Efesus 1:23

1:23 Now the church is ¹  his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. ² 

Efesus 3:19

3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to ³  all the fullness of God.

Efesus 4:10

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

Efesus 5:18

5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, which ⁵  is debauchery, ⁶  but be filled by the Spirit, ⁷ 

[1:23]  ¹ tn Grk “which is.” The antecedent of “which” is easily lost in English, though in Greek it is quite clear. In the translation “church” is repeated to clarify the referent.

[1:23]  ² tn Or perhaps, “who is filled entirely.”

[1:23]  sn The idea of all in all is either related to the universe (hence, he fills the whole universe entirely) or the church universal (hence, Christ fills the church entirely with his presence and power).

[3:19]  ³ tn Or “with.”

[4:10]  ⁴ tn The Greek text lays specific emphasis on “He” through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos). This is reflected in the English translation through the use of “the very one.”

[5:18]  ⁵ tn Grk “in which.”

[5:18]  ⁶ tn Or “dissipation.” See BDAG 148 s.v. ἀσωτία.

[5:18]  ⁷ tn Many have taken ἐν πνεύματι (en pneumati) as indicating content, i.e., one is to be filled with the Spirit. ExSyn 375 states, “There are no other examples in biblical Greek in which ἐν + the dative after πληρόω indicates content. Further, the parallel with οἴνῳ as well as the common grammatical category of means suggest that the idea intended is that believers are to be filled by means of the [Holy] Spirit. If so there seems to be an unnamed agent. The meaning of this text can only be fully appreciated in light of the πληρόω language in Ephesians. Always the term is used in connection with a member of the Trinity. Three considerations seem to be key: (1) In Eph 3:19 the ‘hinge’ prayer introducing the last half of the letter makes a request that the believers ‘be filled with all the fullness of God’ (πληρωθῆτε εἰς πᾶν πλήρωμα τοῦ θεοῦ). The explicit content of πληρόω is thus God’s fullness (probably a reference to his moral attributes). (2) In 4:10 Christ is said to be the agent of filling (with v. 11 adding the specifics of his giving spiritual gifts). (3) The author then brings his argument to a crescendo in 5:18: Believers are to be filled by Christ by means of the Spirit with the content of the fullness of God.”