If we read Ephesians 3 carefully, we will see that the phrase unto all the fullness of God in verse 19 refers to the church. Christians who are cold and do not pursue the Lord in their daily life, but only worship Him on the Lord’s Day, are not filled. They are empty. They do not have anything to say, and they cannot function in their meetings. Therefore, the pastor leads the singing and the prayer, and a famous speaker is invited to give a sermon. This is not the church; neither is this the fullness of God.
In the book of Ephesians Paul speaks specifically concerning the church. In 3:16-19 he desperately prayed for the saints: “That He would grant you...to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God.” If we are filled with God’s life, love, and light, we will sing joyfully as we walk into the meeting hall, and everyone in our meetings will sing, praise, testify, and say Amen. We will have smiles on our faces, and we will overflow with joy. We will be filled with God. This is the fullness of God. God’s overflowing is His fullness, His expression. Such believers are the church, and this expression is the church.
There are two verses that we should study for a deeper understanding of the fullness. One verse is Colossians 2:9, which says, “In Him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” The other verse is Colossians 1:19, which says, “In Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” There is only one God, and the Bible shows that when the Lord Jesus was incarnated, He was God manifested in the flesh (John 1:1, 14). The two verses in Colossians show that what dwells in Christ dwells in Him bodily. What dwells in Christ is substantial, not vague or abstract. That which dwells in Christ is God’s fullness. But what is God’s fullness? Even though most people are not careless when they read other books, they are careless when they read the Bible. They skip the portions of the Bible that they do not understand, either because those portions are difficult or because they do not want to understand them. According to my knowledge of the Greek language, Colossians 2:9 definitely says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” We should not take this verse for granted. Our attitude should not be that it does not matter whether or not we understand Godhead and fullness. This should not be our attitude. We must spend the time to study these words. The Bible is not incomprehensible. However, if we desire to understand the Bible, we need to pay the price and make an effort.
In addition to Colossians 2:9 and 1:19, John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” This verse shows that the Word, who became flesh and dwelt among us, is the Lord Jesus, who is full of grace and full of reality. In the Lord Jesus, who is the Word become flesh, there is not merely a little grace and reality; rather, there is the fullness of grace and reality. Furthermore, this grace and reality are of God. Initially, grace and reality were in God as riches; however, in the Lord Jesus they are the fullness. The riches are in God, and when the riches overflow from God to the Lord Jesus, they are the fullness.
The Lord Jesus is full of grace and full of reality. He is also full of life, love, light, holiness, righteousness, considerateness, endurance, kindness, faithfulness, power, and other virtues. All the attributes of God, His riches, are made full in the Lord Jesus. His virtues are the riches in God. When the riches overflow into the Lord Jesus, they become the fullness. The riches in God become the fullness in the Lord Jesus.
Hymns, #187 has twenty-six stanzas that speak of the fullness in the Lord Jesus. When we read through this hymn, we sense the fullness of the Lord Jesus. Whatever we need He is; He is neither poor nor empty. The Lord Jesus possesses life, but He does not merely have a great measure of life; He has the fullness of life like a waterfall. He does not merely have love; He has the fullness of love. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world.” However, the verse does not end here; it continues: “That He gave His only begotten Son.” The words so and that show that the love which was in God entered into the Son. The love of God was rich in God. When the love of God entered into the Son, it became the fullness of love. The love of God with which He loves the world is rich, but when the only begotten Son came, God’s love became the fullness. When we receive God’s love, we are receiving what is in the Son, not what is in the Father. Hence, the love we receive is the fullness of love.