No 5

What Does it Mean to be Filled with the Holy Spirit?

In Ephesians 5:18, the apostle Paul commands : “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit”. There are other places in the Bible that mention being filled with the Holy Spirit but here is the only time where we are commanded or ordered to do so. Here Paul is not talking about the Holy Spirit’s indwelling (Rom 8:9) or the baptism by Christ with the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:13) because every true Christian is indwelt and baptized by the Holy Spirit at the time of salvation. Here he is ordering believers to constantly be under the influence of the Holy Spirit in their every day lives. Being filled with the Holy Spirit is the same as walking in the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

The verb “be filled” is in the aorist tense of the Greek. The World Book dictionary defines aorist as “It is one of the past tenses of Greek verbs. It shows that an action took place at some time in the past without indicating whether the act was completed.” Therefore the verse could read “…but continually be being filled with the Spirit.” A person cannot say “Wow, I’m filled with the Holy Spirit, I’m good for 3 weeks!” No, it dosen’t work that way. Rather it orders us to continually live under the Spirit’s influence….so you ask. How do we do it and for how long are we filled? There is no magic here, a true believer simply prays the following prayer “Holy Spirit, fill me.” How long does it last? As long as you keep asking. The Holy Spirit is the one who guides us, who helps us discover Biblical truth, who shows us our sin and who is always there no matter what the situation. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” Psalm 139:7