Jesus All In All – Jim Fowler

Paul wrote, “He (God the Father) gave Him (Jesus) as head over all things to the church, which is His (Jesus’) body, the fullness of Him (Jesus) who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23). What does it mean for Jesus to be “all in all” in His Body, in His Christ-ones? Our kerygma proclamation is Jesus. Our euangelion gospel is Jesus. Our phaneroo manifestation of life is Jesus. Jesus is our everything – pas en pas our all in all (cf. Eph. 1:23). W. Ian Thomas wrote a book entitled, All of Him in all of You, but we must explicate what “all of Him” implies, and to explain what “in all of you” indicates?

The Triune God has a singular objective to involve humanity in relational participation with the divine unity of His being, and that can only be implemented by the reality of God the Son incarnated in the man, Christ Jesus, providing Himself as the presence and activity of God historically and experientially. The dynamic reality of God the Son, the Spirit of the risen and living Jesus, coming to dwell in the spirit of a receptive individual to be that person’s Life (cf. Col. 3:4) – in that investiture of divine Life, we commence to participate in the triune Life of God. All of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has come to dwell in every Christ-one and is the All-ness of His Body, the ecclesia.

All of God is to be present and active in all of us in every way. It would not be consistent with Christian thought to indicate that “all in all” refers to a pantheistic or panentheistic presence and action of God in everything. The Triune God does function in every facet of our created humanity, our spirit, and soul, and body (cf. I Thess. 5:23). It is also God’s purpose to function in all Christ-ones who are members of Christ’s Body (cf. Col. 1:18,24). The living Lord Jesus intends to function in “all of you” individually and collectively. The “all in all” phrase can also be interpreted to mean that the entirety of the Triune God intends to function in all Christ-ones within the ecclesia in every way. Every manifestation of the Christ-life in every Christ-one is to be the Christ-life lived out in us.

Jim Fowler is a cherished and respected friend of Plain Truth Ministries, a wonderful brother in Christ, having served in a variety of capacities, on our Board of Directors, as a theological consultant and as an author and editor.  He continues to write, with his latest being “Manifesting the Life of Jesus” available on Amazon.  Jim is a treasure to the body of Christ, a Christ follower who faithfully reflects God’s grace in Jesus, as our risen Lord lives his life within him.