Because this is an issue which has brought on much debate among Christians, as well as the fact that much of our understanding on this issue comes from experience rather than Scripture, I want to take a look over the next few weeks at what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit and how this happens in the life of the Christian.
Perhaps the most common passage referring to this is Ephesians 5:18. This passage also commands that we not be drunk with wine, but that we be "filled with the Holy Spirit." The Greek word used here for "fill" is ple-ro-o, which means "fill up, fill to the full, fill to the top, to make complete."
I would like to make three observations on this verse. First of all, Ephesians is written to believers to help them understand who they are in Christ and what that should mean for their daily lives. So, we find this command to be filled with the Spirit addressed to Christians. While every Christian in indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9), we can conclude that not every Christian is filled with the Spirit. If every Christian automatically was filled with the Spirit upon conversion, why are they being commanded to do it? Commanding someone to something implies that it may or may not currently be true of them. We will explore this more later on, but we should at least see that every Christian has the Holy Spirit, but not every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Second, the grammar being used here does not suggest a one time event. It suggests an ongoing command to keep on being filled with the Spirit. In other words, a Christian does not get filled with the Spirit and remains filled for the rest of their life. It is an ongoing command, which means you can be filled with the Spirit at one time in your life, but not at another time in your life.
Third, the command to be filled with the Spirit is passive rather than active. We will be looking at the responsibility that we have in this process (how can you command someone to do something that they have no part in?), but we cannot fill ourselves. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. If I want a bucket to be filled with water, I need to make sure the lid is off the bucket and there are no holes in it so that it can be filled (passively). In the same way, we do have a role to play in keeping our lives "fill-able" but it is the Holy Spirit who fills us, not our own goodness or power.
So, with those points established by way of introduction, in my next post we will start adding more pieces to the puzzle.
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