A. The Word Outside the New Testament.

I. The Lexical Aspect.
Already outside the NT the word can denote a “fulness” of “contents,” so that in different passages several meanings or their totality may be implied. This makes translation difficult and explains the tendency to use the general term “fulness” or to leave the term untranslated. With πλήρης (→ 283, 17 ff.) and πληρόω (→ 290, 36 f.) it esp. carries with it in its specific usage the thought of full measure. It thus denotes in particular completeness, the absence of any lacunae.

1. First “that which fills,”1 “full contents,” e.g., of a basket, Eur. Ion, 1412, common of ships (Poll. Onom., I, 121 groups it under τὰ … τῆς ναυμαχίας),2 “freight,” esp. in connection with the full contents of the ark, Philo Vit. Mos., II, 62, in Omn. Prob. Lib., 41 (καλοκαγαθίας) and 128 synon. with ἕρμα “cargo,” or the complement (obviously only in this sense in Plut., 8 times in Vitae, also plur.), Hdt., VIII, 45; Lys., 21, 10 etc.; then “crew of workers,” P. Petr., II, 15, 3, 2 (3rd cent. b.c.), → I, 728, 10 f.; “total population”3 of a city, Ael. Arist. Or., 22, 9, with an original implication of completeness; all callings constitute the πλήρωμα of the polis, Aristot. Pol., IV, 4, p. 1291a, 17.

2. With sense 1. there is easily combined the idea of “entirety,” then of the “great mass,” hence the “whole sum,” ὥστε καὶ ἐς χιλίους τὸ πλήρωμα τῆς γερουσίας αὐξηθῆναι, Dio C., 52, 42, 1; “totality,” τῶν φίλων πλήρωμʼ ἁθροίσας, Eur. Ion, 663 f.; “the whole,” πλήρωμα … πολυανθρώπου συγγενείας, μηδενὸς ἐλλειφθ�*ντος ἢ μ�*ρους, …, “full measure” of a numerous kindred in which no part (no degree of relationship) is missing,4 Philo Praem. Poen., 109; to offer oneself to God as πλήρωμα καλοκαγαθίας is the best sacrifice, Spec. Leg., I, 272; “full number” of the yrs. of life, Hdt., III, 22. Generally “crowd,” of men, Eur. Or., 1642; πλήρωμά τινος εὐτυχίας, Philo Leg. Gaj., 11. Finally, the word approximates (→ 284, 5–9) to the sense of “consummation,” Philo Spec. Leg., II, 213: Tabernacles is the climax of the festivals (with συμπ�*ρασμα, conclusion), ibid., 200: πλήρωμα … τελειότατον (of the number ten) the most perfect synopsis.

3. Outside the Bible the meaning “what is filled” is found for certain only of a fully manned ship, Luc. Verae Historiae, II, 37, π�*ντε … πληρώματα, 38 and Hesych., s.v.; it is debatable elsewhere: the soul is a πλήρωμα ἀρετῶν, “wholly filled” with5 virtues by disposition, learning and practice οὐδὲν ἐν ἑαυτῇ καταλιποῦσα κενόν, Philo Praem. Poen., 65.

4. “The act of filling,” probably6 at Eur. Tro., 823 f.: Ζηνὸς ἔχεις κυλίκων πλήρωμα, καλλίσταν λατρείαν, (of the office of Ganymede), also Soph. Trach., 1213: πυρᾶς πλήρωμα, the piling up of the funeral pyre (for Heracles);7 in my judgment also Philo Abr., 268: faith in God is παρηγόρημα βίου, πλήρωμα χρηστῶν ἐλπίδων, ἀφορία μὲν κακῶν, ἀγαθῶν δὲ φορά (etc.); acc. to the context πλήρωμα is par. to παρηγόρημα βίου (encouragement to live) and hence a “filling” with good hopes (choice of the word because of the ending, cf. R. 11:12).

II. The Use in Specific Literary Groups.
1. In the LXX the word is used only spatially, mostly “content” (Qoh. 4:6), esp. “fulness” or “totality,” e.g., inhabitants and riches of the sea (3 times) and the earth (8, e.g., ψ 23:1); cf. also Cant. 5:12: πληρώματα ὑδάτων, “ample waters” (v. b: πλήρωμα “fulness”) or simply “waters” (v. a: πλήρωμα, “what is filled”). Of the other transl. ἈΣΘ have πλήρωμα at Ex. 28:17 for מִלֻּאָה (“border”)8 and ψ 95:11 (also LXX) for מְלֹא, also mechanically in Ἀ 2 Βασ*. 5:9 for the name מִלּוֹא (lit. “filling”). The LXX agrees with Ἀ at Ez. 12:19, with Σ at ψ 97:7; Qoh. 4:6 (all for מְלֹא.) Σ has the word at Is. 31:4 for מְלֹא (not the LXX). Comparison of πλήρωμα and πλήρωσις (→ n. 8) is instructive in the LXX; they are used promiscue for מְלֹא9 (πλήρωσις the “fulness” of the earth, Dt. 33:16, the land, Ez. 32:15); the “act of filling” is in view in Jdt. 8:31 (cisterns) and perhaps Ex. 35:27; 1 Ch. 29:2 (putting on adornment, cf. ἈΣΘ supra); of time, times are fulfilled, limits reached, Jer. 5:24; Ez. 5:2 (Da. Θ 10:3); adj. “powerful” of the wind, Jer. 4:12. This covers all the NT refs. Here πλήρωσις more clearly suggests the action, whereas only πλήρωμα is used for this, too, in the NT.

2. Ign. uses the term in the sense of πληροφορία, sense a. (→ 310, 28; 311, 1 ff.). In Ign. Tr. introitus ἐν τῷ πληρώματι is to be related to ἀσπάζομαι, which immediately precedes: the “fulness” of wishes contained in a NT epistle is enclosed in the greeting of Ign.10 Eph. introitus refers to the “fulness” with which God has blessed the church addressed.11 Justin (cf. 1 Cl., 54, 3, quotation from ψ 23:1) uses the term only of earth and the sea (→ 299, 29), Dial., 22, 9; 36, 3; 73, 4; Cl. Al., except in accounts of Gnosticism outside the Church, uses it only with respect to means of sustenance, Paed., I, 96, 3; II, 103, 2.

3. In Corp. Herm. πλήρωμα is not used as in Chr. Gnosticism; it can mean the same as πληρ�*στατος (“completely full”) in Lact. Inst., IV, 6, 4 (Scott, 298): The cosmos (the second god) is πληρ�*στατος πάντων τῶν ἀγαθῶν, cf. Corp. Herm., 12, 15: The cosmos πλήρωμά ἐστι τῆς ζωῆς, though in content cf. 6, 4: ὁ γὰρ κόσμος πλήρωμά ἐστι τῆς κακίας,12 ὁ δὲ θεὸς τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, “sheer” evil or good. 16, 3 says of God the Lord and Creator of the universe (τῶν ὅλων) that He is all and one, “for the ‘fulness’13 (πλήρωμα) of all is one and in one”; the all is not a second thing alongside the one; they cannot be distinguished; the term πάντα does not mean ἐπὶ πλήθους (in summation) but ἐπὶ πληρώματος (in totality). Here the word is clearly meant to define a concept of God in which God and the world merge into one another. The use is again purely formal.

4. In Chr. Gnosticism,14 esp. Valentinians,15 πλήρωμα is a tt. particularly for the totality of the thirty aeons, Epiph. Haer., 31, 10, 13, cf. τὸ πᾶν πλήρωμα τῶν αἰώνων, 31, 13, 6. Obviously God, the Father of the all, does not Himself belong to the pleroma; He has brought forth the highest aeons from Himself, Hipp. Ref., VI, 29, 6. cf. Iren. Haer., I, 1, 1. The pleroma is in its way closest to God, but it is His product, so that God stands over it as μόνος ἀγ�*ννητος, οὐ τόπον ἔχων, οὐ χρόνον, … ἀναπαυόμενος αὐτὸς ἐν ἑαυτῷ μόνος, Hipp. Ref., VI, 29, 5.16 The specific use of the term probably derives from the sense of “totality.” It also includes an evaluation: πλήρωμα obviously means “fulness of being,” of what is in the true sense of the word.17 This may be seen particularly clearly in the fact that κ�*νωμα can be its opp., for this signifies emptiness of everything divine, Epiph. Haer., 31, 16, 1: To be ἐν σκιᾶς καὶ κενώματος τόποις is to be ἔξω … φωτὸς … καὶ πληρώματος.18 In Cl. Al. Exc. Theod., 35, 1 Phil. 2:7 is referred to the leaving of the pleroma by Jesus.19 Since, however, the two spheres are strictly separated spatially as well as essentially, formally πλήρωμα is mostly a spatial term.20 In this sense it simply denotes the supreme spiritual world (τὸ ἀόρατον καὶ πνευματικὸν … πλήρωμα, Epiph. Haer., 31, 10, 13) in its total distinctness.21 It is divided by Ὅρος from the lower world, the cosmos, which is made after its image,22 Cl. Al. Exc. Theod., 22, 4; 42, 1.23 Jesus brought the angels with Him from the pleroma,24 and they may not return thither without the gnostics, Exc. Theod., 35, 1 and 4. The whole pleroma is the bridal chamber (νυμφών) into which there enter the pneumatics who have put off their souls, found their angel bridegrooms, and become pure spirits (αἰῶνες νοεροί), Exc. Theod., 64. Acc. to a recurrent formula (Hipp. Ref., VI, 32, 1, 2, 4, 9; 34, 3; 36, 4), the Redeemer Jesus25 is the “common fruit of the pleroma,” brought forth by all the aeons, and hence a particularly great aeon, ibid., 32, 6. “The whole pleroma of the aeons … has brought forth the most perfect beauty and the star of the pleroma, the perfect fruit Jesus, who is also called Saviour and Christ,” Iren. Haer., I, 2, 6. Absolutely everything which is of spiritual origin may be found again in the pleroma. This obviously means that the sense of perfection is also implied in the use of πλήρωμα in Chr. Gnosis, cf. also Hipp. Ref., VI, 34, 2: ἵνʼ ᾖ τὸ πλήρωμα ἐν ἀριθμῷ τελείῳ συνηθροισμ�*νον. This may be seen also in the plur. use. The aeons, the transcendent powers, which proceed hierarchically from the chief aeons by syzygy (Iren. Haer., I, 1, 1 f.), can also be called πληρώματα: ὅσα ἐκ συζυγίας προ�*ρχεται, πληρώματά ἐστιν (Cl. Al. Strom., IV, 90, 2; Exc. Theod., 32, 1, cf. 33, 1; Iren. Haer., I, 14, 2; 14, 5 == Hipp. Ref., VI, 43, 1; 46, 3). Finally, in a logical combination of the other two senses, πλήρωμα can be used in a third way for the angelic partner of the Gnostic, → line 8.

The husband of the Samaritan woman (Jn. 4:17) is τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς with whom she must be united to achieve salvation.26 Here the thought of the Saviour from the upper world is individualised; each who is capable of redemption has his own personal saviour, who bears up him and him alone to the upper world, his own heavenly perfection. Here again it is the value concept which is finally decisive.

5. In Iambl. Myst. πλήρωμα means “content”: when the soul unites itself with the gods it receives τὰ ἀληθ�*στατα … πληρώματα τῶν νοήσεων (III, 3, p. 107, 7); τὰ δʼ ἐπὶ γῆς ἐν τοῖς πληρώμασι τῶν θεῶν ἔχοντα τὸ εἶναι (I, 8, p. 28, 18) through that which the gods pour in … In Procl. in Tim. the usage is obviously developed in a more specific way: the plur. (15 times) denotes “contents,” the idea of perfection is expressed by the adding of πάντα (II, 67e)27 or ὅλα (III, 160b).28 The sing., found 8 times, embraces the meanings “vessel” (also πλήρωμα εἶναί τινων, “to be full” of something; the soul, which is itself εἶδος [idea], πλήρωμά ἐστιν εἰδῶν, III, 208b)29 and “totality,” “sum”; so τὸ μὲν αὐτοζῷον πλήρωμά ἐστι τοῦ πλήθους τῶν νοητῶν ζῴων (IV, 240e);30 of the world soul: πλήρωμα γάρ ἐστι τῶν ὅλων, εἰκόνας ἔχουσα τῶν πάντων (III, 228 f.).31 The technical meaning of Chr. Gnosticism is not present here either. The same is true of the last Neo-platonist, Damascius. In his De Principiis, 46 πλήρωμα denotes the unsundered (→ V, 455, 39, 37) “totality” of being (ἐν τῷ ἀδιορίστῳ πληρώματι τῶν ὄντων).32 It particular, it is the “sum” of qualities which constitute the nature of a thing (also plur.), ibid., 14 (28, 4); 56 (117, 22). It is a formal term for totality or unity as distinct from multiplicity or individuality, cf. Corp. Herm. etc.

Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964-c1976. Vols. 5-9 edited by Gerhard Friedrich. Vol. 10 compiled by Ronald Pitkin. (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (6:298-302). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.