Paul’s "Fullness of Time” (Gal 4:4) and "Fullness of Times” (Eph 1:10)
Anna Rambiert-Kwaśniewska
Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Wrocław , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9491-6786
Abstract
The expression “the fullness of time/times” is problematic because it was used for the first time in all of Greek literature by Paul, the Apostle to the Nations. A similar expression can be found only in certain papyri, where “the completion of times” was the expression used to call, among others, the end of a loan period. The only key to understanding the connotation of “the fullness of time/times” is an in-depth analysis of the immediate textual contexts of both Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10, the two places where this novelty is found. This article is an attempt to interpret the “fullness of time/times” in Galatians 4:4 and Ephesians 1:10 (with the addition of Mark 1:15). Our conclusion is that in Galatians 4:4 “the fullness of time” should be considered as “the end of the domination of Law.” As for Ephesians 1:10, there are multiple valid proposals for explaining “the fullness of times”, and we have not limited ourselves to any one in particular.
Keywords:
fullness of time, fullness of times, πλήρωμα, καιρός, χρόνος, Galatians, EphesiansReferences
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Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Wrocław
Anna Rambiert-Kwaśniewska, doktor nauk teologicznych (PWT we Wrocławiu) i nauk humanistycznych (Uniwersytet Wrocławski), adiunkt w Katedrze Teologii Nowego Testamentu Instytutu Nauk Biblijnych PWT we Wrocławiu oraz wykładowca Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, laureatka stypendiów krajowych (MNiSW) i międzynarodowych (Fundacja Rothschildów; rządu państwa Izrael), autorka książek, m.in. Terminologia tekstylna w Biblii Hebrajskiej i Septuagincie. Włókna i tkaniny (Rozprawy i Studia Biblijne 51; Warszawa: Vocatio 2019), Pierwszy i Drugi List do Tesaloniczan (Biblia Impulsy. Nowy Testament 13; Katowice: Księgarnia św. Jacka 2019), oraz kilkudziesięciu tekstów naukowych i popularnonaukowych.
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