The Fullness of Deity in Bodily Form
Jesus reflects God's qualities but is not God himself. He is a created
being who perfectly mirrors Jehovah's attributes.
The Greek word theotetos (deity/Godhead) is the strongest possible term for divine nature. Paul didn't use theiotes (divine quality, used in ) — he chose theotetos, which means the very essence of God. And he says ALL the fullness — not a portion, not a reflection. The NWT renders this as "divine quality" in some editions, weakening theotetos to something less than full deity. Compare with other translations to show this is unique to the NWT.
Paul chose the strongest available Greek word for deity and paired it with "all the fullness" and "bodily form." There is no stronger way to say "Jesus is fully God in a human body" in the Greek language.
Fullness means Jesus fully represents God, not that he IS God
The word theotetos doesn't mean "representation" — it means the actual essence or nature of God. Even the NWT's Kingdom Interlinear shows the literal Greek as "of the godship." And "fullness" (pleroma) means the totality, nothing lacking. You can't have the complete essence of God dwelling in you and not be God.
Don't get into extended Greek lexicon debates. Keep it simple: "all" + "fullness" + "deity" + "bodily" = God in a body. Let the plain words carry the weight.
Read within its paragraph until you can explain it from memory, noticing that the warning about philosophy comes just before it. Then read , where Paul uses a different word, theiotes, meaning divine quality. Check how the NWT renders and compare it with another translation. Practise the four-word summary aloud, all, fullness, deity, bodily, until you can make the point without a lexicon debate. Expect 'fullness means Jesus fully represents God'; rehearse the short reply that pleroma means totality and theotetos means the essence of God, not a representation of it.