8. The Apostle, who knew this mystery, and
had received the knowledge of the faith through the Lord Himself, was
not unmindful, that neither the world, nor mankind, nor philosophy
could contain Him, for he writes, Take heed, lest there shall be any
one that leadeth you astray through philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Jesus Christ, for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily, and in Him ye are made full, Who is the head of all
principalities and powers Col. ii. 8–10.. After the
announcement that in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily, follows immediately the mystery of our assumption, in the
words, in Him ye are made full. As the fulness of the
Godhead is in Him, so we are made full in Him. The Apostle says
not merely ye are made full, but, in Him ye are made
full; for all who are, or shall be, regenerated through the hope of
faith to life eternal, abide even now in the body of Christ; and
afterwards they shall be made full no longer in Him, but in themselves,
at the time of which the Apostle says, Who shall fashion anew the
body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His
glory Phil. iii. 21.. Now,
therefore, we are made full in Him, that is, by the assumption of His
flesh, for in Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Nor has this our hope a light authority in Him. Our fulness in
Him constitutes His headship and principality over all power,
as it is written, That in His name every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things on earth, and things below, and every tongue
confess that Jesus is Lord in the glory of God the Father Phil. ii. 10, 11. The Greek is εἰς δόξαν,
κ.τ.λ. ‘to the glory of God the
Father’ (R.V.). There is also another reading in
Hilary’s text in this place, ‘in gloriam’ instead of
‘in gloria;’ but the latter is demanded by the
context. See c. 42.. Jesus shall be confessed in the
glory of God the Father, born in man, yet now no longer abiding in the
infirmity of our body, but in the glory of God. Every tongue
shall confess this. But though all things in heaven and earth
shall bow the knee to Him, yet herein He is head of all principalities
and powers, that to Him the whole universe shall bow the knee in
submission, in Whom we are made full, Who through the fulness of the
Godhead dwelling in Him bodily, shall be confessed in the glory of God
the Father.