...no one but Jesus...

Paul Ferrarone
Oct 16
3 min read

“8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. “9 For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily”, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead”

Colossians 2:1-7.

In verse 9, Paul makes one of the most important points in all of Christianity. “In him”, Paul says – that is, of course, in Jesus, in the Messiah — “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” This means that in Christ, all the full measure of divinity has taken up bodily residence in this man, Jesus. What Paul means, simply, is that Jesus was a fully human being, who was also a man remarkably “full of God”. He was — and is — the bodily human form taken by God himself, God in all His fullness. He isn’t half divine and half human. He doesn’t have a human body and a divine spirit, or mind. He can only be properly understood as the human being who embodies, or “incarnates”, the complete fullness of divinity. The complete human being, who is Jesus, is the completeness and fulness of God.

This means there are no other gods but pagan gods who are now all upstaged by Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Jesus never became God — He always was God, the One and Only God! Paul is saying that if you want to find the true God, you need to look no further than Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. What Paul is saying is that Jesus quite literally embodies the One True God, God in all His fullness.

So what are the religions and denominations and philosophical or social attractions in your world that are most likely to draw you away from “fulfillment in life” that already exists in the Messiah, Jesus Christ?

Are you going to turn to a reliance in AI? Or is it Social Media? Is it a Political Party? Or a huge income? Perhaps it’s prestige or a great public reputation? What can steal away from you any kind of “fulfillment in life” except the fulfillment already won through and in Jesus Christ? Is it personal power?

Dear friends, it has to be Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

Please consider the verses to this contemporary hymn:

Nothing But The Blood.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain: R

Oh! precious is the flow

That makes me white as snow;

No other fount I know,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain: R

2. For my pardon, this I see,

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;

For my cleansing this my plea,