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Now as these terms will be referred to in the course of the following
exposition, we will take the present opportunity of enlarging a little on
their meaning and relationship here, and so prepare the way.
Pleroma. This word which is derived from pleroo `to fill' occurs
seventeen times in the New Testament. Three of these occurrences occur in
Matthew and Mark, the remaining fourteen occurrences are found in John's
Gospel and in Paul's epistles. It is noteworthy that the word pleroma
`fulness' is never used in the epistles of the Circumcision. When Peter
spoke of the problem of the `gap' suggested by the words, `where is the
promise of His coming?' he referred his readers to the epistles of Paul, who,
said he, deals with this matter of longsuffering and apparent postponement
and speaks of these things (2 Pet. 3:15,16).
The word pleroma is used in the Septuagint some fifteen times. These
we will record for the benefit of the reader who may not have access to that
ancient translation. 1 Chronicles 16:32, `Let the sea roar and the fulness
thereof'. So, Psalm 96:11; 98:7. `The earth is the Lord's and the fulness
thereof' Psalm 24:1, so with slight variations, Psalm 50:12; 89:11. In
several passages, the fulness, or `all that is therein' is set over against
flood or famine, as Jeremiah 8:16; 47:2; Ezekiel 12:19; 19:7, and 30:12.
Some of the words used in the context of these Septuagint references
are too suggestive to be passed over without comment.
Instead of a `time of healing' we find `anxiety', the land `quaking',
`deadly serpents' and a `distressed heart' (Jer. 8:15 -18).
Again, in Jeremiah 47:2 (29:2 in the LXX), we have such words of
prophetic and age -time significance as `an overflowing flood' Greek
katakluzomai, kataklusmos and variants, a word used with dispensational
significance in 2 Peter 2:5 and 3:6, and preserved in the English
`cataclysm', a word of similar import to that which we have translated `the
overthrow' of the world. The bearing of 2 Peter 2 on this `gap' in the
outworking of the purpose of the ages, will be given an examination here.
In the context of the word `fulness' found in Ezekiel 12:19, we have
such words as `scatter' diaspeiro, a word used in James 1:1 and in 1 Peter
1:1 of the `dispersed' or `scattered' tribes of Israel, also the word
`waste', which calls up such passages of prophetic import as Isaiah 34:10,11,
and Jeremiah 4:23 -27 where the actual words employed in Genesis 1:2 are
repeated.
The pleroma or `fulness' is placed in direct contrast with desolation,
waste, flood, fire, scattering, and a condition that is without form and
void. Schisma, the word translated `rent' in Matthew 9:16, is from schizo
which is used of the veil of the temple and of the rocks that were `rent' at
the time of the Saviour's death and resurrection. Agnaphos, translated
`new', refers to the work of a `fuller', who smooths a cloth by carding. The
work of a fuller
also includes the washing and scouring process in which fuller's earth or
fuller's soap (Mal. 3:2; Mark 9:3) is employed. A piece of cloth thus
treated loses its original harshness, and more readily `agrees with' the
cloth that has been more often washed.
The whole process of the ages is set forth under the symbol of the work
of a fuller, who by beating and by bleaching at length produces a material