The Meaning of Ephesians 1:23 Explained

Ephesians 1:23

KJV: Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

YLT: which is his body, the fulness of Him who is filling the all in all,

Darby: which is his body, the fulness of him who fills all in all:

ASV: which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Which  is  his  body,  the fulness  of him that filleth  all  in  all. 

What does Ephesians 1:23 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The church is both the body of Christ and the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way, namely, Jesus Christ. The church is the fullness of Christ probably in the sense that He fills for Himself (middle voice in Greek) the church with blessings (cf. Ephesians 4:10-11). Other views are that the church completes Christ, and that Christ fills the church with Himself. [1] Jesus Christ who fills all things with all things (i.e, with blessings) is filling the church with blessings. The church could not come into existence until Jesus Christ had ascended into heaven to become its head. [2]
After showing that believers have received all spiritual blessings ( Ephesians 1:3-14), Paul prayed that believers might come to know God intimately ( Ephesians 1:17). This is necessary so we might better appreciate our past calling to salvation that gives us hope ( Ephesians 1:18), the future inheritance that we constitute for God ( Ephesians 1:18), and the present power of God available to us ( Ephesians 1:19). God manifested this power in the past in Christ"s resurrection and ascension ( Ephesians 1:20-21). He will manifest it in the future by making Jesus Christ the head over all creation ( Ephesians 1:22). He is now manifesting this power in Jesus Christ"s headship over the church ( Ephesians 1:22-23).

Context Summary

Ephesians 1:15-23 - What The Heart May Receive
It is well to go over the successive links of this golden chain when we are in our secret chamber, appropriating them one by one and asking whether we have received a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Christ, and whether the eyes of our heart have been enlightened to know the hope, the riches, the glory, and the greatness of His power. In so far as we yield ourselves to the strength of God's might, He will raise us from the grave of selfishness and cause us to sit with Christ in the place of spiritual life and power.
Notice the emphasis with which the Apostle affirms the supremacy of Christ's nature, Ephesians 1:21-22. This is a psalm of ascension. We can almost follow His tracks, as all the evil powers which rule the darkness of this world drop far beneath Him. The ascending Lord is high over all, and if we claim our right as members of His glorified body, we also shall stand above all our spiritual adversaries; and it is easier to descend on an enemy from above him than to seek to assail him from beneath. Notice that Christ needs the Church as much as the head needs the body, because it is through the Church that He fulfills Himself. Ask Him to fill all of you with all of Him. [source]

Chapter Summary: Ephesians 1

1  After Paul's salutation,
3  and thanksgiving for the Ephesians,
4  he treats of our election,
6  and adoption by grace;
11  which is the true and proper fountain of man's salvation
13  And because the height of this mystery cannot be easily attained unto,
16  he prays that they may come to the full knowledge and possession thereof in Christ

Greek Commentary for Ephesians 1:23

Which [ητις]
“Which in fact is,” explanatory use of ητις — hētis rather than η — hē [source]
The fulness of him that filleth all in all [το πληρωμα του τα παντα εν πασιν πληρουμενου]
This is probably the correct translation of a much disputed phrase. This view takes πληρωμα — plērōma in the passive sense (that which is filled, as is usual, Colossians 1:19) and πληρουμενου — plēroumenou as present middle participle, not passive. All things are summed up in Christ (Ephesians 1:10), who is the πληρωμα — plērōma of God (Colossians 1:19), and in particular does Christ fill the church universal as his body. Hence we see in Ephesians the Dignity of the Body of Christ which is ultimately to be filled with the fulness (πληρωμα — plērōma) of God (Ephesians 3:19) when it grows up into the fulness (πληρωμα — plērōma) of Christ (Ephesians 4:13, Ephesians 4:16). [source]
Which is His body [ἥτις]
The double relative is explanatory, seeing it is: by which I mean. Body, a living organism of which He is the head. See on Colossians 1:18. [source]
The fullness []
See on John 1:16; see on Romans 11:12; see on Colossians 1:19. That which is filled. The Church, viewed as a receptacle. Compare Ephesians 3:10. [source]
That filleth all in all [τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου]
Better, that filleth all things with all things. The expression is somewhat obscure. All things are composed of elements. Whatever things exist, God from His fullness fills with all those elements which belong to their being or welfare. The whole universe is thus filled by Him. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Ephesians 1:23

John 1:16 Of His fulness [ἐκ τοῦ πληρώματος αὐτοῦ]
These and the succeeding words are the Evangelist's, not the Baptist's. The word fullness ( πλήρωμα ) is found here only in John, but frequently occurs in the writings of Paul, whose use of it in Ephesians and Colossians illustrates the sense in John; these being Asiatic churches which fell, later, within the sphere of John's influence. The word is akin to πλήρης , full (John 1:14), and to πληροῦν , to fill or complete; and means that which is complete in itself, plenitude, entire number or quantity. Thus the crew of a ship is called πλήρωμα , its complement. Aristophanes (“Wasps,” 660), “ τούτων πλήρωμα , the sum-total of these, is nearly two thousand talents.” Herodotus (iii., 22) says that the full term of man's life among the Persians is eighty years; and Aristotle (“Polities,” iv., 4) refers to Socrates as saying that the eight classes, representing different industries in the state, constitute the pleroma of the state (see Plato, “Republic,” 371). In Ephesians 1:23, Paul says that the church is the pleroma of Christ: i.e., the plenitude of the divine graces in Christ is communicated to the Church as His body, making all the body, supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, to increase with the increase of God (Colossians 2:19; compare Ephesians 4:16). Similarly he prays (Ephesians 3:19) that the brethren may be filled unto all the pleroma of God: i.e., that they may be filled with the fullness which God imparts. More closely related to John's use of the term here are Colossians 1:19, “It pleased the Father that in Him (Christ) should all the fullness ( τὸ πλήρωμα , note the article) dwell;” and Colossians 2:9, Colossians 2:10, “In Him dwelleth all the pleroma of the Godhead bodily (i.e., corporally, becoming incarnate ), and in Him ye are fulfilled ( πεπληρωμένοι ).” This declares that the whole aggregate of the divine powers and graces appeared in the incarnate Word, and corresponds with John's statement that “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth;” while “ye are fulfilled ” answers to John's “of His fullness we all received.” Hence John's meaning here is that Christians receive from the divine completeness whatever each requires for the perfection of his character and for the accomplishment of his work (compare John 15:15; John 17:22). [source]
John 3:5 Born of water and the Spirit []
The exposition of this much controverted passage does not fall within the scope of this work. We may observe, 1. That Jesus here lays down the preliminary conditions of entrance into His kingdom, expanding and explaining His statement in John 3:3. -DIVIDER-
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2. That this condition is here stated as complex, including two distinct factors, water and the Spirit. 3. That the former of these two factors is not to be merged in the latter; that the spiritual element is not to exclude or obliterate the external and ritual element. We are not to understand with Calvin, the Holy Spirit as the purifying water in the spiritual sense: “water which is the Spirit.”-DIVIDER-
4. That water points definitely to the rite of baptism, and that with a twofold reference - to the past and to the future. Water naturally suggested to Nicodemus the baptism of John, which was then awakening such profound and general interest; and, with this, the symbolical purifications of the Jews, and the Old Testament use of washing as the figure of purifying from sin (Psalm 2:2, Psalm 2:7; Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:1). Jesus' words opened to Nicodemus a new and more spiritual significance in both the ceremonial purifications and the baptism of John which the Pharisees had rejected (Luke 7:30). John's rite had a real and legitimate relation to the kingdom of God which Nicodemus must accept. -DIVIDER-
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5. That while Jesus asserted the obligation of the outward rite, He asserted likewise, as its necessary complement, the presence and creating and informing energy of the Spirit with which John had promised that the coming one should baptize. That as John's baptism had been unto repentance, for the remission of sins, so the new life must include the real no less than the symbolic cleansing of the old, sinful life, and the infusion by the Spirit of a new and divine principle of life. Thus Jesus' words included a prophetic reference to the complete ideal of Christian baptism - “the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5; Ephesians 5:26); according to which the two factors are inseparably blended (not the one swallowed up by the other), and the new life is inaugurated both symbolically in the baptism with water, and actually in the renewing by the Holy Spirit, yet so as that the rite, through its association with the Spirit's energy, is more than a mere symbol: is a veritable vehicle of grace to the recipient, and acquires a substantial part in the inauguration of the new life. Baptism, considered merely as a rite, and apart from the operation of the Spirit, does not and cannot impart the new life. Without the Spirit it is a lie. It is a truthful sign only as the sign of an inward and spiritual grace. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
6. That the ideal of the new life presented in our Lord's words, includes the relation of the regenerated man to an organization. The object of the new birth is declared to be that a man may see and enter into the kingdom of God. But the kingdom of God is an economy. It includes and implies the organized Christian community. This is one of the facts which, with its accompanying obligation, is revealed to the new vision of the new man. He sees not only God, but the kingdom of God; God as King of an organized citizenship; God as the Father of the family of mankind; obligation to God implying obligation to the neighbor; obligation to Christ implying obligation to the church, of which He is the head, “which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all things with all things” (Ephesians 1:23). Through water alone, the mere external rite of baptism, a man may pass into the outward fellowship of the visible church without seeing or entering the kingdom of God. Through water and the Spirit, he passes indeed into the outward fellowship, but through that into the vision and fellowship of the kingdom of God. [source]

John 1:16 For [οτι]
Correct text (Aleph B C D L) and not και — kai (and) of the Textus Receptus. Explanatory reason for John 1:14. Of his fulness The only instance of πληρωμα — plērōma in John‘s writings, though five times of Christ in Paul‘s Epistles (Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 4:13). See Colossians 1:19 for discussion of these terms of the Gnostics that Paul employs for all the attributes of God summed up in Christ (Colossians 2:9) and so used here by John of the Incarnate Logos. We all John is facing the same Gnostic depreciation of Christ of which Paul writes in Colossians. So here John appeals to all his own contemporaries as participants with him in the fulness of the Logos. Received Second aorist active indicative of λαμβανω — lambanō a wider experience than beholding The point is in αντι — anti a preposition disappearing in the Koiné and here only in John. It is in the locative case of αντα — anta (end), “at the end,” and was used of exchange in sale. See Luke 11:11, αντι ιχτυος οπιν — anti ichthuos ophin “a serpent for a fish,” Hebrews 12:2 where “joy” and “cross” are balanced against each other. Here the picture is “grace” taking the place of “grace” like the manna fresh each morning, new grace for the new day and the new service. [source]
Romans 7:5 In the flesh [ἐν τῇ σαρκί]
Σάρξ fleshoccurs in the classics in the physical sense only. Homer commonly uses it in the plural as denoting all the flesh or muscles of the body. Later the singular occurs in the same sense. Paul's use of this and other psychological terms must be determined largely by the Old-Testament usage as it appears in the Septuagint. 1. In the physical sense. The literal flesh. In the Septuagint τὰ κρέα flesh(plural) is used where the reference is to the parts of animals slain, and αἱ σάρκες , flesh (plural) where the reference is to flesh as the covering of the living body. Hence Paul uses κρέα in Romans 14:21; 1 Corinthians 8:13, of the flesh of sacrificed animals. Compare also the adjective σάρκιμος fleshy 2 Corinthians 3:3; and Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26, Sept. -DIVIDER-
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2. Kindred. Denoting natural or physical relationship, Romans 1:3; Romans 9:3-8; Romans 11:14; Galatians 4:23, Galatians 4:29; 1 Corinthians 10:18; Philemon 1:16. This usage forms a transition to the following sense: the whole human body. Flesh is the medium in and through which the natural relationship of man manifests itself. Kindred is conceived as based on community of bodily substance. Therefore:-DIVIDER-
3. The body itself. The whole being designated by the part, as being its main substance and characteristic, 1 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 7:28; 2 Corinthians 4:11; 2 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 10:3; 2 Corinthians 12:7. Romans 2:28; Galatians 6:13, etc. Paul follows the Septuagint in sometimes using σῶμα bodyand sometimes σάρξ fleshin this sense, so that the terms occasionally seem to be practically synonymous. Thus 1 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:17, where the phrase one body is illustrated and confirmed by one flesh. See Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:31, where the two are apparently interchanged. Compare 2 Corinthians 4:10, 2 Corinthians 4:11; 1 Corinthians 5:3, and Colossians 2:5. Σάρξ , however, differs from σῶμα in that it can only signify the organism of an earthly, living being consisting of flesh and bones, and cannot denote “either an earthly organism that is not living, or a living organism that is not earthly” (Wendt, in Dickson). Σῶμα not thus limited. Thus it may denote the organism of the plant (1 Corinthians 15:37, 1 Corinthians 15:38) or the celestial bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40). Hence the two conceptions are related as general and special: σῶμα bodybeing the material organism apart from any definite matter (not from any sort of matter), σάρξ , flesh, the definite, earthly, animal organism. The two are synonymons when σῶμα is used, from the context, of an earthly, animal body. Compare Philemon 1:22; 2 Corinthians 5:1-8. -DIVIDER-
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Σῶμα bodyand not σάρξ fleshis used when the reference is to a metaphorical organism, as the church, Romans 12:4sqq.; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 2:16; Colossians 1:18, etc. -DIVIDER-
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The σάρξ is described as mortal (2 Corinthians 4:11); subject to infirmity (Galatians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:7); locally limited (Colossians 2:15); an object of fostering care (Ephesians 5:29). -DIVIDER-
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4. Living beings generally, including their mental nature, and with a correlated notion of weakness and perishableness. Thus the phrase πᾶσα σάρξ allflesh (Genesis 6:12; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 49:23). This accessory notion of weakness stands in contrast with God. In Paul the phrase all flesh is cited from the Old Testament (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16) and is used independently (1 Corinthians 1:29). In all these instances before God is added. So in Galatians 1:16, flesh and blood implies a contrast of human with divine wisdom. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:50; Ephesians 6:12. This leads up to-DIVIDER-
5. Man “either as a creature in his natural state apart from Christ, or the creaturely side or aspect of the man in Christ.” Hence it is correlated with ἄνθρωπος man 1 Corinthians 3:3; Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:17. Compare Romans 6:6; Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9; Galatians 5:24. Thus the flesh would seem to be interchangeable with the old man. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
It has affections and lusts (Galatians 5:24); willings (Ephesians 2:3; Romans 8:6, Romans 8:7); a mind (Colossians 2:18); a body (Colossians 2:11). -DIVIDER-
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It is in sharp contrast with πνεῦμα spirit(Galatians 3:3, Galatians 3:19; Galatians 5:16, Galatians 5:17, Galatians 5:19-24; Galatians 6:8; Romans 8:4). The flesh and the spirit are thus antagonistic. Σάρξ fleshbefore or in contrast with his reception of the divine element whereby he becomes a new creature in Christ: the whole being of man as it exists and acts apart from the influence of the Spirit. It properly characterizes, therefore, not merely the lower forms of sensual gratification, but all - the highest developments of the life estranged from God, whether physical, intellectual, or aesthetic. -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
It must be carefully noted:-DIVIDER-
1. That Paul does not identify flesh and sin. Compare, flesh of sin, Romans 8:3. See Romans 7:17, Romans 7:18; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Galatians 2:20. -DIVIDER-
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2. That Paul does not identify σάρξ withthe material body nor associate sin exclusively and predominantly with the body. The flesh is the flesh of the living man animated by the soul ( ψυχή ) as its principle of life, and is distinctly used as coordinate with ἄνθρωπος manAs in the Old Testament, “it embraces in an emphatic manner the nature of man, mental and corporeal, with its internal distinctions.” The spirit as well as the flesh is capable of defilement (2 Corinthians 7:1; compare 1 Corinthians 7:34). Christian life is to be transformed by the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:2; compare Ephesians 4:23). -DIVIDER-
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3. That Paul does not identify the material side of man with evil. The flesh is not the native seat and source of sin. It is only its organ, and the seat of sin's manifestation. Matter is not essentially evil. The logical consequence of this would be that no service of God is possible while the material organism remains. See Romans 12:1. The flesh is not necessarily sinful in itself; but as it has existed from the time of the introduction of sin through Adam, it is recognized by Paul as tainted with sin. Jesus appeared in the flesh, and yet was sinless (2 Corinthians 5:21).The motions of sins ( τὰ παθήματα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν )Motions used in earlier English for emotions or impulses. Thus Bacon: “He that standeth at a stay where others rise, can hardly avoid motions of envy” (“Essay” xiv.). The word is nearly synonymous with πάθος passion(Romans 1:26, note). From πάθειν tosuffer; a feeling which the mind undergoes, a passion, desire. Rev., sinful passions: which led to sins.Did work ( ἐνηργεῖτο )Rev., wrought. See 2 Corinthians 1:6; 2 Corinthians 4:12; Ephesians 3:20; Galatians 5:6; Philemon 2:13; Colossians 1:29. Compare Mark 6:14, and see on power, John 1:12. [source]

Romans 11:12 Fullness [πλήρωμα]
See on John 1:16. The word may mean that with which anything is filled (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28; Matthew 9:16; Mark 6:43); that which is filled (Ephesians 1:23); possibly the act of filling (Romans 13:10), though this is doubtful. Here in the first sense: the fullness of their number contrasted with the diminution. They will belong as an integral whole to the people of God. [source]
Romans 6:6 The body of sin [τὸ σῶμα τῆς ἁμαρτίας]
Σῶμα in earlier classical usage signifies a corpse. So always in Homer and often in later Greek. So in the New Testament, Matthew 6:25; Mark 5:29; Mark 14:8; Mark 15:43. It is used of men as slaves, Revelation 18:13. Also in classical Greek of the sum-total. So Plato: τὸ τοῦ κόσμου σῶμα thesum-total of the world (“Timaeus,” 31). The meaning is tinged in some cases by the fact of the vital union of the body with the immaterial nature, as being animated by the ψυξή soulthe principle of individual life. Thus Matthew 6:25, where the two are conceived as forming one organism, so that the material ministries which are predicated of the one are predicated of the other, and the meanings of the two merge into one another. -DIVIDER-
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In Paul it can scarcely be said to be used of a dead body, except in a figurative sense, as Romans 8:10, or by inference, 2 Corinthians 5:8. Commonly of a living body. It occurs with ψυχή soulonly 2 Corinthians 4:10-12 and there its distinction from ψυχή rather than its union with it is implied. So in Matthew 10:28, though even there the distinction includes the two as one personality. It is used by Paul:-DIVIDER-
1. Of the living human body, Romans 4:19; 1 Corinthians 6:13; 1 Corinthians 9:27; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26. -DIVIDER-
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2. Of the Church as the body of Christ, Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 1:23; Colossians 1:18, etc. Σάρξ fleshnever in this sense. -DIVIDER-
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3. Of plants and heavenly bodies, 1 Corinthians 15:37, 1 Corinthians 15:40. -DIVIDER-
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4. Of the glorified body of Christ, Philemon 3:21. -DIVIDER-
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5. Of the spiritual body of risen believers, 1 Corinthians 15:44. -DIVIDER-
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It is distinguished from σάρξ fleshas not being limited to the organism of an earthly, living body, 1 Corinthians 15:37, 1 Corinthians 15:38. It is the material organism apart from any definite matter. It is however sometimes used as practically synonymous with σάρξ , 1 Corinthians 7:16, 1 Corinthians 7:17; Ephesians 5:28, Ephesians 5:31; 2 Corinthians 4:10, 2 Corinthians 4:11. Compare 1 Corinthians 5:3with Colossians 2:5. An ethical conception attaches to it. It is alternated with μέλη membersand the two are associated with sin (Romans 1:24; Romans 6:6; Romans 7:5, Romans 7:24; Romans 8:13; Colossians 3:5), and with sanctification (Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 6:19sq.; compare 1 Thessalonians 4:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23). It is represented as mortal, Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 10:10; and as capable of life, 1 Corinthians 13:3; 2 Corinthians 4:10. -DIVIDER-
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In common with μέλη membersit is the instrument of feeling and willing rather than σάρξ , because the object in such cases is to designate the body not definitely as earthly, but generally as organic, Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13, Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 5:10. Hence, wherever it is viewed with reference to sin or sanctification, it is the outward organ for the execution of the good or bad resolves of the will. -DIVIDER-
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The phrase body of sin denotes the body belonging to, or ruled by, the power of sin, in which the members are instruments of unrighteousness (Romans 6:13). Not the body as containing the principle of evil in our humanity, since Paul does not regard sin as inherent in, and inseparable from, the body (see Romans 6:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23,; 2 Corinthians 7:1. Compare Matthew 15:19), nor as precisely identical with the old man, an organism or system of evil dispositions, which does not harmonize with Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13, where Paul uses body in the strict sense. “Sin is conceived as the master, to whom the body as slave belongs and is obedient to execute its will. As the slave must perform his definite functions, not because he in himself can perform no others, but because of His actually subsistent relationship of service he may perform no others, while of himself he might belong as well to another master and render other services; so the earthly σῶμα bodybelongs not of itself to the ἁμαρτία sinbut may just as well belong to the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:13), and doubtless it is de facto enslaved to sin, so long as a redemption from this state has not set in by virtue of the divine Spirit” (Romans 7:24: Dickson).DestroyedSee on Romans 3:3.He that is dead ( ὁ ἀποθανὼν )Rev., literally, he that hath died. In a physical sense. Death and its consequences are used as the general illustration of the spiritual truth. It is a habit of Paul to throw in such general illustrations. See Romans 7:2. [source]

Romans 11:11 Their loss [το ηττημα αυτων]
So perhaps in 1 Corinthians 6:7, but in Isaiah 31:8 defeat is the idea. Perhaps so here. Fulness (πληρωμα — plērōma). Perhaps “completion,” though the word from πληροω — plēroō to fill, has a variety of senses, that with which anything is filled (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28), that which is filled (Ephesians 1:23). How much more? Argument a fortiori as in Romans 11:24. Romans 11:25 illustrates the point. [source]
Romans 11:11 Fulness [πληρωμα]
Perhaps “completion,” though the word from πληροω — plēroō to fill, has a variety of senses, that with which anything is filled (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28), that which is filled (Ephesians 1:23). [source]
Romans 11:11 By their fall [τωι αυτων παραπτωματι]
Instrumental case. For the word, a falling aside or a false step from παραπιπτω — parapiptō see note on Romans 5:15-20. Is come. No verb in the Greek, but γινεται — ginetai or γεγονεν — gegonen is understood. For to provoke them to jealousy Purpose expressed by εις — eis and the articular infinitive, first aorist active, of παραζηλοω — parazēloō for which verb see note on 1 Corinthians 10:22. As an historical fact Paul turned to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected his message (Acts 13:45.; Acts 28:28, etc.). The riches of the world (πλουτος κοσμου — ploutos kosmou). See note on Romans 10:12. Their loss So perhaps in 1 Corinthians 6:7, but in Isaiah 31:8 defeat is the idea. Perhaps so here. Fulness (πληρωμα — plērōma). Perhaps “completion,” though the word from πληροω — plēroō to fill, has a variety of senses, that with which anything is filled (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28), that which is filled (Ephesians 1:23). How much more? Argument a fortiori as in Romans 11:24. Romans 11:25 illustrates the point. [source]
Romans 11:11 For to provoke them to jealousy [εις το παραζηλωσαι]
Purpose expressed by εις — eis and the articular infinitive, first aorist active, of παραζηλοω — parazēloō for which verb see note on 1 Corinthians 10:22. As an historical fact Paul turned to the Gentiles when the Jews rejected his message (Acts 13:45.; Acts 28:28, etc.). The riches of the world (πλουτος κοσμου — ploutos kosmou). See note on Romans 10:12. Their loss So perhaps in 1 Corinthians 6:7, but in Isaiah 31:8 defeat is the idea. Perhaps so here. Fulness (πληρωμα — plērōma). Perhaps “completion,” though the word from πληροω — plēroō to fill, has a variety of senses, that with which anything is filled (1 Corinthians 10:26, 1 Corinthians 10:28), that which is filled (Ephesians 1:23). How much more? Argument a fortiori as in Romans 11:24. Romans 11:25 illustrates the point. [source]
Ephesians 4:9 Now that He ascended []
Ephesians 4:9and Ephesians 4:10are parenthetical, showing what the ascension of Christ presupposes. By descending into the depths and ascending above all, He entered upon His function of filling the whole universe, in virtue of which function He distributes gifts to men. See Ephesians 1:23. Rev., properly, inserts this, thus giving the force of the article which calls attention to the fact of ascension alluded to in the quotation. “Now the or this 'He ascended.”' [source]
Ephesians 4:10 Fill all things []
Compare Ephesians 1:23. [source]
Ephesians 3:10 By the Church [διά]
Better, through, as Rev. By means of the Church. This agrees with what was said of the Church as the fullness of God, Ephesians 1:23. [source]
Ephesians 2:16 Them both [τους αμποτερους]
“The both,” “the two” The “one new man” of Ephesians 2:15 of which Christ is Head (Ephesians 1:23), the spiritual church. Paul piles up metaphors to express his idea of the Kingdom of God with Christ as King (the church, the body, the commonwealth of Israel, oneness, one new man in Christ, fellow-citizens, the family of God, the temple of God). Thereby On the Cross where he slew the enmity (repeated here) between Jew and Gentile. [source]
Ephesians 2:16 In one body [εν ενι σωματι]
The “one new man” of Ephesians 2:15 of which Christ is Head (Ephesians 1:23), the spiritual church. Paul piles up metaphors to express his idea of the Kingdom of God with Christ as King (the church, the body, the commonwealth of Israel, oneness, one new man in Christ, fellow-citizens, the family of God, the temple of God). [source]
Ephesians 4:4 One body [εν σωμα]
One mystical body of Christ (the spiritual church or kingdom, cf. Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 2:16). [source]
Colossians 2:10 Ye are complete in Him [ἐστε ἐν αὐτῷ πεπληρωμένοι]
Rev., made full. Compare John 1:16; Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 3:19; Ephesians 4:13. Not, ye are made full in Him, but ye are in Him, made full. In Him dwells the fullness; being in Him, ye are filled. Compare John 17:21; Acts 17:28. [source]
Colossians 1:18 The head of the body, the Church []
The Church is described as a body, Romans 12:4sq.; 1Corinthians href="/desk/?q=1co+10:17&sr=1">1 Corinthians 10:17, by way of illustrating the functions of the members. Here the image is used to emphasize the position and power of Christ as the head. Compare Colossians 2:19; Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 4:4, Ephesians 4:12, Ephesians 4:15, Ephesians 4:16; Ephesians 5:23, Ephesians 5:30. [source]
Colossians 2:10 Ye are made full [εστε πεπληρωμενοι]
Periphrastic perfect passive indicative of πληροω — plēroō but only one predicate, not two. Christ is our fulness of which we all partake (John 1:16; Ephesians 1:23) and our goal is to be made full of God in Christ (Ephesians 3:19). “In Christ they find the satisfaction of every spiritual want” (Peake). [source]
Colossians 1:19 It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell [ἐν αὐτῷ εὐδόκησεν πᾶν τὸ πλήρωμα κατοικῆσαι]
Εὐδοκέω tothink it good, to be well pleased is used in the New Testament, both of divine and of human good-pleasure; but, in the former case, always of God the Father. So Matthew 3:17; Luke 12:32; 1 Corinthians 1:21. The subject of was well pleased, God, is omitted as in James 1:12, and must be supplied; so that, literally, the passage would read, God was well pleased that in Him, etc. Rev., it was the good pleasure of the Father. Fullness, Rev, correctly, the fullness. See on Romans 11:12; see on John 1:16. The word must be taken in its passive sense - that with which a thing is filled, not that which fills. The fullness denotes the sum-total of the divine powers and attributes. In Christ dwelt all the fullness of God as deity. The relation of essential deity to creation and redemption alike, is exhibited by John in the very beginning of his gospel, with which this passage should be compared. In John the order is: 1. The essential nature of Christ; 2. Creation; 3. Redemption. Here it is: 1. Redemption (Colossians 1:13); 2. Essential being of the Son (Colossians 1:15); 3. The Son as Creator (Colossians 1:16); 4. The Church, with Christ as its head (Colossians 1:18). Compare 2 Corinthians 5:19; Ephesians 1:19, Ephesians 1:20, Ephesians 1:23. Paul does not add of the Godhead to the fullness, as in Colossians 2:9since the word occurs in direct connection with those which describe Christ's essential nature, and it would seem not to have occurred to the apostle that it could be understood in any other sense than as an expression of the plenitude of the divine attributes and powers. Thus the phrase in Him should all the fullness dwell gathers into a grand climax the previous statements - image of God, first-born of all creation, Creator, the eternally preexistent, the Head of the Church, the victor over death, first in all things. On this summit we pause, looking, like John, from Christ in His fullness of deity to the exhibition of that divine fullness in redemption consummated in heaven (Colossians 1:20-22). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
There must also be taken into the account the selection of this word fullness with reference to the false teaching in the Colossian church, the errors which afterward were developed more distinctly in the Gnostic schools. Pleroma fullness was used by the Gnostic teachers in a technical sense, to express the sum-total of the divine powers and attributes. “From the pleroma they supposed that all those agencies issued through which God has at any time exerted His power in creation, or manifested His will through revelation. These mediatorial beings would retain more or less of its influence, according as they claimed direct parentage from it, or traced their descent through successive evolutions. But in all cases this pleroma was distributed, diluted, transformed, and darkened by foreign admixture. They were only partial and blurred images, often deceptive caricatures, of their original, broken lights of the great Central Light” (Lightfoot). Christ may have been ranked with these inferior images of the divine by the Colossian teachers. Hence the significance of the assertion that the totality of the divine dwells in Him. [source]

Colossians 1:16 By Him and for Him [δι ' αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν]
Rev., better, through Him and unto Him. See on Romans 11:36. Compare in Him at the beginning of the verse. There Christ was represented as the conditional cause of all things. All things came to pass within the sphere of His personality and as dependent upon it. Here He appears as the mediating cause; through Him, as 1 Corinthians 8:6. Unto Him. All things, as they had their beginning in Him, tend to Him as their consummation, to depend on and serve Him. Compare Revelation 22:13; and Hebrews 2:10; “for whose sake ( δι ' ὃν ) and through whose agency ( δι ' οὗ ) are all things” Rev., “for whom and through whom.” See also Ephesians 1:10, Ephesians 1:23; Ephesians 4:10; Philemon 2:9-11; 1 Corinthians 15:28. The false teachers maintained that the universe proceeded from God indirectly, through a succession of emanations. Christ, at best, was only one of these. As such, the universe could not find its consummation in Him. [source]

What do the individual words in Ephesians 1:23 mean?

which is the body of Him fullness of the [One] - all in all filling
ἥτις ἐστὶν τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ πλήρωμα τοῦ τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν πληρουμένου

σῶμα  body 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: σῶμα  
Sense: the body both of men or animals.
αὐτοῦ  of  Him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
πλήρωμα  fullness 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Neuter Singular
Root: πλήρωμα  
Sense: that which is (has been) filled.
τοῦ  of  the  [One] 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
τὰ  - 
Parse: Article, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πληρουμένου  filling 
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: πληρόω  
Sense: to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full.