The two Epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians must there- fore be studied side by side. The central truth is the same in both ; the point of view, and therefore tthe range of vision, is slightly different. Dealing with the Colossian danger, the Apostle meets it with the great doctrine of the fulness of Christ. That was the answer to all their questionings as to the relation between God and man, and between God and this material world. "In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." In the Epistle to the Ephesians this fact is presupposed, and the Apostle goes on to argue from it the Church's fulness in Christ. " He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that fiUeth all in all." Mark, again, the climax of his prayer — " that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God." And thus the lessons of the two letters seem to be summed up in the simple but fully reasoned argument of Colossians ii. 9, 19 : "In Christ is all the fulness : ye are in Him : in Him — complete — made full." ^
^ A. Murray, The Full Blessing of Pentecost, 132.
* T. W. Drury, The Prism- Ministry of St. Paul, 154.
EPHESIANS III. 19 197
I.
Filled.
" That ye may be filled." That is to say, Paul's prayer and God's purpose and desire concerning us is, that our whole being may be so saturated and charged with an indwelling Divinity that there shall be no room in our present stature and capacity for more, and no sense of want or aching emptiness.
1. What is it to be filled with God ? It is to have as much of God within us as our nature can contain. How this truth is over- looked. There is a natural tendency on the part of us all to dwell with exquisite delight on the other side of the question, namely, how we are accepted in the Beloved — how we are in Christ ; and, perhaps, we dwell on that thought to the exclusion of this, that not only are we in God, but God is in us ; that, whilst we are accepted in the Beloved, He is pleased to make our heart His abiding rest, His chamber, and His temple. Not only can the believer shout, " Emmanuel, God, with us," he can also say, " Christ, the Lord, within us." We think that a low experience spiritually is a necessity. If you talk to them, there are many who will say, " Well, but is it not rather Utopian to expect, whilst we are on earth, to be full of joy, and to be full of peace, and to be full of triumph ? Do not we carry about with us this body of sin and death, and ought we not to expect much darkness and sorrow of soul, and be very thankful if occasionally we get a few gleams of light ? " This is not in the Word. The teaching of this Book is for us to expect to walk in the light, and when we are not in the light to ask the reason why.
^ We see the river Nile flowing through Egypt in the times of drought, a river indeed, but the bed is not covered or the banks reached, nor is there fertilizing richness deposited in the fields. But later we see the Nile, when the sources are sending abundant supply, and the stream is spreading over all the channel, and the water is even with the banks, and the fields are rejoicing on every side. The Nile is " filled." A heart " filled " ; not merely having here and there a few experiences of the richness of God'a grace, but filled, every part of it, with that grace ! ^
^ J. G. K. McClure, Loyalty the Soul of Religion, 232.
198 OUR HIGH CALLING
^ In his address to Cornelius and his household Peter tells us that " God anointed Jesus of Nazareth " " with the Holy Ghost and with power," that is, with the power of the Holy Ghost. And what next ? What would we expect to follow such a statement but the words we find ? — " Who went about doing good." Filled with this fulness, we cannot do other, it is then our very nature, our very life to go about doing good.^
My Father, can it be
That Thou hast willed
Such an inheritance for me?
That I with all Thy fulness should be filled —
That Thine own Life with all its glorious light,
And love, and purity, and wondrous might,
And depth of grace,
In me should find a dwelling-place?
Is this the hidden thing —
The mystery which long hath slept,
In Thine eternal counsels kept —
That from the source, the everlasting spring,
Thyself, should flow,
Through Thine own Son,
To me, the Life which makes the Head and Body One?
Yea, Thou hast said it, and I know
It is Thy will
Thy temple thus to fill —
To give no less
Than all ! I may possess
The fulness! I may be
Complete in Him by whom I live —