Filled with the Spirit

 

It is one in a long series of exhortations about living as a follower of Jesus — live in love, live as children of light, live as those who are wise. In the face of a barrage of exhortations (the writer of Ephesians was not the only preacher to get carried away with telling others how to live), it is easy to tune out the specifics of the exhortations. After all, such barrages can be overwhelming, the expectations seemingly impossible to measure up to. They often stir feelings of failure and inadequacy, leading us to settle for the mediocrity of “as best I can.” But this particular exhortation has to do with the Spirit: ‘be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18).

What did the biblical writer mean by ‘be filled with the Spirit”?

The exhortation falls under the category of living as those who are wise (Ephesians 5:15-21). In this section, the writer calls us to live as those who “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). He defines being wise as knowing the ways of God — the way of self-giving, servant love, the way of grace and forgiveness, etc. — and allowing that knowledge to shape how we live in the specific relationships and situations of our lives, i.e., the will of God. That’s when the exhortation about the Spirit comes in: “be filled with the Spirit.” This context helps us to understand the writer’s meaning.

The Spirit is the one who teaches us the ways of God and who guides us in how to live those ways in our own lives. Thus, to be filled with the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to guide us in living the ways of God in our relationships. It is to live under the influence of the Spirit.

This “under the influence” meaning is reinforced by the fuller exhortation: “do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit.” When we are drunk, we are under the influence of the alcohol. The alcohol affects what we say and do is. To be filled with the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to shape what we say and do. Being under the influence of the Spirit means we will live the ways of God — the way of self-giving, servant love, the way of grace and forgiveness, etc. Or, to use the words of Ephesians, we will “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). We will live out of a servant spirit, giving ourselves for the good of the other.

Some teach that to be filled with the Spirit is to be able to speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10, 14:4-19) — a special prayer language. For them, speaking in tongues is evidence that one is under the influence of the Spirit. This understanding of what it means to be filled with the Spirit overlooks the Spirit’s primary work: to transform our hearts and minds, conforming us to the likeness of Christ, so that we love as Jesus loved and love those Jesus loved. A servant spirit, reflected in the ability to love as Jesus loved, is the real indicator that we are filled with the Spirit, not the gift of a special prayer language.

The exhortation to be filled with the Spirit raises a second question: how? How are we filled with the Spirit?

Being filled with the Spirit is not something we do. It is something that is done to us (note the verb is passive). We are the recipients of the filling. The Spirit is the one doing the action. The Spirit fills us. We cannot command or orchestrate or manipulate the Spirit into filling us. We can only receive the Spirit’s work.

What we can do is place ourselves in a position to receive. We can place ourselves in a position for the Spirit to fill us. We do so by cultivating an attitude of openness to the Spirit. We seek to be aware of the Spirit and the Spirit’s movement in our hearts and minds. We pay attention to the interior realm where the Spirit lives and works. In addition, we embrace a spirit of glad dependency upon the Spirit. Knowing that in our own strength we cannot love as Jesus loves, we turn to the Spirit for guidance in how to love as Jesus loved as well as for the strength to do so. Prayer as meditation is a spiritual practice that cultivates these two attitudes.

The author of Ephesians points to the importance of worship and spiritual community in cultivating these attitudes of openness to the Spirit and dependency on the Spirit. The writer linked being filled with the Spirit with “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” sung together out of a spirit of thanksgiving in a spiritual community (Ephesians 5:19-20).

The writer of Ephesians reminds us that to be a follower of Jesus is to embrace a different way of life, one shaped by and patterned after the ways of God. We are to live as beloved children who live in love, imitating God (Ephesians 5:1-2), as children of light (Ephesians 5:8) who forsake the ways of darkness), as those who are wise because they understand the will of the Lord (Ephesians 5:15). The writer also reminds us that the Spirit is the key to living this God-shaped way of life. The Spirit teaches us the ways of God, guides us in how to live them in the specifics of our lives, and empowers us to do what we cannot do in our own strength.

If we are to live the ways of God, we must be filled with the Spirit. We must learn to live under the influence of the Spirit.