The Difference the Spirit Makes - 3


THOUGHTS ON THE HOLY SPIRIT

THE DIFFERENCE THE SPIRIT MAKES – 3

In the previous meditation we saw that the New Testament speaks of being filled with the Spirit in two different ways, using two different verbs. We will now look further at that ‘fullness’ of the Spirit that is evident in a life lived submissive to the Spirit of God as he teaches us from the Word of God, revealing Christ to us, and gradually transforming us more and more into the image of God.

This fullness of the Spirit is a progressive and on-going quality of life. Paul refers to it in several ways:

Being transformed by the Spirit – 2Corinthians 3:18.
Living by the Spirit – Galatians 5:16, 25.
Being led by the Spirit – Galatians 5:18.
Keeping in step with the Spirit – Galatians 5:25.
Having the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22, 23.
Having the fruit of light – Ephesians 5:9.

Each of these is talking about the same spiritual reality as the terms ‘full of the Spirit’ and ‘filled with the Spirit’ – an on-going positive response (= obedience) to the teaching and instruction of the indwelling Spirit of God.

In Ephesians 5:18-21 Paul’s command to be filled [the verb pleroo] with the Spirit is in the present, continuous tense. It certainly does not refer to a one-off experience of the Spirit towards which Christians have to strive; nor does it refer to a one-off, once-for-all-time filling with the Spirit beyond which the Christian lives on a superior spiritual level. Rather it refers to an on-going spiritual condition in which the Holy Spirit directs, dominates and changes the Christian’s life, including the Christian’s beliefs, perceptions and attitudes as well as actions. The Holy Spirit is the active person here; the believer is the passive sphere/location of the Holy Spirit’s active work. (The verb is in the passive voice.) The command is not about what we have to do or initiate, but about how we are to respond to the Holy Spirit’s teaching and instruction. Our responsibility is to let the Holy Spirit do his transforming work by our believing and obedient response to his teaching and instruction.

Paul explains what this ‘be filled with the Spirit’ will look like. In the Greek text there is only one command: ‘be filled with the Spirit’ [18]. This one command is followed (in the Greek text) by a series of present participles which describe the Spirit-taught, Spirit-filled, Spirit-directed, Spirit-controlled life:

5:19 – speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. This refers to the content of our conversation – people who are full of the Spirit will talk to each other about God’s truth.

5:19 – singing – the life of joy and praise resulting from the Spirit’s teaching and instruction.

5:19 – making music in your heart to the Lord. This refers to the inner relationship with God in which we live in his presence with joy and peace as the Holy Spirit’s instruction in his truth and assurance of our salvation in Christ dominates our hearts and minds.

5:20 – always giving thanks to God the Father for everything. Under the Holy Spirit’s teaching and control we will live our lives with contentment and with praise to God.

5:21 – submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. Our attitude to one another under the direction of the Spirit – each giving up our personal rights for the well being of the other, just like Jesus. (What this submission will look like in various life relationships is explained in 5:22-6:9.)

Each of these are directly dependent on our believing the truth about Jesus Christ taught by the Spirit.

In Colossians 3:15-17 a very similar list of life-expressions accompanies Paul’s command ‘let the word of Christ dwell in you richly’. Again we see the essential synergy between the Word and the Spirit. This also instructs us that, whatever else we do with the command ‘be filled with the Spirit’ in Ephesians 5:18, we must at least do this: that we understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer that results in this fullness of the Spirit is intimately connected to his instructing us in the Word of God. The more he teaches us and the more he fills out our understanding, the more our lives will express the results identified in Ephesians 5:19-21 and Colossians 3:16-17.

It is interesting and instructive that the instructions relating to husbands, wives, children, parents, masters and slaves follow immediately in both of these chapters. Submission is required of each party in each of these two-way relationships as part of what it means to be ‘filled with the Spirit’ in the nitty-gritty of human lives and their interpersonal relationships. To be ‘full of’ or ‘filled with the Spirit’, in this sense, is all about allowing the Spirit of Jesus to do his transforming work in us, day by day, as we live as his children, children of light, in the context of the darkness of our world (Ephesians 5:8, 9).

© Rosemary Bardsley 2024