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Commentary

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The Mystery – ‘Pleroma’

by Ludwig Schneider

In his discourse on Israel in Romans 9 to 11, the apostle Paul speaks of a great mystery: “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness [pleroma] of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved” (11:25).

The Greek word pleroma is usually translated as “fullness,” but the word has three meanings.

Let us begin with pleroma as the “full number.” This is an unknown number of non-Jews, made up of people from every race, nation and language, who must receive Yeshua (Jesus) and enter the Church of God before He can reveal Himself to Israel. Until this full number has been reached Yeshua will not come again.

In other words, the Jewish nation must remain under the “spirit of stupor” (11:8) until the last Gentile who belongs to this full number has come into the fold. This means that Israel cannot recognize Yeshua until all the designated believers from the nations have been saved.

Therefore, it behooves us to preach the gospel among the nations so that the fullness of the Gentiles will be reached as quickly as possible. Then the Messiah can allow Himself to be recognized by Israel. (See Zechariah 12:10 and Romans 11:26.)

Another meaning of pleroma is “completeness,” which can be illustrated by the creation of eve. In order to create a helpmate for Adam, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon him (Genesis 2:21), and as if under an anesthetic, He took a rib from his side and created Eve. Adam was only permitted to wake up when Eve was ready and complete. He was not permitted to regain consciousness even one minute too early.

Adam symbolizes the Jews or Israel and Eve symbolizes the Gentile Church from the nations. Just as Adam was put into a deep sleep for Eve’s sake, the Jews were given “eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day” (11:8) for the sake of the Gentiles. However, this will only last until Eve or the Gentile Church has attained its final form. Eve was not created from Adam’s side to replace him, but rather to complete Adam as his helpmate.

So the Christian Church has to attain her completion, her final form as intended by God, before the Messiah can be recognized by Israel. And this means that the Church needs to get back to the roots of its faith. Israel and the Church were created for one another: Without Israel, the Church cannot function and without the Church, Israel will also never fulfill her purpose.

The third pleroma means “to cause to be fulfilled.” In His sermon on the end times, Yeshua said that “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). The very heart of Jerusalem, the site of the Temple, is still being “trampled underfoot by the Gentiles,” or “desecrated,” which is another possible translation. With the Mosque of Al Aksa and Dome of the Rock, the Temple Mount is in the hands of the Moslems, described by Daniel as the “abomination of desolation” (11:31; 12:11). However, just as in 1948 the Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed merely three years after the Holocaust, and in 1967, in a blitzkrieg that lasted just six days, Jerusalem returned to Jewish hands after 1,900 years of exile, so the “abomination of desolation” will vanish from the site of the Temple.

Once these three pleromas have been fulfilled, the way will be cleared for the coming of the Messiah. Then all Israel will awake from its stupor. We do not know the day and the hour of His coming. But the pleromas reveal that He is coming soon and we must be ready for Him.

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[17] COMMENTS:

1 .

Pleroma

One other suggestion, that I don''t see mentioned here, is the "fullness" that Paul was jealous for elsewhere in Scripture. I personally feel it is the most crucial, and that is a Church coming into the "fullness of God", or more specifically, becoming a people who exemplify and express the very nature of Jesus Christ to the Jew and to the "Greek". Out of a radical dependency on the Lord by the Spirit, the people of God will come into a fullness that is qualitative and not merely quantitative. They will speak, pray, heal, love, and walk as Jesus walked. Paul prayed for such a church in Eph. 3 and elsewhere, and so should we. I don''t believe we can expect Israel to be moved to jealousy and find her "regrafting" until we come into that quality of faith ourselves. It''s not mere "profession" of faith among Gentiles that evokes the Godly jealousy, it''s a people delivered from the spirit of this age and expressing the power, sabbath rest, love, and purity of the age to come.

Bryan Purtle

4/10/2008 7:49 PM

2 .

"being CRAFTY I caught ye by TRICKERY" (2 Cor 12:16)

http://quicksitemaker.com/members/disciples/custom.html

Saul / Paul founder of christ-ianity

11/1/2007 6:44 PM

3 .

Pauls writings

People most of the writings in the new testament are not written by paul but his followers 3 of the numerous writtings by paul or saul are actually written by paul himself. You can only seek the truth on your own. Also there are more writings that are said to be written by paul and most scholars agree they were but they where considered gnostic writtings by church leaders hence heretical hence hidden. seek and you shall find knock and He will open the door. God Bless and Peace always. Matthew

www.PathofYeshua.net

Matthew Joseph

10/21/2007 5:50 PM

4 .

Paul believed in Jesus

Patrick Geaney writes nonsense.
He must read all epistles of St. Paul before writing.
Greetings
Dario

Dario b

7/6/2007 5:44 PM

5 .

PAUL DID NOT SEE YESHUWA` MASHIYACH in Acts 9:5

Contrary to christian beliefs "The devil and false apostle Paul" (Matthew 13:25,39 and Rev 2:2) DID NOT SEE or SPEAK TO or TOUCH the risen Yeshuwa`Mashiyach on the Damascus road as we clearly read in the accouint given by him to Luke in Acts 9:3-7. Paul told Luke that what he saw was a "light" (Acts 9:3).

This FACT was further confirmed by Luke when he recorded in Acts 9:26 that "The 12 apostles of the lamb" DID NOT BELIEVE THAT PAUL WAS A DISCIPLE OF YESHUWA`:

"When he came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples but they were all afraid of him, NOT BELIEVING THAT HE WAS A DISCIPLE"
[Acts 9:26]

That the "light" which Paul saw and the "voice" which spoke to him was SATAN is confirmed by Paul himself when he later wrote that: "SATAN disguises himself as an angel of LIGHT" (2 corinthians 11:14).

The same SATAN gave his name as jesus.

Patrick Geaney
http://www.quicksitemaker.com/members/disciples/custom.html

Patrick Geaney to "The children of Yisrael" (Deut 1:3).

6/2/2007 2:18 AM

6 .

Life from deadness

Open your eyes....you will be stunned
''Life from Deadness,'' means exactly that. Jesus is going to call the dead to rise. Those who hear him will rise. This is the dry bones vision of Ezekiel
The millions of Jews (of those who hear) will come up from their graves and be formed back together. His promise is that ''All Israel shall Be saved. of course, one cannot be Israel, if they are of the synogogue of Satan, as were some.
Oh, I cannot wait until the world sees this. See SPARKLE.
Pleroma (fullness) I might add that God has the Completion, fullness, number and timing well in Hand, who it is, what it will be and when.

Anne

3/29/2007 8:44 PM

7 .

Israel will be future World Centre

All nations will come to Jerusalem to worship G-d. Big trouble soon to occur before then as all goyim nations will turn their backs on Israel, then Messiah come.
Not all who claim to be Jewish are and not all who claim to be Christian. There is great apostasy amongst the "religeous leaders'' which is tearing flocks apart.

Holz

3/25/2007 8:38 PM

8 .

Pleroma

Or, Vernon, maybe the phrase, "until the time of the gentiles is fulfilled" means "until the time of the sin of the nations is complete and they have to be destroyed as almost all of the prophets predict. Notice that the gentiles will come to Israel, Israel will not come to the nations. The Torah will be taught from Zion and the Word of G-d from Jerusalem. Jerusalem will last for eternity, the nations will not. The Jews will be G-d''s Chosen People for eternity. The gentiles will not. Remember that the "church" is not even mentioned in the entire Bible. That word was d by the catholics when they d their christianity apart from the JEWISH Scriptures that Messiah Yeshua lived and taught. The word they translated as "church" is really only two options, one is the "assembled" and the second is "synagogue". Anything other than that is man-made. Maybe it''s time to forget Paul and read the Prophets and the actual words of the Messiah.

BobH

3/13/2007 8:10 PM

9 .

When The Jews Are Assimilated Into Gentile Christianity!

How will this "Life from deadness" happen? Through a revival of Judaism in the Gentile nations? I think not! Because, not only will Judaism and the wailing wall be no more, but Jerusalem, that great symbol of Jewishness, will be being trampled upon by the people of the nations.

I believe that the "assimilation" of the Jews includes, not only an assimilation into the Gentile nations of the world, but also an assimilation into the Christianity of the Gentile nations.

However, because Jews know the Old Testament so much better than the Gentiles, then, when they have been instructed in the Truth of the New Testament, they will be simply brilliant and superlative teachers of the New Covenant, throughout the whole world.

Hence, they will bring "Life from deadness" to the whole world of Gentile nations. What wonderful people they are!

Vernon

3/10/2007 12:44 PM

10 .

Life From Deadness For the Whole World

Well, r e u n i o n is simiilar to completeness. The world of Gentile nations will be complete when they are reunited. When the world is together as Gentile nations, and only as Gentile nations, then the Gentile nations will be "united" again as they were before the last war.

But the ruin of Israel doesn''t just lead to a political rapprochement between feuding Gentile nations. That would be a poor pay-off for the destruction of a whole nation. Paul goes on to say in this verse 15 that the ruin of the Jewish state will lead on to "Life from deadness" for the whole world. What a wonderful prospect!

How will this "Life from deadness" come about? In this verse, Paul says that it is the "assimilation" of the Jews back into the Gentile nations which will be the power, the force by which the nations of the world will wake up to "Life from deadness".

Vernon

3/10/2007 12:36 PM

11 .

Is The Loss of The Jewish State A Possibility?

For as long as the Jewish state remains in independent existence in the Middle East, there is an incompleteness for the Gentile nations of the world.

Is this loss of the Jewish state a possibility? Well, apart from Netanyahu''s vision of a Jewish holocaust similar to Nazi Germany of 1938 being threatened now, apart from the Bible Code predicting a Jewish holocaust in 2006/7, apart from the Iranian president wanting to wipe Israel off the map, and apart from Jesus Christ prophesying that Jerusalem is going to be made unfit for human habitation, is there anything in this Chapter 11 of Romans indicating that there is going to be an end to the Jewish state?

Paul talks about the "ruin" of Israel in 11:15. This is a strong word and implies irreversible destruction. He goes on to say that the world will benefit from this "ruin" of Israel, so this ruin is important for both Jews and Gentiles. He says that the "r e u n i o n" of the world depends on the ruin of Israel.

Vernon

3/10/2007 12:26 PM

12 .

Imagine A World With No Jewish State!

Imagine, if you will, a world in which there is no Jewish state, no State of Israel in existence.

Most people will say that this is impossible, this cannot happen. OK! But I am just asking you to imagine, just close your eyes and imagine for a brief moment of time that there is no Jewish state in the Middle East. Imagine it as it was before 1948, before the end of World War Two.

Jews will, then, be living in the other nations of the world, the nations which remain after the State of Israel has gone. They''ll be living in the Diaspora, amongst the dispersed Jews who never emigrated to Israel.

The Gentile nations will then be complete for the first time since 1948, in the sense that all and every nation in the world will be Gentile, will be non-Jewish. In other words, the nations of the world will be completely Gentile. The world will be filled up with Gentile nations, and there will be no exception, not even one!

For as long as the Jewish state remains in independent existence in th

Vernon

3/10/2007 12:16 PM

13 .

Not the Full Number - Part 3

...Such a wonderful benefit simply must include the conversion of non-Jews after Israel''s hardening has ceased.

So, I suggest that the "full number" is wrong, and that we think again!

Vernon

3/9/2007 11:21 PM

14 .

Not the Full Number - Part 2

"...if the ruin of Israel is the r e u n i o n of the world, what is their assimilation if not Life from deadness" (11:15). It is not going to be much of a Life from deadness if no non-Jews are saved following the r e u n i o n of the world and the assimilation of Israel. The effect of converted Israel is to enrich the world, and includes the salvation of many non-Jews if Life from deadness has any meaning.

In an earlier verse, Paul writes, "Now since Israel''s fall is prosperity for the world, and their becoming smaller is richness for the people of the nations, how much more will Israel''s ending (as Israel outside of Christ) be!" (11:12).

Israel brought Christ into the world as well as his apostles, who established Christianity as different from Judaism. Christianity has grown and grown, and has done so at the expense of Judaism.

So, Israel''s ending has got to have a greater and more wonderful benefit for Christianity than anything else in Israel''s past since Christ came. Such a wond

Vernon

3/9/2007 11:17 PM

15 .

Pleroma Is Not the "Full Number" of Gentiles!

Is Pleroma as "the full number" of Gentiles likely to be correct? As this article says, hardness has happened to Israel until the Pleroma of the Gentiles has come in. To quote again, an unknown number of non-Jews must come to Jesus and enter the church before Israel is saved.

The "full number" before Israel is saved means or, indeed, implies that after Israel is saved, no non-Jews will be saved. Why? Because the "full number" has already been reached, and any more would exceed that "full number" and that is impossible. It is either the "full number" before Israel is saved and no more non-Jews can be saved later on, or it is not the "full number".

I believe that Paul is saying in this chapter 11 that converted Jews are going to have a monumentally beneficial effect on worldwide Christianity with the result that even more non-Jews will be saved through the proclamation of the Gospel by converted Jews.

Paul says, "If the ruin of Israel is the r e u n i o n of the world, what is their assimil

Vernon

3/9/2007 11:01 PM

16 .

Anyone Belonging to Israel Can Be Saved, then

Well, "complete" or "full" can mean "made whole", and this is the phrase I prefer.

So! The nations of the world are not whole, not a unit, whilst a non-Gentile nation exists and whilst non-Christianized nations continue.

When this time comes, Paul says that "Then, anyone belonging to the people of Israel can be saved. This is just as it has been written, ''The Rescuer...will turn turn Jacob away from irreligion. This is the covenant from me with them whilst I take away their sins!" (11:26,27)

Vernon

2/11/2007 6:48 PM

17 .

The Nations of the World Are Not Yet Whole

I think sometimes that we won''t understand this "pleroma" of the Gentiles until after it has happened. Then, we can look back and say, ''Ah, that''s what it was''.

"Pleroma" comes from the verb which means to "complete, perfect, be full, be full come, fulfil". How then can we understand the Gentiles as being "completed" etc?

Well, what or who are the Gentiles exactly? "Gentiles" comes from the word "Ethnos", which means "nation" or "people". So, for me, Gentiles is an old-fashioned word well past its sell by date. I prefer "the people of the nations".

We can, therefore, translate Rom 11:25 as "....Stubbornness has come over the people of Israel in particular, until the time comes when the people of the nations are......"

In some way, the people of the nations are incomplete, not full, not fufilled, not fully come whilst the people of Israel are stubborn, hardened, obstinate.

Well, "complete" or "full" can mean "made whole", and this is the phrase I prefer. It is that the n

Vernon

2/11/2007 6:37 PM