Grace and Truth
Bible Ministries

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