Being Filled with the Spirit

Ephesians 5:18-21

Few ideas in the Christian life leave believers as confused as being filled with the Holy Spirit. Some picture a mystical event that lands on a lucky few. Others claim it is a technique to be mastered. The apostle Paul gives a simple command in Ephesians 5, and the answer turns out to be more practical than either picture. The people who are filled with the Spirit are the people who are spiritually active and alife.

But first, a clarification:

Two terms in this realm are often confused. Baptism with the Spirit and filling with the Spirit sound alike, but they are very different experiences.

Baptism happens once, at the moment a person is born again. It cannot be undone, any more than a person can become unborn. It first occurred on the day of Pentecost, it is true of every believer, and it requires nothing but faith in Christ. Its result is a position: you belong to God.

Filling is another matter. It is repeated throughout a believer’s life, and it has been experienced since the Old Testament, when figures such as Saul, David, and Solomon knew moments of the Spirit’s power. It is not automatically true of every Christian, all the time. It can be lost, as David and Solomon showed when they fell into sin. Its result is power, meaning the ability to serve God, and it depends on our yieldedness.

Every believer has all the Spirit there is — that’s the baptism. The real question for you is how much does the Spirit have of you. One good way to measure the filling in your own life is to ask how much of your life the Holy Spirit controls.

The Bible never commands us to be baptized, sealed, or indwelt by the Spirit, because those come as part of salvation itself. A person without the Spirit does not belong to Christ at all, as Romans 8:9 makes plain. Filling is different. The verb in Ephesians 5:18 is a present imperative, which means Paul is giving every believer a standing order to follow continually.

That raises a fair question. Is the command active or passive? Am I supposed to sit back and wait for God to do something to me, or am I supposed to do something myself? The honest answer is both. The verb is passive, so we cannot fill ourselves. There is no shelf in your “spiritual supplies cupboard” where you can pick up a measured portion and take it like a dose of medicine. Yet the mood is imperative, so a responsibility rests with us. God fills, and we are held accountable for being filled.

What Paul says to do

The grammar of the passage gives us practical instructions. After the command to be filled, Paul lists four participles: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in the heart, giving thanks always for all things, and submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

Scholars disagree about how to read these. Nearly every commentary treats these participles as the results of being filled, since a Spirit-filled person will naturally do these things. A few treat them as commands in their own right. I lean toward reading them as the means, the answer to the question of how. Perhaps the most honest conclusion is that they are both means and result.

Whichever reading you choose, one caution applies. These activities are not a magic formula. Suppose a church gathered at eight in the morning and sang until the Spirit descended. It would not work, because God cannot be manipulated. I once heard a radio preacher promise that repeating “Praise the Lord” ten times would bring more of the Spirit. It will not. The Bible offers no incantation for the spiritual life.

Even so, consider the reverse. Can a person who refuses to sing, who never gives thanks, and who will not submit to fellow believers honestly claim to be filled with the Spirit? I do not think so. We cannot force the filling, but we can increase our willingness for the spiritual life. If I am unwilling to do the things Paul lists, the Spirit will not fill me. When my mind and heart are occupied with them, I sense his power at work in my life.

Four marks of a Spirit-filled life

Singing to one another. This first clause is corporate as the plurals in the text show. Psalms are songs of praise, often with stringed instruments. Hymns exalt God as majestic and worthy. Spiritual songs are those that build up believers in their faith and encourage them to walk in the will of God. Singing in church is a ministry to the person next to you. You do not sing for yourself, so a poor voice is no excuse. I remember a large man in the balcony of chapel when I was in Bible school. He had a loud and, truly, a terrible singing voice. His singing was hard to listen to, and I came to appreciate him. He worshiped God with his whole heart and did not care who heard him.

Singing in the heart. The second clause is personal and meditative. Many of us struggle most with what we let our minds dwell on. I enjoy sports, and I always have. But if sports fill my thinking, there is no room left for the Spirit, and the same is true of any other worldly preoccupation. A good hymnal at home helps here. Read the words slowly, connect them to the Scriptures they echo, and let them turn your heart toward the Lord. Even better, commit hymns to memory. Make them a part of your spiritual equipment.

Giving thanks. Paul says to give thanks always and for all things, in the name of Jesus, to God the Father. That is possible when we trust that God is working in our lives for his glory and our good, as Romans 8:28 promises. Thankfulness makes room for the Spirit, even in circumstances we would never choose. Being filled with the Spirit means submitting to his sovereign working in my life.

Submitting to one another. This does not mean taking turns as the boss. It means a spirit of unity and delight in fellow believers. When someone irritates me and I let it go, I am walking in the Spirit. When I refuse to let it go, I am not filled with the Spirit at all. I am filled with myself. Your relationship with others reflects the extent to which you are filled with the Spirit.

The bottom line

Those who are spiritually active and alive are those filled with the Spirit. God fills as he chooses, and we cannot manipulate him. Even so, we have real work to do in yielding ourselves to him. Sing to the believers around you, sing to the Lord in your heart, give thanks in everything, and live in humble unity with your brothers and sisters. A person who will not do these things cannot be filled with the Spirit.

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