The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit

by T. M. Hyland | Category: The Person And Work Of The Holy Spirit | Dec 1944

We now turn to consider another Pauline phrase from the Ephesian Epistle;

"BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT."1

The Filling is clearly not the initial reception of the Spirit as Indweller; for He was present in the hearts of these Ephesian saints who are now exhorted to be filled with Him And the present tense used in Ephesians 5.18 Be getting filled as Rotherham translates it, indicates a continuous infilling rather than a once for all fulness

At once we perceive the difference in idea between the Fruit and the Filling. The one reveals itself in Christian character, the other in Christian life and service the one consists in being the other equips for" doing " For the Spirit led believer will n t be a recluse he will play his part in spiritual work and warfare. In that sphere he will find that human effort, no matter how assiduously applied, will be inadequate. He will need a fulness of spiritual power sufficient for all the contingences of the work and warfare of the Lord.

But, although somewhat different in manifestation, the Fruit and the Filling cannot be separated-they are complementary, parts of a divine whole. And it is the divine purpose that they should be concurrent in the experience of the believer for, in Ephesians 5 15 the Filling is presented to us, not as the privilege of a select few, but as the birthright of all God 5 children

It is not surprising that the book in the New Testament containing the most references to this matter is the Acts of the Apostles This book, so full of manifestations of the Holy Spirit 5 power, has been aptly called by someone The Acts of the Holy Spirit It is worthy of note that the Aorist a tense in Greek expressing a completed action without reference to the continuance of the same, is used to describe the filling in Acts 2.4; 4. 8, 31; 9. 17; 13. 9. There is no indication that in these cases the filling remained beyond the immediate purpose for which it was supplied whereas in Acts 13 52 the imperfect tense is used, "The disciples were being filled with the Holy Spirit

(Rotherham). This indicates a continuous experience rather than a passing one. Here we discern a distinction between what was occasional and abnormal, and what was habitual. It would be in this habitual sense that Stephen and Barnabas were described as men "full of the Holy Spirit."2 And it is this habitual filling that is contemplated in Ephesians 5.18, "Be filled with the Spirit."

Because of the association of the filling with the Spirit and the gift of tongues on the day 6f Pentecost, some have asserted that the gift of tongues will always be present as the mark of the Spirit's filling It is only necessary to examine the many instances of the filling in the New Testament where the gift of tongues is absent to prove the fallacy of this assertion (e g, Luke 1 15 Acts 7. 55) The circumstances of the day of Pentecost can never wholly recur That there

1 Ephesians 5. 182 Acts 6. 5; 11. 24

will not be such special and abnormal manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power as may be necessary to the divine purpose should not be asserted. But the Holy Spirit is sovereign in this matter; much damage has been done to Christian testimony by the attempt to produce by other means what lies within the province of the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.

The words "Be filled with the Spirit" come to us as part of a context, indeed of an Epistle, replete with divine fulness. That fulness is available to the believer because he is, by divine grace, a member of the "Church, which is His Body "1 It is the work of the Holy Spirit to make this fulness the believer's present experience, that he may be "filled unto all the fulness of God."2

As with the fruit of the Spirit, so with the Filling, it is the result of obedience to a divine precept. "Be filled ..." This lays an obligation on the believer; it implies the necessity of making room, of emptying, so that Another may fill the heart. It is as though the apostle were saying to these Ephesian saints "You have the Spirit, He abideth with you, now open to Him all the inner regions of your heart and life, and let His presence pervade the whole. Hand over to Him the full tenancy of the inward man, let Him take complete control." Such was the apostle's desire for the Ephesians, such is the Lord's will for us. What is to be our response?

Recognising the Holy Spirit to be a Divine Person and not merely a divine "influence," the attitude of the Spirit-filled believer will be, not " How can I get more of Him? "but "How can He' have more of me?"

We notice here, in the immediate context of this command1 "Be filled with the Spirit," indications of the kind of man the Spiritfilled believer will be. Firstly, we are told in the preceding verse, "Be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." The Spirit-filled believer will be a practical man, not governed by his emotions, but exercising his understanding. For it is one of the most wonderful and precious features of the Holy Spirit's filling, that He exercises control through the human faculties without doing violence to the human personality. Again, we read in verse 21 of Ephesians 5., "subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ." The Spirit-filled believer will be reasonable and modest, not riding roughshod over the feelings of others; fearful lest he should offend by word or deed "the brother for whom Christ died."

Then we notice, in verse 18, the contrasted states of drunkenness and the Spirit's filling. The former results in a false exhilaration, a state of disorder, a loss of self-control rendering the person unfit for normal life and service; the latter results in the harmonious functioning of all the faculties and emotions, perfectly adjusted under the Spirit's control, rendering the person "a vessel unto honour, sanctified, meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work."3

1 Ephesians 1.22.2 Ephesians 3.19.3 2 Timothy 2. 21.

Another certain result of the Spirit's infilling will be an outflow of praise a song; not like the hollow, artificial revelry of the drunkard, but the result of the melody in the heart. For the Spiritfilled believer will be pre-eminently a thankful man, "giving thanks always for all things ... " ; and his joy will he infectious, it will echo in other hearts, evoking a response; "... speaking one to another." What a different spirit is sometimes in evidence in some of God's people who seem' to be in a continual state of inward turmoil, always nursing a grievance, real or imaginary, and spreading discord and discontent wherever they go! Oh, that such would heed the word,

"Be filled with the Spirit; speaking onto another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ."1

Thus the believer, the wife or the husband, the child or the parent, the servant or the master, will bring to all the relationships of the common life a heavenly demeanour, so beautifully portrayed for us in Ephesians 5.22-6.9, which can only be derived from the Spirit's infilling. And in the spiritual confli6t against the powers of darkness depicted in Ephesians 6., he will be supplied with an abundance of spiritual power; thus will he be "strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might."2

We must not conclude our brief meditation on this great theme without referring to that mighty utterance of the Lord which is so relevant to it:

"Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture bath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this He spake of the Spirit .."3 "Rivers of living water I" Not a trickle, or a stream, or even a river, but rivers. What abundance, what overflowing fulness is implied in these words with which the Lord described the mighty outflow of divine blessing from the Spirit-filled believer! Nothing is more humbling to the present writ r than the recollection of how little this experience has been his during the many years since he first believed.

And yet there the promise stands out, so clearly, so definitely, "Out of his inwards shall flow." Here the believer is viewed, not as a receptacle to hold the Water of life, but as a living watercourse through which it may flow to others. And the outflow will be commensurate with the inflow. Again, be it noted, the present tense is used in the Greek, "If any man be thirsting, let him be coming unto Me, and drinking" (Rotherham). Wherever there is this infilling of divine fulness there must of necessity he an outflowing of divine blessing. The Spirit-filled believer may or may not be conscious of it; but that matters little, what does matter is the certainty of the

1 Ephesians 5.18-21.2 Ephesians 6.10.3 John 7.37-39.

promise that, wherever the Lord may permit him to he, "Out of his inwards shall flow rivers of living water."

On this high note of promise we take leave of the, reader. We owe it to the Father who loves us, to the Lord who died for us; to the Spirit" who sealed us, to ourselves, to our fellow-believers and to the needy souls around us to-day, to face afresh the challenge of these words

"BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT."

"Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,

With all Thy quick'ning powers;

Kindle a flame of sacred love

In these cold hearts of ours.

"0 Lord, and shall we ever live A

At this poor dying rate?

Our love so faint, so cold to Thee,

And Thine to us so great?

"Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove,

With all Thy quick'ning powers:

Come, shed abroad a Saviour's love,