5Eph18: "Be Filled with the Spirit"

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (KJV)

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, (ESV)

Ephesians 5:18

            Both young and old Christians know how many times this verse has been quoted. Devotionals, Bible studies, sermons, and conferences all share how important it is to be “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Most teachers who use this verse correctly notice the parallelism between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit. With proper intentions, leaders define the word “fill” as “control.” Since wine and strong drink affect one’s senses and control his responses, the Holy Spirit should similarly hold the reins of a person’s heart. The conclusion is that a believer should wake up every day and surrender control of his life to the Spirit. Proper surrender ensures that his heart is pure before God, and he is ready to honor his Father that day. This application is taught widely. Believers should offer their bodies as instruments to the Lord (Rom. 6:13), and their will should be surrendered to the authority of the sovereign God. However, being “filled with the Spirit” means something quite different than giving Him ultimate control. This article will analyze Paul’s context of “filling” throughout Ephesians and conclude with a more accurate translation/ application.

            (Note: The reader should notice that no major punctuation mark ends either the KJV or ESV translation. Obviously, this verse falls within a fascinating paragraph in which Paul admonishes the Ephesians to walk in love, to impact their dark world, to understand God’s will, and to enjoy pure fellowship. Verse 18 was written in the middle of a structurally complex chapter which will not be examined in this article. The purpose of this post is to define the filling of the Spirit. Once we interpret that phrase properly, the reader can return to Ephesians 5 and analyze the passage with a new perspective. Although this verse cannot be fully applied apart from its immediate context, my aim is more specific and pointed.)

Paul used the most common word for “fill” in the Koine Greek language, plēroō. Its basic meanings include the following: fill, make full, finish, fulfill, or to complete. However, plēroō never has the sense of control. Rather, it carries the sense of either a prophecy being fulfilled or an item being filled with a certain material. The Bible student will also notice that the Greek verb is parsed as a present, passive, imperative. This simply indicates that Paul is giving a command for believers to obey on a continual basis. They are not able to “fill” themselves, per se, but they are “to be filled” by some outside agent. Therefore, in this verse, the verb plēroō (“fill”) commands the Ephesians not to be controlled, but to be filled habitually “with the Spirit.” How can this take place?

The preposition which precedes “Spirit” is en, meaning “with, by, in.” An accurate translation depends on the case of its object. Since “Spirit” is in the dative case, en must be translated accordingly. Difficulty arises when one realizes how many nuances can be associated with en + dative. In his grammar, Daniel B. Wallace lists ten such uses, including spatial, temporal, association, cause, instrumental, and possession (Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 372). The reader should notice that “content” is not listed, which means one cannot be filled “with the Spirit.” In other words, someone can fill a basket with flowers, eggs, or balls, but the Holy Spirit does not fill the body of a believer on a daily basis. Again, this verse seems to make no sense because none of the options complement each other contextually. Therefore, the student must step back and look at Paul’s use of plēroō in Ephesians as a whole.

First, Ephesians 1:23 speaks of Christ as the head of the church. Moreover, Paul ascribes the action of “filling” to Christ. He fills the church with all fullness. Later in the epistle, Ephesians 4:10, Paul writes, “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things,” (ESV). These two verses tell us exactly who is responsible for filling all things. If the reader remembers, the verb in Ephesians 5:18 is passive, meaning we do not fill ourselves “with the Spirit.” Paul indicates in other verses that Christ actually fills us. But with what does He fill us?

The last remaining verse in Ephesians which contains plēroō is 3:19. In his grammar, Wallace labels this verse as the “‘hinge’ prayer introducing the last half of the letter [which] makes a request that the believers ‘be filled with all the fullness of God,’” (Wallace, Grammar Beyond the Basics, p. 375). The preposition eis precedes “the fullness of God” instead of en. It follows, then, that the content with which we are filled is the fullness of God. Wallace interprets this best to refer to God’s moral attributes. This fits contextually since the last three chapters of Ephesians concern the practical application of the doctrine in the first three chapters. Therefore, as Paul transitions to his next section, he inserts a prayer for the Ephesian believers to comprehend the love of Christ and to be filled with a divine morality that results from knowing key doctrines.

The reader may be asking, So if Christ Himself fills believers with knowledge of God’s moral attributes, then what does Eph. 5:18 mean with reference to the Spirit? The preposition en + dative usually takes the connotation of means. An individual is not necessarily filled with wine; rather, the wine is merely used as an instrument to result in debauchery. Remember that en + dative can be used to refer to an instrument, which is called the dative of means. This knowledge indicates that the Holy Spirit is the instrument or tool that produces God’s morality within the believer. The ultimate agent is Christ. He is Lord over all believers, and He is actively involved in their sanctification. Therefore, He uses the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to produce a God-like morality within the life of a Christian.

What does this mean for us today? Truly, we have a daily responsibility to present our bodies as instruments for God’s service. Christ is our Master, and He does reign supremely over us. His will should be our goal of understanding (Eph. 5:17). However, it is incorrect to think believers are to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit every day. He already dwells inside of us, convicting and guiding our lives to become more like Christ. Our main responsibility that Paul teaches is to understand the fullness of God. Our goal is to pursue His moral attributes by learning about Him more and more. The Holy Spirit is the instrument that assists us on this journey, showing us which attributes need development in our lives. As we read and study God’s Word, we will become more familiar with His character and His holiness. Then Christ uses the Holy Spirit to purify us according to that standard. Are you having trouble remaining faithful to your wife? The Scriptures contain a vast amount of information on the faithfulness of God, even when His people rejected Him. Do you struggle with loving your friends, neighbors, or even family? God's steadfast love is repeatedly displayed and praised in both the Old and New Testaments. Perhaps you seem to turn your eye from evil, allowing it to fester where it should not be. The Bible emphasizes God's holiness more than any other attribute. Example after example could be given to demonstrate how a knowledge of God impacts our daily life. May we never stop our pursuit of knowing Who our God is and how that knowledge can mold us more into His likeness.

2Lk14: Christmas Song for the Whole Year

Luke 2:14

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

            The beginning of a new year means that the season for Christmas has come and gone. The hustle and bustle is over for now, and most people anticipate falling back into a routine. The trees are taken down, the lights stored for next year, the presents being used and displayed, and millions of Christmas cards simply thrown away. Most of those cards contained the above verse, intending to bring one’s focus to the true meaning of Christmas. However, the message proclaimed by the angels impacts a Christian’s mind throughout the entire year. Moreover, the importance of the angels’ praise to God is truly significant when one understands the specificity of their song.
            Many translations (including the ESV, NASB, HCSB, and NIV) phrase this verse with wording similar to that presented. On the contrary, others (such as the KJV and NKJV) translate the same as “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men!” The difference may be small, but the implications are great. The realm of textual criticism manifests the significant variation.

The editors of the UBS, 4^th ed., and the Nestle-Aland, 27^th ed., consider the above translation to be based on the original reading. The other major variant contains the nominative reading of eudokia (definition: “goodwill”), rather than the genitive eudokias. Bruce Metzger affirms that the latter reading is the more difficult, and its external evidence attests its originality. He explains, “The rise of the nominative reading can be explained either as an amelioration of the sense or as a paleographical oversight (at the end of a line eudokias would differ from eudokia only by the presence of the smallest possible lunar sigma, little more than a point),” (Metzger, Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, p. 111).

This technical information can be simplified by looking at the respective translations. With the nominative, the text would read “goodwill among men.” The genitive basically means “among men of goodwill.” The second issue to decide is the use of this genitive. By analyzing Wallace’s overview of genitive uses, one can deduce the adjectival nature of Luke’s genitive. On the other hand, dogmatic assertions end there. A hesitant student would wisely classify the genitive here as a simply descriptive genitive. Therefore, the best key words to use would be “characterized by” or “described by.”

One last issue deserves explanation before the pieces form the whole. Whose goodwill is being proclaimed—angelic, human, or divine? MacArthur’s Study Bible explains that Luke uses a form of this word “goodwill” or “pleasure” several other times in his book (i.e. 3:22; 10:21; 12:32). Each of these times refers to the pleasure God is granted or gives under some circumstance. Moreover, Mounce illustrates in his Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words that eudokia refers to either God’s attitude or intent in seven of its nine uses. Therefore, a balanced translation reads “peace on earth among men characterized by God’s pleasure,” or as others have written “men on whom His favor rests” (though this last translation delves too deeply into interpretation).

The conclusion of this study is not meant to prove a certain theological position and rebuke others. However, the angels did much more on the night of Christ’s birth than announce a blanket of peace that covers all mankind. On a daily basis, people greet one another with goodwill and blessing, but the angels praised God for a more intimate bestowal. Whether one believes in God’s predestinated election of believers or not, he cannot deny that lost souls are separated from God, and they have no peace. The highest praise was offered to Almighty God because He had made reconciliation possible between Himself and those with whom He pleases.

Romans 5:1 states, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (ESV). Only through justification, which is based on the sacrifice of Christ’s blood, humans have peace with God. When Jesus was born, the angels were singing glory to God because His people finally possessed the instrument of reconciliation. The Almighty made His move to mend the broken relationship between Himself and His people. Again, peace is not possessed by the unsaved because they are not characterized by God’s good pleasure. His pleasure only rests on His own, and they are granted a pure relationship with the Father.

Thinking on these things perhaps causes one to reflect on his own life. The holidays are over, and things are becoming more normal. But how much peace is in your heart at this moment? Are you satisfied with the life you are living? Are you content with the route your life is headed? Or perhaps you have begun to realize that culture, the popular lifestyle, and doing things on your own truly brings no peace. For those who have rejected the God of the Bible and attempted to fill their life with thrills and human wisdom, satisfaction is replete. Taking God out of the picture simply leads to hopelessness. Man cannot find peace apart from God, so I encourage the reader to examine how peaceful his life is. On the other hand, those who know Christ as Savior and worship the Father should find their fulfillment in that knowledge. The Almighty God chose to give peace to repulsive sinners for no reason other than His unconditional love. What a gift! They have been blessed beyond measure, and remaining faithful to the true God allows one to live in satisfaction. 

This message of peace is so potent and thrilling; it cannot be limited to one day a year. The external celebration of Christmas is over, but the joy of every believer should be just as exuberant all year long. All human are depraved sinners, who can do nothing to obtain eternal life and peace with God on their own. However, a personal and peaceful relationship was made possible through the birth and death of Christ. No one deserves this gift, but God granted His mercy and peace to those whom He favors. This is much more intimate than saying, “God bless you” to a friend. The angels proclaimed the Father’s granting of peace to those sinners that He favored. Individuals who have accepted Christ as their Savior must never forget the immensity of this gift. We are privileged to be called His children. We are honored to be granted His peace. May believers everywhere continually echo the angels’ song, “Glory to God in the highest!”