Pleroma (πλήρωμα, literally "fullness") generally refers to the totality of divine powers. It is used in Christian theological contexts, especially in Gnosticism. The term also appears in the Epistle to the Colossians, which is traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. The word is used 17 times in the New Testament.
The word literally means "fullness", from the verb (πληρόω, "to fill"), from (πλήρης, "full").
The word itself is a relative term, capable of many shades of meaning, according to the subject with which it is joined and the antithesis to which it is contrasted. It denotes the result of the action of the verb pleroun; but pleroun is either
to fill up an empty thing (e.g. ), or
to complete an incomplete thing (e.g. );
and the verbal substantive in -ma may express either
the objective accusative after the verb, 'the thing filled or completed,' or
the cognate accusative, 'the state of fulness or completion, the fulfilment, the full amount,' resulting from the action of the verb (, , , ).
It may emphasize totality in contrast to its constituent parts; or fullness in contrast to emptiness (kenoma); or completeness in contrast to incompleteness or deficiency ( , ; ).
A further ambiguity arises when it is joined with a genitive, which may be either subjective or objective, the fulness which one thing gives to another, or that which it receives from another.
In its semi-technical application it is applied primarily to the perfection of God, the fulness of His Being, 'the aggregate of the Divine attributes, virtues, energies': this is used quite absolutely in (), but further defined
as , 'the whole completeness of the Divine nature,' in ,
as , 'the whole (moral) perfection which is characteristic of God,' in .
Secondarily, this same pleroma is transferred to Christ; it was embodied permanently in Him at the Incarnation (); it still dwells permanently in His glorified Body, (); it is (), the complete, moral, and intellectual perfection to which Christians aspire and with which they are filled (, . Cf.