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compensated by all the fulness on the other, but that fulness would never
have been attained had the Saviour not become man, a man of flesh and blood,
all the fulness dwells in Him `bodilywise'. The church is the fulness of Him
that filleth all in all. The goal and standard of that church is the measure
of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The personal experimental climax of
the faith is that each member shall be filled with (or unto) all the fulness
of God. It is difficult, with these features so clearly set forth in
Ephesians, to think that the same word `fulness' when dealt with in
Colossians, a confessedly parallel epistle, should suddenly swing over to the
doctrine of the deity of Christ.
It may be that our attempt to explain Colossians 2:9
is so defective that the gleam of truth we saw at the commencement of this
article has already become dimmed by our very effort to explain it. Shall we
then, writer and reader, pause -- put aside our lexicons, our concordances,
our interpretations and follow in the footsteps of Asaph, who tells us that
not until he went into the Sanctuary of God, did he understand.
In conclusion, the following structure of the word `Pleroma' in the New
Testament may stimulate a fuller examination of the subject than we have been
able to include in this Analysis.
PLEROMA
A
John 1:16.
All things made by Him.
God Invisible.
The Word.
Only Begotten.
B
Gal. 4:4.
Weak and beggarly elements (9).
Observance of days, moons, times, years. (10).
Israel
C
a
Rom. 11:12 Provoke to jealousy (11,14).
and the
b
Rom. 11:25 Fulness of Gentiles.
Gentile
c
Rom. 13:10 Law fulfilled.
b
Rom. 15:29 Fulness of Gospel.
a
1 Cor. 10:26
Provoke to jealousy (22).
C
a
Eph. 1:10
Fulness of seasons. Head up.
Christ
b
Eph. 1:23
Fulness of Him.
and the
b
Eph 3.19
Fulness of God.
Church
a
Eph. 4:13
Fulness of Christ.Till we come.
A
Col. 1:19.
All things created by Him.
God Invisible.
The Image.
Firstborn.
B
Col. 2:9.
Philosophy and vain deceit.
Elements.
Observance of Meat, Drink, Feast, New Moon,
Sabbath (8,16).
Predestination. It is not easy for the mind to dwell upon this term, without
it being influenced by the word `destiny'. Destiny calls up the idea of
fate, inexorable and unalterable, and so, we have this statement in the
Westminster Confession: