Sunday, April 30, 2023

Constantine R. Campbell on Ephesians 1:23

  

But in what sense is the church the fullness of Christ? There is little in the immediate context to shed much light on it. However, Col 1:19, 2:9-10 claims that the entirety of God's fullness dwells in Christ, and Christ fills his people. Thus, the fullness of Christ in his body the church most likely refers to the fullness of the deity living in them (cf. Eph 3:19). Markus Barth points to the Old Testament concepts of the shekina (glorious presence), the spirit or wisdom of God for understanding the fullness of God dwelling in his people. The glory of God fills the house of God and the whole earth (Jer 4:12; cf. 23:23-24; Pss 48:10; 119:64), and "God's presence and manifestation are always described by a form of the verb 'to fill' or by the adjective 'full.'" (Barth, 203-4) As such, Barth rightly concludes that the "fullness" in Christ "manes no less than God's presence and operation in Christ; the dwelling of Christ in the saints is to be identified with Christ's full and real presence in his body, the church." (Barth, 205)

 

While Christ fills all reality with his reconciling presence (cf. 1:10), so the church is the ultimate expression of his fullness—God dwells within Christ who dwells within his body. Moreover, as the fullness of Christ, the church gives expression to his presence in the world. That is, the church is so filled by Christ that he has a tangible presence on earth through it, even while he is himself the filling power of the universe. In that sense, the two arenas of his fullness parallel that of the glory of God which fills the house of God specifically and the whole earth generally (Jer 4:12). (Constantine R. Campbell, The Letter to the Ephesians [The Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023], 80)