Rev. John Skinner, RI.A., D.D., Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis in Westminster College, Cambridge.
Rev. George Adam S.mith, M.A., D.D., LL.D., Professor of Hebrew in the United Free Church College, Glasgow.
Rev. Vincent Henry Stanton, M.A., D.D., Fellow of Trinity College, and Ely Professor of Divinity in the University of Cam- bridge.
John F. Stknning, M.A., Fellow and Lecturer in Hebrew and Theology, Wadham College, Oxford.
Rev. George Barker Stevens, Ph.D., D.D., Dwight Professor of Systematic Theology in Yale University.
Rev. W. li. Stevenson, M.A., 15. D., Professor of Jlebrew and Old Testament Introduction in the Theological College, liala.
St. George Stock, M.A., Pembroke College, Oxford.
Rev. James Strachan, M.A, St. Fergus.
Hermann L. Strack, Ph.D., D.D., Professor of Theology in the University of llerlin.
Rev. John Taylor, U.A., Litt.D., Vicar of Winchcombe.
Henry St. John Thackeray, M.A., Examiner in the Board of Education, formerly Divinity Lecturer in Selwyn College, Cambridge.
Rev. Thomas Walker, M.A., Professor of Hebrew in the Assembly's College, Belfast.
Rev. B. B. Warfield, M.A., D.D., Professor of Theology in Princeton University.
Lieut.-General Sir Charles Warren, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., F.R.S., Royal Engineers.
Rev. Adam C. AVelch, M.A., B.D., Glasgow.
The late Rev. HENRY AlcoCK White, M. A., Tutor in tlie University of Durham, and formerly Fellow of New College, Oxford.
Rev. H. J. White, M.A., Fellow and Chaplain of Merton College, Oxford.
Rev. Newport J. D.White, M. A., B.D., Librarian of Archbisliop Marsli's Library, and Assistant Lecturer in Divinity and Hebrew in tlie University of Dublin.
Rev. Owen C. Whitehouse, M.A., D.D., Prin- cipal and Professor of Biblical Exegesis and Tlieulogy in Cbeslmnt College.
Rev. A. Lukvn Williams, M.A., Vicar of Guilden Morden and Examining Chaplain to the Bisli"p of Durham.
Lieut.-General Sir CHARLES William Wilson, K.i:., K.C.IJ., K.C.M.G., D.C.L., LL.D., F.U.S.
Rev. Francis Henry Woods, M.A., B.D., Vicar of Chalfont St. Peter, and late Fellow and Theological Lecturer of St. John's College, Oxford.
Rev. John Wortabet, M.A., M.D., Beyrout, Syria.
VOL. IV. Map 7.
'Ti» £^bur^ Oeo^^iual luaiiiiit*
DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE
PLEROMA {irK-fipuiui ; Lat. plenitudo, supple- mcntiiiii. plrromn; AVand RV 'fulness'). — A word of common Greek usage, which is raised to a semi- technical meaning in relation to God in certain books of the NT connected with Asia Minor (Ephe- sians, Colossians, John (prol.)). This meaning may have been given to it first by St. Paul ; but his absolute use of it in Col 1'", without any explanation added, suggests that it was already in use anion" the fal.se teachers against whom he is writing. Lightfoot conjectures that it had a Palestinian origin, representing the Hebrew kSd.
The word it.self is a relative term, capable of m.any shades of meaning, according to the subject with which it is joined and the antithesis to which it is contrasted. It denotes the result of the action of the verb irXrjpovv ; but TX-npoCv is either (a) to fill up an empty thing (e.jr. Mt 13^), or {/>) to com- plete an incomplete thing {e.ff. Mt 5") ; and the verbal substantive in -/ta may express either (1) the objective accusative after the verb, 'the thing tilled or completed,' or (2) the cognate accusative, ' the state of fulness or completion, the fulfilment, the full amount,' resulting from the action of the verb (Ko Il'= 13'» 15^, 1 Co 10=«). It may em- phasize totality in contrast to its constituent parts; or fulness in contrast to emptiness (Wmj^o); or completeness in contra.st to incompleteness or deficiency (iKrHprum Col 1", 2 Co 1 1", iJTTTjMa Ko 11"). A further ambiguity ari.ses when it is joined with a genitive, which may be either subjective or objective, the fulness which one thing gives to another, or th.it which it receives from another.
In its semi-technical application it is applied
Frimarilj- to the perfection of God, the fulness of lis Being, ' the aggregate of the Divine attributes, virtues, energies' ; this is used quite absolutely in C'ol 1'" {(V avrtfj evdoKrjafif irdv t6 nXripujfjLa, KaroiKrijai), liut further defined (llaSTraKTd TXrjpu/xa tjjs flfdrTjTos, 'the whole completeness of the Divine nature.' in Col 2", (2) as iroK t6 vXr/piJiia. toD OcoO, 'the whole (moral) perfection which is characteristic of God,' in Kph 3". Secondarily, this same TrX-qpu/jia is transfencd to Christ ; it was embodied periiia- ncnlly in Him at the Incarnation (Col 1'") ; it still dwells permanently in His glorified Dody, ir ainif KaroiKfl tTwfiartKws (Col 2") ; it is t6 irX-Qpu^o. tov Xpi<rrov (Eph 4'"), the complete, moral, and intel- lectual jierfection to which Christians as|iire and with which they are filled (Eph 4'», Col 2" iari iv airn^ Tr(Tr\7]pu^voL. Cf. .Jn I'" ^atoC irXT^pw^iaTos aiVoD itfiih irdfTts iXi^oiiev, where n-Xr)pu^ is tlie state of Him who is vX-qpri^ x'^P^''"^ *"' a\r\0das, 1", cf. Lk 2*" trXi^poeyuccov coipiai). This indwelling emphasizes vou IV. — I
tlie completeness with which the Son represents the Father ; it is the fulness of life which makes Him the representative, without other intermediary agencies, and ruler of the whole universe ; ami it is the fulness of moral and intellectual perfection which is communicable through Him to man ; it is consistent with a fjradual growth of human faculties (Lk 2'"), theretore with the phrase iairrbv iK(vui7ev of Ph 2', which is perhaps intended as a deliberate contrast to it [Keno.sls]. One further application of the phrase is made in Eph 1^, where it 13 used of the Ciiurch, tA irXijpoj/ra tov t4 irat/Ta iv Taaiv rXripovnivov. Here the genitive is perhaps subjective — the fulness of Christ, His full embodi- ment, that fulness which He supplies to the Church — emphasizing the thoroughness with which the Church is the receptacle of His powers and represents Him on earth. The analogy of the other u.ses of the word with the genitive of the person (Eph 3" 4"), and the stress throughout these books on Christians being filled by Christ {Eph 3'" 4'^ 5'», Col 1" 2"' 4'^ Jn 1'" 3*^), favours this Tiew. But the genitive may be objective, ' the complement of Christ,' that which completes Ilim, which fills up by its activities the work which His withdrawal to heaven would have left undone, as the liody comjdetes the head. The analogy of the liodv, the stress laid on the action of the Church (Epli 3'°-"'), St. Paul's language about himself in Col 1^ {avTavaTrXrqpQj rd vaT(pr]p.aTa twv d\i^piwv tou XptffToD), support this, and it is impossible to decide between the two. The former view has been most common since the thorough examination of the word by Fritzsche {Horn. ii. i)p. 4()9li'.) and Light- foot [C'vl. ad loc. and Ad<litional Note), and is slill taken l)y von Soden (Ilaml-Cimim. ad luc.) and Macpherson (Expu.sitor, 1890, pp. 462-472). Hut the latter view, which was that of Origen and Chrysostom, has been strongly advocated of late by I'lleiderer {I'avlinism, ii. p. 172), T. K. AblMttt {Ititiniritional Critkal Comm. ad loc), and most fully J. A. Robinson {Exposifnr, 1808, np. 241-259).