76 JUAN M. GRANADOS ROJAS III. The Use of plhro,w in Colossians G. Delling’s analysis distinguishes five non-literal senses of plhrow in the NT: (1) “to fill with a content”; (2) “to fulfill a divine , command”; (3) “to fill up a specific measure”; (4) “to fulfill prophetic sayings”; (5) “to complete,” meaning “to finish”, “to perform” or “to bring to completion” 38. An analysis of the recurrences of plhro,w in Colossians indicates mainly two senses 39, which could correspond well with numbers (1) and (5) in Delling’s classification 40. The first sense points to filling someone with something “ab- stract” (1,9; 2,10). In 1,9 the passive voice becomes surely a divine passive indicating that you (believers) are filled by God with God’s will. In 2,10 the complementary passive participle designates “you” (believers) who in Christ have been filled with the divinity that dwells bodily in Christ (2,9); for this reason they have come to (di- vine) fullness in Christ. The second sense involves the idea of ethi- cal fulfillment (1,25; 4,17). In 1,25 bringing to completion the word of God means that this word still needs something “abstract” to be complete. This “something” includes not only the knowledge of its content (the mystery) and its being spread worldwide, but also its ethical fulfillment or completion. In 4,17 the abstract object that needs to be brought to completion or to be fulfilled is apostolic ser- vice (diakoni,a). In both cases how it is to be fulfilled involves the proclamation, but certainly also its accomplishment in terms of the believer ’s behavior. At this point it is difficult to avoid the question of the relation between the verb and its derivative noun plh,rwma 41. The study of G. DELLING, “plhro,w”, TDNT 868-869. 38 Our research has not dealt with etymology or extra-biblical references 39 to determine the meaning of a phrase or expression, but rather their use in the letter, in particular within the syntactic units. Unfortunately we do not have room here to assess the merits of this methodological option. On deter- mining meaning and sense by their use within the context see J. BARR, The Semantics of Biblical Language (London 1961). The recurrences of plhro,w in Ephesians could also fit into Delling’s 40 categories (1) and (5) but present for more difficulties of interpretation. They seem to move slightly toward a different completion, probably Christological and cosmological fulfillment. See J. DUPONT, Gnosis: la connaissance re- ligieuse dans les Épîtres de Saint Paul (Bruges 1949) 471-476. W. Schenk observes that the lexemes from plhr–, including plhrofori,a 41 (2,2); plhrofore,w (4,12); avntanaplhro,w (1,24), characterize the specific vo- © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati