Be filled with the Spirit
Ever wonder what it means to be filled with the Spirit? In Ephesians 5, Paul explains the symptoms of a Spirit-filled Christian and even commands it. So what does that look like? I am indebted to John MacArthur for pointing the following out.
Let’s read the text first, starting in verse 18:
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives [...]. Husbands [...]. Children [...]. Fathers [...]. (NASB)
Alright, here’s the command and the symptom of what it means to be Spirit filled. Now compare the parallel passage in Colossians 3, starting in verse 16:
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Wives [...]. Husbands [...]. Children [...]. Fathers [...]. (NASB)
Now compare the two. Look pretty similar, don’t they. Notice the first part of the first verse. In Ephesians, Paul says “be filled with the Spirit”, but in Colossians, he commands us to “[l]et the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” Both commands yield the same result, so being filled with the Spirit means to let the word of Christ richly dwell within us.
What’s the word of Christ? Follow your cross references to get an example of what that means. At the very least it means the Gospel message, but we can understand it to mean the whole revelation of God to us, i.e. the Bible. So if you never thought that reading the Bible was necessary, consider these passages. I’d also make sure to read 1 John and supplement it with my Good Person Test to test whether you are even truly saved because there is no Christian who does not desire to read God’s complete, inerrant, infallible, sufficient revelation to man. What do you think?
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