'Where there is neither Greek nor Jew,

circumcision nor uncircumcision,

Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free:

But Christ is All, and in All' (Col. 3:11).

In this quotation, a negative aspect is introduced, all differences are

cancelled here, and this together with Ephesians 1:22,23 and 4:6 gives some

indication of the state of things that must obtain when God is All in All at

the end.

The figure of the human body is used in 1 Corinthians 12, not of the

Church, but to illustrate the essential character of the supernatural gifts

that were given to the early Church:

'Now there are diversities of gifts, but the Same Spirit.

And there are differences of administrations, but the Same Lord.

And there are diversities of operations, but it is the Same God which

worketh All in All' (1 Cor. 12:4 -6).

In creation, it is revealed concerning Christ that 'He is before all things,

and by Him all things consist', which but foreshadows the new creation where

'in all things' He has the pre -eminence.

To step down the lower plane of human experience, we see something of

this all -pervasive spirit in the attitude of the apostle Paul:

'I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means  save some'

(1 Cor. 9:22).

'God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always

having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every (all = pan)

good work' (2 Cor. 9:8).

When God is All in All, the prayer of the Saviour recorded in John 17 will be

'That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee,

that they also may be one in Us' (John 17:21).

However, when all is said and done, when all analogies and

foreshadowings have been examined, we shall all confess when that day of

glory dawns, as the Queen of Sheba did in a lower sphere:

'The half was not told me'.

The Problem of Matthew 24:34

The manuscripts of the Greek New Testament come to us in two forms, the

early ones being written in 'uncials' or capital letters, the later ones

being written in 'minuscules' or small, cursive or running handwriting.  Now

there is no 'letter' in Greek to stand for the aspirate 'h'.  In the

minuscules, this was indicated by the employment of a comma placed over the

vowel.  If this accent turned to the right the 'h' was sounded, if it turned

to the left the 'h' was silent.  Thus the Greek word haute means 'this', but

the unaspirate word aute means 'that'.  Now as there were no accents used in

the early manuscripts, the word would stand for either 'this' or 'that' as