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honour which is placed upon the Church of the One Body, the other the peculiar position
of Christ during this dispensation of the Mystery. The first passage is in Eph. 1:, and the
fact that it follows a quotation from Psa. 8:, proves that it is intentionally linked with
the consummation of I Cor. 15:
"And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to
the church which is His Body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all" (Eph. 1: 22, 23).
Christ at the moment has not been given Head over all things without restriction or
limits. For that He is still `expecting' till His foes be made His footstool. He has been
given as Head over all things TO THE CHURCH, so that what He will be in the final
and fullest sense, He is already in the more limited sense. The Church thus foreshadows
the end.
"The church . . . . . the Body . . . . . the fullness of Him."
Here we read two titles of the Church of the present dispensation. During the period
of its formation it is called "The Body", but when every member has been called and
quickened, its title changes; it will then be "the fullness of Him that filleth all in all".
Consequently the more we understand the constitution of this church, and its relation with
the Head, the more we shall understand `the end' or goal to which all redemptive
processes move. In Col. 2: we are not taken back to Psa. 8: where all things were
put under His feet, but to Adam who was created in the image of God. Inasmuch as
Psa. 8: also looks back to Adam the first man, and forward to Christ as the second Man
and the last Adam, the passage in Colossians falls into line with Eph. 1: 22, 23.
"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of
Him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all and in all"
(Col. 3: 10, 11).
Here the Greek reads:
Alla
ta panta
kai en pasi
Christos
But
the all
and
in all
Christ
In this passage the one unifying `image' sets aside the conflicting differences of Jew
and Greek, bond and free; these like `all rule' authority and power are set aside in the
higher unity of the Spirit. Human knowledge, being exceedingly limited, cannot expect
to comprehend what the first term `all' in I Cor. 15: 28 can mean; we must leave the
answer to the coming day of glory, but we should be able to envisage the extent and
character of the second `all'. Does this passage teach Universalism? Does the word `all'
here embrace every one that has ever lived, including not only men, but angels and
demons, wheat and tares, saved and lost? Yes say some, No say others; our quest
therefore must be "What saith the Scriptures?".