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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

FULLNESS OF TIME*

Expression meaning “when the time was ripe,” occurring in English translations of Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10. In Galatians the reference is to the time when “God sent forth his Son.” The apostle Paul used the image of a child coming of age to say that Jesus came at a point in human history when the time was ripe and released humanity from bondage to the law.

Traditionally, theologians have seen indications of the ripeness of the time of Jesus’ birth in the historical circumstances of his day. Rome’s conquests had produced “Roman peace,” so that travel was both safe and easy. That political unity was built on the earlier victories of Alexander the Great, whose expansion from Greece to Egypt to India left in its wake the Greek language and culture, which later made the spread of the gospel easier. Greek-speaking Jews lived in every city of the Roman Empire. Their religion was protected by Roman law, and that law protected Christianity for its first half century. Many Gentiles who were interested in the monotheism and morality of Judaism went to the Jewish synagogues. Thus, the synagogue was a natural starting point for the church’s early outreach to Gentiles.

In Palestine the Jews were longing for a Messiah (deliverer) since they were politically subject to the Herods and the Romans. Messianic rebellion simmered constantly, and even repeatedly broke out in open battle. Socially, peasants were oppressed by large landholders, who used every opportunity and legal loophole to expand their properties. Many of those oppressors were from the chief priestly families, whose greed was well known to all. Throughout Palestine, messianic speculation was at a high point. The Pharisees talked about what would happen when the Messiah came, and the scribes at Qumran (the Dead Sea Scrolls community) wrote books about it. The time was ripe for Jesus’ coming, as he himself indicated (Mt 13:11, 16-17; Mk 1:15).

In Ephesians 1:10, Paul used a slightly different Greek expression, which covers the whole of the time between Jesus’ first coming and his future return to complete God’s plan in history. Jesus revealed this plan (or “mystery,” as Paul called it—Rom 16:25-26; Eph 1:9; 3:4-5; Col 1:26), which works out in the church as people repent and are joined to him. In the ultimate sense, the full “ripeness” will come when God’s plan or purpose (“dispensation,” KJB) is completed and Christ becomes head over all things. Paul knew that this completion was in progress, but he awaited its total realization in what he hoped would be the near future.