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"Who is the image of the invisible God . . . . . for it was well pleasing that in Him
should all the fulness dwell" (Col. 1: 15-19).
Col. 2: 9, 10 associates the believer with it:--
"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness (pleroma) of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete (pleroo) in Him."
God's fulness and our fulness meet together in Christ, Ephesians uses the word four
times:--
"The dispensation of the fulness of the seasons" (1: 10).
"The fulness of Him that filleth all in all" (1: 23).
"That ye might be filled with a view to all the fulness of God" (3: 19).
"The measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (4: 13).
These four passages present a complete theme:--
A |
1: 10. Dispensation. The mystery.
B
| 1: 23. First Prayer. The Church's goal.
B
| 3: 19. Second Prayer. The Church's goal.
A |
4: 13. Dispensation. The Saints adjustment to the new truth.
Eph. 1: 23 bears most directly upon the clause we are considering. The church of the
one body is to Christ what Christ is to God, namely, "the fulness". The glory of God has
left the earth and awaits the outcome of redemption for its return. Let the reader think of
the many passages which speak of the desire and purpose of God to "dwell" among His
people. Gen. 3: shewed the Lord God walking and talking with man, but this blessed
fellowship was soon shattered. At the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden the
Lord caused the cherubim to tabernacle, and later when Israel were chosen, the cherubim
became the dwelling place of the Lord on earth. Israel failed, however, to reach their
high calling, and the glory departed. When the Word was made flesh He tabernacled
among us. He has since ascended up far above all heavens that He might fill all things
(Eph. 4: 10), and when the time comes to which all scripture points, "the tabernacle of
God" will be with men and "He will dwell with them".
The prayer therefore of Eph. 3: leads on to this glorious goal, and does so in three
steps:--
(1) Internal strength granted so that Christ may dwell in the heart by faith.
This is the first step. This internal indwelling in the individual foreshadowing the
"fullness" when reconciliation shall be complete and the great rent healed.
(2) Comprehension with all saints of the dimensions of this vast edifice,
its breadth, length, depth and height, which in other words is expressed by
"the love of Christ", which however passes knowledge.