COMPLETE IN CHRIST
by Lehman Strauss
M ore and more , we are seeing a mental and moral breakdown in modem society. Never has there been so much frustration. Never have we counselled with so many un happy and incomplete people. We need to proclaim the old, old story of the sufficiency of Jesus Christ to satisfy this great need. Using Colossians 2:9, 10 as a base of operation, we have pursued a word study of the Greek term pleroma, translated “fulness” in Colossians 2:9 and “complete” in verse 10. In these two verses, the Holy Spirit is stating simply and succinctly that, in the Incarnate Christ, all the ful ness of the Godhead dwells, and that all believers in Christ have access to that fulness. The Christian life is a complete life, and the Christian is a complete man. If there is any lack in God’s children, it is, for the most part, the result of our failure to ap propriate that fulness which is ours in Christ. We should all be deeply thankful to God for every good work and every true worker raised up by the Lord in this hour of the world’s need. If you are saved and in the place of God’s appointment for you, then you are a member of Christ’s Body and therefore a vital and in tegral and necessary part of His program. To each of you this mes sage comes with the sincere prayer that you will remain true to Christ and His Gospel, and find your suf ficiency in Him for this service of life. This business of serving the Lord Jesus Christ is a glorious and re warding work, but it is not without its trials and temptations. The Apos tle Paul said, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there
are many adversaries” (I Cor. 16: 9). He spoke of “the enemies of the cross of Christ” (Phil. 3:18). Few of our Lord’s servants have been called to pass through trials as severe as those through which Paul passed (II Cor. 11:24-28). And yet, in the face of bitterest opposi tion, he could say, “God is faithful” (I Cor. 1:9). Paul accepted by faith the fact of Colossians 2:9, 10, that God’s fulness was in Christ and Christ’s fulness was for him, thereby enabling him to press on confidently to the end. He made some mistakes, but he never “cracked up” nor gave up. Nor did he allow past failures to drive him from the task to which Christ had called him. Paul kept “file 13” close at hand, a waste basket into which he discarded the excess lug gage of life (Phil. 3:13, 14). In these days of growing opposi tion to Christ’s Gospel, there is like-
Dr. RayA. Myers (left), chairman of theBioia Board of Directors, confers with Dr. Arnold Ehlerf, head librarianfor Bioia College and Talbot Theological Seminary. The Bioia library alwaysappreciates any used books which peo ple wish to invest in the school's ministry.
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