Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:22b-23; 3:8, 16-21; 4:13; 5:18; John 1:16a; Col. 1:19; 2:9-10; Rev. 21:11
Ⅰ
The central matter in God's revelation is that the Triune God desires to express Himself in humanity—Gen. 1:26a.
Ⅱ
The church as the fullness of Christ is a crucial revelation of the Body of Christ related to the expression of Christ—Eph. 1:22b-23:
A
God desires to gain a Body for His Son, and this Body is for the expression of His Son—Col. 1:18; 2:19:
１
The Son of God is great, full, abundant, and rich; all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily—v. 9.
２
God desires to have a Body for His full Christ so that all the fullness can be manifested—Eph. 1:22-23.
３
In God's plan the church is the Body that God is seeking for His Son for the purpose of expressing Him—3:6; 5:23, 30.
B
God's work in the universe is to use the fullness expressed in His Son to build up the church as the Body of His Son, which is the fullness of Christ.
Ⅲ
The significance of the fullness:
A
The fullness refers to the overflow, the expression, through the completeness of the riches—3:8.
B
When the riches of Christ are assimilated into our being metabolically, they constitute us to be the fullness of Christ, the Body of Christ, the church, as His expression.
C
The fullness, denoting the full expression of the rich being of God in both creation and the church, dwells in Christ (Col. 1:19; 2:9), and the fullness of God in Christ is the fullness of Christ (Eph. 1:23; 4:13); hence, the fullness of God and the fullness of Christ are inseparable.
D
In Ephesians 3 this fullness is described by the apostle Paul as "the breadth and length and height and depth," which are the dimensions of Christ and are immea-surable; the fullness of God is immeasurable—v. 18.
E
When Christ makes His home in our hearts, and when we are full of strength to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ and to know by experience His knowledge-surpassing love, we will be filled unto all the fullness of God, which is the church, the corporate expression of God, for the fulfillment of His intention; the issue of this fullness is the glory in the church—vv. 17-19, 21.
F
The fullness in Colossians 1:19 refers to the image of God in verse 15, who is Christ.
Ⅳ
"Of His fullness we have all received"—John 1:16a:
A
We, the believers, have all received of the fullness of Christ; we have received the fullness in Him; we do not merely have life in us; we have the fullness in us—v. 16a; Col. 2:10.
B
We need to see that we have been attached to a source within us called the fullness, which is immeasurable in eternity—immeasurable in time and space.
C
It is through the building work of Christ that the church can arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ—Eph. 4:12-13.
Ⅴ
The contents of the fullness are revealed in the writings of John:
A
Life—11:25.
B
Resurrection—v. 25.
C
Light—8:12.
D
The way—14:6.
E
Food—6:48.
F
Satisfaction—4:13-14; 7:37.
G
Freedom—8:36.
H
Glory—1:14; 17:22.
Ⅵ
The conditions for expressing the fullness of Christ:
A
Passing through the building work of Christ—Eph. 4:12-13:
１
The most important aspect of the building work is the tearing down; anyone who has not been torn down by God does not have the reality of the Body of Christ, nor does he have the fullness of Christ—Matt. 16:18, 24.
２
The building work of God is carried out through the ministry of the word, the shining of light within man, dealings in the environment, and the audible and silent reproof from those who have experienced the fullness of Christ.
B
Submitting to God's throne—Rev. 4:2-3; 22:1:
１
The central key to the church being the fullness of Christ is the presence of God's throne.
２
The condition of the New Jerusalem as the consummation of the church depends on the throne; if the throne is lost, the entire New Jerusalem will be obliterated.
Ⅶ
We need to be filled unto the fullness of God to express the reality of the Body of Christ:
A
The secret of being filled unto the fullness of God is absolutely a matter of the Spirit in our spirit, the mingled spirit—Eph. 3:16-20; 5:18.
B
This is not a matter of feeling but a matter in faith—2 Cor. 4:13; Psa. 116:10a; cf. v. 13.
C
For anyone who is one spirit with the Lord, the supply is inexhaustible—1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:19; 4:23.
Ⅷ
The consummate expression of the fullness—the New Jerusalem—has the glory of God—Rev. 21:11; 4:3:
A
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate expression of the church as the fullness of God to express God's glory.
B
The content of the city is God Himself as the fullness of God; the appearance of the city is also God Himself as the glory of God.
C
The believers being glorified is for God's consummate expression—Rom. 8:30, 21:
１
The glory that will ultimately be manifested is the consummate expression of God, which is the effulgence of His glory—Heb. 1:3.
２
In that glory we will be the fullness of God expressing the Triune God for eternity.