1. etymologically it has a passive sense, that which is (or has been) filled; very rarely so in classical Greek: a ship, inasmuch as it is filled (i. e. manned) with sailors, rowers, and soldiers; ἀπό δύο πληρωματων Ἐμάχοντο, Lucian, ver. hist. 2, 37; πέντε εἶχον πληρώματα, ibid. 38. In the N. T. the body of believers, as that which is filled with the presence, power, agency, riches of God and of Christ: τοῦ Χριστοῦ, Ephesians 4:13 (see ἡλικία, 1 c. (cf. Winers Grammar, § 30, 3 N. T; Buttmann, 155 (136))); ; εἰς πᾶν τό πλήρωμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, that ye may become a body wholly filled and flooded by God, Ephesians 3:19 (but WH marginal reading reads πληρωθῇ πᾶν τό

2. that which fills or with which a thing is filled: so very frequently in classical Greek from Herodotus down; especially of those things with which ships are filled, freight and merchandise, sailors, oarsmen, soldiers (cf. our 'complement' (yet cf. Lightfoot as below, p. 258f)) (of the animals filling Noah's ark, Philo de vit. Moys. ii. § 12); πλήρωμα πόλεως, the inhabitants or population filling a city, Plato, de rep. 2, p. 371 e.; Aristotle, polit. 3, 13, p. 1284{a}, 5; 4,4, p. 1291a, 17; others. So in the N. T. ἡ γῆ καί τό πλήρωμα αὐτῆς, whatever fills the earth or is contained in it, 1 Corinthians 10:26, 28 Rec. (Psalm 23:1 (); (); Jeremiah 8:16; Ezekiel 12:19, etc.; τό πλήρωμα τῆς θαλάσσης, Psalm 95:11 (); 1 Chronicles 16:32); κοφίνων πληρώματα, those things with which the baskets were filled, (basketfuls), Mark 6:43 T Tr WH (on this passive, cf. Lightfoot as below, p. 260); also σπυρίδων πληρώματα, Mark 8:20; the filling (Latincomplementum) by which a gap is filled up, Matthew 9:16; Mark 2:21; that by which a loss is repaired, spoken of the reception of all the Jews into the kingdom of God (see ἥττημα, 1), Romans 11:12. Of time (see πληρόω, 2 b. α.), that portion of time by which a longer antecedent period is completed; hence, completeness, fullness, of time: τοῦ χρόνου, Galatians 4:4; τῶν καιρῶν, Ephesians 1:10 (on which see οἰκονομία).

3. fullness, abundance: John 1:16; Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:9; full number, Romans 11:25.

4. equivalent to πλήρωσις (see καύχημα, 2), i. e. a fulfilling, keeping: τοῦ νόμου (see πληρόω, 2 c. α.), Romans 13:10. For a full discussion of this word see Fritzsche, Ep. ad Romans, ii., p. 469ff; (especially Lightfoot's Commentary on Colossians, p. 257ff).