Answer: The church is Jesus' body, the fullness
of Him Who fills everything in every way, (verse 23).
MORE INFORMATION AND/OR OTHER SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:
The church
is Jesus' body:
1 Corinthians 12:27: "Now you are
the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of
it."
The church
is the fullness of Him:
John 1:16: "From the fullness of
His grace we have all received one blessing after
another."
The church
is the fullness of Him Who fills everything in every way:
Ephesians 3:16-19: "I pray that out
of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His
Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts
through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in
love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how
wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know
this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled
to the measure of all the fullness of God."
The
following concerning the church being the body of
Jesus is taken from Word Meanings in the New Testament by
Ralph Earle:
The word soma was used by Homer (about ninth century
B.C.) for a dead body. But beginning with Hesiod
(eighth century B.C.) it came to be employed for living
bodies, whether of animals or men. Metaphorically it is
"used of a (large or small) number of men united into one
society, or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body; so
in the New Testament of the church" (Thayer, p. 611).
Concerning the significance of the church as the body of
Christ, Alford writes: "He is its head; from Him comes
its life; in Him, it is exalted; in it, He is lived forth and
witnessed to; He possesses nothing for Himself, neither His
communion nor His glorified humanity, but all for His church"
(3:86).
Salmond points out the implication of the "body"
in this way: "The relation between Christ and the
church, therefore, is not an external relation, or simply one of
Superior and inferior, Sovereign and subject, but one of life and
incorporation" (EGT, 3:281). The church is "the
instrument also by which He works" (ibid.). The
last sentence is a very solemnizing thought.
Edie points out a bit more specifically some further
implications. He says: "There is first a
connection of life: if the head be dissevered the body
dies. The life of the church springs from its union to Christ
by the Spirit, and if any member or community be separated from
Christ, it dies. There is also a connection of mind:
the purposes of the head are wrought out by the corporeal
organs--the tongue that speaks, or the foot that moves.
The church should have no purpose but Christ's glory, and no
work but the performance of His commands. There is at the
same time a connection of power: the organs have no faculty
of self-motion, but move as they are directed by the governing
principle within [Christ, the head]... Energy to do
good, to move forward in spiritual contest and victory, and to
exhibit aggressive influence against evil, is all derived from
union with Christ. There is, [finally], a connection of
sympathy. The pain or disorder of the smallest nerve or fibre
[fiber] vibrates to the Head, and there it is felt. Jesus has
not only cognizance of us, but He has a fellow-feeling with us in
all our infirmities and trials (pp. 107-8)."
The trouble with most Christians is that they live--in
their conscious thoughts and feelings--too much in isolation
from Christ, the head.
The
following are some comments concerning "the fullness of Him
Who fills everything in every way," taken from Word
Meanings in the New Testament by Ralph Earle:
The word for "fullness" in the original Greek is
pleroma. It comes from the verb pleroo, which
means "fill, make full, fill to the full." Thus,
pleroma is "the result of the action involved in
pleroo." So, in a passive sense, pleroma
is "that which has been completed, complement, plentitude,
fullness" [Abbott-Smith].
Arndt and Gingrich define pleroma as "that which
is full of something."
Alford agrees with the above, as he says: "Here,
the simple and primary meaning is by far the
best,--"the thing filled,'--"the
filled up receptacle'...the meaning being,
that the church being the Body of Christ, is dwelt in and filled by
God: it is His pleroma [His filled up receptacle] in an
especial manner--His fullness abides in it, and is exemplified
by it."
Eadie writes: "The word [pleroma], we
apprehend, is rightly taken in a passive sense--that which is
filled up." And then he concludes: "So the
church is named pleroma, or fulness, because it holds or
contains the fullness of Christ."
Salmond says: "Hence pleroma is to be
taken in the passive sense here, as is done by most commentators
and the idea is that the church is not only Christ's body but
that which is filled by Him." After
comparing this usage with the similar one in Colossians, he
concludes: "here the conception is that this plentitude
of the divine powers and qualities, which is in Christ, is imparted
by Him to His church, so that the latter [the church] is pervaded
by His presence, animated by His life, filled with His gifts and
energies and graces."
Lightfoot comments concerning pleroma: "It
is that plenitude of Divine graces and virtues which is
communicated through Christ to the church as His body. The
church, as ideally regarded...becomes in a manner
identified with Him. All the Divine graces which reside in
Him are imparted to her; His "fulness" is communicated
to her: and thus she may be said to be His pleroma [the
receptacle filled up by Him--that which contains His fullness
as He is the fullness of God].
The above becomes abundantly clear when we remember that we,
individual members of the body of Christ, are to be clothed with
Christ (Galatians 3:27; Romans 13:14),
have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), wear
the Name of Christ (1 Peter 4:14-16), do the Will of
Christ/God (Ephesians 6:6-8; Colossians
4:12), are alive only in Christ (Romans 6:11;
Romans 8:9-11; Ephesians 2:1-5;
Colossians 2:13), etc.
