In the Fulness of Time/Part 2

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In the Fullness of Time

In my high school Physics class, composed of all boys, our professor was short of stature but strong in authority. I remember clearly only two things he said. The first day we met him he remarked: “As soon as you come into this classroom, I want you to sit down and shut up!” His other statement, which came that same day was a little more profound: “The beginning of understanding rests upon precise definitions.” Though I have never forgotten these admonitions, it is with the latter one in mind that I go on from last month’s discussion of “What’s next in God’s program?” To do this, I want to consider the title of these articles, “In the Fullness of Time.”

This is taken from Galatians 4:4: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son….” The expression “the fullness of the time” is from four Greek words, to pleroma tou chronou. This may seem like a simple statement of fact, but in order to get “the beginning of understanding” and the “precise definition” it becomes necessary to define the meaning of each word.

In using any text, the context must be considered. In the present instance, regarding the word pleroma, Delling says: “With the sending of the Son, time is fulfilled absolutely; it attains to its full measure in content as well as extent” (Gerhard Delling, The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1959, Vol. VI, p. 305). Pleroma (fulfillment) therefore, is understood to mean that not one thing is left out. Added to this are the words “of the time” (tou chronou). Our English word chronology comes from this word. Here in Galatians 4:4 it is the chronological sequence of events in God’s pro­gram, culminating in the birth of Christ. Putting the definition together: “In the fullness of the time” means “Not one thing is left out in the chronological sequence of events.” Even though this is in reference to the birth of Christ, the principle can be applied in a larger, more extensive sense, since the birth of Christ is the hub around which the entire plan of God revolves. All that came before Christ in God’s program was prophetic of His first ad­vent; all that comes after is in anticipation of His second advent. Even the verb form plero-o (to be filled) from which comes the noun pleroma (fulfillment), can have the sense of “con­trol” in some contexts. For example, in Ephesians 5:18: “And be not drunk with wine in which is excess, but be filled with (plerousthe=controlled by) the Holy Spirit.” The obvious lesson is not to be under the influence or control of wine, but to be under the influence or control of the Holy Spirit. In like manner, not one thing in God’s plan of salvation is out of His control or authority in the chronological sequence of events. “God in His exousia (au­thority) has established the times of the events before the end and no detailed information can be given about them” (Delling, Vol. IX., p. 592). In making this observation Delling refers to Acts 1:7 where Christ said to His Apostles, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which God hath put in his own power” (exousia=authority).

The only other verse which comes close to the statement of Galatians 4:4 is Ephesians 1:10: “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.” Two differences include the addition of the word “dispensation” and the change in the Greek word for “times” to ton kairon instead of tou chronou as in Galatians 4:4. R.C. Trench in his Synonyms of the New Testament, (Eerdmans, 1963, p. 210) says:

Chronos, it will thus appear, embraces all possible kairoi, and, being the larger, more inclusive term, may often be used where kairos would have been equally suitable, though not the reverse.

Thus, in Galatians 4:4 it was the culmination of God’s plan in the manifestation of His Son, but in Ephesians 1:10 it is just one of the times when the final dispensation or the administrative method of God gathers together all things in Christ. Adding the term “dispen­sation” draws attention to one particular aspect of God’s dealings with mankind. This word is oikonomia (from which we get the English word economy). The Greek word is composed of oikos (house) and nomos (law), “the law of the house.” Perhaps the plainest statement of the dispensational administration of God’s plan is given in John 1:17: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” and in Romans 6:14: “Ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Paul says further: “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me toward you” (Ephesians 3:2).

Going back then to Ephesians 1:10, we have this reference to a specific dispensation called “the dispensation of the fullness of times” (kairon) when God will bring together all things, in Christ. To repeat, this is only one aspect of the fullness of the time as defined by chronou in Galatians 4:4. Since the law was given by Moses, there must have been differ­ent dispensational administrations of God’s plan before Moses and the Law. These former times and seasons need not concern us at this point; our main interest in referring to Ephesians 1:10 is to show that, just as God’s plan of salvation begins and culminates in Christ, and that not one thing was left out when “He sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5), so, in like manner not one thing will be left out when Christ returns and all things are gathered together unto Him.

But we still have not answered the question, “What’s next in God’s program?” In the months ahead we want to use the unique approach of the Gospel of Matthew to show exactly how it was that Christ presented the program of God in great detail to His own people, the Jews, and what happened as a result.

Read Part 3