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

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where, at least so Ernst argues correctly
the sense
is IIVollstandigkeit ll • If this view is carried over
into Eph 1:23 the verse yields the sense:
'Christ
fills all his members but at the same time he will be
completed by the totality of the community, namely the
Church' • We can now offer then a paraphrase which
both expands our provisional translation and at t,he
same time brings out the total theological significance
of the verse:
'And God gave him who is head over all
things to the Church which is his body;
it'is this
body which at one and the same time completes Christ
and yet is also filled by him'.
The great advantage
of this interpretation is that it would show a very
close relationship between the concepts of Eph 1:10
and 1:23.
The view advocated is certainly attractive
but seems to be more the result of the judgment that
1:10 is basic to the interpretation of 1:23 than it is
of a demonstrable grammatical probability.
The point
at issue is, however, to what extent this theological
judgment can be verified by a consideration of the
remaining 7tAf)pWf-lCL citations. If these citations do
verify this judgment then our conclusion must be that
the author had this presupposition in mind when writing
Eph 1:23, although not making it explicit in the text.
To this point we shall return later.
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