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and destiny, might be `filled UP TO all the fullness of God'? Whether looked at in Christ
Himself for in the church itself this fullness resides `bodily'--it is the Divinely appointed
vehicle of manifestation, and if the believer fails to respond, so far, on the experimental
plane, will not the manifestation of the Divine fullness be hindered? This matter of the
fullness is so vast that no attempt will be made to deal with it here. Some attention has
been paid to the theme both in a series of articles now commencing in The Berean
Expositor and already published in the Alphabetical Analysis under the heading The
Pleroma. There we realize that the term covers the purpose of the ages, and that no other
company of the redeemed occupy so exalted a position in this purpose as `the church
which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all'. With this third petition, the
prayer of Eph. 3: reaches its summit, Paul like David could say, the prayers of Paul the
apostle `are ended'. Only the doxology remains, and in that doxology we shall find
gathered expressions that will indicate some further associations in the glory of this
highly favoured church. These doxologies that appear in the epistles of Paul, were no
mere ejaculations that, while being genuine expressions of praise and worship, submit to
no analysis and need not be given too serious a consideration. They form a part of all
Scripture and have their place just as much as any purely doctrinal, dispensational or
practical affirmation. The order of Paul's epistles may never be satisfactorily settled so
far as the exact place of each individual epistle is concerned, but there is practical
unanimity regarding the chronological order of those epistles which contain doxologies,
and se set them out as follows:
"Blessed be God . . . . . Who comforteth us." (II Cor. 1: 3, 4).
"God . . . . . blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not." (II Cor. 11: 31).
"The Creator, Who is blessed for ever." (Rom. 1: 25).
"Christ, Who is over all, God blessed for ever." (Rom. 9: 5).
"For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: To Whom be glory
for ever. Amen." (Rom. 11: 33-36).
"To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen." (Rom. 16: 27).
"Blessed be God . . . . . Who hath blessed us." (Eph. 1: 3).
"Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all generations, world
without end. Amen." (Eph. 3: 21).
"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and
glory for ever and ever. Amen." (I Tim. 1: 17).
"King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, Who only hath immortality . . . . . Whom no man
. . . . . can see, to Whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen." (I Tim. 6: 15, 16).
We have not listed the occasions when the Apostle breaks his narrative to say "I thank
God" or some such expression, but the following passages should be noted (Rom. 1: 8;
7: 25; I Cor. 1: 4, 14; 14: 18; Phil. 1: 3; Col. 1: 3, 12; 3: 17; I Thess. 1: 2; 2: 13;
II Thess. 1: 3; Philemon 4). It will be discovered that a careful examination of these
ten doxologies gather up into themselves much of the doctrine that precedes or follows
them, and one example here must suffice. The central feature of I Timothy is the
"Mystery of Godliness". God manifest in the flesh . . . . . seen of angels. The doxologies
of chapters 1: and 6: emphasize among other things (1) God's "invisibility", (2) that
what is attributed in chapter 1: to "God" is attributed in chapter 6: to Christ, for He is
"King of kings and Lord of lords". The following abbreviated structure may exhibit the
relationship of these two doxologies to the teaching of the epistle as a whole.