Part V: The Necessity of the Trinity: The Pleroma
A line of reasoning that testifies to the necessity of a Triune God is His fullness (pleroma). The word pleroma is a Gnostic, Greek philosophical term. It refereed to the sum of various supernatural forces that controlled the destiny of people. This fullness is an abstract power. The Gnostics distributed the divine powers to various deities.
The word is used 17 times in the New Testament. Biblically, it denotes the totality of divine power as opposed to a separation into constitutive parts. It pictures fullness, abundance, or completeness. The term is used to fill up an empty thing (Matt. 13:48 – a fish net; Mark 8:20: empty baskets) or to complete an incomplete thing (Matt. 5:17).
Therefore, it stands in contrast to its constituent parts, or fullness in contrast to emptiness, or completeness in contrast to incompleteness or deficiency ( see Col. 1:24; 2 Cor. 11:9; Rom. 11:12).
Moreover, Paul uses the word to indicate the fullness and perfection of God. God and all that He is He is in His fullness and perfection. Paul uses the terms in Colossians 1:19 (For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him) and Colossians 2:9 (For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives/dwells in bodily form) to indicate that all of what the Godhead is (the pleroma) dwells in Christ and in bodily form. Unlike Greek philosophy and paganism, Paul gathers all that God is as if in one “lump sum” and placed it in Christ. John expressed this same truth in John 10:30: the Father and I are one). The fullness of the Godhead was in Christ (but also in the Holy Spirit and the Father) before the Incarnation (John 1:1, 18; Phil 2:9) and during the Incarnation (John 1:14, 18; Phil. 2:9-11; 1 John 1:1-3). Christ came in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7) but also as the exact representation of His Father (Heb 1:1-3).
How does the pleroma or fullness of God refer to the Holy Spirit? In what way is the Holy Spirit the fullness of the Godhead? The Holy Spirit functions in His fullest on this side of the cross. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit occurred officially to the Church in Acts 2 (Pentecost). However He was present in the Old Testament long before the Incarnation and the cross. Believers were saved in the same way in both Testaments – by the regeneration by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8; Ezek. 36:24-27). In Isaiah He was promised to the Messiah (Isa. 9:1-7; 11:1-9). The Holy Spirit came upon Christ at His baptism and so indwelt Him enabling Christ to complete His work (Matt. 3:17). Part of Christ’s Messianic work was to send another Paraclete – one just like Christ (John 14:25-26; 15:26-27; 16:12-15). Without the Holy Spirit, Christ would not have completed His mediatorial work and would not, could not, have functioned as God’s Prophet, Priest, and King. Salvation is an Intratrinatarian activity.
In view of the tri-personal existence of God, Scripture can and does speak of the infinite fullness of God. Paul emphasizes this truth in his prayers recorded in Ephesians 1:15-23 and 3:14-21. In Ephesian 1:17-18, Paul’s emphasis is on knowledge and truth. Paul described his continual intercession for the brothers to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, that He may give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened in order to know the hope to which they were called, their inheritance, and the power of the Triune God. Paul knew the “light” had to be turned on and continue to shine brightly in the hearts of believers and the Church. In Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul changes his emphasis to the love of God. He prays that the people would be strengthened with power by the Holy Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in the fullness of the Godhead. It is then that believers will begin to grasp the width, depth, breadth, and height of the Triune’s God’s love. WOW!
The infinite fullness of divine life in God is due only to His tri-personal existence. The fullness of God is the fullness of the Godhead – the very essence and majestic glory of God. Paul and John spoke of Christ as the fullness of God through the Holy Spirit (John 1:14, 16, 18; 10:30; 14:6-9; 14:26; 15:26). The fullness of God is part of God’s gift to the Church and the believer. The believer is perfect in Christ and grows in that perfection. This is one antidote against pride and self-pleasing. To grow in your understanding of God and in Christlikeness, you must grow in your understanding of the Godhead.
Application:
1. How do you understand the fullness of God? It is beyond human comprehension. It requires the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).
2. Are you satisfied with God, with Christ, and with the Holy Spirit? Write out your reasons.
3. Satisfaction and contentment with God comes from the Father, through the Son, and by the Holy Spirit. Completeness in Christ comes in and by the work of the Spirit. Write out your understanding of these facts and its influence on daily living