"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Col. 2:9.
This verse sets forth the grand foundation truth of the essential deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. We repeat, His deity, and not merely His divinity. It is worthy of note that this is the only instance in the entire New Testament in which this word really occurs. It seems to an English reader that the same word occurs in Rom. 1:20, but it is not so. In this latter the Apostle uses the Greek word theiotees; whereas in Col. 2:9 he uses the word theotees. Now although the two words differ only by a single letter, yet we may be quite sure that the Holy Ghost had His own reason for the distinction. 'What then is the difference? We believe it to be this: In Romans 1 the Apostle is speaking of creation, and showing that the heathen ought to have learned that there was something superhuman, something divine therein. But in Colossians 2 the Apostle is speaking of the Person of the Son, and for Him he claims essential deity. "In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." He was God "manifested in the flesh"- "God with us"-very God and very man. It is remarkable that the words above referred to, namely, theotees and theiotees only occur once—the former in Col. 2:9, and the latter in Rom. 1:20. That might be rendered "deity"; this, "divinity."