Ephesians 1:23
23 Which [hostis] is [esti] his [autos] body, [soma] the fulness [pleroma] of
him that filleth [pleroo] all [pas] in [en] all. [pas] KJV-Interlinear
23
which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all. NASB
From the previous verse, Christ
is the head, the master, the ruler. The
completed membership of all believers, typically referred to as the church, is
symbolized as the body.
Fullness, ‘pleroma,’ means
that with which anything is filled, the filling up process, the contents used
to do the filling, great number or quantity, overflowing such that the filling
goes beyond the boundaries of that which is being filled.
The second fill, ‘pleroo,’
refers to the actual filling or completion process, making the thing filled
into a whole thing, whereas prior to the filling the thing filled was incomplete
or not filled.
I know, a bit confusing,
but hang in there.
Of Him, is a reference to
Christ, who is the subject of this passage and the default subject of the
entire Bible, for that matter.
All in all, is an
expression that indicates that the source of what is being poured, is the sum
total of what can be filled. And, that which
is being filled, cannot be filled or is incapable of being filled with anything
other than the one and only legitimate source.
Therefore, Christ is the
source of truth. Truth is the only item
that can accomplish a filling or completion.
Nothing else, namely
untruth, lies, evil, worldly opinions, academics, philosophies, religions, human
effort, human sincerity, human convenience, human invention, human innovation,
human ability, human talent, human intellect, and so forth, none of these can
or are even capable of completing the person.
These are like taking two containers empty as in the vacuum of outer
space, and trying to pour an empty first container, into an empty second container
and expecting to fill up the second container.
Something with nothing, pouring nothing, cannot fill up anything.
But Christ is God. In eternity
past, the three members of the Godhead, set forth a divine plan. One of the
members assumed the title of Son of God, the other two members assumed the
titles Father, and Spirit. None of these
titles made any of them different from each other. They are all co-infinite, co-equal and so
forth.
However, arrogance, being
shallow and vain as it is, would not see three members of the Godhead, but would
see three titles and presume an equality with what is viewed as the most high,
namely the Father. Arrogance disregards
the Son and the Spirit, because arrogance presumes that it does not need them
in order to be equal with or better than, the Father.
So the plan of God sets
up a very simply rule, ‘Access to the Father can come only through the Son, and
by means of the Spirit.’ Arrogance
cannot stand rules, especially very simple rules, and so arrogance rebels to
such a great extent that it would sooner destroy itself and all with it, than
to comply with this very simple rule.
God goes even further,
and sets the Son as equal with the written word. There is therefore the living word, namely Christ,
and the written word, namely the scriptures, and when you read and learn and
understand and gain possession of the scriptures, this being done while under
the control of the Spirit, which we call being in fellowship, then you have in
effect gained access to the Father, by means of becoming filled up with
doctrine, or the written Son.
With Christ (the written
word) in you, or literally poured into you by means of your daily learning process,
then you gain possession of that which arrogance desires, but can never have.
An empty you, is
incomplete.
With doctrine in you,
obtained by means of your daily study, then your emptiness is replaced with the
completion of Christ, thus making you complete.
A complete you is useful. An
incomplete you is worthless.
Bible doctrine is all
that stands between an incomplete you, and a complete you. It is just that simple. The question for you is, ‘Will your arrogance
stand in the way of the completion of yourself?’
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