A summary description of what happened when God poured out the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost includes the statement, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). Later when the early Church faced persecution, the leaders prayed for boldness to continue their witness. God’s response to their prayer was powerful and to the point, “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). Thus the early days of the Church furnishes us two examples of people being filled with the Spirit.
Later when the Church was expanding into other places under the missionary ministry of the apostle Paul, letters were written to the newly founded churches. One such letter was written to believers in Ephesus. Toward the end of that letter we read the two-part command, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). In the New Testament we find not only examples of people filled with the Spirit, but also we read the direct command for us to be filled with the Spirit. When the Bible gives us a command failure to live up to it is sin. Not wishing to sin concerning this commandment, we must inquire what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
A divine Person
The idea of being filled immediately causes us to think of a substance being put into a container in such quantity that the container becomes filled with the substance. But then we remind ourselves that the Holy Spirit is not a substance but a divine Person. Furthermore, we are not mere containers into which something is poured until we get full. So let us change our image from substance filling a container to a divine Person taking control of our lives.
In the early days of the Church in Jerusalem the Sadduccees joined with the high priest in opposition to the apostles. Acts 5:17 reads that they “were filled with jealousy.” We do not think that somehow their heads or hearts were opened for someone to pour a quantity of jealousy into them. Rather we understand that jealousy took control of their thoughts and actions, and so much so, that the controlling jealousy led them to imprison the apostles. Being “filled with” was a way of saying being “controlled by.”
Unrighteous qualities
Similarly Romans 1:29 speaks of people filled with all manner of unrighteousness, such as evil, covetousness and malice. They were full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and maliciousness. We do not read this passage and imagine that someone opened up their hearts and heads and poured into them a full measure of unrighteousness. Rather we understand that such attitudes and behaviors as envy or strife or deceit took control of their thoughts and actions. Those being described were found to be driven or controlled by murder and deceit and therefore filled with all manner of unrighteousness.
Just as such unrighteous qualities are not substances that fill a human container, so the Holy Spirit is not a substance that fills a believer. Many find it helpful to think of being filled with the Spirit as a way of living and thinking in which we invite the Holy Spirit to control us. As the Holy Spirit continues to control us we find that our days begin to be filled with such admirable qualities as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23).
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