“The Filling of the Holy Spirit” and the Public Ministry of the Word

David Niblack

Systematic Theology III Paper # 1

March 21, 2005

 “Looking for something that works better than Starbucks or a cold Sam Adams?  Come be filled with the power enhanced presence of the Holy Spirit!”   Such a statement is only a mild exaggeration of certain evangelical mentalities of the “filling of the Spirit.” Was this Paul’s idea in Ephesians 5:18, when he tells the Ephesians not to get drunk on wine, but instead be filled with the Spirit?  Unfortunately in many evangelical churches the Holy Spirit has become little more than some kind of “spiritual” personal life-enhancer[1].  A popular speaker at Moody recently commented that the filling of the Spirit is like a gas-tank going dry, and that we needed to “refill” now and then because “we are leaky” the Holy Spirit and his energy that he wants to give to our lives.  The good intentions are inspiring, however the Bible gives a more definite and precise meaning to the terminology the “filling of the Holy Spirit” and its implications are important for the state of the church today[2].   

            This paper will argue that the main focus precise terminology “the filling of the Holy Spirit” is a work of the Spirit that empowers believers to clarify the person and power of God through the public ministry of the Word of God.  This premise is based one three main evidences: a) the essential relationship between the Spirit and the Word, b) the use of the terminology “filling of the Spirit” in the Lucan corpus, and c) Paul’s use of “be filled with the Spirit” in Ephesians 5:18.  

The Holy Spirit and the Word

God uses means to accomplish his purposes.  God could have accomplished the redemption of man in an instant, but instead he chose to use means, from election to a promised ethnic group to a Messiah, to his return.   This is often the way God works—he accomplishes his overarching divine purpose of magnifying his glory through thousands of intermediate mediators.  Just as the work of the Father in the world uses different means to accomplish his purposes, so does the Holy Spirit uses means to accomplish his ministry. A primary instrument of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God.  This is one of the most foundational distinctive of the working of the Holy Spirit-- unlike any other person of the God-head, the Holy Spirit creates by the word of God, is the author of the Word of God, and empowers believes by the Word of God.  Understanding this unique relationship between the Spirit and the Word is a crucial prolegomena to understanding the meaning of being “filled with the Spirit.”

            The Spirit creating:  The Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters, and then God spoke “let there be light,” Gen 1:2.  Psalm 104:30 reminds use that by the Spirit God creates.  Although it is not explicit, the Spirit’s presence in Genesis 1 seems to as the agency of creation in response to the spoken word of God.  In Ezekiel’s vision of dry bones Ezekiel is brought to the valley by the Spirit of God, and in verse 14 God summarized the vision of Ezekiel by saying, “I will put my Spirit in you and you will live” (Ezekiel 37:14).  Thus the means that the Spirit creates life is the Word of God. 

The Spirit is the author of the Word of God-- In bringing life through the word of God; the Spirit is the author of the written word of God.  “The Same Spirit who calls forth the canon of sacred scripture protects it from distortions and illumines our minds in the reading of it.”[3].  The sheer fact that the church has a perfect written witness of Christ and God’s salvation history as a remarkable and supernatural testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit is often eclipsed by a desire to simply see a quick show of the miraculous.  (ibid 71)[4]. 

The Spirit infuses power into believers through the Word:  It is not surprise then, that when the Spirit works in a believer’s life he does not produce change though some abstract vacuum of mystical spirituality.  Rather the Spirit uses the word of God as the instrument through which he affects supernatural change in the believer.  Calvin’s upheld that the Spirit starts this change by confirming in a believer that the Word of God is true.[5]   The role of the Spirit working through the Word does not stop when the believer perceives it as true, but continues by sanctifying the believer through the word of God (John 17:17). 

“Filled with the Holy Spirit” in Luke

Only Luke uses the precise terminology “filled with the Holy Spirit.” [6] Before addressing the writings of Luke however, it is important to survey a few of the uses of the concept of a filling with the Spirit in the Old Testament to give the canonical context in which Luke was writing.  The idea of a “filling with the Spirit” does appear in the Old Testament several times.  The first time is in Exodus 31:3 where God announces he has filled Bezalel with skill and knowledge to serve in the building of the tabernacle.  This filling does not serve an immediate prophetic purpose, rather is serves for the building up of the dwelling place of God.   The dwelling place of God in the New Testament will not longer be a tabernacle of temple, but rather the people of God and the work of physical craftsmanship will become to work of spiritual formation which relies on the word of God.  

The second usage of filled with the Spirit is recorded in Deuteronomy 34:9 when Joshua is described as filled with the Spirit.  The context of the verse implies that Joshua was filled with the Spirit to enable him to have a similar prophetic, leadership role as Moses.  The next verse, says that “So the Israelites listened to him” and then the next verse mentions that “no prophet has arisen in Israel like Moses” ( Deu 34:10).   

The final use in the Old Testament is in Micah 3:8 where he makes the following statement:  “I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, … to declare to Jacob his transgression.”  The filling of the Spirit gives Micah the power to publicly declare the sins God’s people. 

            Longnecker summarizes the expectation that was built during the times of the Old Testament.  “Judaism also expected that with the coming of the Messianic age there would be a special outpouring of God’s Spirit, a… and that prophecy would once again flourish.”[7]   The context that the NT builds on then is based on the expectation that the working of the Spirit of God will be seen thorough a prophetic work that will exalt the character of God and will bring new life to his people. 

The rest of the uses of “filled with the Holy Spirit” except Paul’s use in Ephesians 5:18 occur in the Lucian literature.  A chart will best summarize the data and give a brief explanation of the way that the term “filled with the Spirit” is used in conjunction with a public “word” ministry. 

This survey of the biblical data indicates that Luke understood the terminology “to be filled with the Spirit” as having a unique relationship with a prophetic and oral proclamation of God’s word in a way that had effectiveness and power.  Scofield notes that “It [the use of the Holy Spirit in Luke/Acts] is noticeable, that an invariable result of being filled with the Holy Ghost was speech.”[10]  The “filling of the Spirit” is not uses to describe a stimulus that was sought after by the early believers, but rather something that happened in unique situations where there was a blessing by the Spirit to effectuate communication of the Word of God.   In his commentary in Acts, Bruce points out that “filled with the Spirit” should be differentiated from “full of the Holy Spirit”[11]  Luke does not flatten the meaning of full of the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit into one general meaning.  Thus Stephen was a man “full of the Spirit (Acts 7:55), and Barnabas is described as a “good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith” (Acts 11:24), are different than the above citations which imply a more distinct situation and not a general quality. 

“Be Filled with the Holy Spirit” Ephesians 5:18

The one other passage that the terminology is used is in Ephesians 5:18.  This is a difficult passage for several reasons.  First, it is the only time it is used in the writings of Paul.  Köstenberger points out that “this fact alone should caution one against making this aspect the focus’ of one’s pneumetology.”[12]  Obviously, one usage makes it impossible to compare with other Pauline texts and thus the better definition should come from the Lucan sources and not rest exclusively on Paul.  Secondly, the translation of the Greek phrase “be filled with” can be translated in different ways.  J.A. Robertson advocates for an interpretation that reads “Let your fullness be that which comes through the Holy Spirit.” [13].  Bruce says the meaning “is literally ‘Be Filled in Spirit.’” He then points out that the normal English translation “filled with the Holy Spirit” can give rise to the idea that the Holy Spirit is similar to a liquid someone is filled with.[14]  Hoehner prefers “be filled ‘by means of the Holy Spirit.’”[15]   These various readings point to the fact that Paul teaching on how Christians should live in community and is not giving a new dogmatic definition to the meaning of the filling of the Spirit.[16] 

            The context that follows Paul’s command is helpful.  Paul commands that they be “filled with the Holy Spirit,” and then elucidates on what that means by the following sentence: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19).  Thus, Paul’s command to be filled with the Spirit does fall in line with the meaning that the rest of the NT passages appropriate to it.  The difference is that Paul’s use is in the imperative, and the other usages are simply descriptive.  Why could not Paul, understanding the filling of the Spirit in similar way as Luke, turn the phenomenon of the filling of the Spirit into a command for his people speak the Word of God in various situations and for various needs?  Kostenberger points out that the “thrust of the passage is corporate not merely individualistic.”[17]  The filling that Paul is talking about is not a personal energizer, but rather a sensitivity to the Spirit’s working that takes place primarily when the Word of spoken, sung, or communicated publicly.   This is supported by the fact that the verb form is passive[18] (“be filled with”).  Hoehner explains, “the passive voice suggests that believers cannot fill themselves.” Believers must instead be in the proper place to be the recipient of the filling of the Spirit that the Spirit initiates and completes.  Paul is not giving a new definition to the filling of the Spirit, but is rather enforcing the meaning that the terminology of the “filling of the Spirit” relates to the communication of God’s word in the community of God’s people.  Hendrickson notes that “Spirit-filled believers must speak to each other”  (original italics) and this speaking is a “jubilant expression to their refreshing knowledge of the will of God.”[19]  Unlike Luke, who only uses the term descriptively, Paul uses the term as a command, but nevertheless to keep it a passive command indicating that the filling of the Spirit must always come from God’s initiative. 

             Conclusion

            The first part of this paper was a general overview of the standard doctrine of the Spirit’s working through the Word.  The second part discusses the different uses of the “filling of the Spirit” and argued that this filling had to do with the public ministry of the Word.   It then, should not come as a surprise that the two work together.  The instrumentality of the Word by the Word of the Spirit is not just limited to Ezekiel’s vision in the OT, or the conversion experience.  Rather, when the Spirit works it is always through his Word, and the “filling of the Spirit” is a unique public working doing that same thing that the Spirit always does: to bring life and conviction through the instrumentality of the word. 

            The implications of the filling of the Spirit are several.   First, how the things of God are proclaimed is highly important is not dependent on style or form so much as on the filling of the Spirit.  This is not to say that every Sunday morning believers should expect their pastor to be filled with the Holy Spirit in a remarkable way, but that there are times when Spirit-filling will happen and a speaker will have unique ability to radiate forth the truth, encouragement, and hope through the words they are speaking.  Second, the way to seek the filling of the Spirit is to know and understanding the revelation of God and attempt to communicate them with others.  The tendency is to wait for a kind of external “energizer”, a spiritual red bull, so that sermons will be winsome. But the biblical teachings points to a knowledge of the word that when we communicate it, as the speaker is filled with the Spirit, it will have lasting and powerful effect whether it is perceived or not by the speaker.  A final implication is that the spoken word of God has tremendous power in the Christian community.   As preaching is replaced by therapeutic how-to’s in the modern church, the true power of the Holy Spirit will being to erode.   In this sense, preaching and the speaking of truth in the Christian community has divine, supernatural power because it is the tool that the Holy Spirits uses to effectual transformation in the lives of his people. 

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