Pleroma

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Pleroma . The transliteration of a Gr. word which is generally rendered ‘ fulness ’ in the NT. plçrôma is derived from the verb plçroun , which means either ( a ) ‘to fill ,’ or ( b ) ‘to fill up,’ hence ‘to fulfil.’ The corresponding meanings of the noun are ( a ) ‘fulness,’ ( b ) ‘fulfilment.’

1 . pleroma = ‘that which fills.’ The word has this meaning in the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] version of   Psalms 24:1 (cf. LXX [Note: Septuagint.]   Ezekiel 5:2 ,   Daniel 10:3 ) quoted in   1 Corinthians 10:26 ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof’; also in   Mark 6:48 (cf.   Mark 8:20 ), where the fragments of the loaves are described as amounting to ‘the fillings of twelve baskets.’

2. pleroma = ‘that which fills up.’ The word has this meaning in   Mark 2:21 (cf.   Matthew 9:18 ) which refers to the effect of sewing a piece of undressed cloth on a worn garment: ‘That which should fill it up (to plçrôma ) taketh from it, the new from the old, and a worse rent is made.’ Lightfoot says the patch ‘must be calied’ the plçrôma ’ not because it fills the hole, but because it is itself fulness or full measure as regards the defect.’ His paraphrase is ‘the completeness takes away from the garment, the new completeness of the old garment ’ ( Com. on Col ., Note on ‘The meaning of plçrôma ’). The obscurity of this statement is removed by the active interpretation; the supplementary ‘unfulled’ patch takes away from the original garment. The new piece used to fill up the rent’ tears itself away by contraction when wetted, taking a part of the old garment along with it’ (Bruce, EGT [Note: Expositor’s Greek Testament.] i. 153).

To this section belong: ( a )   Romans 13:10 , which contrasts partial fulfilment of the Law, secured by obedience to this or that commandment, with love’s complete filling up of the measure of neighbourly duty. ( b )   Romans 11:12 , which contrasts the enriching of the Gentiles through Israel’s loss with what Dr. Armitage Robinson ( Com. on Eph .) happily describes as ‘wealth in store for them in the great Return, when all Israel shall be saved “when God hath made the pile complete!” ’ ( c )   Romans 11:25 , in which the coming in of ‘the fulness of the Gentiles’ refers to the completing of their whole number. The same idea is expressed in the phrase ‘the fulness of the seasons’ (  Ephesians 1:10 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.]; cf. ‘the fulness of the time,’   Galatians 4:4 ).

3. pleroma = ‘that which is filled,’ or ‘that which is filled up.’ In its passive use plçrôma means ‘plenitude,’ whether fulness is contrasted with incompleteness or with emptiness. As the plenipotentiary of Christ, St. Paul (  Romans 15:29 ) is confident that he will come to Rome ‘in the fulness of the blessing of Christ.’

Six important passages remain; they may be classified according as ‘the plenitude Divine’ is said to be ( a ) in Christ, ( b ) imparted by Christ to His Church, ( c ) imparted to believers.

( a ) In   Colossians 2:9 St. Paul declares that in Christ ‘dweileth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’ The assertion ‘negatives the Alexandrian “philosophy” with its cloud of mediating angei-powers and spiritual emanations’ (Findlay, Pulpit Com., in loc .). The defining phrase ‘of the Godhead’ is not found in   Colossians 1:19 , which bases the pre-eminence of Christ on the indwelling in Him of ‘all the fulness.’ Instead of making this expression identical in meaning with the more definite statement in   Colossians 2:9 , it is better with Meyer ( Com., in loc .) to expound pleroma as referring to ‘the whole treasure of Divine grace’ with which the Son of God was endowed. A suggestive parallel to these Pauline sayings is furnished by   John 1:16 , ‘of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace.’ The fulness is ours, if we are Christ’s. ‘In him,’ says St. Paul (  Colossians 2:10 ), ‘ye are made full.’

( b ) In   Ephesians 1:23 it is probable that St. Paul describes the Church as ‘the fulness of him that filleth all in all.’ The main thought is what Christ is to the Church; He is its Head and in Him it is complete. Dr. Armitage Robinson ( op. cit .) regards the Church as ‘the fulfilment of the Christ who, all in all, is being fulfilled.’ According to this interpretation the main thought is what the Church is to Christ. Moreover, the adverbial phrase ‘all in all’ seems inadequate to express the meaning of the emphatic assertion: He filleth ‘the all with all things.’ The objection to the active rendering of the verb ( plçroumenou ), which is middle or passive, does not apply to Dr. Salmond’s exposition of the reflexive middle: it conveys ‘the idea of filling the totality of things for Himself ( EGT [Note: Expositor’s Greek Testament.] iii. 281).

( c ) To individual believers as well as to His Church Christ imparts the plenitude of His grace.   Ephesians 4:13 gives the measure of the stature of the ‘full grown’ Christian; it is nothing less than the fulness which belongs to Christ, by which is meant ‘the full possession on our side of that which Christ has to impart the embodiment in us, the members, of the graces and qualities which are in Him the Head’ (Salmond, EGT [Note: Expositor’s Greek Testament.] iii. 333). An earlier passage in this Epistle (  Ephesians 3:16 ff.) teaches that this exalted ideal may be attained. When, as the result of the Holy Spirit’s inward strengthening, Christ dweils within the heart, and His knowledge-surpassing love is known, the only limit to spiritual excellence is’ to be filled unto all the fulness of God.’

J. G. Tasker.

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

See Fulness.