P. Derek Overfield PhD Thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

set of solutions to the problems offered by the Greek
of the verse, solutions which are themselves open to
question.
But Robinson's interpretation can be also
criticised from a completely different standpoint.
His understanding of this verse owes much to the
earlier works of J.B. Lightfoot, and, to a lesser
degree, B.F. Westcott, who stress the idea that the
Church is the receptacle of the divine gifts and graces,
constantly receiving from Christ the complete fulness
which Christ himself receives from the Father.
In
taking up and developing this line of thought Robinson
seems to accept the Platonic presuppositions which
underlie the thought of these early corrunentators, presuppositions
which themselves would seem to be in
conflict with his own general thesis which emphasises
that behind Paul's use of the ~A~p~~~
concept there
lies a development and continuation of a thought that
is essentially Hebraic.
But an even more striking
criticism can be levelled against Robinson's view.
The qualification that is explicit in Robinson's
translation, the idea that Christ is always being
filled by God, is implicit in neither the grammar of
the verse nor the context, but is introduced directly
as a result of the author's interpretation of Col 1:19
and 2:9.
This argument presupposes not only a unity
of authorship between the two epistles,42 but also
that the recipients of Ephesians knew Colossians -
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