WORDS
from the
WORD by Charles L. Feinberg, Th.D., Ph.D., Director, Talbot Theological Seminary F U L N E S S
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T he word “ fulness” ( melo ’ in the Hebrew and pleroma in the Greek) enjoys a wide variety of meanings in the Old Testament and the New, especially in the latter. It furnishes us with a good example of a word from a. common verb which is full of spiritual significance when once the Spirit of God determines to utilize it in the expression of deep spiritual truths. In the Old Testament the word is found repeatedly in connection with material creation to indicate the vast extent of it, as the fulness of the earth and the sea. Such references are Deuteronomy 33:16; 1 Chronicles 16: 32; Psalm 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; 96:11 and 98:7. The prophet Isaiah employs the term to predict the time when the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord (Isaiah 6:3). When we come to the New Testa ment, this norm is found thirteen times; once in the Gospel of John (1:16) and the rest in Paul’s epistles. Close study will reveal that this is truly one of the ponderous words of the New Testament. The reference in John points up the important doctrine that, since Christ is full of grace and truth as the only begotten of the Father, all believers are recipients of this fulness. Of Paul’s twelve uses of pleroma, half are found in Ephesians and Col- ossians. Romans 11:12 is speaking distinctly of Israel’s national restora tion to God. It is in antithesis to their loss of spiritual blessing in their fall through rejection of their Mes siah. The second occurrence of this word in the same chapter (v. 25) relates to the completed number of Gentiles that will enter the Body of Christ before God resumes national dealings with Israel. The pleroma of the Gentiles does not necessarily in clude every individual among the nations, any more than the pleroma of Israel embraces every individual Israelite. In the practical exhortations in this epistle (Rom. 13:10) he notes that the New Testament believer need not be concerned that he is no longer under the Mosaic law. This does not mean he is without a rule of life for his earthly pilgrimage. The high est law of a ll, the law of love which
knows no ill to any man, is the com plete carrying out of all that the law commanded. Thé last usage of pler oma in Romans is one that breathes Paul’s hope that he may yet see the Roman believers attended by the blessing of Christ in Gospel ministry (15:29). Answering the moot question about eating meat sacrificed to idols, Paul reminds the Corinthian church ( 1 Cor. 10:26) of the complete sover eignty of God over all the earth. He is quoting from Psalm 24:1. No mat ter what has been done to a part of God’s creation or what use has been made of it, it still is the Lord’s; and we must recognize His ownership rights. In the Epistle to the Galatians the apostle employs the word pleroma (the word has come into English as a common norm) to state the round ing out of the time alloted for the incarnation of the Son of God (4:4). When we come to the six citations in Ephesians and Colossians, we are face to face with some of the deepest and grandest doctrinal concepts in these complementary epistles. Our term is used in connection with God, Christ, the Church, and the individ ual believer. In Ephesians 1:10 we are informed that God’s purpose in Christ will be fulfilled in the ful ness of times, the age of the reign of Christ over the earth. Time will be made to serve its proper and original purpose, the exaltation of the Son of God. But even in the interim time, the Church is the recipient of the totality of the power and presence of Christ (Eph. 1:23). Mark the ampli tude of the provision Christ supplies to His Church. Two recognized peaks in the Epistle to the Ephesians are the prayers of the Apostle in the first and third chapters. When Paul prays that believers may be filled with all the fulness of God, he means that they are to be completely filled with God’s power, presence, and blessings. The pleroma of God (Eph. 3:19) is our final conformation to God in Christ, as is estated in Ephesians 4:13 (see Romans 8:29). The two pleroma passages in Col ossians (1:19; 2:9) state in the strongest and plainest manner that Christ is essentially God, while He is truly man. The infinite and un-
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