<TABLE border=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD bgColor=#8080c0 vAlign=top width=151>"BE FILLED IN (your) SPIRIT"</TD><TD vAlign=top width=23></TD><TD vAlign=top width=381>In the second of the three translations of Ephesians 5: 18, the preposition
en is rendered "in." Tim Crater, who put forth this view, asserts that the filling takes place in the
sphere of one's own human spirit. In his Master's Thesis he writes:
Several different lines of evidence indicate that the phrase in Ephesians 5:18 does not refer to a filling of the Holy Spirit for power to live the "victorious life," but rather to a full exercise of the human spirit in worship and service to God, and is primarily applicable to the assembly worship of the Church.
This is not to say that the Holy Spirit is not involved in the worship activity of the Christian, for unquestionably all Christian service to God is ultimately dependent upon the work of the Spirit. However, the emphasis which has been placed on the Holy Spirit has tended to overshadow the fact that the human spirit does have a legitimate function in the worship activity of the believer, as well as in the Christian life as a whole.... [19]
This view has a number of advantages over the previous view. First, Crater has clearly established in his thesis that the phraseology used in Luke and Acts to refer to the filling of the Spirit is different from Ephesians 5: 18 (see footnote 7). Where the expression
pimplemi pneumatos hagiou is used, it refers to a supernatural utterance or speaking prophetically by direct inspiration (cf. Acts 4:31), which is not in view in Ephesians Chapter 5. On the other hand, when the expression
pleroo (pleres) pneumatos hagiou is used, it refers to a characteristic quality already existing in the believer's life (cf. Acts 13:52). As such, it is not a command to be followed like Ephesians 5:18, but merely a statement of facts as they already exist.
Secondly, Crater has pointed out that there is a definite lack of emphasis on the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament epistles. Concerning this lack he has written:
If filling were such a crucial doctrine in the Pauline concept of the Christian life, we would expect plerousthe en pneumati to be used in Colossians as well as Ephesians (not to mention many other areas of his writings). At the very least we would expect to find some discussion of how filling will enable one to overcome the flesh and live the Christian life, but in the context of both passages (i.e. , Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3) there is no mention of such a concept. In both passages the apostle seems to be concerned about activities which are primarily relevant to worship in the assembly. [20]
Thirdly, though this expression cannot be directly related to expressions in Luke or Acts, Crater has clearly shown that it can be related to the activities of the local church meeting as seen by the immediate context of Ephesians 5:18-20. [21] These activities ("speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs") describe the worship of believers in the Church. According to his thesis, we are then "filled in our spirit" at the same time we engage in these worship activities in the meeting of the Church. [22]
Although his interpretation does much better in relating to the context of the epistle and of explaining differences in terminology than the former view, it still presents some problems:
(1) Crater's thesis fails to answer the key question: If we are to be filled in our human spirit, what are we to be filled with? We have the receptacle, but what is the content? Crater attempts to deal with this in passing by saying, "Paul does not need to state what it is that the spirit is to be filled with since it is not stated that there is an intoxicant for the spirit which corresponds to wine." [23]
However, seeing that we have already demonstrated that the two phrases concerning "drunkenness with wine" and "filling with the Spirit" are not grammatically parallel (see above), his statement actually begs the question. If one is to be filled (assuming the normal meaning of the verb, which Crater does), he must be filled with something. We have already demonstrated that filling cannot mean control, and we have also shown that the Spirit of God cannot Himself be the content if one follows the rules of grammar. This leaves us with a "content-less filling."
(2) We would agree with Crater that the primary emphasis of the passage is on the circumstances attending the filling, [24] but to largely eliminate the Holy Spirit from the picture as he does goes contrary to the context of the epistle as well. It creates the impression that there is no need for a Divine dynamic in the ministry of the Church.
He is also too restrictive in describing the activities of verses 19 and 20 as merely "worship," for they also include ministries of mutual edification by the saints. The key phrase is "speaking to each other," for this does not involve worship directed to the Father alone, but ministry and teaching directed to the saints, and this is a primary theme of the latter half of the letter (4: 7- 16, 28- 32). It is also the major thrust of the parallel passage in Colossians (3:15,16).
The third interpretation of Ephesians 5:18 endeavors to answer all of these questions while relating to the context of the entire epistle.
</TD></TR><TR><TD width=5></TD><TD bgColor=#8080c0 vAlign=top width=151>"BE FILLED BY THE SPIRIT"</TD><TD vAlign=top width=23></TD><TD vAlign=top width=381>In the third translation of the verse in question, the preposition
en is translated "by." The Holy Spirit is thus regarded as the
personal Agent of the filling. [25] This view answers the question raised by the former interpretation by looking at the development of the theme of "filling" as it is seen in Ephesians. (1) To begin, in Ephesians 1: 10 Paul refers to the "summing up (
anakephalaiosasthai) of all things in Christ" (NASV). The idea expressed is that
the Lord Jesus Christ is the very Center and Focus of all that God is doing to work out His sovereign purpose (cf. Col. 1: 18; John 16:14). This point is crucial to the understanding of the development of the overall theme of Ephesians expressed in Chapter 3, verse 21: "Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end." All ministry the Holy Spirit performs to the believer has this as its primary purpose.
(2) In Ephesians 1: 23 Paul states that the Church is "His Body, the fullness (
pleroma) of Him that filleth all in all." The word
pleroma has a passive meaning of "something which is filled" where the
-ma ending indicates the result of an action. [26] Thus the Church is "Christ's fullness," that is, something which is
filled with Christ, Who fills all things. We see then, that Christ has a specific "filling ministry" with respect to His Body, the Church.
(3) In 3:18,19 Paul prays that we may be able to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ with the result that we may "be filled up to (
plerothete eis) all the fullness (
pleroma) of God" (NASV), i.e., that we may attain to His full character, or Godlikeness. This is virtually equivalent to Christlikeness.
(4) In 4: 10 the Lord Jesus is said to have "descended" (become incarnate) for the express purpose "that He might fill all things (
hina plerose ta panta). "This is directly connected with His giving spiritual gifts (or more specifically, gifted men) to the Church for the mutual ministry of believers (see verses 7 through 16).
(5) In 4:13 the goal of giving gifted men to the Church to equip the saints is that we all might attain to the maturity exemplified by "the fullness of Christ
" (tou pleromatos tou christou). In other words, as we are filled with Christ, we are to become like Him in every respect of His revealed character. There is no higher mark to press to (Phil. 3: 14), nor is there any greater purpose in the Christian life (Rom. 8: 28, 29)!
(6) With the development of the theme of "filling" as seen in Ephesians, it is therefore far more consistent to take the thought of filling in 5: 18 to be the same as that of the other references in the epistle, especially in view of the fact that Paul uses a different Greek expression here than Luke does in his Gospel or Acts to speak of the "filling of the Spirit."
This, of course, is the first rule of hermeneutics: interpret by context--immediate context before remote! The meaning of Ephesians 5:18 is that Christ
Himself is the unexpressed content of the filling, which is produced by the expressed agency of the Holy Spirit. He produces this filling, or Christlikeness, in the believer as the believer ministers his or her spiritual gift to others and as others minister to him in the context of the local church. This is exactly what Paul was expressing in Chapter 4 (cf. 4:16). He would therefore see no need to repeat the complete statement in Chapter 5, as he had already made this assertion explicitly or implicitly five times previously in his letter!
The advantages of this latter interpretation are obvious:
(1) It puts the focus of the believer's life where it should be--on the Person of Christ. It thus agrees with the nature of the Holy Spirit's scriptural role. We have shown that in John 16:13-15 His ministry is for the purpose of glorifying Christ, not Himself; yet the way most people have interpreted this verse, the Holy Spirit has received practically all of the attention! The best way to glorify the Lord Jesus in this dispensation is for people to be made like Him, i.e., "to fill them with Christ" (cf. Col. 2: 9, 10; Gal. 4:19).
(2) It explains the difference in terminology used here from that in the Gospel of Luke and Acts. Luke and Paul were not talking about the same experience, for the experience in Luke/Acts (
pimplemi pneumatos hagiou) was more closely akin to a sovereign "coming upon" the individual by the Spirit for prophetic proclamation.
If we hold to the completion of the canon of Scripture, we should question whether this experience is normative for the believer today. We certainly have no need for further authoritative revelation in the present dispensation, for the Scripture we now possess is sufficient to equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17).
There is therefore no good work that needs to be done in this dispensation for which we need "further revelation." We should also recognize that the primary source of truth regarding the Church and the Christian life is the New Testament epistles, preeminently the epistles of Paul. To go outside that realm for authoritative determination of which experience is normative for the believer in the Church today is to subject him to confusion and misapplication of biblical truth not intended for this present economy.
(3) This interpretation is more in agreement with the tense and voice of the verb in Ephesians 5:18.
Plerousthe is a present passive imperative with an emphasis on a
continuing process to be received by the believer. [27] "Keep on getting filled by the Holy Spirit" would be a more accurate translation of the verse. Spiritual growth is always the result of a process that takes place over a
period of time. [28]
Views which hold that we can be "filled" one moment simply by praying and yielding, then "unfilled" the next, have reduced the spiritual life dangerously close to a mechanical formula. Spiritual
growth is the
product of a relationship, not the application of a formula. If the "fullness of the Spirit" means anything, it means
Christlikeness (cf. Gal. 5:22,23), and this only comes by walking with Him through a lifetime of intimate association!
(4) This view agrees with the context of Ephesians better than the other two views. It takes the meaning of the term "filling" as Paul uses it in
this particular epistle, which is the first place we must go to resolve any interpretive problems.
It especially fits in with the theme of Ephesians Chapter 4, which emphasizes that the "equipping of the saints" is a ministry of the Body as a
whole. It is not a question of individualistic spiritual growth as the first interpretation would have it, for our spiritual growth is tied directly to
our relationship with other members in the Body of Christ. Spiritual growth is nurtured preeminently in the context of the local Church, not in a vacuum!
(5) It agrees better with the parallel passage of Colossians 3:16, 17
: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another, in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever ye do in word or deed, do all in the
Name (i.e.,
the revealed character) of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him." The parallel passage emphasizes
both the mutual ministry of believers in the Body of Christ and the goal of Christlikeness.
(6) It explains the lack of other references to the filling of the Spirit in the writings of Paul and the other epistles. If "the filling of the Spirit" were intended to be the basis for Christian maturity, we would expect to see a much greater emphasis on the subject. Instead, we find a complete absence of its emphasis in the key passages dealing with maturity in Christ. Please note, we are
not saying the Holy Spirit has no place in producing the believer's maturity in Christ. What we are saying is that it is not
His filling ministry (in the sense of the book of Acts or in the Old Testament) that does it.
(7) This view is also in accordance with the lexical meaning of the term
pleroo ("to fill, to make complete"). The Holy Spirit's ministry is to fill us with Christ, not Himself. We are not differentiating between the
essential Nature of the Second and Third Persons of the Godhead, which is the same; we are differentiating between their
roles. The present role of the Spirit is to
glorify the Son (John 16: 14).
Whether one agrees totally with the grammatical analysis of the author in distinguishing between the Spirit's role as Agent vs. means/instrument or not, he must nevertheless acknowledge that the context of Ephesians clearly puts the
Lord Jesus Christ as the content of the filling and that filling does not mean "control," but rather "to put Christ in us," or "to make us complete in Christ" (cf. Gal. 4:19). By so acknowledging, we thus agree with the ultimate purpose of the Father for each believer--to make him like His Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29; Eph. 1:4,5; 4:13,15; Col. 1: 28).
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Conclusion: What IS the New Testament Basis of Developing Maturity?</TD><TD vAlign=top width=23></TD><TD vAlign=top width=381>Having gone to a good bit of effort to establish the point that the Holy Spirit is the Agent of the filling and that Christ is the Content and Object, some readers may be inclined to feel that the author is "straining at a gnat." Does it really matter whether it is the Holy Spirit or the Person of the Lord Jesus who is in view in Ephesians 5:18? Does it make any difference? As a matter of fact, it makes a great deal of difference with respect to our whole philosophy of the spiritual life. Do we focus on the Holy Spirit of God, or on Christ, the Son of God? This is the
basic issue that divides charismatics from doctrinally sound Christians. Our real contention is not over the "gift of tongues" (although we do contend!); it is over our entire approach to the concept of Christian maturity.
If one would dispute the importance of this, let him observe the confusion and division resulting when the charismatic issue has been raised in vast numbers of churches throughout the world during the past twenty-five years. It is not simply the issue of whether one group is receptive to the gifts of the Spirit and the other is not. The issue goes much deeper.
The first question we need to ask is, "Is the filling ministry of the Holy
Spirit really normative for the believer today?" If by "filling" of the Spirit one refers to instances where the fullness expresses a
characteristic quality in the believer's life (e.g. , Acts 13: 52), we would say, "definitely yes! "--but
only with the stipulation that the "fullness" refers to
the character of the Lord Jesus Christ developed and manifested over a lifetime via spiritual growth.
If, on the other hand, by "filling" we mean the instances where the Spirit came upon the disciples for special empowerment to perform miracles or speak prophetically (e.g., Acts 2: 4; 4: 3 1; 13: 9), we must say, "Emphatically no! This kind of filling was always seen as a sovereign act of God related to ministry, and not to maturity. Furthermore, such a filling was apparently independent of the recipient's maturity at the time. At the very least, no such criteria were specifically stated, so to argue for such would be to argue from silence. Spiritual maturity may have increased the likelihood of being filled this way, but this type of filling was not seen as producing the maturity.
The second question is, "Can or does this sovereign filling of the Spirit occur at all today? The author does not want to be put into a position of limiting the omnipotent Spirit of God, so we must acknowledge that it certainly
can, but whether it
does in the large number of cases where it is reported is highly conjectural.
This kind of filling is not the result of human effort (or even human receptivity, considering the case of Saul!), but is brought about when and where the Spirit of God finds it desirable. It must not, however, be regarded as a "shortcut" to Christian maturity; neither should it be regarded as a vehicle for additional prophetic revelation nor a resurgence of certain miraculous or sign gifts (cf. 2 Tim. 3: 17; Rev. 22: 18; 1 Cor. 13: 8- 11).
Are we saying then that we are to reject the concepts of confession of sin and yieldedness to God taught by many as requisite to spiritual growth? No, these teachings are thoroughly biblical, but we must emphasize along with Dr. Chafer that the end result of these actions is
fellowship with the Father not the filling of the Spirit. True fellowship with the Father and the Son (not the application of a formula, but the desire of a hungry heart for intimate fellowship with the Holy) should result in spiritual growth, but only if we refocus our affections in the place the Holy Spirit would have them, and that is not on Himself.
First, there needs to be a refocusing on the requirement for
time to produce spiritual maturity in the life of the believer--away from any emphasis on "instantaneous spirituality." When God wants to grow a shoot of bamboo, He does it overnight, but He takes a hundred years to grow an oak. Likewise, when He wants to develop a mature believer, He does not do it in a hurry.
Secondly, there needs to be a recognition that as the Father matures the new believer in Christ, there may be some areas in which that maturity is more evident than others. It is possible for a person, for example, to mature quite rapidly, say, in the area of personal stewardship while still be struggling with a quick temper. Another Christian may find this growth pattern reversed. There is no teaching in Scripture that all who mature must do so uniformly. The important thing is that we all grow more Christlike in every area of our lives (Eph. 4:15).
Third, and most important, there needs to be a return to the New Testament emphasis on the
Lord Jesus as the Source of the believer's new life. The New Testament writers, especially Paul, when they do refer to the Holy Spirit, do so to show His agency in producing the
life of Christ in the believer. The "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22,23) is, in reality, the manifestation of the life of the Lord Jesus in us.
Are we seeking to minimize or negate the work of the Third Person of the Trinity? By no means. In fact, we are
cooperating with Him to better experience His ministry! Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 3:18:
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Here we establish our proper
focus: "the glory (or, character) of the Lord" and the proper
agency: "by (lit.
from) the Spirit of the Lord." As we reckon on this truth, the Spirit carries out His work of progressively manifesting the life of the Lord Jesus in our mortal body (2 Cor. 4: 11).
As previously stated, if there is any emphasis in the New Testament writings regarding Christian maturity, it seems not to be on any "filling of the Holy Spirit," but rather on our identification with the Lord Jesus in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension. Reckoning on our co-death with Him sets us free from the governing power of the principle of sin in our lives, while reckoning on our co-resurrection and ascension with Him brings the Spirit's ministry of providing His power to live the Christ-life. [29]
This twin theme is seen again and again in New Testament Scripture (cf. Rom. 6:1-11; 2 Cor. 4:7-17; Gal. 2:20; 3:27; Eph. 1:3-14; 4:21-24; Phil. 3:10,11; Col. 3:1-3; 2 Tim. 2:11; 1 Pet. 3:21-4:1). In fact, the need for this emphasis is why we were given the ordinance of water baptism, which, when properly practiced by immersion, gives us a beautiful picture of that total identification.
It is safe to say that virtually every heresy or false emphasis that has plagued the Church, from its inception at Pentecost down to the present day, could have been avoided had the focus of her public teaching and her member's private devotional lives been steadfastly on the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ! Miles J. Stanford has pointed out the real purpose and emphasis of the Spirit's work in the life of the believer:
An understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is basic to Christian living. Spirituality is Christlikeness, and Christlikeness is the fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual power is not necessarily or usually the miraculous or spectacular, but rather the consistent manifestation of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer's life. All of this is the work of the Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, "He shall glorify Me."
"They were all filled." But remember, this was a testimony to Christ, for the Holy Spirit ever and always works in relation to Him. It is the Father's beloved Son who is to "fill all things." To be filled with--or by--the Spirit is to be filled with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not make the Holy Spirit a fenced-around and separate Object. His ministry is to fill all things with the Lord Jesus Christ. [30]
It has always been the tactic of the Deceiver to steer us away from Truth. If he cannot prevent us from being saved, he will do his best to lead us into sin. If he cannot tempt us with the "pleasures of sin," he would lead us into false cults. If he does not succeed in steering us into cults, he will try to have us take our focus off what is "best" for that which is merely "good."
We must not allow what is spoken of as "good" in the Scripture (i.e., the various ministries of the Holy Spirit) to take our focus off where the Spirit, through His ministries, actually wants it to be. The
primary ministry of the Spirit in the New Testament believer is to
establish his faith in the Lord Jesus as his Object and the very Source of his Christian life. The believer is to depend on the Spirit and abide in the risen Christ (Col. 3:1-3). This, by means of the Word, will keep him from centering upon the wrong object, and will also protect him from the surrounding error that would seek to engulf him. Questions for Mr. Temmesfeld? Contact him
HERE.
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