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19 For in him all the fullness[a] was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile all things for him,
    making peace by the blood of his cross[b]
    [through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:19 Fullness: in gnostic usage this term referred to a spiritual world of beings above, between God and the world; many later interpreters take it to refer to the fullness of the deity (Col 2:9); the reference could also be to the fullness of grace (cf. Jn 1:16).
  2. 1:20 The blood of his cross: the most specific reference in the hymn to redemption through Christ’s death, a central theme in Paul; cf. Col 2:14–15; 1 Cor 1:17, 18, 23. [Through him]: the phrase, lacking in some manuscripts, seems superfluous but parallels the reference to reconciliation through Christ earlier in the verse.