loquendi of the New Testament is not an insuperable objection.
That filleth all in all, τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι, πλη- ρουμένου. This clause, as before remarked, refers to Christ, as the construction obviously demands. The participle πληρουμένου is by almost all commentators assumed to have in this case an active signification. This assumption is justified by the exigency of the place, and by the fact that in common Greek the pas- sive forms of this verb are at times used in an active | sense. That there is no such case in the New Testa- ment, is not therefore a sufficient reason for departing from the ordinary interpretation.
The expression, τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι, all in all, or, all with all, does not mean all the church in all its mem- bers, or with all grace, but the universe in all its parts. There is nothing in the context to restrict or limit τὰ πάντα. The words must have the latitude here which belongs to them in the preceding verses. The analogy of Scripture is in favour of this interpretation. God’s relation to the world, or totality of things external to himself, is elsewhere expressed in the same terms. Jer. 23, 24, “Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.” Comp. 1 Kings 8, 27. Ps. 139, 7. In the New Testament Christ is set forth as creating, sustain- ing, and pervading the universe. Col. 1, 16.17. Heb. 1, 3. Eph. 4, 10. This, therefore, determines the sense in which he is here said to fill all things. It is not that he replenishes all his people with his grace; but that he fills heaven and earth with his presence.