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Pleroma Tou Theos
Paul's prayer for believers to have capacity from Bible Doctrine in their souls
so they could be filled full by God.
In the context of our study of the mandate for believer's prayer in the PPOG. .
Phil 4:6; 1Thes 5:17;
We are now considering Paul's prayer request the believers come to the place
where they could be"filled up with the fullness of God" found in Eph
3:19; as part of Paul's intercessory prayer for believers to be empowered to
advance in the Spiritual life. Eph 3:16-19;
We have looked at the Doctrinal Content that a believer would have in their
soul which would enable this to occur.
The final clause in verse 19, "to be filled with all the fullness of
God," contains no result clause, instead Paul praises God regarding this
ultimate result with his closing Praise for God. (Doxology) in Eph 3:20-21;
Eph 3:19; (expanded translation ) and {te} to come to know {intelligent
comprehension of} the surpassing gnosis/knowledge agape/love which belongs to
the Christ in order that you might be filled up to all the fullness (SuperGrace
blessings) from the source of the God (pleroma tou Theou)
Paul's prayer is for the believer's total spiritual maturation which requires
that believers are completely filled up with personal knowledge of the Son of
God Eph 4:13;, understood in the power of the Spirit of truth John 16:13-14;
Eph 4:21, 23; and the grace apparatus for spintual perception G.A.S.P.; by
which believers comprehend the Word of God.... the mind of TLJC.
To know the Son is to love Him. To know His love is to respond with love and
gratitude. The key feature of this surpassing knowledge that leads to pleroma
is occupation with Christ.
With Christ in preeminence in the believer's thinking believers are free to
enjoy all of the blessings that accrue courtesy of Him.
The knowledge of Christ's love is the knowledge of Christ Jesus both as the Subject
and Object of love.
This love that "surpasses knowledge" is illustrated by Job's
statement after he passed through the final exam that delivered him to his own
personal "pleroma."
where He acknowledged: "I've heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but
now my eye sees You." Job 42:5-6; Net note 6 Job now had a more complete
understanding of God in the eyes of his heart where spiritual perception
occurs.
The Grace Apparatus for Spiritual Perception (GASP) given to all believers by
God's grace at the moment of their salvation enables believers to be
enlightened so that they know
"what is the hope of His calling,
what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe Eph
1:18-19;"
and that, "from God the Father's glorious, unlimited resources He would
give us powerful inner strength through His Holy Spirit to know experientiaily,
the love of Christ that surpasses natural means for knowing, so that we'd be
filled " pleroo"; with all the fullness "pteroma"; that God
has to give us Eph 3:19;
This knowledge that is beyond knosis which leads to pleroma is epignosis.
Epignosis is full consciousness. !t is accurate knowledge. It is a complete
awareness.
Epignosis is a personally owned realization that comes to the believer from
spiritual illumination and a supernatural mode of perception... the grace
apparatus for spiritual perception GASP;
Epignosis is experiential doctrinal knowledge that has been thought about, believed
and appreciated under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit.
In this case that knowledge "gnosis" which is beyond knowledge
"epignosis" is of the the love of Christ for every believer.
This knowledge is available to anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ the
Son of God.
Eph 3:19b;
The word translated filled is the aorist passive subjunctive of (
πληρόω Pleroo.)
PLEROO
Pleroo is described as all of the following:
1. To fill up a deficiency. At salvation we are deficient of doctrine.
2. To fully possess. The believer must be fully possessed by the Holy Spirit
and Bible doctrine before he can be fully possessed by the blessings of
maturity.
3. To fully influence. The believer is fully influenced by Bible doctrine so
that he can have capacity for blessing.
4. To fill with a certain quality. Doctrine is the highest quality with which
the believer can be filled.
Pleroma is all of the following:
1. Complete in itself. 2. Complete in quota. 3. Complete in quality. 4.
Complete in duration.
This pleroma that is a condition of compete blessedness Job 42:10-17; Rom
15:29; that accompanies the believer in Christ who has come to the full and
accurate knowledge and awareness of the Reality that is exemplified and
personified in TLJC God's Anointed.
The state or condition of pleroma, which is the most developed experiential
status in Christ, is reached by the believer who continually "grows in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ 2Peter 3:18; and
who has received understanding from God the Holy Spirit. 2Tim 2:7;
On the way to pleroma the advancing believer will encounter various tests which
are designed to accelerate the believer's momentum in the spiritual life. James
1:2;
In these tests, the believer is advised to "let perseverance finish its
work so that you may be mature and entire, lacking nothing James 1:4;... the
word translated endurance in this passage in the NASB is
(ὑπομονή (hypomonē) which means
endurance or perserverance or patience)
The process that leads to the believer's very own personal pleroma is
continuity in the PMA of bible doctrine in the power of God in the pressure of
adversity.
This process of testng is indispensable Luke 21:10-19; Rom 2:7; Heb 10:36;
The understanding of Gods mystery which is Christ Himself Col 1:26-27; Col
2:2-3; as He is re-presented in the Church Age Rom 16:25-27; comes by His Word
and His Spirit.
Believers advance to pleroma by "holding the Head, of the Body, TLJC Eph
4:14-16; and thereby maintaining contact with the thinking of the head of the
Body of Christ of which we are all individual members. 1Cor 12:27;
The key feature of the state of pleroma is occupation with Christ Phil 1:21;,
In the believer whose thinking is occupied with Christ, Jesus is the Object,
not only of the believer's faith, but of the believer's concentration Phil
1:20-21; Hebrews 12:3; the believer's confident expectation of divine good
(hope) 1 Tim 1:1; Col 1:27;, and the believer's love Eph 6:24;.
Christ Jesus who is our Hope 1 Tim 1:1;.is the inner initiator of our
"hope of glorification" Col 1:27; cp. Rom 5:2b; Rom 8:29-30; Phil
3:20-21; Col 3:4: 2 Thes 1:12; Heb 2:10; 1 John 3:2;
And in pleroma, we love Him because we've come to know such that we are etirely
filled with the love of Christ that surpasses "Gnosis." This is the
complete awareness of His Person and the complete assurance that nothing can
separate the believer from Him Heb 13:5; or His love for the believer. Rom
8:35-39
It is this entire awareness that keeps believers in "perfect peace" Isaiah
26:3; even if they are tested with privation or anguish, or persecution, or
lack of food and clothing, or "terrorism", war, or tyranny.
Paul's prayer is for believers through the PMA of Bible Doctrine to advance out
of the experiential stage of fear and slavery to the kosmos and into the
experiential stage of love, heirship and sonship where there is liberty and
spiritual freedom and where the believer is reigning in life in pleroma.
To become spiritually mature, believers have to get beyond 'gnosis' knowledge
to epignosis knowledge which belongs to Jesus - the mind of Christ - Bible
doctrine.
Once believers have permitted God to build the 'cup" or" edification
complex' in the soul', then God can fill up that cup. God pours and believers
are blessed.
God through Christ, by means of the Spirit, is "pouring Himself and the
manifestation of His presence" into the church.
Paul's prayer is a request for believers to experience the love of God in
Christ so deeply that Christ resides in and directs their lives which means
that the believer's life reflects the presence and attributes of God.
The concluding doxology in Paul's prayer in Eph 3:20-21 focuses on God's power,
whereby he is making available the power to transform believers in ways that
are beyond their imagination.
Paul establishes believers in God's saving work through Christ, Eph 2:5 As
children of light Eph 5:9 as the new spiritual species created by God 2Cor
5:17;, and as recipients of the work which God does in them. Eph 2:10;
Only in the fullness of Christ manifested and magnified in believers is the
power for a life of truth and love possible, Eph 4:13; cf .Eph 4:24;
© Copyright 2007, Michael Lemmon Bible Ministries. World Rights
Reserved. This document was created on 3/11/2007