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in a peculiar sense, as though it had particular reference to the purpose of the ages and the
great goal of God. We lay aside the comments of men, and turn once more to the
fountain of all truth, the Word. We look up to Him who used this word "fulness" with
specific intent, and ask for that spirit of wisdom and revelation which He will give to
those that ask Him. We turn to the first occasion where the word is used in the N.T. and
the solution is provided. Over and over again we find that simply to turn to the Word
afresh is in itself an inspiration. The passage is Matt. 9: 16:--
"No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old garment, for that which should fill it
up taketh from the garment, and a worse rent is made."
The Emphatic Diaglott renders the verse:--
"No one puts a piece of undressed cloth on an old garment; because the PATCH itself
would tear the garment; and a worse rent be made."
The word here translated "patch" is the word pleroma. We believe all Scripture to be
inspired, and we refuse to believe that the Holy Spirit, knowing the use that would be
made of the word pleroma in the epistles, would use such a word in a sense foreign to its
meaning and misleading to the seeker after truth.
We often learn the meaning of a word by observing the word which is used in
contrast. For example, we know that the word "evil" in Isa. 45: 7 means "calamity" or
"inflicted evil" because the contrasting term is "peace". Had God intended the word to
convey the meaning of moral evil, we believe He would have contrasted it with the word
"good". The contrast to pleroma in Matt. 9: 16 is the word schisma, our English word
schism. It occurs in John 9: 16; 10: 19; I Cor. 1: 10; 11: 18; 12: 25, always with the
sense of "division". The verb schizo comes in Matt. 27: 51, where it speaks of the
veil of the temple being "rent in two". In John 19: 24 it is used by the soldiers who said
concerning Christ's garment, "Let us not rend it". It is obvious therefore that to
understand the scriptural meaning of pleroma we must understand the scriptural teaching
concerning schisma.
Has there come into God's creation a "rent", a "division", a "schism"? To ask the
question is to perceive the intention of the word "fulness". Readers of The Berean
Expositor are already acquainted with the rendering of Eph. 1: 4, "Before the overthrow
of the world". That indicates a rent. Gen. 1: 2, "The earth became tohu and bohu",
likewise speaks of a rent. Into the fair creation of Gen. 1: 1 came sin and all its
accompanying misery. Sin divides:--
"Your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Isa. 59: 2).
The very necessity for a Mediator speaks of division. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is the great fulness of God. He is the One that shall "fill all in all". When that goal is
reached the "rent" caused by Satan's rebellion and man's sin shall be "filled in", and God
once more shall be all in all.