Note 8 at Col. 2:9: This is one more direct reference to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ (see DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST in Footnote Index to the Gospels Hardbound Edition, p. F3). Jesus wasn't just Godlike in the sense that all men were made in the image of God. Jesus had the fullness of God's nature in Him. Jesus was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16).

The French Common Language Translation translates this verse "For everything that God is has become embodied in Christ, to be completely present in him."

The word "Godhead" is found three times in the New Testament (Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:20; Col. 2:9). The pantheistic false concept of Paul's day was that divinity is in all things, in nature as well as every man. But Paul uses the Greek word THEOTES, which literally means "Deity, the state of being God" (Thayer).

Dake's Annotated Reference Bible, p. 280 states, "The word God is used either as a SINGULAR or PLURAL word, like sheep. Everything that could be spoken of God collectively applies equally to each member of the Godhead as an individual, but there are some things that are said of each person of the Deity as to position, office, and work that could not be spoken as of the other members of the Godhead. The Father is the head of Christ (1 Cor. 11:3); the Son is the only begotten of the Father (2 Jn. 3), and the Holy Ghost proceeds from both the Father and the Son (Jn. 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15)."

The plural name for God in the Old Testament is ELOHIM and is used over 2,700 times. The plural pronouns used by God Himself are found in Genesis 1:26-"And God said, Let US make man in OUR image, after OUR likeness"; Genesis 11:7-"Go to, let US go down, and there confound their language"; Isaiah 6:8-"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for US?"; and Genesis 3:22-"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of US."