The Filling of the Spirit

To this point I have argued that in the NT being ‘spiritual’ means having the Spirit. Thus all true believers are by definition ‘spiritual’. In one sense then one cannot be more or less spiritual. You either are or you are not. However, we did see that Paul can rebuke the Corinthians for failing to live up to the reality of being Spirit-indwelt people. Paul in the Corinthian letters gave characteristics of being Spirit led.

Now it will be useful to take up the passage in Paul where we are commanded to ‘be filled with the HS.’ Surely this is a key text for understanding biblically what it means to be spiritual.

Eph 5:15-21
Note first of all the context. Since 4:1 Paul has been talking about how Christians should live, in contrast to the sinfulness of others. This paragraph sums up the discussion about pure living and provides the transition to discussion of family life which follows.

The mention of being careful how they ‘walk’ harks back to the use of this same word in 4:1, 4:17 and 5:1. So Paul is summing up his teaching on how they should live. The final command is then not to get drunk but to be filled with the HS.

1st, we should deal with why this contrast is chosen. Some suggest it is because of the cult of Dionysius in Ephesus which emphasized drunkenness as worship. This is very uncertain however. It is more likely that drunkenness is taken up as one of the deeds of darkness just mentioned in 5:3-14. The contrast then is not to suggest that we should be ‘drunk with the Spirit’ as some are with wine. No value is placed on being ‘out of control’ in the Spirit. (indeed one of the fruits of the Spirit in Gal is ‘self-control’).

The metaphor “does not picture a person who is ‘drunk on the Spirit,’ as it were, as if there were virtue in that, but a person- and in this case, a community!- whose life is so totally given over to the Spirit that the life and deeds of the Spirit are as obvious in their case as the effects of too much wine are obvious in the other.”1

In the context this command stands as the basis of the others. Being spirit-filled is the way in which we carry out the lifestyle commanded in the preceding paragraphs. “All truly Christian behavior is the result of being Spirit people, people filled with the Spirit of God, who live by the Spirit and walk by the Spirit.”2

The point is to be completely under the influence of the Spirit. We will look at this concept further next week as we examine Gal 5:16ff where we find references to walking in the Spirit and being led by the Spirit. For now, we can find a great deal of help in answering the question of “How do we go about being filled?” by looking at the parallel passage in Colossians 3:16. Here rather than being commanded to be filled with the HS we are told to “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly.” “Word of Christ” refers to the gospel. So again we find this strong link between the Spirit and the Gospel. To be filled with the Spirit, be saturated with the Gospel.

This is not a mystical experience, then. It is being directed by the Spirit-given gospel, the Spirit-inspired scripture. We must never divorce spirituality and Scripture. Indeed this is one of the common errors among us today.

[EXAMPLES OF APPROACHES TO SPIRITUALITY WHICH BYPASS OR IGNORE SCRIPTURE]
Luther at a conference, listened to one of the representatives of the more radical reformation relate at length his personal, private revelations. At the end, Luther remarked, “You have mentioned nothing of Scripture!”
Oral Roberts, “There is so much more that God has to say than can be found in this one book.”
Robert Schuller, “the sixteenth-century Reformation returned our focus to the sacred Scriptures as the only infallible rule for faith and practice, the new reformation will return our focus to the sacred right of every person to self-esteem!”3

Luther stated it well in a sermon:
“We must constantly handle, preach, bear, and inculcate the Word until the Holy Ghost comes. There is no other way to achieve the desired end. To sit in a corner, to gape heavenward, and wait to see Him come is sheer folly. The Word is the only bridge and path by which the Holy Spirit comes to us.”4

Back to Eph 5, it is likely that by filling Paul is referring back to his prayer in 3:14-19 which closes with the request that they be filled with all the fullness of God.
“Here, then, is the ultimate imperative in the Pauline corpus: God’s people so filled by/with the Spirit’s own presence that they come to know God in all his fullness and reflect such in the way they live in relationship to one another and to God himself.”5

Next we need to note how Paul describes the effect of being Spirit-filled. Again some assume it will be ecstatic experiences (thus the parallel with drunkenness they say). However, this is not what Paul describes at all.
The first thing Paul describes is corporate worship. This reminds us that the command in view is not an individualistic one. It is in the plural. Again Pauline spirituality continues to be discussed in the corporate setting.
So the result is that corporate worship of such a kind that God is praised and adored and the community is taught. The filling of the Spirit will lead us to engage with other believers in corporate worship. It will lead us corporately to worship and thank God. And it will lead us to teach one another. This is spirituality.

5:21 is sometimes translated as another separate sentence, but it is actually another participle, showing another result of being Spirit-filled. Spirit-filled people submit to one another. They live together in a way that is not concerned to push their own agenda but seeks the needs of others and understands the place of proper authority.

Paul goes on to give examples of this in the home. Spirit-filled people are to have a certain type of family life- one that mirrors the gospel (again gospel-centeredness. Notice the sort of concrete examples Paul gives of being Spirit-filled:
worship that praises God and builds up each other
proper relationships with each other
specifically how we act in our families (husbands, wives, children, slaves)

This is a fairly ordinary or earthy take on spirituality.
This ordinariness of spirituality was one aspect recovered by the Reformation. Alister McGrath, commenting on this writes:
… the home replaced the monastery as the arena within which Christian spirituality was to be applied and focused. The extended household was a society in miniature, within which the Christian faith was to be lived out. The home, like society as a whole, was an area in which faith could be put into practice.6

The Filling of the Spirit

Listen to Audio

More in this Class

The Filling of the Spirit

Listen to Audio

More in this Class