Ephesians 1:23
New International Version
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

New Living Translation
And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.

English Standard Version
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Berean Standard Bible
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Berean Literal Bible
which is His body, the fullness of the One filling all in all.

King James Bible
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

New King James Version
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

New American Standard Bible
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

NASB 1995
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

NASB 1977
which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all.

Legacy Standard Bible
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Amplified Bible
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills and completes all things in all [believers].

Christian Standard Bible
which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.

American Standard Version
which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Which is his body and the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Contemporary English Version
The church is the body of Christ and is filled with Christ who completely fills everything.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Which is his body, and the fulness of him who is filled all in all.

English Revised Version
which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The church is Christ's body and completes him as he fills everything in every way.

Good News Translation
The church is Christ's body, the completion of him who himself completes all things everywhere.

International Standard Version
which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.

Literal Standard Version
which is His body, the fullness of Him who is filling all in all.

Majority Standard Bible
which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

New American Bible
which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

NET Bible
Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

New Revised Standard Version
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

New Heart English Bible
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Webster's Bible Translation
Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

Weymouth New Testament
the completeness of Him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself.

World English Bible
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Young's Literal Translation
which is his body, the fulness of Him who is filling the all in all,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Spiritual Wisdom
22And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, 23which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Cross References
John 1:16
From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

1 Corinthians 12:6
There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.

1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

Ephesians 3:10
His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

Ephesians 3:19
of the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 4:10
He who descended is the very One who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

Ephesians 4:12
to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ,


Treasury of Scripture

Which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all.

his.

Ephesians 2:16
And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Ephesians 4:4,12
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; …

Ephesians 5:23-32
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body…

fulness.

Ephesians 3:19
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

Ephesians 4:10
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

John 1:16
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

Jump to Previous
Body Complete Completeness Everywhere Filleth Filling Fills Full Fullness Fulness Measure Universe Way
Jump to Next
Body Complete Completeness Everywhere Filleth Filling Fills Full Fullness Fulness Measure Universe Way
Ephesians 1
1. After Paul's salutation,
3. and thanksgiving for the Ephesians,
4. he treats of our election,
6. and adoption by grace;
11. which is the true and proper fountain of man's salvation.
13. And because the height of this mystery cannot be easily attained unto,
16. he prays that they may come to the full knowledge and possession thereof in Christ.














(23) The fulness of him that filleth all in all.--The word pleroma, "fulness," is used in a definite and almost technical sense in the Epistles of the Captivity, and especially in the Epistle to the Colossians, having clear reference to the speculations as to the Divine Nature and the emanations from it, already anticipating the future Gnosticism. The word itself is derived from a verb signifying, first, to "fill;" next (more frequently in the New Testament), to "fulfil" or complete. It is found (1) in a physical sense of the "full contents" of the baskets, in Mark 6:43; Mark 8:20; and of the earth, in 1Corinthians 10:26-28; and in Matthew 9:16, Mark 2:21, it is applied to the patch of new cloth on an old garment. It is used next (2) of fulness, in sense of the "complete tale or number," "of time" and "seasons," in Ephesians 1:10, Galatians 4:4; of the Jews and Gentiles in Romans 11:12; Romans 11:25. In the third place (3) it is applied to the full essence, including all the attributes, of a thing or person; as of the Law (Romans 13:10), and of the blessing of Christ (Romans 15:29). Lastly (4), in these Epistles it is applied, almost technically, to the fulness of the Divine Nature. Thus, in Colossians 1:19 we have, "It pleased the Father that in Christ all the fulness"--i.e., all the fulness of the Divine Nature--"should dwell;" or (to take an admissible but less probable construction) "In Him all the fulness is pleased to dwell;" and this is explained in Ephesians 2:9, "In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Similarly, though less strikingly, we read in this Epistle, that those who are in Christ are said (in Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 4:13) "to be filled up to all the fulness of God," and "to come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. In which of these last senses is the Church here said to be the "fulness of Christ?" If in any, probably in the last of all. As the individual, so the Church, by the presence "of Him who filleth up all things for Himself in all," comes to be "His fulness," the complete image of Him in all His glorified humanity. But it may be questioned whether it is not better to take here a different sense, corresponding to the "patch" in Matthew 9:16, and signifying the "complement." In the original Greek of Euclid (in Book 1., Prop. 4), the cognate word, parapleroma, is used of "the complements." In this compound word the idea is, no doubt, more unequivocally expressed. But of the simple word here employed it may be reasonably contended that, if one thing or person alone is contemplated, the pleroma must be the fulness of the one nature; if, as here, two are brought in, each will be the "complement" to the other--as the patch to the garment, and the garment to the patch. So here (says Chrysostom) "the complement of the Head is the Body, and the complement of the Body is the Head." Thus by a daring expression, St. Paul describes our Lord as conceiving His glorified humanity incomplete without His Church; and then, lest this should seem to derogate even for a moment from His dignity, he adds the strongest declaration of His transcendent power, "to fill up for Himself all things in all," in order to show that we are infinitely more incomplete without Him than He without us. This sense, bold as it is, certainly suits exactly the great idea of this Epistle, which differs from the parallel Colossian Epistle in this--that while both dwell emphatically on Christ the Head, and the Church as His Body, there the chief stress is laid on the true Deity of the Head, here on the glory and privileges of the Body. . . . Verse 23. - Which is his body. The Church is Christ's body in a real though spiritual sense. He is the Head, his people the members; he the Vine, they the branches. He dwells in the Church as life dwells in a living body. He fills it with his life, replenishes it with his strength, feeds it with his body and blood, beautifies it with his comeliness, calms it with his peace, brightens it with his holiness, and finally glorifies it with his glory. All things are delivered unto him of the Father; and all that he has he has for the Church: "My beloved is mine, and I am his." The fullness of him that filleth all in all. The grammatical structure of the words would lead us to construe "fullness" with "the Church," and to regard the Church as Christ's πλήρωμα. Some object to this, inasmuch as, in point of fact, the Church is often very empty, and therefore not worthy of the term "fullness." But it is not meant that the Church has actually received all the fullness of him who filleth all in all, but only that she is in the course of receiving it. The Church on earth is an ever-changing body, perpetually receiving new members, who are at first empty; so that it must always in this state be in the course of filling, never filled. It is in the course of being filled with all Divine things - with all the treasures of heaven. As the empty cells of the honeycomb are being filled with the sweet essences of flowers, so the empty vessels of the Church are being filled with the glorious treasures of God; or, as the courts and compartments of a great international exhibition get filled up with the choicest products of the lands, so the Church gets filled with the handiwork of the grace of God. When the Church is completed, it will be a representation of the fullness of God; all of God that can be communicated to men will be made manifest in the Church. For he whose fullness the Church is, is he that filleth all in all, or filleth all with all. He possesses all things, and he fills all space with the all things. He fills the ocean with water, the organic world with life, the firmament with stars, the entire creation with forms innumerable, alike beautiful and useful. So also he fills the Church. Thus appropriately concludes this chapter, beginning (ver. 3) with thanksgiving to him who had blessed the Ephesians with every blessing of the Spirit in Christ Jesus, and now ending with a sublime picture of the Infinite One filling the Church with these Divine blessings out of the infinite stores of the kingdom of heaven. Thus we see the quality of richness, exuberance, overflowing abundance which is so conspicuously ascribed in this Epistle to the grace of God (comp. Psalm 36:8; Psalm 103:3-5; Matthew 5:3, etc.).



Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
which
ἥτις (hētis)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3748: Whosoever, whichsoever, whatsoever.

is
ἐστὶν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

His
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

body,
σῶμα (sōma)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4983: Body, flesh; the body of the Church. From sozo; the body, used in a very wide application, literally or figuratively.

the
τὸ (to)
Article - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

fullness
πλήρωμα (plērōma)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Singular
Strong's 4138: From pleroo; repletion or completion, i.e. what fills, or what is filled.

of [Him]
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

who fills
πληρουμένου (plēroumenou)
Verb - Present Participle Middle - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 4137: From pleres; to make replete, i.e. to cram, level up, or to furnish, satisfy, execute, finish, verify, etc.

all
πάντα (panta)
Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

all.
πᾶσιν (pasin)
Adjective - Dative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.


Links
Ephesians 1:23 NIV
Ephesians 1:23 NLT
Ephesians 1:23 ESV
Ephesians 1:23 NASB
Ephesians 1:23 KJV

Ephesians 1:23 BibleApps.com
Ephesians 1:23 Biblia Paralela
Ephesians 1:23 Chinese Bible
Ephesians 1:23 French Bible
Ephesians 1:23 Catholic Bible

NT Letters: Ephesians 1:23 Which is his body the fullness (Ephes. Eph. Ep)
Ephesians 1:22
Top of Page
Top of Page