Thanks for meeting us at the prayer circle.
If you were to ask almost anyone in the world if they desired to live a full life, the answer would undoubtedly be “Yes!” We like the experience of fullness in relationships, appetites, accomplishments and material wealth. Did you know that God has in mind for the Christian to experience His fullness? In Ephesians 4:13 the Apostle Paul indicates that it is God’s desire that His church be edified, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” God wants you to grow to spiritual perfection (or completion) which He measures by the standard of Jesus Christ.
Coming to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ leads to another question; what is the fullness of Christ? This is a theologically rich question that I will attempt to answer as simply as I know how.
All that we can know of God’s fullness is what He reveals to us.
What He reveals to us is His glory.
His glory is His fullness.
God’s greatest revelation to us is in His Son Jesus Christ. John 1:14 says, “And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” When we see Jesus, we are beholding the glory of God (who is full of grace and truth).
Since God’s glory is His fullness, there is a necessity to understand God’s glory. Theologian and 15th Century Pastor Jonathan Edwards has helped me tremendously to better understand the concept of glory. Although no one this side of heaven will ever have a perfect understanding of God’s glory, Edwards breaks it down for us in three parts. God’s glory consists primarily in these three things:
1. His understanding
2. His happiness
3. His holiness
What God understands about Himself is perfectly reflected in Jesus, who is the “express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3b). Jesus was sent to the world to interpret God for us, to make Him understood (John 1:18). God’s happiness is His complete and perfect joy experienced as He dwells in eternal unity within the fellowship of the Trinity. God’s holiness is demonstrated in His unsurpassed, incomparable, undeniable goodness or righteousness that radiates from within Himself. These three, understanding, happiness and holiness, all emanate from within the Godhead, and comprise His internal glory.
God’s internal glory is His fullness; He needs nothing from outside of Himself to exist in a state of moral perfection, happiness and holiness. What His creation beholds of His glory is the outward expression of His inward perfections. In other words, God shares His perfect understanding of Himself to humanity through the incarnation of His deity in Jesus Christ. Then God shares His perfect happiness and holiness by sharing the manifestation of His Holy Spirit (who now indwells all who believe by faith).
Earlier it was stated that Jesus is the fullness of God (Col. 2:9). Ephesians 1:22-23 tells us that the church is the fullness of Jesus; “And He put all things under His feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” This does not mean that Jesus is lacking in any glory. What it does mean is that in His role as the “Firstborn among the brethren” His Body, the Body of Christ, is to be “filled” until the church is complete and the full number of the saved is added. In this way the church is “filling up” Him who fills all in all.
This was a crash-course on the fullness of God. Next week I will share more on how a Christian discovers fullness in Christ.
To learn more about the glory cycle, continue reading in the second part of this blog.
Dr. Mike Hohenstein is a pastor serving at First Baptist Church in Covington, Indiana. An Ohio native, Mike moved to Indiana in 1994 where he met and married his wife Stephanie. They have three children and live in Veedersburg, Indiana where Mike also works part-time as a veterinarian.
