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"No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that
filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse" (Mark 2: 21).
"No man putteth a piece of new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new
maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old"
(Luke 5: 36).
"That which is put in to fill up", is the translation of the Greek pleroma a word of
extreme importance in the epistles, and there translated "fullness". In contrast with this
"fullness" is the word "rent" which in the Greek is schisma. Two words translated "new"
are used. In Matt. 9: 16, and in Mark 2: 21 agnaphos not yet "fulled", or dressed
from gnapheus, a "fuller", and kainos which is used in Luke 5: 36, meaning "newly
made". In place of "put unto" or "put upon" used in Matt. 9: 16 and Luke 5: 36 we
find the word "to sew on" epirrhapto employed in Mark 2: 21. One other word is
suggestive, the word translated "agree" in Luke 5: 36. It is the Greek sumphoneo. Now
as these terms will be referred to in the course of the following exposition, we will take
the present opportunity of enlarging a little on their meaning and relationship here and so
prepare the way.
Pleroma. This word which is derived from pleroo "to fill", occurs seventeen times in
the N.T. Two of these occurrences occur in Matthew and Mark as we have seen, the
remaining fifteen occurrences are found in John's Gospel and in Paul's epistles. It is
noteworthy that the word pleroma, "fullness" is never used in the epistles of the
circumcision. When Peter referred to the problem of the gap suggested by the words
"Where is the promise of His coming?" he referred his readers to the epistles of Paul
who, said he, deals with this matter of longsuffering and apparent postponement and
speaks of these things (II Pet. 3: 15, 16). The word pleroma is used in the Septuagint
some fifteen times. These we will record for the benefit of the reader who may not have
access to that ancient translation. I Chron. 16: 32 "Let the sea roar and the fullness
thereof", so, Psa. 96: 11; 98: 7. "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof"
Psa. 24: 1, and with slight variations Psa. 50: 12; 89: 11. In several passages, the
fullness or "all that is therein" is set over against flood or famine, as in Jer. 8: 16;
47: 2; Ezek. 12: 19; 19: 7 and 30: 12. Some of the words used in the context of
these Septuagint references are too suggestive to be passed over without comment.
Instead of "time of healing" we find "anxiety", the land "quaking", "deadly serpents" and
a "distressed heart" (Jer. 8: 15-18). Again, in Jer. 47: 2 (29: 2 in the LXX) we
have such words of prophetic and age time importance as "an overflowing flood", Greek
katakluzomai, kataklusmos and variants, a word used with dispensational significance in
II Pet. 2: 5 & 3: 6, and preserved in the English cataclysm, a word of similar import to
that which we have translated "the overthrow" of the world. The bearing of II Pet. 3:
on this gap in the outworking of the purpose of the ages, will be given an examination in
this series. In the context of the word "fullness" found in Ezek. 12: 19, we have such
words as "scatter" diaspero, a word used in James 1: 1 and I Pet. 1: 1 of the "dispersed"
or "scattered" tribes of Israel, also the word "waste", which calls up such passages of
prophetic import as Isa. 34: 10, 11 and Jer. 4: 23-27, where the Hebrew words
employed in Gen. 1: 2 are repeated. The pleroma or "fullness" is placed in direct
contrast with desolation, waste, flood, fire and a condition that is "without form and
void".