Student Study Guide
Lesson 19
Filled with the Fullness of God
Note: This lesson continues directly from Lesson 18 and cannot be understood in isolation from it. The foundation established there - the eternal purpose of God, the mystery of the bride, the one new man, the parable of Adam and Eve - is the ground on which everything here stands.
Section 1 - Filled with the Godhead
Section One
1. The language of Colossians 2:10 is not hyperbolic. It is precise doctrinal statement: in Christ, the believer is filled with the Godhead - the , the , and the Holy Spirit - and has reached full stature.
2. Jesus is the head, the church is the , and in that body the whole fullness of finds its complete bodily expression. When the Holy Spirit called the church His body, He was not reaching for a convenient metaphor. He was describing a literal spiritual .
Your Reflection
Section 2 - The Hope of Glory: What Doxa Actually Means
Section Two
3. The word "glory" here is the Greek word doxa. In its deepest sense, doxa means that God has and all that God - the totality of His possessions and the totality of His being. The glory is God Himself in the completeness of His self-disclosure.
4. The word "hope" in the New Testament carries a specific weight: a with an absolute expectation of . This is not wishful thinking. It is confident, certain, forward-leaning expectation.
5. Therefore: the mystery of the gospel, Christ in you the hope of glory, carries with it a desire with an absolute expectation that we will come into the full possession of that God is and all that God .
Your Reflection
Section 3 - The Prayer of John 17
Section Three
6. Jesus is praying for every person who would ever believe in Him through the testimony of His disciples. And what He is praying for: that they all may be - not in the sense of organizational unity or doctrinal agreement, but in the sense defined by the standard He sets.
7. The standard: "as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee." The unity He is asking for among His people is the same quality of unity that exists within the . Not next to God. Not around God. God.
8. "The which thou gavest Me, I have given them" (John 17:22). All that the Father is, all that the Father possesses, everything given to Jesus - Jesus says He has given to His people. Not withheld. Not reserved for heaven alone. .
This prayer is moving toward fulfillment. The climax of the ages (Ephesians 1) is the moment when this prayer is answered in its fullness - when all things are unified and headed up in Christ, both things in heaven and things on earth. Jesus, who left His Father, is finally and permanently joined to His bride as "One Flesh" for eternity.
Your Reflection
Section 4 - Why the Devil Hates Us
Section Four
Lucifer's original sin was his declaration: "I will make myself like the Most High God" (Isaiah 14:14). He wanted what only God has. He wanted to be God. And he was cast down for it.
Now consider what the mystery of the gospel says: The very thing the devil wanted - to be like the Most High God, to possess all that God is and has - God has given freely, by grace, through the blood of Jesus, to humanity. Not to angels. Not to Lucifer. To man.
9. We are destined for the very with God that Lucifer forfeited. He knows it. That is why he spends every resource he has trying to keep believers , shallow, earthbound, and of what they have actually been called to.
10. The devil's hatred of humanity is not merely territorial. It is the hatred of someone who sees another given the thing he himself trying to .
Your Reflection
Section 5 - The Three Feasts
Section Five
The three great feasts of Israel were not merely historical religious observances. They were prophetic foreshadows of spiritual events that would unfold across the entire arc of redemptive history.
11. The Feast of Tabernacles is, at its heart, the celebration of with man - the manifested, dwelling, tabernacling presence of God in the midst of His people. It is the feast of .
12. The Feast of Tabernacles must be before the return of Jesus Christ. Its fulfillment is precisely the completion of the mystery of His will - the of all things in Christ, the one new man fully formed, the bride made .
Your Reflection
Section 6 - Our True Inheritance
Section Six
13. A down payment is a portion of the whole - the legally binding guarantee that the full inheritance is coming. The Holy Spirit is described as God's to the believer, the pledge and guarantee that what has been promised will be fully delivered.
14. The Holy Spirit is God Himself - not a force or an influence but the third Person of the Godhead. If the Holy Spirit is the payment, the foretaste, the guarantee of the inheritance, and the Holy Spirit is God Himself, then the inheritance He is a foretaste of is Himself in His totality.
Receive this in your spirit:
Your inheritance is not mansions. Your inheritance is not streets of gold. Your inheritance is not riches or health or eternal life.
Your inheritance is God Himself - all that He is and all that He has.
15. We are "joint heirs with Christ" (Romans 8:17). What does Christ inherit? All that the Father is and all that the Father has. And we are heirs of that same inheritance - not because we deserve it, but because Jesus paid the price, removed the barrier of sin, and brought us into Himself as one new man.
16. He is ours and we are His, and the two shall be one flesh for eternity. We are His . We are His heritage. The exchange is . The giving is mutual.
Your Reflection
Section 7 - Why Everything Else Becomes Rubbish
Section Seven
17. Paul counted everything else as . Not as inferior. Not as less desirable. As . Waste material. Things not worth the attention they were receiving. Because he had seen the one thing worth pressing toward.
18. His single pursuit: "That I may Him" (Phil. 3:10). Not know about Him. Know Him. In the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His sufferings, into His image, pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
19. The word "atonement" is literally "at--ment" - the making of man and God into one. The gospel of peace is not merely that God is no longer angry. It is the proclamation that man and God are .
The Gospel in Its Fullest Sense:
Not: God will tolerate you.
Not: God has forgiven your record and will allow you into heaven.
God has come to join you to Himself. He has elevated and exalted you into union and oneness with the Godhead - into one new eternal being in Christ - so that for all of eternity, there will be nothing He does throughout the universe that He will not do and express through mankind.
Final Reflection
Lesson 19 - Practice Test
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Part A: Multiple Choice (5 questions · 2 pts each)
1. What does the lesson say the Greek word doxa (translated "glory" in Colossians 1:27) actually means?
2. According to the lesson, what is the standard of unity Jesus prays for in John 17?
3. Why does the lesson say the devil hates humanity with such intensity?
4. What does the lesson say our true inheritance is - and what does the Holy Spirit represent in relation to that inheritance?
5. What does the lesson say the Feast of Tabernacles represents, and what is its prophetic significance?
Part B: True or False (6 statements · 1 pt each)
1. The word "hope" in "Christ in you, the hope of glory" means wishful thinking or an uncertain aspiration.
2. The prayer of John 17 has already been fully answered in the history of the church.
3. We are joint heirs with Christ - what Christ inherits, we inherit by grace through union with Him.
4. Paul counted his previous achievements and religious credentials as "inferior" compared to knowing Christ.
5. The word "atonement" literally means "at-one-ment" - the making of man and God into one.
6. The fullness of deity is absent from earth until Christ's return; it is not yet present in the church.
Part C: Fill in the Blank (5 items · 1 pt each)
1. Doxa means all that God and all that God has - the totality of His being and possessions.
2. "The glory which thou gavest me I have given " (John 17:22 KJV) - Jesus has given His people all that the Father gave Him.
3. The Holy Spirit is the payment - the legally binding guarantee that the full inheritance is coming.
4. We are "joint with Christ" (Romans 8:17) - what Christ inherits, we inherit by grace.
5. The gospel of peace proclaims that man and God are - atonement is literally "at-one-ment."
Part D: Short Answer (completion credit)
1. What does the lesson say our true inheritance is? How does the Holy Spirit as a "down payment" help us understand what the full inheritance will be?
2. Why does the enemy hate humanity with such intensity? What is the specific thing he was cast down for wanting that God has now given freely to believers?
3. What does the lesson say the gospel of peace actually proclaims, and what does the word "atonement" literally mean?
Part E - Before You Leave
Paul counted everything as rubbish compared to the knowledge of Christ. What specific things in your life are receiving more attention and energy than they deserve in light of this inheritance?
"Set your minds on things above" (Colossians 3:2). What would this look like practically in your daily routine this week?