Ephesians 1:23 – Spiritual Body Life
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Truth to Learn
All Christians are part of the body of Christ. As members of that body we each have a function to perform in the church.
Behind the Words
The word “which” is translated from hostis, a double relative pronoun that most literally translates to “which some.” In this case the meaning seems to be “seeing it is.”
“Body” is translated from the Greek noun soma, which refers to “the body” as a whole. It is used both literally and figuratively in the New Testament. Here it refers to the spiritual body of the resurrected Jesus.
The word “fullness” is from plēroma, a derivative of the verb plēroō, meaning “to fill full” or “to cram full.” It means to fill so completely that there is no room left to add any more. Plēroma refers to “the condition of fullness or completion.”
“Fills” is from the verb plēroō, which we just looked at. It is expressed here as a participle in the middle voice (the subject acting on himself).
Meaning Explained
Back in verse nineteen we learned that one of the things the Apostle Paul prays for is for all believers to understand the exceeding greatness of God’s power. Through that power, the Father raised Jesus from the dead and elevated Him to the highest position of honor and authority. And in yesterday’s verse he told us that the Father made Jesus to be the head over all things with regard to the church. Now, to get the full impact of the current verse, let’s look at it along with the previous verse.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22-23)
God the Father made the risen Jesus to be the head of the church, which Paul tells us here is His body. The church universal is the body of Christ. It serves as His arms, hands, eyes, ears, nose, and feet. In his first letters to the Corinthian church and his letter to the Roman church, Paul explained a little more about the functioning of the body of Christ.
For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ … But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (1Cointhians 12:12, 22)
so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: (Romans 12:5-6a)
All Christians have a part to play in the body of Christ. We each have abilities and spiritual gifts given specifically to us by God. We need to be using those gifts to build up the body.
Application
Do you know what your gifts are? Are there abilities that you have that others don’t? Are you using your talents and spiritual gifts to make your fellow Christians stronger in their faith?
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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