Archive for the ‘Replete (Adjective) – The Fullness’ Category

REPLETE (Adjective)

Posted: May 26, 2014 in Going Deeper - Hebrew and Greek Word Study Posts, Replete (Adjective) - The Fullness
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May 12, 2014

By Amy Hartmann

The Mystery

The Fullness is a concept I first became aware of while listening to an IHOP (1) song in early 2011.  “You move and we want more…You speak and we want more…You move and we want more, we want the fullness…”(2)

For some reason, this line of the song perplexed me.  My mind began to puzzle over these words, trying to figure out exactly what the fullness meant.  It was only during a critical time in my life where I was completely broken, exhausted and emptied by life’s trials, that I began to see the real necessity of such a cry.

Around the same time, I was reading aloud Colossians Chapter 2.  I came across this passage: “In Christ, all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form…and you’ve been given fullness…” (3)  The Interlinear Bible, [a word for word Greek-into-English text translation], gives this rendering: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and having been filled, you are in Him, who is the Head of all rule and authority.” (4)  The Greek word referenced here is Strong’s number G#4138 pleroma (play-ro-mah) – repletion or completion; what fills, as in the contents, supplement, copiousness, multitude…(5)  Pleroma is from the root word, G#4137 pleroo (play-ro-o); to make replete, literally to cram; level up; figuratively to furnish, satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task); accomplish, fulfill; fully preach, perfect, supply.(6)

In other words, this Heavenly Substance is doing the filling, of the vessel needing to be filled (me). Image

Paul calls this a mystery.(7)  It was my state of brokenness that opened up this mystery to me. The hard and difficult times in life temper us, just as fire forges raw ore into useable metal. The trials of life forge us and shape us into real people.  We seem to think that the seasons of public acclaim and acceptance are the ones that make us great, but the writer of Proverbs says man is tested by the praise he receives.(8)  We can’t always choose the trials, but we can choose how we will respond – whether we will be a vessel for honor or dishonor.(9)

Jesus experienced heavenly validation when He was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptizer. The heavens opened, God verbally spoke and said, “You are My Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.”(10)  Matthew, Mark and Luke all write that after this experience, Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  Bible historians generally agree the book of Mark was written first.  Mark says “…at once the Spirit impelled Him to go into the wilderness [G#1544 ekballo – to eject, expel, drive, cast forth].(11)  So much for heavenly validation… selah!

For 40 days Jesus stayed in that place, fasting, responding with God’s words to every taunting and humiliating challenge the devil offered up.  Hungry and thirsty, He lay aside His deity and learned humility and obedience as He waited on Holy Spirit to lead Him out of the empty wasteland.  The Apostle Paul explains the depth of humility and emptiness Jesus experienced when he says:  “Let this mind or attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. And being made in human likeness…humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even the death of the cross.”(12)

The Supremacy

The Apostle Paul says some other amazing things about the Supremacy of Christ, in the letter to the church at Colossae(13):

1. Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
2. He is the firstborn of all creation.
3. By Him all things were created – things in the heaven and on earth – visible and invisible – whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities.
4. All things were created by Him and for Him.
5. He is before all things and in Him all things hold together (i.e. the God Particle; the dark matter or invisible substance which holds all seen sub-atomic matter together, a substance diligently being studied out by the scientists at the Hadron Collider in Cern, Switzerland, and the Fermi-lab Reactor here in Illinois). (14)
6. He is the head of the Body (the Church).
7. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.
8. MOST IMPORTANTLY: God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus; and through Jesus to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His (Jesus) blood, shed on the cross.

The fullness, here, represents all of God’s power and ability.  Once my radar was tuned into this concept, I began to study out my original perplexity.  I saw this subject show up again in Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus.  “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.” (15)

Here was another clue: the New Testament form of love [Greek #26; agape] (16), poured out into our hearts by a form of love straight from God (17), produced the needed power in us to even grasp the magnitude of this concept.  The Greek concordance used an unfamiliar word to describe the results of this power: REPLETE: Abundantly supplied, abounding; filled to satiation; gorged.  From the Latin word, repletus.(18)

The Model

Going back to the passage in Philippians 2:7, to be completely full, we must be completely empty; empty of our own pride, self sufficiency and personal agendas.  Jesus emptied Himself.  He became nothing.  Jesus was completely in tune with the full time direction of the Holy Spirit.  He remained empty of His own agenda, motivation, will, sufficiency and purpose.  HE laid down His equality with God.

Being empty does not mean not caring about our work or our responsibilities.  It does not mean we are to be lifeless and shiftless.  It means we lay down the selfishness in our motivations and we begin to see others – and love others – as we love ourselves.  I realize my own inablilty to be empty.  My simple prayer is that I am willing to be willing.  I daily proclaim the scriptures aloud to myself and my circumstances. These letters – Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians – happen to be some of my most encouraging personal self motivations. The more I read them, the more I marvel at the original mystery: Christ in me, the hope of glory.(19)

End-notes:

  1. IHOP – The International House of Prayer – in Kansas City, Missouri. IHOP is a 24/7 worship and prayer center fulfilling the promise of the restored Tent of David in Isaiah 16:5. IHOP prayer centers are now all over the world , offering 24 hour a day, 7 day week prayer and worship to God as referenced in Acts 15:16.
  2. Ashbury, Cory, “Shekinah Glory”‘; copyright 2010.
  3. Colossians 2:9-10; “The Comparative Study Bible – The New International Version”; copyright 1999; Zondervan Publishers; Grand Rapids, MI; page 3031.
  4. Colossians 2:9-10; Green, Jay P. Sr.; “The Interlinear Bible; Hebrew, Greek, English, Volume IV, The New Testament”; copyright 1976 Jay P Green, Sr.; Sovereign Grace Publishers; Lafayette, IN; pages 617-618.
  5. Pleroma; Greek Number 4138; Strong, James, “The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible”; copyright 1995, 1996; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; page 72.
  6. Pleroo; Greek Number 4137; ibid; page 72.
  7. Colossians 1:27; ibid, page 3029.
  8. Proverbs 27:21; ibid, page 1655.
  9. II Timothy 2:21; ibid; page 3071.
  10. Luke 3:21-22; ibid; page 2597.
  11. Mark 1:12; ibid; page 2523; and ekballo – Greek number 1544; Strong, James, “The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible”; copyright 1995, 1996; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; page 27.
  12. Philippians 2:5-11; ibid, pages 3017-3019.
  13. Colossians 1:15-20; “The Comparative Study Bible – The New International Version”; copyright 1999; Zondervan Publishers; Grand Rapids, MI; pages 3027-3029.
  14. Rincon, Paul; “US Sees Stronger Hints of Higgs”; http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18677808; first accessed July 2, 2012.
  15. Ephesians 3:17-19; “The Comparative Study Bible – The New International Version”; copyright 1999; Zondervan Publishers; Grand Rapids, MI; page 3005.
  16. Agape; Greek Number 26; Strong, James, “The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible”; copyright 1995, 1996; Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; page 1.
  17. Romans 5:5; The Comparative Study Bible – The New International Version”; copyright 1999; Zondervan Publishers; Grand
  18. Replete: The American Heritage Dictionary – Third Edition; copyright 1994; Houghton Mifflin Company; Boston, MA; Page 699.
  19. Colossians 1:27; “The Comparative Study Bible – The New International Version”; copyright 1999; Zondervan Publishers; Grand Rapids, MI; page 3029.