“Filling” or “Fullness”

• Eph 1:10; 1:23; 3:19; 4:10, 13

The inscriptions to the emperors Augustus and Nero also shed light on the “fullness” language in Ephesians. First, in Eph 1:10 “the fullness of the time(s)” (KJV, RSV, NASB95, NRSV, ESV) should be translated as “fulfillment” (NIV84). The phrase comes from Jewish apocalyptic thought, but is also found in New Testament texts (Luke 21:23–24 [compare Acts 1:6–8]; Rom 11:25; 2 Baruch 40:3; Tobit 14:5; 4 Ezra 4:33–37; 1QpHab 7:13–14; compare 1QM 1.12; Gal 4:4; T. Benj. 11.3). The phrase refers to the end of the nations’ dominance over the Jewish people. Often these texts speak of this “fulfilled time” apocalyptically, in an attempt to explain the need to await the justice of God for deliverance. Paul now affirmed that God has placed the crucified, risen, and ascended Messiah in charge of the ongoing fulfillment of the times—the Gentiles are brought into God’s people, the church, comprising both Jew and Gentile (Eph 2:14–18). This church-body is the “fulfillment of the One who fulfills all things/events” (Eph 1:23; 4:10; compare Eph 1:10). Part of this fulfillment lies in making the unified Jew-Gentile body into a holy temple (Eph 2:19–21). This language climaxes in Eph 3:15–19—the believer is empowered by the Holy Spirit, indwelt by Christ, knows Christ’s sacrificial love, and is filled with God. In Ephesians 5:18, believers are exhorted to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The last two references may be the only times where “fullness” is the right translation, expressing the idea that the believer is the residence of God’s presence—a temple (compare Eph 2:19–21). Ephesians 4:13 also describes the church body as growing up “into the measure of the stature of the fulfillment of Christ.” The fulfillment here refers to Christ’s life as exemplary person, the Perfect Man. Jesus fulfills humanity, and we are radically called to follow his example of that fulfillment (see esp. Eph 4:20–24, 4:31–5:2; compare 1 Cor 11:1).

The emperors—especially Augustus and then again Nero—were thought of as ushering in a return to past glory, fulfilling long held expectations and hopes (Wallace-Hadrill, “The Golden Age”). The Priene inscription (translated above) also spoke of Providence filling (πληρόω, plēroō) Augustus with virtue—the same verb that is used in Ephesians. In another inscription—dated 2 bc during Augustus’ reign in Asia Minor at Halicarnassus—it was affirmed that Augustus was “Savior” [σωτῆρα (sōtēra)] of the common human race in whom Providence has not only fulfilled [ἐπλήρωσε (eplērōse)] but even surpassed [ὑπερῆρεν (hyperēren)] the prayers of all people” (BMI 894). Then, also Augustus is “the acme … of contentment for the present affairs of people who have been filled [ἐνπεπλησμένων (enpeplēsmenōn)] with public games and with statues and with sacrifices [θυσίαις (thysiais)] and with hymns [ὕμνοις (hymnois)] …” Ephesians addresses a dual notion: divine events fulfilled in Christ the Messiah, and the filling of human beings with divine presence (God, Christ, Holy Spirit) resulting in singing “hymns” (Eph 5:18). Both ideas have a pronounced parallel with the ideology of the imperial cults as was published on many monuments well known across Asia Minor.