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#63.
The Pleroma and the Age Purpose (Eph. 3: 19).
pp. 165 170
We have seen that this wonderful prayer is composed of three sections, the third
section being now before us.
"With the object that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3: 19).
These words constitute not only the goal of the church and the climax of this prayer,
they epitomize the very purpose of the ages, and the reason for all the complex scheme of
redemption. "With all the fulness" is not a good rendering of the original. The R.V.
reads "Unto all the fulness". Eis literally means "into" in the sense of "direction of
motion", and unto often more truthfully expresses the meaning than into. In John 11: 38
"Cometh to the grave" means "unto". To translate "Cometh into the grave" would be
false; so in John 20: 1, as is proved by verse 11. The expression, "Bind them into
bundles" (Matt. 13: 30) is an instance of the English use of into that carries the idea of
the object or the goal of the movement. Let us translate this passage therefore as
follows:--
"That ye may be filled with a view to all the fulness of God."
What do we understand by "the fulness of God"? Commentaries offer a great variety
of interpretations, which, however varied in detail, seem to agree in the main idea that the
"fulness of God" indicates His perfections, His gifts, His attributes. If the fulness of God
indicates the glorious perfections of Deity, are we to understand that the apostle prays
that the church may be filled with Divine omnipotence, omniscience, etc.? This does not
seem scriptural.
In 1: 23 the church which is His body is spoken of As "The fulness of Him that filleth
all in all". This passage is surely parallel. The church is to Christ what Christ is to all
things. Again in Col. 2: 9, 10:--
"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and you are filled to the
full in Him Who is the head of all principality and power."
Here once again we have Divine fulness residing in the Person of Christ, the church
being closely associated with it, and with Christ in His capacity as Head over principality
and power. This is certainly dealing with the same truth as Eph. 1: 19-23 and 3: 19.
Again, in Col. 1: 18, 19:--
"He is the Head of the body, the church . . . . . for it was well pleasing that in Him all
the fulness should dwell."
We will return to this verse again; meanwhile, what are we to understand by this word
"fulness". The several passages which we have already consulted seem to use the word