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In this message we shall begin to consider the many attributes of God revealed in the New Testament. Attributes refer to something more than virtues. When we speak of God’s attributes, we refer to all that belongs to God. Of course, when the things that belong to God become our experience, they become our virtues. Therefore, with God there are attributes, and with us there are virtues. For instance, life is an attribute of God, not a virtue. But when the life of God becomes our experience, it produces virtues. Hence, with respect to God we use the word “attributes,” but in relation to ourselves we use the word “virtues.”
The divine life may be considered as the first and the basic attribute of God. Although the word “life” is used many times in the New Testament, the phrase “the life of God” is found only once. Ephesians 4:18 is the unique verse that speaks of the life of God: “Being darkened in their understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” The life of God is eternal, uncreated. Man did not receive this life at the time of creation. After being created, man with the created human life was placed before the tree of life (Gen. 2:8-9) to receive the uncreated divine life. But man fell into the vanity of his mind and became darkened in his understanding. In such a fallen condition man is not able to touch the life of God until he repents (has his mind turned to God) and believes in the Lord Jesus to receive God’s eternal life (Acts 11:18; John 3:16).
Actually in the whole universe only the life of God can be counted as life. First John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” This verse indicates that unless we have the life of God we do not have life. In the sight of God only His life is life. Therefore, when the life of God is mentioned in the New Testament, it is treated as if it is the unique life (John 1:4; 10:10; 11:25; 14:6).
The life of God is divine and eternal. The word “divine” means being of God, having the nature of God. The word “eternal” means being uncreated, without beginning or ending, existing by itself, and ever, unchangeably existing. The life of God is uncreated, without beginning or ending, self-existing, ever-existing, and never changing.
The life of God, being divine and eternal, is immortal and unchangeable; it remains the same and continues living even after passing through any kind of blow or destruction. All other kinds of life in the universe — angelic life, human life, animal life, and plant life — are mortal and changeable. Only the life of God is divine and eternal, immortal and unchangeable. No matter what kind of blow or destruction it undergoes, it remains unchanged and stays forever the same. Therefore, from the standpoint of eternity only the life of God is life. According to the divine and eternal nature of the life of God, God’s life is the unique life. Because the life of God is the unique life, whenever the New Testament in the original Greek speaks of this life, it uses the word zoe, which refers to the highest life (John 1:4; 1 John 1:2; 5:12).
God’s intention in His creation of man was that man would partake of the fruit of the tree of life and thereby receive the eternal life of God. But in the fall Satan’s evil nature was injected into man. As a result, man had to be barred from the tree of life. According to Genesis 3:24, the Lord “drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” Thus, man was estranged from the life of God. The cherubim, the flame, and the sword signify God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness. These three things kept sinful man from receiving God’s eternal life. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled all the requirements of God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness. Therefore, through the redemption of the Lord Jesus, the way has been opened for us to contact God as the tree of life once more. This is the reason Hebrews 10:19 says that we have “boldness for entering the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus.” The tree of life is in the Holy of Holies. As believers in Christ, we have been brought back to the tree of life, and the divine life in the Holy of Holies may now be our daily enjoyment. The unbelievers, however, are still estranged from the life of God.
The divine love, as we have seen in the preceding message, is the nature of God’s essence. Thus, it is an essential attribute of God. John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,” and 1 John 4:9 says, “In this the love of God was manifested to us, that God has sent His Son, the only begotten, into the world that we might live through Him.” As in 1 Timothy 1:15, the “world” refers to fallen mankind, whom God so loved that, by making them alive through His Son with His own life, they might become His children. In this the love of God has been manifested.
First John 4:10 goes on to say, “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son a propitiation concerning our sins.” The word “this” refers to the following fact: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son a propitiation concerning our sins. In this fact is the higher and nobler love of God. The divine love as God’s essential attribute is mainly expressed in sending His Son to redeem us and impart God’s life into us that we may become His children.
Ephesians 2:4 says, “God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us.” The object of love should be in a lovable condition, but the object of mercy is always in a pitiful situation. Hence, God’s mercy reaches further than His love. God loves us because we are the object of His selection. But we became pitiful by our fall, even dead in our offenses and sins; therefore, we need God’s mercy. Because of His great love, God is rich in mercy to save us from our wretched position to a condition that is suitable for His love. The nobler love of God as His essential attribute needs His attribute of mercy to reach us in the deep pit of our fallen life.
The divine light, as we have seen in the foregoing message, is the nature of God’s expression. Thus, it is an expressive attribute of God. Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In the millennium the light of the sun and the moon will be intensified (Isa. 30:26). But in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth there will be no need of the sun nor of the moon. The sun and the moon will be in the new heaven and new earth, but they will not be needed in the New Jerusalem, for God, the divine light, will shine much more brightly.
In the New Jerusalem the Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. Because such a divine light will illumine the holy city, it will have no need of any other light, whether created by God or made by man. There will be no need of natural light. Although the sun and moon will be in the new heaven and new earth, we shall not have any need for them, because our dwelling place will be much brighter than either of them. Man-made light will not be needed either. God Himself will be the light in the holy city.
Revelation 21:23 also says that the Lamb, Christ, is the lamp. God is the light, and Christ is the lamp. The light needs the light-bearer. This indicates that we should not separate Christ from God or God from Christ. Actually, God and Christ are one light. God is the content, and Christ is the light-bearer, the expression. As the light is in the lamp to be its content and to be expressed through the lamp, so God the Father is in the Son to be expressed through the Son.
Revelation 22:5 also refers to light as a divine attribute: “Night shall be no more; and they have no need of the light of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord God shall illumine them.” Being illumined by the Lord God will be one of the blessings to God’s redeemed in eternity. We shall have no need of a lamp, the light made by man, nor of the sun, the light created by God. God Himself will shine upon us, and we shall live under His illumination. God Himself will be the light, and Christ will be the lamp, shining out God to enlighten the entire city.
In the New Jerusalem the divine light will be both the inward light and the outward glory for expression. This light will shine in and through the precious stone, as a jasper stone, signifying the transformed believers (Rev. 21:11). God as the light within the Lamb as the lamp will shine through the city. Within this city there will be shining light. Outside the city the light will express God’s glory, so that the entire city will bear the glory of God. The glory of God is God Himself shining out of the city through the transparent wall of jasper (Rev. 21:18).
Today the divine light as God’s expressive attribute is applied to us in our Christian life. First John 1:5-7 tells us that God is light, and that if we fellowship with Him we should walk in the divine light. This indicates that we can enjoy this expressive attribute of God even in this age before the New Jerusalem will come in the new heaven and the new earth.
The divine riches are an aggregate of a particular attribute of God in many respects. Romans 2:4 speaks of the riches of God’s kindness, forbearance, and longsuffering. Kindness, forbearance, and longsuffering are God’s attributes mainly toward the sinners, in which there are the divine riches. The book of Ephesians speaks of God’s riches in mercy (2:4), God’s surpassing riches of grace (1:7; 2:7), and God’s riches of glory (3:16). Romans 9:23 also speaks of God’s riches of glory. The divine riches in the divine attributes of mercy, grace, and glory are mainly toward the believers. The riches of God’s grace surpass every limit. These are the riches of God Himself for our enjoyment today, which will be publicly displayed, exhibited, to the whole universe for eternity. The riches of God’s glory are for God’s expression in the believers as God’s vessels, being indwelt and fully occupied by Christ to express God (Eph. 3:16-19; Rom. 9:23). Romans 11:33 speaks of the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. The divine riches in all God’s attributes are deep, with an untraceable depth just as God’s wisdom and knowledge are untraceable.
Another attribute of God is fullness. Colossians 1:19 says, “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” What is the fullness spoken of in this verse? Many would answer that it is the fullness of the Godhead. Although this is correct, here Paul does not modify the word “fullness” by a phrase such as “of the Godhead” or “of God.” He simply says that all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ. There is something known as the fullness, and this fullness is pleased to dwell in Christ. In Colossians 1:19 fullness denotes not the riches of what God is but the expression of these riches. All the expression of the rich being of God, both in creation and in the church, dwells in Christ. Therefore, fullness in Colossians 1:19 means expression.
If something has no fullness, it cannot be expressed. But if a thing has fullness, it can be expressed. For example, if we have very little love, our love cannot be expressed. But if our love is full, the fullness of our love will be its expression. In the same principle, the fullness in Colossians 1:19 is the expression of all that God is in His riches.
It is significant that in Colossians 1:19 Paul speaks of the fullness as the fullness, using no word to modify it. This indicates that he is speaking of the unique fullness. To modify the fullness in any way might imply that it is not unique. In order to preserve the uniqueness of the fullness, Paul does not use a modifier. Hence, the fullness here is simply the fullness.
The fullness, the expression of God, is a person. Many of the personal pronouns in the verses following Colossians 1:19 refer to the fullness as a person. Verses 19 and 20 say that in Christ the fullness was pleased to dwell, and “through Him to reconcile all things to Him.” If the fullness were not a person, how could it be pleased to dwell in Christ? The fact that the fullness can be pleased indicates that it is a person. The fullness was pleased not only to dwell in Christ, but through Him to reconcile all things to Him. In verses 19 and 20 two infinitives — to dwell and to reconcile — are joined by a conjunction. Hence, the fullness was pleased to dwell and to reconcile. The phrase “through Him” is used twice in verse 20, both times referring to Christ as the active instrument through which reconciliation was processed. But what is the antecedent of the pronoun “Him” to whom all things are reconciled? The antecedent is the fullness in verse 19. This is the reason that in his New Translation, J. N. Darby uses the pronoun “itself” and “it” in verses 20 and 22 to refer to the fullness in verse 19. However, the Greek pronouns should not be regarded as neuter but as masculine. This means that instead of saying “it,” we should say “Him.” Therefore, all things have been reconciled to the fullness. In verses 21 and 22 we who were enemies have been reconciled by the fullness in the body of His flesh through death so that we may be presented holy and blameless and without reproach before the fullness. How meaningful is this understanding of the passage! It is the fullness that dwells in Christ, it is the fullness that reconciles us, and it is to the fullness that we shall be presented. This fullness is God Himself expressed. This fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ, to reconcile us, and to present us to Himself.
We have seen that in Colossians 1:19 the fullness is the expression of God, even God Himself. This fullness does not denote the riches of what God is; rather, it denotes the expression of these riches, the full expression of God in all His rich being. The rich being of God is expressed both in the old creation and in the new creation. In Colossians 2:9 Paul goes on to say, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Once again, the word fullness refers not to the riches of God but to the expression of God’s riches. What dwells in Christ is not only the riches of the Godhead but the expression of the riches of what God is. It is crucial for us to see that the fullness of the Godhead is the expression of the Godhead, that is, the expression of what God is in His riches. The Godhead is expressed in both the old creation, the universe, and in the new creation, the church.
In Colossians 1:19 and 2:9 we see two aspects of the fullness. According to 1:19, all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ. According to 2:9, all the fullness dwells in Christ bodily. This implies the physical body which Christ put on in His humanity. It indicates that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ as the One who has a human body. Before His incarnation, the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him as the eternal Word, but it did not dwell in Him bodily. After He became incarnate, the fullness of the Godhead began to dwell in a bodily way, and it dwells in His glorified body (Phil. 3:21) now and forever. For eternity Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of God, the embodiment of the expression of all that God is in His unlimited and untraceable riches.
In Ephesians 3:19 we have a further word concerning the fullness of God: “And to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” Some translations of this verse say, “filled with all the fullness of God.” According to this rendering, the fullness of God is the element, the essence, with which we are filled. But this is a mistaken understanding of this verse. Here Paul is saying that we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God, that is, we shall be filled to be the expression of God. When we are strengthened into our inner man, when Christ makes His home in our hearts, and when we are rooted and grounded in love (Eph. 3:16-17), we are filled unto all the fullness of God. In our spirit we are filled unto all the fullness of God to become His expression.
Furthermore, Ephesians 3:19 does not say that we are filled with the riches of God; this verse says that we are filled unto the fullness of God. This means that we are filled to become the expression of God. The expression of God today is the church, which is the Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:23).
When Christ makes His home in our hearts and when we are strong to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ and to know by experience His knowledge-surpassing love, we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God. All this fullness dwells in Christ. Now, through His indwelling, Christ imparts the fullness of God into our being. When we are filled unto all the fullness of God, we become the expression of God, which is what the church should be.
The “fullness of God” implies that the riches of what God is become His expression. When the riches are in God Himself, they are His riches. When the riches of God are expressed, they become His fullness (John 1:16).
When we make a distinction between the riches and the fullness, some may try to argue by quoting John 1:16: “For of His fullness we all received, and grace upon grace.” Then they may say, “John 1:16 declares that of His fullness we have all received. Isn’t this fullness the same as the riches? How can you make a distinction between riches and fullness?”
When Christ was on earth with His disciples, would you say that the riches of God were there with Him, or that the fullness of God was there with Him? If the riches had been with Him but not the fullness, something would have been lacking. There would have been no completion, no fullness. When the Lord Jesus came, He no doubt brought all the riches of God with Him. However, with Him there were not only the riches of God, but there was also the fullness of God. This is the reason John 1:16 says that we all have received of His fullness. The fullness is the completion of the riches. In Greek the word for “fullness” means completion. Hence, it is correct to render this Greek word as “completeness.” The Greek word translated “of” in John 1:16 means “out from” or “out of.” Thus, out of the fullness of Christ, the completeness of all the riches of God, we have all received. When Christ came, He did not come only partially filled with the riches of God. On the contrary, He was filled with the unlimited riches of God to the brim. Hence, the fullness, the completeness of what God is in His riches, was present with Him. This fullness, this completeness, is the expression of God. According to the New Testament, the fullness of God is the expression through the completion of the riches of God.
According to John 1:16, the fullness of God came with Christ, who is the embodiment of God’s fullness. With Christ, the expression was an individual matter. This expression, therefore, needs to be enlarged, to be expanded, from an individual matter to a corporate one. The church is to be the fullness of God in a corporate way. In the church God is expressed not through an individual but corporately through the Body. Therefore, the fullness of God is embodied in the church. The church as the embodiment of the fullness of God is the expression of the Triune God.
In these verses in chapter three of Ephesians concerning the economy of God resulting in the fullness of God, we see the Triune God. The Father (v. 14) answers and fulfills the apostle’s prayer through the Spirit (v. 16) so that Christ the Son (v. 17) may make His home in our hearts. As a result, we are filled unto the fullness of the Triune God. This is the dispensing of the Triune God into our being to make us His corporate expression.
According to Ephesians 3, the Triune God is not the object of doctrinal debate; the Triune God is for the dispensing of Himself into the believers so that they may be filled unto the fullness of God. Paul prayed that the Father would strengthen us through His Spirit so that Christ might make His home in our hearts and thereby fully occupy our inward being with the result that we might be filled unto the expression of the Triune God. How glorious and how marvelous! This is God’s economy, and this is also His New Testament revelation. Thus the fullness of God as His attribute is eventually nothing less than Christ with the church as His Body.
