“The fulness of time” is the time when the Messiah appeared,
which was appointed by God, promised to the fathers, foretold by the
prophets, expected by the Jews themselves, and earnestly longed for by
all the faithful: “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent his
Son,” Gal. iv, 4. The fulness of Christ is the superabundance of grace
with which he was filled: “Of his fulness have all we received,” John i,
16. And whereas men are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost, as John
the Baptist, Luke i, 15; and Stephen, Acts vi, 5; this differs from the
fulness of Christ in these three respects: (1.) Grace in others is by
participation, as the moon hath her light from the sun, rivers their
waters from the fountain: but in Christ all that perfection and
influence which we include in that term is originally, naturally, and of
himself. (2.) The Spirit is in Christ infinitely and above measure, John
iii, 34; but in the saints by measure according to the gift of God, Eph.
iv, 16. The saints cannot communicate their graces to others, whereas
the gifts of the Spirit are in Christ as a head and fountain, to impart
them to his members. “We have received of his fulness,” John i, 16. It
is said, that “the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily,” Col.
ii, 2; that is, the whole nature and attributes of God are in Christ,
and that really, essentially, or substantially; and also personally, by
nearest union; as the soul dwells in the body, so that the same person
who is man is God also. The church is called the fulness of Christ, Eph.
i, 23. It is the church which makes him a complete and perfect head; for
though he has a natural and personal fulness as God, yet, as Mediator,
he is not full and complete, without his mystical body, (as a king is
not complete without his subjects,) but receives an outward, relative,
and mystical fulness from his members.
which was appointed by God, promised to the fathers, foretold by the
prophets, expected by the Jews themselves, and earnestly longed for by
all the faithful: “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent his
Son,” Gal. iv, 4. The fulness of Christ is the superabundance of grace
with which he was filled: “Of his fulness have all we received,” John i,
16. And whereas men are said to be filled with the Holy Ghost, as John
the Baptist, Luke i, 15; and Stephen, Acts vi, 5; this differs from the
fulness of Christ in these three respects: (1.) Grace in others is by
participation, as the moon hath her light from the sun, rivers their
waters from the fountain: but in Christ all that perfection and
influence which we include in that term is originally, naturally, and of
himself. (2.) The Spirit is in Christ infinitely and above measure, John
iii, 34; but in the saints by measure according to the gift of God, Eph.
iv, 16. The saints cannot communicate their graces to others, whereas
the gifts of the Spirit are in Christ as a head and fountain, to impart
them to his members. “We have received of his fulness,” John i, 16. It
is said, that “the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily,” Col.
ii, 2; that is, the whole nature and attributes of God are in Christ,
and that really, essentially, or substantially; and also personally, by
nearest union; as the soul dwells in the body, so that the same person
who is man is God also. The church is called the fulness of Christ, Eph.
i, 23. It is the church which makes him a complete and perfect head; for
though he has a natural and personal fulness as God, yet, as Mediator,
he is not full and complete, without his mystical body, (as a king is
not complete without his subjects,) but receives an outward, relative,
and mystical fulness from his members.