about “God the Son”! There is not a single scripture in the Bible that talks about ‘God the Holy Spirit’. By contrast, it does declare there is ‘ONE GOD, EVEN THE FATHER’. Jesus is the SON of GOD, NOT ‘God the Son’ and the Holy Spirit is NOT ‘God the Spirit’”. The Holy Spirit is the SPIRIT OF GOD. God Himself said, ‘I will send My Spirit . . .I will pour out My Spirit’. Jesus said that God the Father had sent Him. So there is One God, who is Father. Was Jesus God? Yes! But did you know that the God who was in Jesus, was the Father? Quoting John 14:10, ‘Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, he does the works’.
Can you imagine one God saying to another God, ‘Of myself, I can do nothing?’ (John 5:19) . . . and one God said to another, ‘Its not I, but its My Father and My words are not My own, but as I hear from My Father, so I speak’ (see end of writing).
God was manifest in His Son
God was manifest in the flesh . . . in Jesus Christ . . . not God the Son, but God in His son.
The KJV translation, influenced by the Church world of that day, used an incorrect English word when translating THEOTES in our Colossians text. The translators used ‘Godhead’ because of the Roman Catholic influence and pressure . . . when it should have been DIVINITY or DIVINE NATURE (see ‘word study’ earlier in this writing). For truly the fullness of the Divine nature dwelt in Jesus Christ. God was manifest in His Son. Jesus declared that He and His Father were ONE! (John 10:30). . . by the way, ONE is not two or three! He also said, ‘If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father’ (John 14:9).
‘We are complete in Him’. . . What a glorious provision from God (that’s grace!) to declare what He has accomplished in Christ through His obedience at Calvary. We ARE complete in Him. We started out in God in Adam and we were complete. Adam failed to walk in what God had decreed He was . . . made in His image and likeness and became depleted. We are born into this realm of failure which cannot recognize what God has decreed about us UNTIL we are enlightened by God Himself and we get saved from the ignorance that we were endued with at birth. God is bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10) in this hour and we are not God, we are indwelt by God . . . God in His sons in the fullness of Himself . . . having been changed from glory to glory into that image by His Spirit (2 Cor.3:18).
Salvation is a gift of God COMPLETELY
Ephesians 2: ‘(5) Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) (6) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
(7) That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
We did nothing to become sinners and we do nothing to become righteous . . . God did all that was necessary in His Son . . . in Christ Jesus and we were ‘repleted’ (i.e. put back to the ‘complete’ state of being). It is even God who enables us to believe what He has said and done (John 6:29) that we might walk in Him completely.
THE ‘ONE’ NAME FOR THE ONE GOD
The one name for the one God — according to Matthew 28:19 — “FATHERSONHOLYSPIRIT”. The father is the SOURCE of all life; the Son, His Son is the expression of that life and the Holy Spirit is the achieving ability. The parallel picture, of course, is us. . . we are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) and I am not three persons, I assure you! Nor are you! The old thinking of three persons in one God does not fit.
There are three aspects of the one God**
The original THOUGHT (Spirit-Word) is Father who produces the WORD, the Son out of Himself and the Spirit (Holy because we are speaking of God) is the Breath (the Greek word PNEUMA is also translated ‘breath’ as well as spirit). Thought, Word and Breath . . . three aspects of your life . . . these three are INSEPARABLE. Separate one from the others in any way, and you have made this one non-functional. Each is an aspect of God in action. Bear in mind that original Thought is great than the subsequent manifestation of it . . . “The Father is greater than I”, but at the same time they have exactly the same content. . . “I and My Father are One”.
“The Lord, our God, is one Lord”.
WORD STUDIES FROM THE ORIGINAL
(Using Strong’s Analytical Concordance)
GODHEAD . . . theotes 2320 = from 2316; divinity: Supreme Divine nature, make-up of character; Godhead.
FULLNESS . . pleroma 4138 = from 4137; repletion or completion, i.e. (subjectively) what fills (as contents, supplement, copiousness, multitude), or (objectively) what is filled (as container, performance, period): KJV— which is put in to fill up, piece that filled up, fulfilling, full, fullness.
COMPLETE . . . pleroo 4137 = from 4134; to make replete, i.e. (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.: KJV— accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.
PHILOSOPHY . . . PHILOSOPHIA5385 meaning philosophy.; from PHILOS (=friendly and SOPHOS (=wisdom). ‘Friendly wisdom’ comes from the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’.Philosophy is the ‘love of wisdom and knowledge’. Remember Eve fell because she wanted to be wise outside of God.
TRAdition . . . PARADOSIS3862 = a transmission; from PARA =near and DIDOMI = to give (assent to).. . speaking of the ‘law’ transmitted or passed closely to the next generation. Tradition has a gematria of ‘666’ (see Kingdom Nugget No.2 avaliable upon request). No wonder God gave this warning!
** A further look at this subject, see booklet entitled “Father, Son, Holy Spirit — three Gods, two Gods or One God?” (BK.01 available upon request).