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So unique is this term that the Greek word is unknown to classical Greek, and surely
no one will deny that Mary the mother of our Lord held a unique place in the history of
womankind. To have focused upon her the prophecy of Gen. 3: 15 and Isa. 7: 14 and
9: 6, and to be associated as she was so intimately with the mystery of Godliness
(I Tim. 3: 16) gives this lowly woman a place that is indeed one of high favour. It is
this word that the Apostle singled out from all the words that were available, because NO
OTHER CALLING is so related to Christ in His super-heavenly position as this church
of the Mystery. The title of Christ "The Beloved" too is as rare as it is lovely. The title
is found in Matt. 3: 17, 12: 18 and 17: 5 in which we read the added words
"well pleased". In Colossians, which belongs to the same dispensation as Ephesians,
Christ is called "The Son of His love" (Col. 1: 13), but Eph. 1: 6 is the only occurrence of
the title "Beloved" outside the Gospels. Both the "acceptance" therefore, and the One in
Whom this acceptance is found, are unique.
We have now exhibited some of the blessings that belong exclusively to this
dispensation of the Mystery. We do most earnestly plead with the reader to ponder them
as before God, to re-read the exhortation given by Caleb and Joshua (Numb. 14: 6-9) and
the awful alternative of Numb. 14: 10. There are, however, more unique blessings to
exhibit, and the next is a title given to the church of the one body that seems too
wonderful to be true. It is called:
THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL
(Eph. 1: 23)
The Saviour descended into the lower parts of the earth, and ascended far above all
heavens, that He might fill all things (Eph. 4: 10, 11), and the church which is His Body
is the fullness of Him that filleth all in all! This church has a standard, it is nothing less
than "The measure of the stature of the FULNESS of Christ" (Eph. 4: 13). Where in the
whole range of the Scriptures can such a position or such a title be found? To this most
high and wondrous calling the Apostle refers in Col. 2: 9, 10:
"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are FILLED TO
THE FULL in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power."
The following comment, by J. Armitage Robinson, D.D., is suggestive:
"We now come to what is perhaps the most remarkable expression in the
whole epistle. It is the phrase in which St. Paul further describes the church,
which he has just declared to be Christ's Body, as `the fullness of Him Who all in
all is being filled'. When the Apostle thus speaks of the church as the Pleroma
or Fullness of Christ, and in the same breath speaks of the Christ as `being
fulfilled', he would appear to mean that, in some mysterious sense, the church is
that without which `the Christ' is not complete, but with which He is or will be
complete . . . . ."