Lessons #209 and 210
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Filling of the Spirit (Eph 5:18)
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
There are two questions we stated we need to answer in connection with the command be filled with the Spirit. What does the apostle mean in the command to be filled with the Spirit? How does a person go about obeying the command? We started to answer the first question, but we indicated that to do so there are some facts we need to consider. The first fact is that this is the only passage in the NT Greek that we have a command that has to do with being filled with the Spirit which is what contributes to the difficulty of understanding what the apostle meant. The second fact is that there are two Greek words that are translated “filled” in connection with the Holy Spirit. We state that the phrase filled with the Spirit is better translated filled of the Spirit and so we will use it in further consideration of the subject at hand. So, we proceed to consider the third fact.
A third fact that is helpful in answering the question of what it means to be filled of the Spirit is the context in which the apostle contrasts being drunk and being filled of the Spirit. When we considered the command not to be intoxicated with wine we noted that the literal clause in which there is debauchery of the first sentence of Ephesians 5:18 is concerned not only to explain drunkenness as an act of lack of self-control that leads to further lack of self-control in one’s behavior, but it is also important in understanding what the apostle gives, that is, filling of the Spirit, as a contrast of being involved in drunkenness and its aftermath.
A fourth fact is that drunkenness is a state that is arrived at with an initial decision to take a sip of wine or any other alcoholic beverage and to continue to drink. A person can hardly be drunk with a sip of wine unless the person is already an alcoholic that his system is already saturated with alcohol. Otherwise, the way a person gets drunk is to continue to drink until the individual gets drunk. Scientifically, drunkenness is described as a state that results from an elevated level of ethanol in the blood and hence in the brain and throughout the body. The alcohol in a person’s system affects both consciousness and motor activities: perception, cognition, coordination, and even gross physical movement. Thus, we can say that when a person is drunk all aspect of his existence is affected. This understanding is important in the contrast the apostle made with respect to the filling of the Holy Spirit.
A fifth fact is that there is a difference between being filled of the Holy Spirit and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This we can deduce from the fact that there is not a single passage in the Scripture that commands believers to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Actually, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers was promised by the Lord Jesus to the disciples prior to His death on the cross in John 14:17:
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.
The verbal phrase will be in you refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that will take place after the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ since such indwelling could not have occurred in keeping with the explanation given in John 7:39:
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
It is definitely after Jesus’ exaltation that the Holy Spirit was given to the church in a unique sense of indwelling the church so that everyone who is a believer is assured of the Holy Spirit indwelling the person. This truth, the Apostle Paul asserted several times. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer is declared in Romans 8:11:
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
The clause who lives in you refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit since the word “lives” is translated from a Greek word (enoikeō) that means “to live, to dwell in, to reside in.” Furthermore, the apostle used the present tense in the Greek implying that the Holy Spirit is continuously indwelling the believer. This being the case, it would be pointless to command a believer to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The point then is that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is clearly different from the filling of the Holy Spirit whatever that means.
A sixth fact is that the word “Spirit” in the command be filled with the Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. This assertion is warranted by the problems of how to translate the Greek phrase rendered with the Spirit in the NIV. The first problem concerns the translation of a Greek preposition (en) that is rendered “with” in nearly all our English versions except the CEV and the REB that avoided its translation. The rendering of the Greek preposition “with” is not clear since it may be understood instrumentally so that it virtually means “by” or it may be taken to refer to the Holy Spirit as the content with which believers are filled. This later interpretation is unlikely because there is no other example of the Greek word translated “filled” is associated with our Greek preposition to convey the sense of content. That aside, the Greek preposition used here has other two possible interpretations. It can mean “with regard to” or “in” where the meaning “in” is understood to mean “under the control of, under the influence of.” This meaning of the Greek preposition is suggested in the standard Greek English lexicon of BADG. It seems that while the meaning “by” is possible but because its use requires an unnamed agent that the intended meaning of the preposition is that of “under the control” or “under the influence of.” This best fits the context since being drunk is the same as being under the control or under the influence of alcohol. The second problem is how to interpret the Greek word (pneuma) rendered “Spirit” that has a range of meanings. However, in our passage there are two possible meanings. It can mean “spirit” as part of human personality or the Holy Spirit. Which of these two interpretations did the apostle have in mind? It is the second that takes “spirit” as a reference to the Holy Spirit. This is because the concept of being filled of the Holy Spirit is one that is more widely used in the NT so that the apostle would have had the Holy Spirit in mind. For after all, he had the Holy Spirit in mind in Ephesians 4:30 when he issued the instruction not to grieve the Holy Spirit, so he would still be thinking of Him when he wrote the command we are considering. Furthermore, the apostle used the same Greek word translated “filled” in his prayer for the Roman believers to be filled with joy that is no doubt related to the Holy Spirit in Romans 15:13:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is more. It is the interpretation of Spirit as a reference to the Holy Spirit that better fits the use of the Greek preposition we argued should be taken to mean “under the control of.”
With these facts we have considered, to be filled with the Holy Spirit or to be filled of the Holy Spirit means for a person to be full of the Spirit in the sense the person’s inner being is full of the Holy Spirit. This means that the Holy Spirit is in full control of the person’s inner being so that the individual’s thoughts and actions are fully directed or controlled by the Holy Spirit. This is clear from the analogy of being drunk where alcohol affects perception, cognition, coordination, and even gross physical movement. So, the believer who is full of the Holy Spirit or filled of the Holy Spirit is one that is totally controlled in every aspect of the being of the person by God the Holy Spirit. In effect, there is no aspect of the person’s consciousness that is not affected by the Holy Spirit. This understanding is important because every believer is continuously indwelt by the Holy Spirit but not every believer is continually filled of the Holy Spirit otherwise there would have been no need for the command to be filled of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit resides in the believer but that does not necessarily mean that He is in control of the believer. The point we are stressing is that to be filled of the Holy Spirit is to be so full of the Spirit that He is in total control of the being of the believer so that He directs everything that the believer thinks or does. That it is total control of the believer by the Holy Spirit that is in view when the believer is commanded to be filled of the Holy Spirit may be seen from the fact that the Holy Spirit through the apostle tells us that there is a battle for the control of the inner being of the believer in Galatians 5:17:
For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.
This statement in Galatians 5 indicates that there is a battle between the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. This battle is clearly for the control of the mind of the believer. How can we be sure that the apostle is describing a battle of control of the mind, you may ask? It is by recognizing that in the context of Galatians 5:17, the desires of the sinful nature have to do with sinful conducts such as sexual immorality. But the Lord Jesus clearly indicates that evil thoughts and sexual immorality come from a person’s mind, as indicated in Matthew 15:19:
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
The word “heart” here refers not to the physical organ that circulates blood in the body but to the inner being of a person, that center of a person where thoughts take place so that it means “mind.” Because the heart or the inner being, or the mind is where thoughts that affect a person’s actions take place then it is the battleground for control either by the Holy Spirit or by sinful nature. Hence, it should be clear that when a person is filled of the Spirit that it means the Holy Spirit is in absolute or total control of the inner being of a person where thoughts that affect conduct are processed. The point is that to be filled of the Spirit is to be in a state where the Holy Spirit is in full control of an individual’s inner being or soul.
We stated that it is only in this passage of Ephesians 5:18 that we find the command of being filled of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean that it is only in this passage that we have the concept of being filled of the Holy Spirit. The apostle described the same concept in terms of living by the Spirit in Galatians 5:16:
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
There is interpretation problem with this passage because the apostle did not spell out that he meant the Holy Spirit; as a result, there are two possible interpretations. An interpretation is to take “Spirit” as a reference to “spiritual life” as opposed to “flesh.” This interpretation is reflected in the GWT in that its translators rendered the command live by the Spirit as live your life as your spiritual nature directs you. Another interpretation is to take the word “Spirit” as a reference to the Holy Spirit. The first interpretation while possible does not seem to be what the apostle had in mind. Instead, it is the second interpretation that takes “Spirit” as a reference to the Holy Spirit that was in the mind of the apostle. There are two reasons we know that the apostle was thinking of the Holy Spirit. First, it is because the apostle connects the Spirit with the law in Galatians 5:18:
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
It is true that the apostle did not use the term “Holy Spirit” in verse 18 but there can be no doubt that he meant the Holy Spirit because of the connection he made with the law. You see, the apostle had earlier in this epistle made a connection between the law and the Holy Spirit when he chastised the Galatians for misunderstanding the role of the law in Galatians 3:2:
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?
Thus, when the apostle mentioned Spirit in Galatians 5:18 he meant the Holy Spirit that he had in mind when he wrote verse 2 of the third chapter. It is difficult to see how the apostle would have been thinking of the spiritual nature of believers in verse 16 when he issued the command to live by the Spirit. Second, the interpretation that ‘Spirit’ in verse 16 is a reference to the Holy Spirit is supported by the fact that the Holy Spirit’s production is emphasized later in the passage beginning in verse 22.
In any case, you may still ask how the command to live by the Spirit is the same as being filled of the Spirit. The answer is that the Greek command translated live by the Spirit is saying that the believer should conduct his or her life as directed by the Holy Spirit. It is because of this interpretation that some English versions such as the CEB, the CEV, the NJB, and the REB rendered the command as be guided by the Spirit. An individual that is guided by the Holy Spirit is one that is controlled by Him. There is another reason we know that the command to live by the Spirit expresses the same concept as being filled of the Holy Spirit. It is because of what the apostle indicates that obedience to the command to live by the Spirit would produce. He indicated in Galatians 5:16 that living by the Spirit would keep a person from fulfilling the desires of sinful nature. The desires of sinful nature are manifested in the actions of an individual that fulfills them. One of the acts of sinful nature the apostle mentioned is drunkenness. This is exactly the same thing that he prohibited in Ephesians 5:18 before he issued the command to be filled of the Holy Spirit. So, there should be no doubt that the command to live by the Spirit is another way to describe being filled of the Holy Spirit.
The Apostle Paul is not alone with respect to instructing believers to be filled of the Holy Spirit. There are other apostles who wrote of the same concept although they did not use the same wordings as Paul. The Apostle Peter described the same concept in terms of supporting or supplementing one’s faith with various moral excellences in 2 Peter 1:5–7:
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
It does seem that this passage is concerned with a command to be filled of the Holy Spirit, especially, in the way the translators of the NIV rendered the instruction of this passage as given in the Greek. The command make every effort to add to your faith is literally from the Greek applying all diligence, supply with your faith. This is because word “add” in the NIV is translated from a Greek word (epichorēgeō) that is difficult to translate in 2 Peter 1:5 since the word can also mean “to furnish” or “to provide at one’s own expense.” It seems that the best word to use in the English to translate the Greek word is “to support or supply or provide.” In any case, the Greek verb that means “to support or supply or provide” governs the seven qualities listed in verses 5 to 7. The instruction of Apostle Peter is concerned with the effort believers are to make in order to exhibit the characteristics mentioned in the context. However, the characteristics Peter mentioned are essentially the same as the various facets of the fruit of the Spirit the Apostle Paul mentioned in the fifth chapter of Galatians, that is, Galatians 5:22–23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The similarity between the fruit of the Spirit Paul gave and the characteristics Peter demands indicates that both of them had in mind the same concept of being controlled by the Holy Spirit in order to produce the fruit of the Spirit or the characteristics Peter gave. The point is that Peter taught the concept of filling of the Spirit but presented it in a different form.
Apostle John taught the same concept of being filled of the Spirit only that he expressed it primarily in terms of living a life of love. He conveyed the same concept of being filled of the Spirit as that which the Lord Jesus taught only that he indicated Jesus to have taught the concept in terms of being in Him in John 15:5–8:
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
The concept of being filled of the Holy Spirit is conveyed with the word “remain” as the apostle used the present tense in the Greek to state the condition of remaining in Christ. The present tense as used in this passage of John refers to a continuous action or a habitual action. The only continuous action that there can be with respect to the believer and his Savior is for that person to be under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ. A person who is continuously under the control of the Lord Jesus Christ is a person filled of the Holy Spirit, that is, a person who is continuously under the control of the Holy Spirit. The point is that the concept of being filled of the Holy Spirit is not a unique teaching of the Apostle Paul but one that is taught severally in the NT Scripture although using different terminologies.
Be that as it may, the Apostle Paul in the passage of Ephesians 5:18 issues the command be filled with the Spirit. The command is given in the present tense in the Greek. This means that the command could be understood in one of three ways. It could be that the apostle is saying that believers should begin and continue to be filled of the Spirit, that is, that they should begin to be controlled by the Holy Spirit and continue to do so. Another possible interpretation is that the apostle is simply instructing believers to continue to be filled of the Holy Spirit in the sense that they should train themselves to be filled of the Holy Spirit. Still another possible interpretation is that the apostle commands repeated action on the part of believers. This implies that the apostle expects believers to be filled of the Spirit again and again. Which of these that the apostle had in mind? It is most likely the third interpretation of repeated action that the apostle intended. This is because the apostle is not teaching that a believer will continuously be filled of the Spirit. We say this because for a believer to be continuously filled of the Spirit will imply that such a person does not sin. In effect, a person who is filled of the Spirit non-stop is indeed one who could not sin, implying that there is a believer who lives perfectly, something that it is not taught anywhere in the Scripture. Furthermore, the analogy the apostle used prior to the instruction to be filled of the Spirit does not support a continuously filling of the Spirit. The apostle used the same present tense in the prohibition of being drunk. An alcoholic does not drink non-stop. Such an individual stops drinking to do other things, such as to eat or go to work and then resumes the consumption of alcohol. We are saying that the alcoholic repeats the action of consuming alcoholic beverage again and again. Base on this analogy, we believe the apostle intended for believers to be filled of the Holy Spirit again and again because the apostle is aware that no one lives perfectly as a believer. At any rate, we have explained what it means to be filled of the Holy Spirit as being controlled by the Holy Spirit in that the entire being of the one filled of the Holy Spirit is under His control. Thus, we proceed to consider the second question of how to be filled of the Spirit.
In answering the question of how to be filled of the Spirit, there are four points we need to emphasize. The first point is that we are only concerned with the normal filling of the Spirit. This is because there is no command for any believer to be filled in the sense of the special filling of the Spirit that is concerned with specific function the Lord wants the one so filled to carry out since we have already indicated that it is the sovereign decision of God. We are saying that there seems to be no condition that is to be met for the special filling of the Spirit to take place. This truth is evident even in the OT times. Bezalel was really a recipient of the special filling of the Spirit for the artwork of the tabernacle, as we read in Exodus 31:3:
and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts—
There was nothing in the context of Exodus 31 to suggest that Bezalel met any condition other than the Lord sovereignly decided to fill him of the Holy Spirit as He chose him to carry out specific function in the construction of the tabernacle. Those who were reported to have been filled of the Holy Spirit prior to the birth of Jesus Christ did nothing that could have been construed as conditions that led to their being filled of the Spirit. Zechariah the father of John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit but there was nothing that he did that led to the filling. This same fact is true of his wife Elizabeth. We are simply told that Mary greeted her and following that greeting she was filled of the Holy Spirit. Beginning from the day of Pentecost, there was no specific condition that was met by those who were filled of the Holy Spirit in what we describe as the special filling of the Spirit. The early church was gathered on the day of Pentecost when they were filled of the Spirit. Peter was before a hostile group before he was filled of the Holy Spirit. The early church was again filled of Holy Spirit following their prayer to the Lord to grant them the ability to preach the gospel with boldness. There was no condition they met that warranted the special filling of the Spirit. Of course, one could argue that they prayed but their prayer could hardly be considered as the condition to be met for the filling of the Spirit since in all the other examples of special filling of the Spirit there was no praying as such. Paul was filled of the Spirit under the concept of special filling of the Spirit when he pronounced the judgment on Elymas but there is nothing in the context that suggests there was a condition the apostle met. We are simply told he was filled of the Holy Spirit. The point is that there is no special condition that was met with respect to the special filling of the Spirit so our answer with respect to how to be filled of the Holy Spirit is limited to what we call the normal filling of the Spirit that believers are commanded.
A second point we need to make in connection with being filled of the Spirit is that there is no place in the Scripture that we have a direct statement of how to be filled of the Holy Spirit. In other words, there is no passage that clearly states how to be filled of the Spirit. This notwithstanding, it does not seem that the Holy Spirit will issue a command to us without somehow telling us what to do in order to fulfill the command. This being the case, we believe that we have been provided with sufficient information in the Scripture to determine how a believer could be filled of the Holy Spirit or to determine conditions necessary for the normal filling of the Spirit.
A third point in answering the question of how to be filled of the Spirit is that however this is to be attained, it requires an active participation on the part of the believer. You cannot be passive, so to say, and be filled of the Holy Spirit. You must act in order to be filled of the Holy Spirit. This we can understand because the command to be filled of the Spirit is preceded by a command not to be drunk. There is a connection the Holy Spirit wants us to see between being drunk and being filled of the Holy Spirit. As we have indicated, a person does not become drunk without acting. He has to take alcoholic beverage in excessive quantities to become drunk. In other words, through excessive use of alcohol the individual yields the control of his or her inner being to alcohol. This being the case, then being filled of the Holy Spirit must of necessity involve actions on the part of the believer for the Holy Spirit to take control of the inner being of such an individual.
A fourth point we should be aware as we answer the question of how to be filled with the Holy Spirit is that filling of the Holy Spirit is an absolute state of a believer. This means that a believer is either filled of the Holy Spirit or is not. There is no partial filling of the Holy Spirit. This we can understand from the fact that at no point in the believer’s life is such an individual free. The believer may be a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness but there is no middle ground. This we deduce from the fact the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul conveys the truth that we are either slave to sin or to righteousness as per the question of Romans 6:16:
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
These four points we have considered are to be kept in mind as we answer the question of how to be filled of the Holy Spirit.
How then is a person filled of the Spirit under the concept of the normal filling of the Spirit? The simplest answer is that it is through obedience to God’s word. This we can understand since the filling of the Holy Spirit means to be under His total control. To obey someone is to submit to the person’s authority or to follow the guidance of the individual. Hence, when you obey a person, you have actually submitted to the person’s control although temporarily. This understanding aside, we have a more authoritative reason for stating that the normal filling of the Holy Spirit is through obedience of God’s word. It is because the Scripture is clear that it is a universal truth that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God in Acts 5:32:
We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
The clause whom God has given to those who obey him makes a statement that is always true at all times. Those who obey God receive the Holy Spirit. This means not only at the time of salvation, but it extends to the issue of being filled of the Spirit. In effect, a person who obeys God’s word is assured of being under the full control of the Spirit and so receives all the benefits that come to anyone who is controlled by Him.
Obedience to the word of God that leads to the filling of the Holy Spirit is presented as that which involves negative and positive actions. The negative actions believers are to take that are associated with obedience that leads to the filling of the Spirit may be summarized simply as any action in which the believer never becomes enslaved to sin or yields the control of the soul to the sinful nature or to Satan. The apostle gave a typical example of this in the prohibition against drunkenness since such an action results in yielding the control of one soul to sinful nature or to Satan. If we put it in another way, any action that results in sin means that a believer is not filled of the Holy Spirit. Within the context of Ephesians 5:18, the apostle had given several instructions that are samples of the actions to avoid in order to ensure the filling of the Spirit. For example, he has commanded us to be careful of our speech in Ephesians 4:29:
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Likewise, the apostle commands us not to insult or offend the Holy Spirit as that is what is meant by not grieving the Holy Spirit, as commanded in Ephesians 4:30:
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Another example of actions to avoid that will ensure the believer is filled of the Spirit is given as avoidance of any sinful conduct in Ephesians 5:11:
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
We summarized the negative actions believers are to take in order to ensure they are filled of the Spirit as involving rejection of sin. Similarly, positive actions to take to ensure the filling of the Spirit may be summarized as taking any action that involves righteousness. This is to say that the very moment a believer lives righteously at that instant the individual is filled of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul has written several positive commands that result in righteousness in his epistles. However, in the context of the instruction to be filled of the Holy Spirit a typical example of an instruction that leads to righteousness is that of living in love in Ephesians 5:2:
and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
The positive instruction of living in righteousness is one that results from rejecting temptations offered to us by Satan through our sinful nature. Thus, if a believer should live righteously that individual must resist temptation. It is not surprising then that we are command to resist Satan with the assurance that if we do he will leave us alone temporarily, as in James 4:7:
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
This passage indicates that resisting the devil is an action that can be taken only when the believer is filled of the Spirit. We say this because the first part of the instruction is to submit to God which is another way of saying be filled of the Spirit. For when a believer submits to God that individual has come under God’s total control, that is, to say that the person has become filled of the Holy Spirit. There is another way that we know that resisting of the devil involves the filling of the Holy Spirit. It is through Luke’s statement prior to reporting the temptation of Jesus Christ in Luke 4:1–2:
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
It is not an incidental fact that Luke informs us that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit prior to His temptation. This was done so we know that although Jesus is fully God, but He is also fully man that during His earthly ministry He relied on the Holy Spirit to enable Him resist the devil. Anyway, the point remains that if you are filled of the Spirit you will be able to resist temptation that is brought your way by Satan.
Our discussions so far, have indicated that filling of the Holy Spirit requires obedience to God’s word in the sense of resisting sin and pursuing righteousness. However, there are those situations in which we sin, so the question then is: how do we recover the filling of the Holy Spirit? This requires also obedience to God’s word. The Apostle Paul described what we should do indirectly by telling us that we should judge ourselves, as implied in 1 Corinthians 11:31:
But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
The context of this passage is the celebration of the Lord’s Supper where the apostle is concerned that some believers have died or are sick because they were careless in their celebration of the Lord’s Supper, implying that they did not examine themselves to deal with their sins. So, the idea of judging oneself is that of thorough examination of one’s conduct to see if there is anything sinful. If there is, then the person should immediately admit it to the Lord so that the Lord would not have to bring discipline on the person. The apostle did not go into detail as to what a person should do as a result of thorough self-examination, but the Scripture implies that such a person is expected to confess the individual’s failure as that is something well known in the OT Scripture as, for example, in Proverbs 28:13:
He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
It is not only within the context of the celebration of the Lord’s Supper that the apostle implies that the way to handle sin is to confess it so that a person will be under the control of the Holy Spirit but that is also the implication of the instruction of how a person would be capable of being used by the Lord in 2 Timothy 2:21:
If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
The phrase from the latter is literally from these, which in the context of 2 Timothy refers to every sinful behavior that the apostle has described in his second epistle to Timothy. The word “cleanses” is translated from a Greek word that means “cleanse out” and refers to the act of cleaning something thoroughly and completely, with the implication that everything unclean is removed. A way that a believer cleanses out sins is first to confess them and then to walk away from them. The apostle indicates that for a believer to be used of the Lord requires cleansing out of sins, implying that the believer is then controlled by the Holy Spirit. This idea of being purified through confession of sins is stated also by the Apostle John in 1 John 1:9:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Confessing of sins will lead to God graciously forgiving and making the one who confessed to be clean in the sense that the person at that instant is without sin. According to what we have been considering, when this takes place then the person will be restored to the state of being filled of the Holy Spirit since absence of sin equates to the filling of the Holy Spirit. In any event, we have indicated that the preferred method of being filled of the Holy Spirit is to resist temptation to sin so that we do not sin. However, if we sin, implying that we have lost the filling of the Holy Spirit then recovery takes place if we confess our sins.
We have considered two questions in connection with the filling of the Holy Spirit but there is a third question which is: how can a believer tell that he or she is filled of the Spirit? Again, we should remember that what we are concerned with is the normal filling of the Spirit and not the special filling of the Spirit that is manifested through the believer saying or doing something special. This being the case, a most fundamental way a believer knows he or she is filled of the Spirit is absence of sin in the life. This makes sense because we have indicated that the filling of the Spirit takes place when sin is absent in the life of the believer. Therefore, the very moment you recognize that you are free of any sin then at that moment you should know you are under the control of the Spirit. This evidence of the filling of the Spirit is one that you should carefully apply because it is possible for the believer not to be true to self and conclude that he or she is filled of the Holy Spirit because the individual is not involved in any obvious sin but may be involved in sins that are not so obvious such as worrying or having thoughts that are not pure or slandering someone. Therefore, before you conclude that you are free of sin, you should thoroughly examine your thoughts. If indeed you are free of sinful thoughts or worries or slander, and free of other obvious sins, then you should know that you are filled of the Spirit.
Another undeniable indicator of being filled of the Spirit is joy even in the midst of hardship or suffering in life. This joy is not the ordinary feeling of great pleasure and happiness that results from some good fortune or from the prospect of possessing what one desires but it is that state of the soul that certainly involves emotion whereby a person is in complete satisfaction in the Lord regardless of the circumstances of life. In effect, the real cause of this joy is a person’s relationship with the Lord and not anything that is material. It is because it is a state that is related to the Lord and what He has done for the individual that the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter indicates that believers are those who have this joy in 1 Peter 1:8:
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
It is this kind of joy that believers possessed when they were filled of the Holy Spirit in the normal sense in the passage we cited previously, that is, Acts 13:52:
And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
The point we are stressing is that this joy that is an evidence of the normal filling of the Spirit must be associated not with the good fortunes of this life but with the Lord’s presence or work in the believer’s life. If you have this inner contentment or satisfaction that cannot be traced to any good fortune of this life, then you have the joy that is due to the filling of the Spirit. For after all, an unbeliever cannot have this kind of inner satisfaction since it is that which comes from the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is listed as one of the facets of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in a passage we cited previously, that is, Galatians 5:22–23:
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The joy that is an evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit exists amid troubles or unpleasant circumstances of this life since it is a state that is independent of life’s circumstances. By the way, the other facets of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in this passage in Galatians 5 are also evidences of being filled of the Holy Spirit. We focused on joy because that is the one that was associated with the Greek word that is used for the filling of Holy Spirit of the believers mentioned in Acts 13:52. Furthermore, this joy, that is an inner state of satisfaction, will always be present along with peace in the believer whenever such an individual is filled of the Spirit. The other facets such as patience and kindness are mostly evident in interacting with people. The joy that is the fruit of the Spirit is one that is independent of interactions with others. If you have this joy we have been describing, then that is a clear evidence you are filled of the Holy Spirit.
Still another evidence of the normal filling of the Holy Spirit is power that is evident in boldness to witness for Christ. We say this because the Lord promised power to believers when the Holy Spirit comes on them in Acts 1:8:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Furthermore, we are informed that the presence of the Holy Spirit working in our lives is boldness, as implied in 2 Timothy 1:7:
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
If God has given us a spirit of power and of love, then we should expect to be bold when the Holy Spirit controls us. It is for this reason that we include boldness to preach or witness as part of the evidence of the normal filling of the Spirit although such boldness was also an evidence of the special filling of the Holy Spirit with respect to the early church in Acts 4:31:
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Anyway, we have provided you three evidences of the filling of the Spirit so that you have at least three tests that you can apply to determine if you are filled of the Holy Spirit.