Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 5:18
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
18. drunk with wine ] Cp. for similar cautions, Pro 20:1; Pro 23:30-31; Luk 21:34; Rom 13:13 ; 1Co 5:11; 1Co 6:10; Gal 5:21; 1Ti 3:3. “He fitly follows up a warning against impurity with a warning against drunkenness” (Bengel).
wherein ] In “being drunken with wine;” in the act and habit of intemperance.
excess ] R.V., riot. The word recurs Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4; and its adverb, Luk 15:13. By derivation it nearly answers the idea of that which is “ dissolute,” i.e. unbound, unrestrained. The miserable exaltation of strong drink annuls the holy bonds of conscience with fatal ease and certainty.
but be filled ] As if to say, “Avoid such false elevation; yet seek instead not a dead level of feeling, but the sacred heights of spiritual joy and power, in that Divine Love which (Son 1:2) ‘is better than wine’.”
filled with the Spirit ] Lit., “ in spirit,” and so margin R.V. But the text R.V., and the A.V., are assuredly right. The definite article may well be omitted here (see on Eph 1:17, and Eph 2:22), without obscuring the ref. to the Divine Spirit, if context favours it. And surely the context does so, in the words “ in which ” just above. The two “ in ” ( in which,” “ in Spirit,”) are parallel. And as the first “in” points to an objective cause of “riot,” so surely the second “in” points to the objective cause, not subjective sphere, of joy; to the Spirit, not to our spirit. On the phrase “in (the) Spirit” cp. Mat 22:43; Rom 8:9; Col 1:8; 1Ti 3:16; Rev 1:10. The phrase “in the Spirit” (def. article expressed) occurs only Luk 2:27. “In (the) Holy Spirit” occurs frequently, and in many places where A.V. has “ by &c.”; e.g., 1Co 12:3; 1Co 12:9. The parallel phrase “in an unclean spirit” occurs Mar 5:2. On the whole, the idea conveyed appears to be that the possessing Power, Divine or evil, which from one point of view inhabits the man, from another surrounds him, as with an atmosphere. “If the Spirit be in you, you are in It ” (Jer. Taylor, Sermon for Whitsunday).
Thus, “be ye filled in (the) Spirit,” may be lawfully paraphrased, “Let in the holy atmosphere to your inmost self, to your whole will and soul. Let the Divine Spirit, in Whom you, believing, are, pervade your being, as water fills the sponge.” And the context gives the special thought that this “filling” will tend to that sacred exhilaration, “the Spirit’s calm excess [39] ”, of which wine-drinking could produce only a horrible parody. See next verse.
[39] St Ambrose (“ Splendor patern glori ” tr. by Chandler).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And be not drunk with wine – A danger to which they were exposed and a vice to which those around them were much addicted. Compare notes on Luk 21:34. It is not improbable that in this verse there is an allusion to the orgies of Bacchus, or to the festivals celebrated in honor of that pagan god. He was the god of wine, and during those festivals, men and women regarded it as an acceptable act of worship to become intoxicated, and with wild songs and cries to run through streets, and fields, and vineyards. To these things the apostle opposes psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, as much more appropriate modes of devotion, and would have the Christian worship stand out in strong contrast with the wild and dissolute habits of the pagan. Plato says, that while those abominable ceremonies in the worship of Bacchus continued, it was difficult to find in all Attica a single sober man. Rosenmuller, Alt. u. neu. Morgenland, in loc. On the subject of wine, and the wines used by the ancients, see the notes on Joh 2:10-11. We may learn from this verse:
(1) That it was not uncommon in those times to become intoxicated on wine; and,
(2) That it was positively forbidden. All intoxication is prohibited in the Scriptures – no matter by what means it is produced. There is, in fact, but one thing that produces intoxication. It is alcohol – the poisonous substance produced by fermentation. This substance is neither created nor changed, increased nor diminished, by distillation. It exists in the cider, the beer, and the wine, after they are fermented, and the whole process of distillation consists in driving it off by heat, and collecting it in a concentrated form, and so that it may be preserved. But distilling does not make it, nor change it. Alcohol is precisely the same thing in the wine that it is in the brandy after it is distilled; in the cider or the beer that it is in the whisky or the rum; and why is it right to become intoxicated on it in one form rather than in another? Since therefore there is danger of intoxication in the use of wine, as well as in the use of ardent spirits, why should we not abstain from one as well as the other? How can a man prove that it is right for him to drink alcohol in the form of wine, and that it is wrong for me to drink it in the form of brandy or rum?
Wherein is excess – There has been much difference of opinion about the word rendered here as excess – asotia. It occurs only in two other places in the New Testament, where it is rendered riot; Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4. The adjective occurs once Luk 15:13, where it is rendered riotous. The word (derived, according to Passow, from a, the alpha privative (not), and sozo – to save, deliver) means that which is unsafe, not to be recovered; lost beyond recovery; then that which is abandoned to sensuality and lust; dissoluteness, debauchery, revelry. The meaning here is, that all this follows the use of wine. Is it proper then for Christians to be in the habit of drinking it? Wine is so frequently the cause of this, by the ungrateful abuse of the bounty of providence in giving it, that the enormity is represented by a very strong and beautiful figure as contained in the very liquor. Doddridge.
But be filled with the Spirit – The Holy Spirit. How much more appropriate to Christians than to be filled with the spirit of intoxication and revelry! Let Christians, when about to indulge in a glass of wine, think of this admonition. Let them remember that their bodies should be the temple of the Holy Spirit, rather than a receptacle for intoxicating drinks. Was any man ever made a better Christian by the use of wine? Was any minister ever better suited to counsel an anxious sinner, or to pray, or to preach the gospel, by the use of intoxicating drinks? Let the history of wine-drinking and intemperate clergymen answer.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 5:18
And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.
The sin and folly of drunkenness
This precept follows very naturally what he has said about the necessity of wisdom. For even a wise man when he is drunk becomes a fool; the light of reason and of conscience is quenched, and the blind impulses of his physical nature are left without control. Some men take drink in excess to deaden their sensibility to trouble, to lessen the pain of distressing memories or distressing fears. With them it acts as a opiate. But Paul was thinking of those who drink to excess because intoxication, at least in its early stages, gives them excitement. It exalts the activity both of their intellect and of their emotion. Thought becomes more vivid and more rapid. The colours of imagination become more brilliant. Their whole physical nature becomes more animated. The river of life, which had sunk low and had been moving sluggishly, suddenly rises, becomes a rushing flood, and overflows its banks. This is the kind of drinking which betrays men into violence and profligacy. Be not drunken with wine, for in drunkenness there is riot, dissoluteness, release from all moral restraint. The craving for a fuller, richer life, for hours in which we rise above ourselves, and pass the normal and customary limitations of our powers, is a natural craving. Paul indicates how it should be satisfied: Be not drunken with wine wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit. Forsake the sins which render it impossible for the pure and righteous Spirit of God to grant you the fulness of His inspiration; keep the channels open through which the streams that flow from Divine and eternal fountains may find their way into your nature; and then the dull monotony of life will be broken, and hours of generous excitement will come. The gray clouds will break, and the splendours of heaven will be revealed; the common earth will be filled for a little time with a great glory. Harmonies such as never fell on mortal ear will reach the soul. The limitations which are imposed upon us in this mortal condition will for a time seem to disappear. Your vision of eternal things will have a preternatural keenness. Your joy in God will be an anticipation of the blessed life beyond the grave. And, looking back upon these perfect hours, you will say, whether we were in the body or out of the body we cannot tell. But some men drink, not so much for the sake of personal excitement, as for the sake of good fellowship. They never drink much when they are alone; and when they are in company they drink to excess because, as the heat of intoxication increases, it seems to thaw and dissolve all reserve; conversation flows more freely and becomes more frank; mind touches mind more closely; lives which had been isolated from each other blend and flow in a common channel. Perpetual isolation is as intolerable as perpetual monotony. We were not made to live a separate and lonely life. This is the secret of our delight in listening to a great orator addressing a great assembly. If it were possible for him to touch the same heights of eloquence when speaking to us alone, we should be less moved. We like to lose our individuality in the crowd; sharing their thought, our own thought becomes more vivid; sharing their passions, our own passion becomes more intense. It is hard to explain the mystery; but we are conscious of it; the poor and narrow stream of our own life flows into the open sea, and the large horizon, and the free winds, and the mighty tides become ours. We have all known the same delight while listening in a crowd to a great singer or a great chorus. The craving for this larger life in the society of other men is as natural as the craving for excitement; and Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that instead of trying to satisfy it by drinking with other men they should satisfy it by common worship and by sacred song. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)
Drunkenness
Drunkenness, though in general disallowed among the heathens, was admitted in their Bacchanalia, as an expression of gratitude to the god who gave them wine. This pagan rite the apostle seems to have in his mind here.
I. The nature and extent of this vice. Various degrees of intemperance: the highest degree is such an indulgence as suspends the exercise of the mental and bodily powers. But there is sin in lesser degrees also. If by the indulgence of your appetite, you unfit your hefty for the service of the mind, or your mind for the service of God; so waste your substance, as to defraud your family of a maintenance, or your creditors of their dues; become enslaved to a sensual habit, and fascinated to dissolute company; are diverted from the duties of religion, or the business of your worldly calling; awaken criminal desires and excite guilty passions; stupify your conscience, extinguish the sentiments of honour and banish the thoughts of futurity; you are chargeable with a criminal excess.
II. The guilt and danger of this vice.
1. It is an ungrateful abuse of Gods bounty.
2. It divests the man of his native dignity, and sinks him below the brutes.
3. It is injurious to the body, as well as the mind.
4. It consumes mens substance.
5. It destroys conscience.
6. It generates other vices–impure lustings, angry passions, profane language, insolent manners, obstinacy of heart, and contempt of reproof.
7. It has most lamentable effects on families.
(1) It subverts order and government.
(2) It discourages devotion.
(3) It destroys domestic peace and tranquillity.
(4) It brings family distress.
8. The Scripture abounds in the most solemn warnings against this sin.
9. This sin must be renounced, or the end of it will be death. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
To be filled with the Spirit, the best defence against a besetting sin
I. The solemn caution. Those here addressed were the saints of God. Yet they needed this exhortation. The best of saints need to be cautioned against the worst of sins. There are the seeds of all evil in them. No previous consistency of walk, no deep experience, no holy acquaintance with God, no near walking with God, can give them the least security. But besides this, there are constitutional temptations. Some persons are constitutionally tempted to anger, some are tempted to vanity, some are tempted to worldliness in its excess of folly, some are tempted to untruthfulness, and oh! there are some who are tempted to drunkenness constitutionally. But besides this also, there are circumstances that oftentimes throw a man in danger here. Noah was, for aught I know, weary and tired as a husbandman; and by his inexperience, too, of the effects, he was overcome with drunkenness. We find in the case of Lot, in his secret retirement, there was in his circumstances that which exposed him to danger.
II. Observe now, secondly, the exhortation, the encouraging exhortation: be filled with the Spirit. I conceive there is in the expression that which would imply the power of the Spirit to fill the soul of man. Or rather the expression is–Seek to be filled in your understandings, in your memories, in your consciences, in your will, in your affections, seek to be filled with the Spirit. Now let me point out some few of the blessings that result from this communication of the fulness of the Spirit, in all His holy influences, to our souls. First of all, let us look at Him as the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. So I read in the first of Ephesians, and the seventeenth verse. Look at the Apostle Peter before the day of Pentecost. How dark his perception of the Atonement, how little did he see of what Jesus came into the world for! I talk with some men, many of whom, I doubt not, are truly converted to God; yet Christ is in the background, I see so little of Him. They talk of God; there is something about their creed that is so Jewish; they speak so much more of God, than of God in Christ. There is so little of the great work of the incarnate One, so little of realizing the strength of the covenant ordered in all things and sure. Oh! beloved, to be filled with the Spirit of wisdom is the highest wisdom. But let us look at the subject in another point of view. I find in the eleventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and the twenty-fourth verse, it is said of Barnabas, he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith. So, when we are filled with the Holy Ghost, we are filled with faith. Ah! who can describe the blessing of being filled with faith? To see everything in the light of Gods countenance; to see everything in the light of a Saviours fulness. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
The wine Divine
In saying: Be not drunk with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit, St. Paul recognizes a pressing human appetite, or want. He not only perceives the necessity for wholesome gladness of heart in his disciples, but admits the encouragement of special moods or seasons of cheerfulness. It is impossible for anyone to stand always at the same spiritual level. There are mysterious risings and fallings of the mental barometer. The soul has its periods of high and low pressure. We are the subjects of many influences which we cannot command. And yet there are some at our disposal. The apostle indicates an elevation of which we are the conscious agents, when we set ourselves to counteract depression or to kindle a fresher thrill of cheerfulness. That is a legitimate desire. It is recognized by the Church itself in the appointment of thanksgiving days and special services–when we are summoned to show our gladness in a livelier strain. There are seemingly two distinct means for inducing cheerfulness. One is material, or bodily: the other mental, or spiritual; and the lesson before us is that one is temporary, imperfect; the other finally effective, being eternal. St. Paul instances wine as an example of the former. It is either a transitory stimulant, legitimate in its temperate use, or it overshoots the mark, leading to excess, or riot. There are several kinds of material relief which excite, deaden, regulate our bodily functions. And this affords the most obvious illustration of what the apostle here means to teach. It cannot, e.g., really drown dull care. Care dies hard. A material stimulant may do much, may help nature over a crisis. But man has troubles of mind as well as of body. And these constantly present difficulties, complications, which baffle the prescriber of drugs. Who shall minister to a soul diseased? Beneath the surface of beneficent science are sores and sorrows which have been caused by no grave offence against, or neglect of, the laws of health. They have come from a perception that the conscience has been defied, or perhaps they have grown from some seeds of distracting doubt, from some seemingly insoluble difficulties, social, intellectual, which makes him who feels them go mourning all the day long. Who shall tell the trouble and the hindrances over which we want to be helped, or above which we want to be lifted by some kindly and exhilarating influence? It is in meeting this desire that we must come to realize the two great sources of cheerfulness. The Spirit of God alone can fit the needs of the spirit of man. There is something special in this strengthening, healing, and cheering gift. It is the juice of the true vine, the new wine of the kingdom of heaven. Here we reach the great transforming power in the world. The knowledge of this is the support and recovery of mans life. He does not refuse, nor affect to despise, the material adjuncts of this existence. He does not put aside the flour of wheat because Christ is the true Bread. He sees no wrong in a right use of every creature of God. But his innermost and safe joy, his secure and trusted moods of exultation, come from the Spirit, the mysterious Spirit of God, which is our Fathers special gift to us His children upon earth. In that is the true buoyancy of life. (Harry Jones, M. A.)
Not wine, but the Spirit
I. The prohibition. I know it requires much courage, and much firmness of purpose in many cases to refuse the inducements, and to give a denial to the temptation to indulge in excess in drink. For instance, we are told it is fashionable to drink; if you dont drink freely you are not a man of the world; you are a strange, unsocial misanthrope; you are not fit for blending with society. I am not going to say that fashion has no place; I know fashion has a place; but fashion has no right to meddle with morals. Besides, I say, after all, it is not fashionable to be drunk: I say, after all, that although instances of intoxication are lamentably numerous, the instances of sobriety, thank God, are a vast deal more so. Then, again, it is said that to drink freely is almost a necessary passport to a knowledge of the world. How people abuse language!
II. The injunction.
1. In order to our being filled with the Spirit, we must be aware of the magnitude of this blessing.
(1) The Spirit is the great promise of the New Testament dispensation.
(2) The gift of the Spirit more than compensates for the absence of the bodily presence of Christ.
2. This supposes, also, that we have a relish for the blessing.
3. In order to being filled with the Spirit, you must make room for Him.
4. In order to be filled with the Spirit, you must be the subject of the same ardent desire which is expressed in many parts of Scripture.
5. In order to be filled with the Spirit, we must yield ourselves to His influence–we must give ourselves up to the guiding of His agency. (J. E. Beaumont, D. D.)
A warning against intemperance
I. The matters put in opposition to each other, which are both things and actions. The things are wine and the Spirit: the actions, being drunk with wine, and filled with the Spirit. First: The things: these two are put in opposition–
1. To check the temptation. The sensual pleasure which men find in wine enticeth them to excess. There are higher pleasures men should be taken up with, namely, the joy of faith and a delight in holiness.
2. To show the difference between the holy societies or meetings of the faithful, and the dissolute feasts of the heathens in honour of their idols.
3. Because of the analogy between wine and the Spirit; they are often proposed in Scripture as correspondent, or as having some likeness in their operations; as wine cheereth and exhilarateth the spirits: It maketh glad the heart of man (Psa 104:15); so the Spirit filleth the soul, and exhilarateth it. Only in this fulness there is no excess: Drink abundantly, O beloved (Son 5:1). And in this mirth there is no dissoluteness; when we are filled with the Spirit, it is no corruptive joy, but perfective, such as strengtheneth the heart: The joy of the Lord is your strength (Neh 8:10). But what is it to be filled with the Spirit? The phrase is taken two ways–
(1) Either to be filled with the gifts of the Spirit; or
(2) with the graces of the Spirit.
(1) The gifts of the Spirit: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Act 2:4).
(2) To be filled with the graces of the Spirit. And here we must consider His three offices–as He is our guide, sanctifier, and comforter.
II. The inconsistency of the one with the other; to be drunk with wine is inconsistent with being filled with the Spirit.
1. They that are filled by the one are acted by a contrary principle.
2. This contrary principle hath such an influence on them, that the Spirit of the gospel hath no place in them.
(1) Their sight is blinded (2Co 4:4).
(2) The delight and relish of the soul is corrupted (Php 3:19).
(3) Their strength is weakened, that they cannot resist any temptation. (T. Manton, D. D.)
The sin of intemperance
There is in the vice of intemperance that kind of dissoluteness which brooks no restraint, which defies all efforts to reform it, and which sinks lower and lower into hopeless and helpless ruin. This tremendous sin is all the more to be shunned as its hold is so great on its victims, that with periodical remorse there is periodical inebriety, and when the revulsion of a throbbing head and a sickening depression passes away; new temptation excites fresh desires, and the fatal cup is again coveted and drained, while character, fortune, and life are risked and lost in the gratification of an appetite of all others the most brutal in form and brutifying in result. There are few vices out of which there is less hope of recovery–its haunts are so numerous, and its hold is so tremendous. As Ephesus was a commercial town and busy seaport, its wealth led to excessive luxury, and Bacchus was the rival of Diana. The women of Ephesus as the priestesses of Bacchus danced round Mark Antonys chariot on his entrance into the city. Drunkenness was indeed an epidemic in those times and lands. Alexander the Great, who died a sacrifice to Bacchus, and not to Mars, offered a prize to him who could drink most wine, and thirty of the rivals died in the act of competition. Plato boasts of the immense quantities of liquor which Socrates could swill uninjured; and the philosopher Xenocrates got a golden crown from Dionysius for swallowing a gallon at a draught. Cato often lost his senses over his choice Falernian. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
Drunkenness to be avoided
I. I am to enter upon the apostles dehortation, or prohibition–Be not drunk with wine. For the right understanding of which I premise this, that wine is one of the good creatures of God which He hath given for the use of men. And He hath given it for these three considerable purposes.
1. To the inhabitants of those places where it grows, for part of their ordinary drink. For God hath so constituted the nature of mans body that he stands in need of drink as well as of meat.
2. Wine was given to cherish and refresh us when we are weak and languishing.
3. As wine is given to cure the infirm and fainting, so likewise to cheer and delight the sound and healthy. It is lawful to drink it not only for necessity, but sometimes for pleasure. Wine, without doubt, was given us by our gracious Benefactor to delight the taste, and refresh the palate, especially when sorrow and trouble clog the mind, and begin to oppress and weigh it down. As drinking, so sobriety may be abused. Men may effect those mischiefs by their abstaining from immoderate drinking, which they could never be able to do if they drank extravagantly. Generally the shrewdest contrivers and executors of mischief are those who are not addicted to intemperance: and their very sobriety renders them the more able to do harm. And yet I cannot say that this sort of men are wholly free from drunkenness; for it is possible they may be drunk even with their sobriety, i.e., with the conceit of it; they may be intoxicated with pride and arrogance, or with spite and malice, or with a heady confidence of success in their evil enterprizes. They may, as the prophet speaks, stagger, but not with strong drink, and be drunken, but not with wine. That which makes this sin is, first, the not restraining of our extravagant desire and appetite, which I mentioned before, and, secondly, the actual gratifying and satisfying of our desires. Which brings me to the next thing observable, viz., the reason of the apostolical dehortation, expressed in those words, wherein is excess: as much as to say, Re not drunk with wine, because there is a strange excess attends it. This is the genuine meaning of this clause of the text.
Now, in drunkenness there is excess not only formally, but causally (to speak in the language of the schools). It is both excess in itself, and the cause and origin of many other excesses.
1. The first evil of drunkenness is that injury which is done to the body by it.
2. This is a vice which injures not only the bodies but the estates of men. A drunkard is a spendthrift: the extravagant drinker is profuse and lavish.
3. A sottish course of drinking injures the name and reputation, no less than the bodies and estates of men.
4. The intemperance of the tongue usually attends that of the brain. Drunkenness first sets the tongue a going, and then soon makes it run too fast.
5. Wrath and fury, slaughter and bloodshed, are the cursed fruits of drunkenness. Strong drink is raging, saith Solomon (Pro 20:21).
6. Lust and lewdness, whoredom and fornication, are the frequent attendants of extraordinary drinking.
7. Among the direful effects and consequences of extravagant drinking this must not be omitted, that the soul and all its faculties are corrupted and debauched by it.
False notions are drunk in with the wine: undue and unbecoming apprehensions are entertained. Let us hear what men say for drink.
1. It is good nature and friendship, they say, to sit and drink, even till they can drink no more.
2. They say that it is for company and good fellowships sake that they drink sometimes to immoderation.
3. Others defend their immoderate draughts after this manner; We are persons well bred, we cannot be so rude and unmannerly as to refuse our glass when it comes to our turn.
4. Some excuse their drunkenness by saying, It is to put away melancholy.
5. There are those who defend their immoderate drinking, especially of wine, by the serviceableness of it, to exalt their parts, and to make them witty.
6. There is another excuse made by some men, which, though it be not worth the answering, yet that I may remove all the pretences of drinking men, I will say something to it. They are no common drunkards, they say, and when they exceed in drink, they do not, like others, spend their money, but are drunk gratis. They cannot afford to indulge so costly a vice, but they only take these opportunities when they may have wine at others charges.
7. There is another great objection or pretence of drunkards yet behind, which is this, they happen to be in the company of these persons who engage them to drink healths, and these going often round, and there being an obligation on them to pledge their next neighbour, and to drink cup for cup, they are sometimes unhappily overcome of the liquor which presents itself so fast to them. In the last place, I am to offer to you some proper means and helps whereby you may effectually extirpate this odious vice.
They are such as these:
1. Weigh this express command of God in the text, Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.
2. Consider the dreadful woes that are denounced against this sin. Read with trembling (Isa 5:11).
3. Consider that this vice is condemned even by those that are guilty of it. There is not a drunkard that breathes but at one time or other is cast by his own verdict, he passes sentence against himself.
4. That you may do so, learn to relish the pleasures of religion and holiness. Re acquainted with the excellency of virtue and goodness, understand the intrinsic worth of these.
5. That you may cast off this abominable vice, and stifle your excessive delight in intemperate drinking, and in that mirth which attends it, sit down, and seriously think of the distresses and miseries which your brethren labour under, in one part or other of the world.
6. That you may effectually abandon this vice, be careful to avoid all the occasions of it. (John Edwards, D. D.)
Christians invited to partake of the Spirit freely
I. What we are to understand by being filled with the spirit.
1. By the Spirit, the Spirit of truth, of life, of grace, of might, of wisdom and revelation, of Father and the Son, we are baptized, often termed the Holy Spirit, the eternal Spirit here, is meant that Divine Agent, in whose name, as well as in those of the holiness, the Comforter, the Spirit of God, of Christ. But observe, not His extraordinary gifts, which in no age are necessary to salvation, and were chiefly bestowed in the early ages, for the good of others, are here meant; but His ordinary influences, which are necessary to salvation (see verses 19-21; Gal 5:22-23).
2. The expression, filled with, or by, the Spirit, supposes there to be a sufficiency in the blessed Spirit, and His influences, to fill our souls, to supply all our wants, to satisfy our desires, and help our infirmities. We are in darkness, and need illumination, instruction, and direction; He is the Spirit of light, truth, wisdom. We are in want of consolation; He is the comforter. It imports our partaking of His influences and fruits in a large and plentiful manner; not indeed without measure; in this tense Christ only had the Spirit: nor so as to admit of no increase; thus we shall hardly have the Spirit in heaven. But so as to have every power and faculty of the soul subject to the authority, and under the influence of the Spirit; to have His influences rendered more mighty and operative in us, producing their proper and genuine effects; as greater light, life, power, purity, comfort, strong faith, a fully assured and confirmed hope, fervent love, an uniform meekness and patience, a full conformity to God, and close and constant communion with Him; filling us with all his fulness (Col 1:9-11; Eph 3:14-21; Joh 7:37); making us taste great sweetness and delight in Him, so as to aspire after full perfection (Php 3:13-14).
II. Why this is made a matter of exhortation to us. Because of–
1. The desirableness of being filled with the Spirit.
2. The attainableness of it.
3. Something being incumbent on us, in order to it. We must make use of the appointed means.
III. The obligations which lie upon us, as Christians, to aim at being filled with the spirit. The clear revelation we have concerning His agency, beyond all which was given in former ages of the Church, lays us under strong obligations to desire to be filled with His influences. The dignity of His person should make us ambitious of such a guest, when He is willing to dwell with us. He is no less than the Spirit of God, as our soul is the spirit of man (1Co 2:11). His relation to Christ obliges us (Rom 8:9; Gal 4:6). Our relation to Christ will be most clearly proved and manifested by His Spirit dwelling with us (Rom 8:9; 1Co 12:12-13). Thus we shall be vessels of honour, sanctified and made meet for the Masters use. (Anon.)
Filled with the Spirit
The command, be filled with the Spirit, is virtually an injunction to pray more fervently for enlarged spiritual communication, and to cherish those influences already enjoyed. Not only were they to possess the Spirit, but they were to be filled with the Spirit, as vessels filled to overflowing, with the Holy Ghost. This is the contrast. Men are intoxicated with wine, and they attempt to fill themselves with it: but they cannot. Wine cannot fulfil their expectation–they cannot live habitually under its power; its fumes are slept away, and new indulgences are craved. The exhilaration which they covet can only be felt periodically, and again and again must they drain the wine cup to relieve themselves of despondency. But Christians are filled with the Spirit, whose influences are not only powerful, but replete with satisfaction to the heart of man. It is a sensation of want–a desire to fly from himself, a craving after something which is felt to be out of reach, an eager and restless thirst to enjoy, if at all possible, some happiness and enlargement of heart, that usually leads to intemperance. But the Spirit fills Christians, and gives them all the elements of cheerfulness and peace–genuine elevation and mental freedom–superiority to all depressing influences, and refined and permanent enjoyment. Of course, if they are so filled with the Spirit, they feel no appetite for debasing and material stimulants. (J. Eadie, D. D.)
Grace expels vice
If there is any single vice which a man desires to eject from his character, or from anothers, he can accomplish the end finally and completely, and only, by letting in the corresponding grace. Sin, in every form of its indulgence, is to be looked upon as an intoxication. Let him therefore introduce into the blood vessels of his soul a counter-stimulant. Let him intoxicate himself with love, and joy, and peace, the fruit, as it were, of the True Vine, and there will be no possibility of intrusion from lower sources, because no room will remain for them. And it follows from the same principle that a Christian must apply more and more to spiritual sources as life goes on. The spiritual capacities enlarge with time. And the same amount of devotion will not fill them now as filled them a year ago. He must pray more, seek after godliness more, covet the best gifts more. The tendency of the experienced Christian often is to relax devotional habits and live on a grace that is past. He has reached a high level and his religion has become, as it seems to him, self-acting. But stagnation is all the more perilous because it is high. There is no smaller measure for the grace that is to be in him than this–he is to be filled with the Spirit. He defrauds himself of what he might possess and imperils all he has by seeking to live on less. The surplus must be made up from earth. And every minutest crevice left unfilled by good must, by the law against vacuum, be filled by something worse, something which must adulterate and may ruin at last the whole. (H. Drummond.)
Not spirits, but the Spirit
The human mind cannot be void. If it have not the light of true wisdom, it will have the light of fallacies. Fleshly baits are not the temptations by which superior men are caught. Their understandings must be flattered. They must be decoyed by facts, and the science of things patent to their senses. You shall be leaders in the world of thought, you shall be as gods, you shall open mens eyes to the reality of things. Beware of the strong drink of sense-bound intellectuality. Neither be drunk with the soul spiritualism. The Spirit will fortify both your bewitching magnetic ether of spiritualism. The Spirit will fortify both your understanding and your heart against all spirits, whether of the visible or the invisible world. The Spirit is our only safe inspiration. There is, moreover, not only a calmer power, but a greater variety in the one Spirit of God, than in all the spirits which lead captive the human soul. God is not sparing in the ministration of wholesome excitement. Every new morning is a genial, delightful excitement. The seasons are an ever-changing round of excitement. Lore and marriage are joy from heaven, in earthly cups. Family life is Gods wine of fellowship all the year round. Every meal is a pleasurable excitement. Birthdays and feasts are special indulgences and celebrations of the excitement of home life. The verdant glory of the earth, the tranquil heavens, and the works of our divine poets and musicians, are excitements worthy of heaven. The gospel of our eternal hopes is the feast which crowns all; and the congregation in church, made up equally of friends and strangers, is a wonder of fellowship and a most pure joy of love. What a depth of sweetness, what serene gladness, what a variety of inspiration there must be in that One Spirit, whence all our innocent and noble excitements spring. The martyrs found an intensity of spirit quickening on the boundary between life on earth and life in heaven; not only proving that death is abolished, but that all the joys of our earthly life are but poor shadows going before our eternal human delights. Drop your burdens, forget your labours and sorrows, and soar above the dull plains of mortality, in a Divine exhilaration. (J. Pulsford.)
Christians must be filled with the Spirit
I. The reasons why Christians are so strictly bound to be filled with the Spirit.
1. That we may answer the great and rich preparations of grace which the infinite love of God hath made for us by the merit of Christ and the promises of the gospel.
2. Because of their necessity.
(1) If it be those that only profess Christianity, but are not yet really converted to God, they are in danger to be filled with a worse spirit, if not filled with the Spirit of God.
(2) For those that are regenerated, and have received the spirit of the gospel and not of the world, there needeth a further supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Php 1:19).
3. That the glory and excellency of our religion may appear.
II. The means how we come to be filled with the Spirit. Certainly–
1. It is from God, who is the author of all grace: And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ (2Co 5:18).
2. That God doth it through Christ the Scripture also witnesseth: Which He hath shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour (Tit 3:6).
3. That this frame of heart is wrought in us by the Spirit or Holy Ghost that came down from heaven, is evident also in Scripture. 4, It is given us by the gospel, for that is called the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2).
5. The gospel worketh two ways–
(1) Morally;
(2) Powerfully.
6. If any have this power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus, it is the mere favour of God: if any want it, it is long of themselves.
7. One of the means is prayer. Christ hath taught us to pray for the Spirit (Luk 11:1-13). None so fatherly as God; no gift so necessary as the Spirit. (T. Manton, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess] This is a farther allusion to the Bacchanalian mysteries; in them his votaries got drunk, and ran into all manner of excesses. Plato, though he forbade drunkenness in general, yet allowed that the people should get drunk in the solemnities of that god who invented wine. And indeed this was their common custom; when they had offered their sacrifices they indulged themselves in drunkenness, and ran into all kinds of extravagance. Hence it is probable that , to get drunk, is derived from , after, and , to sacrifice; for, having completed their sacrifices, they indulged themselves in wine. The word , which we translate excess, means profligacy and debauchery of every kind; such as are the general concomitants of drunkenness, and especially among the votaries of Bacchus in Greece and Italy.
But be filled with the Spirit] The heathen priests pretended to be filled with the influence of the god they worshipped; and it was in these circumstances that they gave out their oracles. See a remarkable instance of this quoted in the note on “Lu 9:39“, where the case of a Bacchanalian is described. The apostle exhorts the Ephesians not to resemble these, but, instead of being filled with wine, to be filled with the Spirit of God; in consequence of which, instead of those discoveries of the Divine will to which in their drunken worship the votaries of Bacchus pretended, they should be wise indeed, and should understand what the will of the Lord is.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wherein, in which drunkenness,
is excess; profuseness, lasciviousness, and all manner of lewdness, as the effects of drunkenness, Pro 23:29, &c.
But be filled with the Spirit; the Holy Spirit, often compared to water; or the joy of the Spirit, in opposition to being filled with wine, Act 2:13, and that carnal mirth which is caused by it: q.d. Be not satisfied with a little of the Spirit, but seek for a greater measure, so as to be filled with the Spirit. See Psa 36:8; Joh 3:34; Joh 4:14.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. excessworthless,ruinous, reckless prodigality.
whereinnot in the wineitself when used aright (1Ti 5:23),but in the “excess” as to it.
but be filled with theSpiritThe effect in inspiration was that the person was”filled” with an ecstatic exhilaration, like that caused bywine; hence the two are here connected (compare Ac2:13-18). Hence arose the abstinence from wine of many of theprophets, for example, John the Baptist, namely, in order to keepdistinct before the world the ecstasy caused by the Spirit, from thatcaused by wine. So also in ordinary Christians the Spirit dwells notin the mind that seeks the disturbing influences of excitement, butin the well-balanced prayerful mind. Such a one expresses his joy,not in drunken or worldly songs, but in Christian hymns ofthankfulness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess,…. The sin of drunkenness here dehorted from, is a custom, or habit, of voluntary excessive drinking of any strong liquor, whereby the mind is disturbed, and deprived of the use of reason: though wine is only here mentioned, that being the usual liquor drank in the eastern countries, yet the same holds good of any other strong liquor, as of that; nor is drinking wine for necessary use prohibited, nor for honest delight and lawful pleasure; but excessive drinking of it, and this voluntary, and with design, and on purpose; otherwise persons may be overtaken and intoxicated, through ignorance of the strength of the liquor, and their own weakness; and it is a custom, or habit of excessive drinking, for not a single act, but a series of actions, a course of living in this sin, denominates a man a drunkard; and generally speaking, excessive drinking deprives persons of the use of reason, though not always; and such are criminal, who are mighty to drink wine, and strong to mingle strong drink; as are also such, who though not guilty of this sin themselves, are the means of it in others: the sin is very sinful; it is one of the works of the flesh; it is an abuse of the creature; it is opposed to walking honestly; for it persons are to be excluded from the communion of the church; and, without the grace of true repentance, shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven: many things might be said to dissuade from it; it hurts the mind, memory, and judgment; deprives of reason, and sets a man below a beast; it brings diseases on the body, and wastes the estate; it unfits for business and duty; it opens a door for every sin, and exposes to shame and danger; and therefore should be carefully avoided, and especially by professors of religion:
but be filled with the Spirit; that is, “with the Holy Spirit”, as read the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; with the gifts and graces of the Spirit: some have been filled with them in an extraordinary way, as the apostles on the day of Pentecost; and others in an ordinary manner, as common believers; and who may be said to be filled with the Spirit, as with wine, or instead of it, or in opposition to it, when the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Spirit, which is compared to wine, for its antiquity, purity, and refreshing nature; and they are filled with it, who have a comfortable sense of it, and a firm persuasion of interest in it, and are delighted with the views of it, and are as it were inebriated with it; and they are filled with the Spirit, in whom his grace is a well of living water, and out of whose belly flow rivers of it; and who have a large measure of spiritual peace and joy, expressed in the following manner.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Be not drunken with wine ( ). Present passive imperative of , old verb to intoxicate. Forbidden as a habit and to stop it also if guilty. Instrumental case .
Riot (). Old word from (adverb in Lu 15:13), in N.T. only here, Titus 1:6; 1Pet 4:4.
But be filled with the Spirit ( ). In contrast to a state of intoxication with wine.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Be not drunk [ ] . See on Joh 2:10.
Wherein. In drunkenness, not in wine.
Excess [] . Rev., riot. Lit., unsavingness. See on riotous living, Luk 14:13.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And be not drunk with wine” (kai me methuskesthe oino) “And be ye not in a drunken state or condition with wine.” To be drunk with wine is to be controlled by wine, inebriated, reeling, staggering, stumbling, unstable, Job 12:25; Psa 107:27.
2) “Wherein is excess” (en ho estin osotia) “In which is wantonness, a lack or void of self-control; excess in gluttony, a debauched life, loud speech, exaggeration of truth, excess in looseness of morals and ethics, reveling, rioting, loose talk, etc. 1Pe 4:3-4.
3) “But be filled with the Spirit ‘ (alla plerousthe en pneumati) “But (in contrast) be ye filled, governed, controlled, influenced, directed by the Spirit,” Rom 8:14; Rom 8:16; Gal 5:16; Gal 5:25; 1Jn 4:1-3. The Holy Spirit is to be the governing instrument person, or agency in the life of the believer, not wine. As wine excites to the worst in man’s behavior, the Spirit empowers toward the best of service and testimony.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. And be not drunk with wine. When he enjoins them not to be drunk, he forbids excessive and immoderate drinking of every description. “Be not intemperate in drinking.”
In which (161) is lasciviousness. The Greek word ἀσωτία, which is translated “lasciviousness,” points out the evils which arise from drunkenness. I understand by it all that is implied in a wanton and dissolute life; for to translate it luxury, would quite enfeeble the sense. The meaning therefore is, that drunkards throw off quickly every restraint of modesty or shame; that where wine reigns, profligacy naturally follows; and consequently, that all who have any regard to moderation or decency ought to avoid and abhor drunkenness.
The children of this world are accustomed to indulge in deep drinking as an excitement to mirth. Such carnal excitement is contrasted with that holy joy of which the Spirit of God is the Author, and which produces entirely opposite effects. To what does drunkenness lead? To unbounded licentiousness, — to unbridled, indecent merriment. And to what does spiritual joy lead, when it is most strongly excited? (162)
(161) “The antecedent to ᾧ is not οἴνος, but the entire clause — ‘in which vicious inebriety there is profligacy.’ The term, if it be derived from α privative and σώζω, is the picture of a sad result. The adjective ἄσωτος is used by the classics to signify one who is, as we say, ‘past redemption.’ The adverb ἀσώτὠς is used of the conduct of the prodigal son in the far country. (Luk 15:13.)” — Eadie.
(162) “This is a pleasant kind of drunkenness, which stimulates you, not to wanton dances or foolish songs, by which the Gentiles render homage to their deities, but to psalms, to hymns, to spiritual songs, by which you rejoice, and sing, and offer praise to the Lord, not with indecent roaring, as is the custom of drunk people, but inwardly in your minds and hearts.” — Erasmus.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess.From the general idea of reckless levity, St. Paul passes on to the special sin of drunkenness, as not (like gluttony) primarily a gratification of the appetite, but as a reckless pursuit of excitement at all costsglorified as an excitement of emotion, and even of wit and intellect, in such contemporary writers as Horace, and actually confused, as in the Dionysiac or Bacchanalian frenzy, with a divine inspiration. How necessary the admonition was we see by the directions as to the choice of clergy in the Pastoral Epistles (1 Tim. 3:28; Tit. 1:7; Tit. 2:3); the more necessary, because (as 1Ti. 5:23 shows) the right use of wine was recognised. Hence St. Paul emphatically brands drunkenness as excess, a word properly signifying recklessnessincapable of saving, or denying itself anything, and naturally passing through this want of self-restraint into profligacyrightly translated riot in Tit. 1:6, 1Pe. 4:4, as the corresponding adverb is rendered riotous living in Luk. 15:13. For drunkenness is at once the effect and cause of utter recklessness. It is the effect of a self-abandonment, by which the sensual or passionate elements of the nature are stimulated to frenzy, while the self-controlling judgment is drugged to sleep. It is the cause of yet greater recklessness: for as these passions and appetites become jaded, they need stronger and stronger stimulants, till the whole nature, bodily and mental, is lost in delirium or stupor.
But be filled with the Spirit.The antithesis is startling, but profoundly instructive. To the artificial and degrading excitement of drunkenness St. Paul boldly opposes the divine enthusiasm of the Spirit, one form of which was scoffingly compared to it on the Day of Pentecost (Act. 2:13). He is not content with warning us of its ruinous excess, or urging the strictness of stern self-restraint. Drunkenness comes from an unnatural craving for excitement, stimulated by unwholesome conditions of life, physical and mental. He would satisfy the craving, so far as it is natural, by a divine enthusiasm, brighter and stronger than even duty to God and man, breaking out in thanksgiving, adoration, and love.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
c. Against Gentile drunkenness and revelry be filled with the Holy Spirit, and joyous with holy hymns, Eph 5:18-21 .
The anti-Church of Gentilism is filled with wine, and riotous with drunken song and clamour; St. Paul substitutes the holy Church of Christ as filled with the Holy Spirit and rapturous with psalm and hymn and melody of heart.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18. And Not (as Eadie and others) marking “transition from general to particular,” but from one form of fleshly sin, sensuality, to another, inebriety, with its consequent riot.
Be not drunk Drunkened, or made drunk with or by wine, the particular drink for the genial.
Wherein In which. Our translation, referring the wherein to wine, and adding wherein is excess, conveys a true and striking meaning. In wine is the power to create and intensify the appetite for itself, and the consequent excess. But critics are agreed that the wherein refers not to wine, but to the being made drunk by it. Alford avails himself of this to add, “The crime is not in God’s gift, but in the abuse of it; and the very arrangement of the sentence, besides the spirit of it, implies the lawful use of it. See 1Ti 5:23.” The advice to Timothy indicates that “God’s gift” is bestowed as a medicine; its “abuse” is as a beverage. No one who habitually uses wine as a beverage has any assurance that he will never be drunk with it. At any rate it is no sin, in view of such danger, for any man to abstain entirely from it, and it may be a part of prudential morality earnestly to urge others to so abstain. Nor does it seem to be a very necessary duty for commentator or preacher very carefully to maintain the right to use it as a gratification of appetite. Let those who desire to indulge at the risk of downfall perform that work.
Excess The exact parallel of the Greek word would be unsavedness, or unsavingness; and Theophylact well defines its victim as “one who does not save, but destroys both soul and body.”
Hence profligacy, self-abandonment to ruin.
Filled with the Spirit A most striking antithesis! While Gentilism is drunk with wine let the holy Church be filled with the Spirit.
“There’s a spirit above, and a spirit below;
A spirit of joy, and a spirit of woe:
The spirit above is a Spirit Divine;
The spirit below is the spirit of wine.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And do not be drunk with wine which results in riotous behaviour (or wastefulness), but be being filled in (or ‘by’) the Spirit.’
Continuing his contrasts which are a feature of Eph 4:22 to Eph 5:21, bringing out the contrast between the old man and the new man (Eph 4:22-24), Paul points out that the old man looks to drink for his consolation but the new man looks to the Holy Spirit. Thus they are not to get tipsy but are to continually drink of the heavenly wine which is provided by the Holy Spirit (compare 1Co 12:13; Joh 7:37-39). It is something they must go on doing continually, enjoying the continual flow of God’s blessing by looking to Jesus Christ (Joh 7:37) for their sustenance, and drinking of His word as the instrument of His Spirit. Note how in Colossians this spiritual singing in the heart results from ‘the word of Christ dwelling in them richly in all wisdom’ (Col 3:16).
This is the only use of ‘filled by the Spirit’ (plerousthe en Pneumati) in the New Testament. (‘En’ never means ‘with’. It means ‘in’ or ‘by’).
Luke, in Luke and Acts, uses the verb pimplemi followed by ‘of the Holy Spirit’ (Luk 1:15; Luk 1:41; Luk 1:67; Act 2:4; Act 4:8; Act 4:31; Act 9:17; Act 13:9) and in his case the phrase is always describing inspired words to be explained in terms of the Spirit’s working, and is usually temporary to that occasion. The exceptions are in the cases of John the Baptiser (Luk 1:17), the disciples (Act 4:31) and Paul (Act 9:17). The Acts 2 experience as a whole was, of course, permanent, but the actual phrase ‘filled of the Holy Spirit’ applied to the vocal phenomenon specifically referred to on that occasion.
The phrase ‘full of Holy Spirit’ is used of Jesus (Luk 4:1) as a more permanent experience (it is also used of Stephen in Act 7:55).
‘Pleroo’ is used followed by ‘of the Holy Spirit’ in combination with some spiritual attribute in Act 6:3 (‘and wisdom’); Act 6:5 (and ‘of faith’); Act 11:24 (‘and of faith’); Act 13:52 (and ‘with joy’) to explain in each case some spiritual attribute. So pimplemi signifies being filled to utter inspired words in the proclamation of God’s truth and pleroo signifies the possession of spiritual attributes resulting from the presence of the Spirit.
Here in Ephesians the pattern is followed but the verb is in the present tense and the attributes are as in Act 13:19. The Christian life is to be one of continual worship and praise through the infilling work of the Spirit.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Be Filled with the Holy Spirit: Our Bodies – Eph 5:18-20 emphasizes how to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can be led by the Holy Spirit.
The book of Acts tells us that the church of Ephesus was filled with the Holy Spirit when Paul visited them for the first time (Act 19:1-7). In Eph 5:18, Paul commanded these same believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit on a continual basis. In Eph 5:19, Paul shows them how to do this, by spending personal time worshipping the Lord. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18), there are certain characteristics that we exhibit. There will be a melody in our hearts (Eph 5:19) that bring peace and gentleness. As I labour to enter into these times of praise and worship in my quiet time, I sense the presence of the Lord bringing a sweet peace within. As I leave this place of rest, and go out into the cares of the day, I find opportunities to lose this anointing. We are like a tub of water. We can fill up the bathtub, but if we then allow strife, fear, doubt or anxiety to enter in, it is like pulling the drain plug and all of the water drains out, leaving us empty. It is up to us to enter back into this quiet time and be continually filled with the presence of the Lord. Note these words from Frances J. Roberts:
“Seek Me early; seek Me late; seek Me in the midst of the day. Ye need Me in the early hours for direction and guidance and for My blessing upon thy heart. Ye need Me at the end of the day to commit into My hands the day’s happenings both to free thyself of the burdens and to give them over into My hands that I may continue to work things out. And ye need Me more than ever in the busy hours, in the activities and responsibilities, that I may give thee My grace and My tranquillity and My wisdom.” [139]
[139] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 174.
As a result of learning to enter into this anointing and to carry it with us during the day, we become people of thanksgiving for the goodness that God shows us each day (Eph 5:20). We stop being short-sighted and selfish about our needs and begin to see God’s divine hand intervening in the littlest affairs of our daily activity. Anger and bitterness are less able to intrude into our minds and hearts. This humbles us so that we are much more able to submit ourselves to one another (Eph 5:21) in the love of God. There will be a submissive spirit in our relationships with others as a result of a genuine fear of God in our hearts (Eph 5:21). We can better fulfil our roles in society when we are yielded to the Holy Spirit and submitted to the needs of others.
Being Filled with the Spirit and Speaking Kenneth Hagin notes that being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues is the New Testament pattern. [140] The church at Ephesus had already received the initial infilling of the Holy Spirit in Act 19:1-6. In his epistle to the church of Ephesus, Paul was encouraging them to continue speaking in tongues in order to stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul was not writing to particular individuals in this church. He was writing to every member of this church. Therefore, it is God’s will that everyone receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues and to practice this as a part of their daily lifestyle. This is one form of New Testament worship.
[140] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 118-120.
Hagin says that you cannot be filled with the Holy Spirit without speaking (Act 2:4; Act 4:31; Act 10:45-46). [141] However, note that King David stayed filled with the Holy Spirit as he continually worshipped the Lord. He was called the “Sweet Psalmist of Israel” (2Sa 23:1) because of his ability to enter into worship.
[141] Kenneth Hagin, Why Tongues (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1975, 1994), 3-10.
Act 2:4, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Act 4:31, “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness .”
Act 10:45-46, “And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God . Then answered Peter,”
2Sa 23:1, “Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,”
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit and Worship – In a dream in early 2000, I was caught up in the most heavenly worship song. This song continued to repeat “Alleluia,” and I was a part of the worship this time, caught up in intense worship of God. When I awoke, I felt my spirit so deeply refreshed and renewed. The Lord began to teach me at that time how to find strength in my spirit during times of adversity. We can be strengthened when we enter into worship.
Kenneth Hagin teaches that God’s purpose in having us worship with spiritual songs is to build us up in the Lord so that we will have the strength through spiritual edification to serve Him. [142]
[142] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 124, 146.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Eph 5:18
Luk 12:45, “But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;”
Eph 5:18, “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”
1Th 5:7, “For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.”
Comments – If we place Eph 5:18 within the context of the lifestyle of the Ephesians and those who took the “spiritual pilgrimage” to this city to worship in the temple of Diana, or to those who filled the 24,000 seat coliseum to observe Greek games, we can easily see the spirit of drunkenness and revelling among its inhabitants. Paul could have very well made this statement because of the drunkenness that he observed among these Greek pagans in a wealthy city with a temple and coliseum for entertainment.
A person under the influence of alcohol loses his inhibitions. If he gets angry easily, he exceeds in anger. If he is promiscuous, then he becomes very promiscuous. If he loves to talk, he will become talkative. Alcohol allows a person to indulge in his fleshly passions beyond his normal ability to control his behavior.
1Pe 4:3, “For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine , revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:”
In contrast, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are able to operate in the supernatural far easier than when we are not filled. Weymouth’s translation brings out this contrast within this verse between indulging in alcohol and indulging in the Holy Spirit.
Weymouth, “Do not over-indulge in wine–a thing in which excess is so easy– but drink deeply of God’s Spirit.”
Kenneth Hagin translates this verse to read, “Don’t be drunk on wine; be drunk on the Spirit.” He says, “You can be so filled with the Holy Spirit that you stagger around like a drunk man.” [143]
[143] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 116.
Eph 5:19 “but be filled with the Spirit” Comments – The command to be filled with the Spirit refers to a different experience than the one-time salvation experience when the Holy Spirit comes to indwell every believer. Because the Greek verb (G4137) is used in Eph 5:19 in the present passive imperative, commentators generally agree that this phrase means to be continually filled. In contrast to the one-time experience at salvation, this phrase means that believers are to have a life-time of experiences of continuous infilling after becoming a believer. [144]
[144] E. D. Radmacher, R. B. Allen, and H. W. House, The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version, includes index, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1997), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on Ephesians 5:18.
Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Eph 5:19
[145] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 121.
1Co 14:15, “What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”
1Co 14:26, “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm , hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”
Col 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Jas 5:13, “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms .”
Word Study on “hymns” – Regarding hymns, there are several New Testament example of the use of hymns. Jesus led the disciples in worship by singing hymns of praise to the Lord and Paul and Silas sang hymns together in prison. Obviously, both times, these hymns were inspired by the Lord.
Mat 26:30, “And when they had sung an hymn , they went out into the mount of Olives.”
Act 16:25, “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”
The author of Hebrews uses this same Greek word again in the context of corporate worship:
Heb 2:12, “Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.”
It is also used in the parallel passage of Colossians:
Col 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Hagin teaches that all of these psalms, hymns and spiritual songs are uttered when we yield to the Spirit. They may or may not be recorded in songbooks. It is in this manner that we are allowing “the word of Christ to dwell in us richly” (Col 3:16). Hagin says, “The supernatural utterance the Holy Spirit gives you on the spur of the moment” is “by the spirit of prophecy.” [146] This is why 1Co 14:5 says that we may all prophesy.
[146] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 123; Kenneth Hagin, Following God’s Plan For Your Life (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1993, 1994), 28.
1Co 14:5, “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied : for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.”
In fact, within the context of this passage on prophecy, we find a similar list of utterances as seen in Eph 5:19 and Col 3:16:
1Co 14:26, “How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.”
Word Study on “spiritual songs” – Hagin says, “A spiritual song is a song that brings forth the revelation of the Word that the Spirit has given you.” He says that this song is not limited to the written Word of God, for these believers at Ephesus did not have the New Testament Scriptures as we have them today. “It may be a Scriptures, a word of encouragement, or a word of exhortation, etc.” [147] The Greek word for “song” is used in other New Testament passages:
[147] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 122.
Col 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs , singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Rev 5:9, “And they sung a new song , saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”
Rev 14:3, “And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.”
Rev 15:3, “And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.”
Eph 5:19 “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” Comments – When believers are speaking under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, these words ascend in worship “to the Lord.”
Eph 5:19 Comments – Regarding the worship described in Eph 5:19, in one of his divine visitations of the Lord Jesus Christ, Kenneth Hagin says, “Jesus called this kind of utterance, New Testament Worship. And true worship must be done “ in spirit and in worship. ” [148]
[148] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 122.
Joh 4:23-24, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
Hagin says that once we are initially filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, we are to continue to speak supernaturally. [149]
[149] Kenneth Hagin, Plans Pursuits and Purposes (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Faith Library Publications, c1988, 1993), 119.
The description of New Testament worship in Eph 5:19 leaves no room for any kind of music in the Christian life except God-inspired songs.
Col 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Jas 5:13, “Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.”
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Eph 5:20
Having been filled with the Holy Spirit in worship and song from Eph 5:18-19, we can more easily see the spiritual side of life’s circumstances and thus give thanks to God, despite what the situation look like.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Eph 5:18. Be not drunk with wine, It is highly probable that here may be a particular reference to those dissolute ceremonies called the Bacchanalia, which were celebrated by the heathens in honour of their god of wine. While these rites continued, men and women made it a point of religion to intoxicate themselves, and ran about the streets, fields, and vineyards, singing and shouting in a wild and tumultuousmanner:inoppositiontotheseextravagantvociferations,theuseofdevout psalmody is with great propriety recommended. Plato tells us, that there was hardly a sober person to be found in the whole Attican territories, during the continuance of these detestable solemnities. St. Paul dehorts the Ephesians from the too free use of wine, because therein is excess. The word is , which may either signify luxury or dissoluteness; implying that drinking is no friend to continencyand chastity, but gives up the reins to lust and uncleanness,the vice that he had been warning them against: or it may signify intemperance and disorder; opposite to that sober and prudent demeanour advised in redeeming the time. Wine is so frequently the cause hereof, by the ungrateful abuse of the bounty of Providence in giving it, that the enormityis represented by a strong and beautiful figure as contained in the very liquor.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eph 5:18 . ] and in particular , to mention a single vice, which would belong to .
. ] become not drunken through wine , which stands opposed to the allowable use of wine, without our having on that account to seek here a reference to Montanism (Schwegler). To conclude, however, from Eph 5:19 that excess at the Agapae is meant (1Co 11:21 ), as Koppe and Holzhausen maintain (comp. also de Wette), is quite arbitrary; inasmuch as neither in the preceding nor following context is there any mention made of the Agapae , and this special abuse, the traces of which in the N.T. are, moreover, only to be found in Corinth, would have called for a special censure.
] deterring remark. does not apply to alone, as Schoettgen holds (whose Rabbinical passages therefore, as Bammidb. rabba , f. 206, Ephesians 3 : “ ubicunque est vinum, ibi est immunditia ,” are not to the point here), but to the : wherein is contained debauchery , dissolute behaviour. A vivid description of the grosser and more refined may be seen in Cicero, de Fin. ii. 8. On the word itself (in its literal sense unsaveableness ), see Tittmann, Synon . p. 152; Lobeck, Paralip. I. p. 559. A more precise limitation of the sense (Jerome understands lascivious excess, as also Hammond, who thinks of the Bacchanalia) is without warrant in the text.
] but become full by the Spirit . The imperative passive finds its explanation in the possibility of resistance to the Holy Spirit and of the opposite fleshly endeavour; and is instrumental , as at Eph 1:23 ; Phi 4:19 . The contrast lies not in and (Grotius, Harless, Olshausen, and others), because otherwise the text must have run ., ., but in the two states that of intoxication and that of inspiration. This opposition is only in appearance strange (in opposition to de Wette), and has its sufficient ground in the excitement of the person inspired and its utterances (comp. Act 2:13 ).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2120
THE BELIEVER FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST
Eph 5:18-20. Be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ [Note: If this were the subject of a Sermon at a Feast (many Country Feasts begin on the Sabbath), it would be proper to include in the text the whole of the eighteenth verse; and to prosecute, at some length, the contrast between the employment of true Christians, and that of nominal Christians, on such occasions.].
THAT Christianity has raised the tone of morals in the world, will appear from the admonitions which the Apostles judged it necessary to give to the Churches in their day. It would appear almost superfluous, at this time, to expatiate upon the evil of fornication, in a letter addressed to true believers; or to guard them against yielding to intoxication; there being, in the minds of all, a consciousness of the inconsistency of such evils with the Christian profession. But the Corinthians had, in their unconverted state, been proverbially dissolute; and the Ephesians, even in their religious rites on some occasions, had addicted themselves to intemperance: and both the one and the other brought with them into the Church their former sentiments and habits, against which they needed the most explicit warnings [Note: 1Co 6:13-18. with the words before the text.].
On the other hand, the standard of Christian privilege and attainment is sadly lowered in the present day; so that an exhortation to be filled with the Spirit, and to be living under the continual influence of the Spirit, seems to breathe nothing but enthusiasm. But, being well assured that Christian duties and privileges are precisely the same now as they were in the Apostles days, I proceed to set before you,
I.
The exalted privilege of believers
The Spirit of God will dwell in the heart of every true Christian
[As the Church at largo, so every individual in it, is the temple of God [Note: 1Co 6:19.], and the habitation of God through the Spirit [Note: Eph 2:22.]. Our blessed Lord promised to send down the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, to abide within his people [Note: Joh 14:16-17.], to guide them into all truth [Note: Joh 16:13.], to support them under their respective trials [Note: Eph 3:16.], and to sanctify them throughout, in body, soul, and spirit [Note: 1Th 5:23.]. We are not. indeed, to expect at this time his miraculous operations: but his spiritual influences are continued to his Church; and shall be, even to the end of the world [Note: Mat 28:20.]: and to experience them, is the undoubted privilege of all true believers [Note: Act 2:38-39.]. Indeed, without them, we can never mortify sin [Note: Rom 8:13.], nor ever fulfil the will of God [Note: Joh 15:5.]: and, if we experience them not, we are not true Christians: for it is expressly said, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his [Note: Rom 8:9.].]
Nor need there be any limit to our expectations of his gracious influences
[It is our privilege to be filled with the Spirit, every one of us according to our respective capacities; and to have all our faculties and powers subjected to his controul. By him our understandings may be enlightened; so that we shall view every thing, in a measure, as God himself views it. By him, too, our will may be regulated; so that it shall be conformed to the mind and will of God. By him, also, our affections may be so inflamed, that the whole soul, as it were, shall be melted, and cast into the very mould of the Gospel.
In relation to this matter we need fear no excess. In the use of strong drink we may easily exceed; and excess will lead to the most pernicious consequences. By intoxication, we may be unfitted for the common offices of life; yea, and be precipitated into the commission of the foulest sins. But the more we have of the Holy Spirit, the more will sobriety and self-government characterize our whole conduct. We need, indeed, to guard against delusions respecting this matter: for there are many in the world who speak of dreams, and visions, and internal suggestions, and numberless other conceits, whereby they deceive both themselves and others. But on these no confidence whatever can be placed: they are, for the most part, the fruits of a heated imagination, and are as likely to come from Satan as from God. I do not mean to say that God may not reveal himself to persons in these ways; for what he has done in times past, he may do again: but I say, that whatever is not founded upon the word of God, and leads not to a holy and consistent life, is a mere delusion. Whatever betrays men into extravagances of any kind, is not of God: for the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets [Note: 1Co 14:32.], and it becomes you to be on your guard against every thing which, in the mode of its access to your mind, is suspicious, or in its operation upon your mind is disorderly. I say again, therefore, that against delusion you must guard: but from excess in what is really from God, you are in no danger: for the more you are filled with the Spirit of Christ, the more you will resemble Christ in the whole of his character and deportment.]
Suited to this exalted privilege of believers, will be,
II.
Their delightful employment
Here you see how they are to act,
1.
In their intercourse with each other
[In the parallel passage in the Epistle to the Colossians, the Apostles meaning is somewhat more clearly expressed: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord [Note: Col 3:16.]. We should have a happy and peaceful frame of mind, whether alone or in company; and should be expressing our joy in songs of praise. Not that we should resemble those, whose spirits, being raised with wine, entertain themselves, and each other, with vocal and carnal songs: no; we should make melody in our hearts to the Lord, and have all our joys an emblem, an antepast, of heaven. Such expressions of earthly happiness we observe without any mixture of disapprobation or surprise: they are the natural effusions of a happy and buoyant spirit. How much more, then, should they be put forth in spiritual exercises, to the honour of our God, whose service is perfect freedom!]
2.
In their more immediate intercourse with God
[Every thing should be viewed by them as proceeding from a God of love: not even chastisement itself should be regarded as a token of his wrath, but rather as a mark of paternal tenderness, whereby he both intimates our relation to him, and seeks to establish and confirm it. Nothing, however penal in its aspect, should be viewed in any other light. We should taste his love in every thing, and give him thanks always for all things. And this we should do in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: for, as all Gods blessings come to us through him, so all our thanksgivings for them should return to God through him also. It is this which makes them acceptable to God the Father. If these were offered in our own name, they would never enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts: but, being presented in the name of Jesus, they come up with acceptance before him, and are sure to return in blessings on our own souls [Note: Heb 13:15. 1Pe 2:5.].]
Address
1.
Those who have never yet experienced these blessings in their souls
[By the greater part of those who call themselves Christians, the whole of this subject is accounted visionary and absurd. They have no idea of one person being filled with the Spirit any more than others: and all the joyous frames arising from his presence in the soul, they deem the very essence of enthusiasm. But what, then, can be meant by all those directions which are given us, to live in the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit, and to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit? And why has our blessed Lord so encouraged us to pray for the gift of his Spirit [Note: Luk 11:11-13.], if no such communication is to be expected by us? Do not, I beseech you, brethren, take your own experience as the standard of truth, or imagine that no one else can possess what you have never received: but look to God for the accomplishment of his gracious promises to your souls [Note: Pro 1:22-23.]; and never rest, till you have obtained those supplies of his Spirit, whereby alone you can attain the Christian character, or be ever fitted for the realms of bliss [Note: Joh 16:7-11.].]
2.
Those who profess to live in the enjoyment of them
[Regard not the contempt with which ungodly men may treat you: but let the Apostles direction be followed by you daily, with increasing earnestness. Be careful, however, not to give any just occasion for reproach. Let there be nothing extravagant, either in your profession or your practice. Religion, if it have its just influence upon your soul, will render you patterns of sobriety, of prudence, and of true wisdom: it will cause you to walk wisely before God, in a perfect way. At the same time, it will bring into your soul a peace that passeth all understanding and a joy that is unspeakable and glorified. There will be, indeed, occasional changes in your frame, even as there are in the natural world: there will be times for the tears of penitential sorrow to flow down, as well as for the radiance of the noon-day sun. But the more you live on Tabor, the more will you behold the Saviours glory: and the more you survey the promised land from Pisgahs top, the more will you be fitted for the everlasting enjoyment of it.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Ver. 18. And be not drunk with wine ] Nothing so opposite to an accurate life as drunkenness; which therefore is not specially prohibited in any one of the Ten Commandments (saith a divine) because it is not the single breach of any one, but in effect the violation of all and every one; it is no one, but all sins, the inlet and sluice to all other sins, and by them to the devil. Behemoth lieth in the fens, Job 40:21 , he finds no rest in dry places, sober souls, Luk 11:24 . Oh that our carousers were persuaded (as Mahomet told his followers) that in every grape there dwelt a devil.
Wherein is excess ] Excessive drinking then is drunkenness; when as swine do their bellies, so men break their heads with filthy quaffing; and are besotted in their very parts, as a snuff of a candle in the socket, drowned in the tallow; a stench, but little or no light remains. Such a deep drunkard was Diotimus, surnamed Tundish, and young Cicero, surnamed Tricongius; and such are not a few in this day among us, to the great shame of our nation.
But be filled with the Spirit ] Call for flagons of this holy wine,Son 2:5Son 2:5 , that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Son 7:9 . This is called by Luther, Crapula sacra, a spiritual surquedry a or surfeit.
a Arrogance, haughty pride, presumption. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
18 .] The connexion seems to be: after the general antithesis in Eph 5:17 , , . . ., he proceeds to give one prominent instance, in the same antithetical shape. And ( is subordinate, introducing a particular after a general: so Herod. i. 73, see Hartung i. 145) be not intoxicated with wine, in which practice (not, , but the crime is not in God’s gift , but in the abuse of it: and the very arrangement of the sentence, besides the spirit of it, implies the lawful use of wine see 1Ti 5:23 ) is profligacy ( , not from , as Clem. Alex. Pdag. ii. 1, p. 167 P. ( , ), al., but from : , Aristot. Eth. Nic. iv. 1. 3. But as spendthrifts are almost of necessity self-indulgent and reckless, the word comes to have the meaning of ‘ dissoluteness ,’ ‘ debauchery ,’ ‘ profligacy ,’ see Eth. Nic. iv. 1. 36, Tittmann, p. 152, and Trench, N. T. Syn. 16. Theodotion renders Isa 28:7 by ): but (contrast, see above) be filled (antith. to ; not to alone, so that should be opposed to : see below) with ( , as ch. Eph 1:23 , but also ‘ in :’ let this be the region in, and the ingredient with which you are filled) the Spirit (the ambiguity in the preposition is owing to the peculiar meaning of as applied to the Christian: viz. his own spirit, dwelt in and informed by the Holy Spirit of God , see note on ch. Eph 4:23 . If this is so, if you are full of the Spirit, full in Spirit, there will be a joy indeed, but not that of : one which will find its expression not in drunken songs, but in Christian hymns, and continual thankfulness), speaking to one another (ch. Eph 4:32 ; see also the [9] , Col 3:16 . It is perhaps too much to find in this the practice of antiphonal chanting: but it is interesting to remember that in Pliny’s letter the Christians are described as ‘soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem :’ and that Nicephorus, Hist. xiii. 8 (cited by Eadie), says . Conyb. places a full stop at : but surely both style and sense are thus marred) in (this must be the rendering, whether the preposition is inserted or not) psalms (not to be confined, as Olsh. and Stier, to O. T. hymns; see 1Co 14:26 ; Jas 5:13 . The word properly signified those sacred songs which were performed with musical accompaniment (so Basil, Hom. in Psa 29:1 , vol. i. p. 124, , and Greg. Nyss. in Psal. lib. ii. 3, vol. i. p. 493, Migne, , as without it: but the two must evidently here not be confined strictly to their proper meaning) and hymns (see above) and [ spiritual ] songs ( being the general name for all lyrical poetry, and applying especially to such effusions as persons used in the state of drunkenness, the Christian’s is to be spiritual (Chr. opposes ), inspired by that fulness of the Spirit which is in him), singing and playing (as well as , not explanatory of it: and corresponding to and above) in your hearts (Harl. remarks that cannot, being joined with , represent the abstract ‘ heartily ,’ as Chr., Thdrt., Pelag., &c.; but must be rendered as Bullinger, ‘canentes intus in animis et cordibus vestris’) to the Lord (i.e. Christ cf. Pliny’s letter above), giving thanks (another additional, not explanatory, clause) always for all things (see Phi 4:6 : not only for blessings, but for every dispensation of God: Ellic. quotes from Thl., , , . , . ) in the name (the element in which the must take place. “The name of the Lord is there, where He is named. How He is named, depends on the particular circumstances: it is one thing to be reproached ( 1Pe 4:14 ), another to be saved ( Act 4:12 ), another to be baptized ( Act 10:48 ), another to command ( 2Th 3:6 ), another to pray ( Joh 14:13 ), another to give thanks (cf. Col 3:17 ) in the name of the Lord. The Apostle says, that all the Christian would do, he must do in the name of Christ ( Col 3:17 ).” Harl.: the rest of the note is well worth consulting) of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and the Father (see on ch. Eph 1:3 ), being subject to one another (a fourth additional, not subordinate clause. , . , , : and then out of this last general injunction are unfolded all the particular applications to the relations of life , Eph 5:22 ch. Eph 6:9 . It is not so easy to assign precisely its connexion with those which have preceded. It is hardly enough to say that as the first three name three special duties in regard to God, so this last a comprehensive moral duty in regard to man (Ellic.): for the question of the connexion is still unanswered. I would rather regard it (as I see Eadie also does), as a thought suggested by the . . . . with which the sentence began that as we are otherwise to be filled, otherwise to sing and rejoice, so also we are otherwise to behave not blustering nor letting our voices rise in selfish vaunting, as such men do, but subject to one another, &c.) in the fear of Christ (‘rara phrasis,’ Beng.: of Him, whose members we all are, so that any displacement in the Body is a forgetfulness of the reverence due to Him).
[9] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25 , the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified , thus, ‘ Mk.,’ or ‘ Mt. Mk.,’ &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Eph 5:18 . : and be not made drunk with wine . A particular case of the to be avoided is now mentioned. The is used here, as, e.g. , also in Mar 1:5 , to add a special designation to a general, inclusive statement; Win.-Moult., p. 546. The case is the abuse of wine. But there is nothing to suggest any reference to excess at the Agapae (1Co 11:21 ) in especial. : wherein is dissoluteness . Or, with the RV, “wherein is riot”. The AV, Tynd., Cov., Cran., Gen., Bish., all give “excess”; Wicl. has lechery , and the Rhem. riotousness . ( cf. Pro 28:7 ) expresses the idea of an abandoned, debauched life; literally, the condition of one who is past salvation. The refers not to the alone (which might infer a Gnostic view of matter or Montanistic, ascetic ideas of life), but to the whole phrase the becoming drunk with wine. : but be filled with the Spirit . The verb is construed with the gen. of the thing that fills ( e.g. , Act 2:28 ; Act 5:28 ; Act 13:52 , pass. , etc.); or with the Hebraistic acc. (Col 1:9 ); or with the dat. (Rom 1:29 ; 2Co 7:4 , etc.). The construction with here is exceptional. Hence some prefer to understand of man’s spirit, and render it (as RV margin) “be filled in spirit”. The contrast would then be between being filled in one’s physical or carnal nature and filled in one’s spiritual nature (so Braune, and in effect Abb.). In NT Greek, however, verbs that are followed by the simple dat. sometimes vary it by a prepositional form, e.g. , (Luk 3:16 ) and (Mat 3:11 ), (Phi 1:18 ) and (2Th 2:16 ), etc.; and the formula or is not wholly without analogy; cf. , Eph 1:23 above; and Col 4:12 , , where indeed the of the TR must give place to another verb, yet one with the same idea, the sense being probably “filled with everything willed by God” ( cf. Win.-Moult., p. 272; Blass, Gram. of N. T. Greek , p. 117). The may be taken, therefore, as the instrum. , and the sense will be “filled with or by the Spirit”. Some ( e.g. , Ell., Alf.) would combine the ideas of in and by , supposing the unusual phrase to be chosen with a view to convey the fact that the Holy Spirit is not only the instrument by which the Christian man is filled, but that also in which he is so filled. But this is a needless refinement. The contrast, as most commentators recognise, is not merely between the and the , but between the and the . Otherwise the order would have been , (Mey.). The contrast is not between the instruments but between the states between two elevated states, one due to the excitement of wine, the other to the inspiration and enlightenment of the Spirit.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
be . . . drunk. Greek. methuskomai. Only here; Luk 12:45. 1Th 5:7.
wherein = by (Greek. en) which.
excess = debauchery. Greek. asotia. Only here; Tit 1:6. 1Pe 4:4. The adverb only in Luk 15:13.
filled. See Eph 3:19.
with = by (Greek. en).
Spirit. See App-101, and Note at end of Ap.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
18.] The connexion seems to be: after the general antithesis in Eph 5:17, , …, he proceeds to give one prominent instance, in the same antithetical shape. And ( is subordinate, introducing a particular after a general: so Herod. i. 73, see Hartung i. 145) be not intoxicated with wine, in which practice (not, , but -the crime is not in Gods gift, but in the abuse of it: and the very arrangement of the sentence, besides the spirit of it, implies the lawful use of wine-see 1Ti 5:23) is profligacy (, not from -,-as Clem. Alex. Pdag. ii. 1, p. 167 P. ( , ), al., but from -: , Aristot. Eth. Nic. iv. 1. 3. But as spendthrifts are almost of necessity self-indulgent and reckless, the word comes to have the meaning of dissoluteness, debauchery, profligacy,-see Eth. Nic. iv. 1. 36, Tittmann, p. 152, and Trench, N. T. Syn. 16. Theodotion renders Isa 28:7 by ): but (contrast, see above) be filled (antith. to ;-not to alone, so that should be opposed to : see below) with (, as ch. Eph 1:23, but also in: let this be the region in, and the ingredient with which you are filled) the Spirit (the ambiguity in the preposition is owing to the peculiar meaning of as applied to the Christian:-viz. his own spirit, dwelt in and informed by the Holy Spirit of God, see note on ch. Eph 4:23. If this is so, if you are full of the Spirit, full in Spirit, there will be a joy indeed, but not that of : one which will find its expression not in drunken songs, but in Christian hymns, and continual thankfulness), speaking to one another (ch. Eph 4:32; see also the [9], Col 3:16. It is perhaps too much to find in this the practice of antiphonal chanting: but it is interesting to remember that in Plinys letter the Christians are described as soliti stato die ante lucem convenire, carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem: and that Nicephorus, Hist. xiii. 8 (cited by Eadie), says . Conyb. places a full stop at : but surely both style and sense are thus marred) in (this must be the rendering, whether the preposition is inserted or not) psalms (not to be confined, as Olsh. and Stier, to O. T. hymns; see 1Co 14:26; Jam 5:13. The word properly signified those sacred songs which were performed with musical accompaniment (so Basil, Hom. in Psa 29:1, vol. i. p. 124, , -and Greg. Nyss. in Psal. lib. ii. 3, vol. i. p. 493, Migne, ,-as without it: but the two must evidently here not be confined strictly to their proper meaning) and hymns (see above) and [spiritual] songs ( being the general name for all lyrical poetry, and applying especially to such effusions as persons used in the state of drunkenness, the Christians is to be spiritual (Chr. opposes ), inspired by that fulness of the Spirit which is in him), singing and playing (as well as , not explanatory of it: and corresponding to and above) in your hearts (Harl. remarks that cannot, being joined with , represent the abstract heartily, as Chr., Thdrt., Pelag., &c.; but must be rendered as Bullinger, canentes intus in animis et cordibus vestris) to the Lord (i.e. Christ-cf. Plinys letter above),-giving thanks (another additional, not explanatory, clause) always for all things (see Php 4:6 : not only for blessings, but for every dispensation of God: Ellic. quotes from Thl.,- , , . , . ) in the name (the element in which the must take place. The name of the Lord is there, where He is named. How He is named, depends on the particular circumstances: it is one thing to be reproached (1Pe 4:14), another to be saved (Act 4:12), another to be baptized (Act 10:48), another to command (2Th 3:6), another to pray (Joh 14:13), another to give thanks (cf. Col 3:17) in the name of the Lord. The Apostle says, that all the Christian would do, he must do in the name of Christ (Col 3:17). Harl.: the rest of the note is well worth consulting) of our Lord Jesus Christ to God and the Father (see on ch. Eph 1:3),-being subject to one another (a fourth additional, not subordinate clause. ,- . ,-,- : and then out of this last general injunction are unfolded all the particular applications to the relations of life, Eph 5:22-ch. Eph 6:9. It is not so easy to assign precisely its connexion with those which have preceded. It is hardly enough to say that as the first three name three special duties in regard to God, so this last a comprehensive moral duty in regard to man (Ellic.): for the question of the connexion is still unanswered. I would rather regard it (as I see Eadie also does), as a thought suggested by the . … with which the sentence began-that as we are otherwise to be filled, otherwise to sing and rejoice, so also we are otherwise to behave-not blustering nor letting our voices rise in selfish vaunting, as such men do,-but subject to one another, &c.) in the fear of Christ (rara phrasis, Beng.: of Him, whose members we all are, so that any displacement in the Body is a forgetfulness of the reverence due to Him).
[9] When, in the Gospels, and in the Evangelic statement, 1Co 11:23-25, the sign () occurs in a reference, it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in the other Gospels, which will always be found indicated at the head of the note on the paragraph. When the sign () is qualified, thus, Mk., or Mt. Mk., &c., it is signified that the word occurs in the parallel place in that Gospel or Gospels, but not in the other or others.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Eph 5:18. , be not drunk with wine) So the LXX. plainly, Pro 23:31 (30). Appropriately to the exhortation against impurity, he subjoins the exhortation against drunkenness.- ) in which, viz. wine, so far as it is drunk without moderation.-) is used for : hence denotes every luxury inconsistent with frugality. See its opposite, Eph 5:19, concerning the effect of spiritual fulness.-) So generally the LXX. in Prov. quoted above: , but associate with righteous men.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 5:18
Eph 5:18
And be not drunken with wine,-The best protection against any evil is to learn self-control and self-government. [Of all the evils that oppress and outrage and destroy mankind, there is none greater than intemperance. For proof turn to our jails, asylums, police courts, lodging-houses, newspapers, streets, and highways. It is an evil very great, very common, very real, very ruinous. It is an individual, a social, a national evil. It is an evil which produces untold misery, poverty, and wretchedness which no figures can possibly set forth. It injures the body, blunts the finer feelings of the soul, clouds the intellect, ruins the health, and unfits for daily life. It brings poverty, and blights the home. It destroys the peace of mind and destroys the prospect of heaven.]
wherein is riot,-[Recklessness-incapable of denying itself of anything, and naturally passing this want of restraint into profligacy. Drunkenness is at once the cause and effect of utter recklessness. It is the effect of self-abandonment, by which the sensual and passionate elements of the nature are stimulated to frenzy, while self-controlling judgment is drugged to sleep. It is the cause of yet greater recklessness: for as their passions and appetites become jaded, they need stronger and stronger stimulants, till the whole nature, bodily and mental, is lost in delirium or stupor, which sinks lower and lower into helpless ruin.]
but be filled with the Spirit;-To be filled with the Spirit and to have the word of God dwelling in the heart are one and the same thing. The presence of the Spirit in his miraculous demonstrations and in his ordinary influences was received by keeping his commandment.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
be not: Gen 9:21, Gen 19:32-35, Deu 21:20, Psa 69:12, Pro 20:1, Pro 23:20, Pro 23:21, Pro 23:29-35, Isa 5:11-13, Isa 5:22, Mat 24:49, Luk 12:45, Luk 21:34, Rom 13:13, 1Co 5:11, 1Co 6:10, 1Co 11:21, Gal 5:21, 1Th 5:7
excess: Mat 23:25, 1Pe 4:3, 1Pe 4:4
but: Psa 63:3-5, Son 1:4, Son 7:9, Isa 25:6, Isa 55:1, Zec 9:15-17, Luk 11:13, Act 2:13-18, Act 11:24, Gal 5:22-25
Reciprocal: Lev 10:9 – Do not Num 6:3 – General Deu 29:6 – neither have Rth 3:7 – his heart 1Sa 25:36 – merry 1Ki 20:12 – drinking 2Ki 3:15 – bring me Est 1:10 – the heart Psa 16:5 – of my Psa 47:6 – to God Psa 104:15 – wine Pro 23:30 – tarry Pro 25:16 – lest Pro 31:7 – General Ecc 2:3 – yet Ecc 10:19 – and wine Son 2:12 – time Son 5:1 – eat Isa 24:9 – General Jer 35:7 – all Hos 7:5 – made Zec 9:17 – corn Zec 10:7 – and their Mar 14:26 – sung Luk 1:15 – filled Luk 1:41 – was Luk 22:18 – the fruit Joh 7:37 – drink Joh 15:11 – your Act 2:4 – filled Act 6:3 – full Act 13:52 – with the Rom 8:13 – through Rom 15:13 – fill 1Ti 3:3 – Not given to wine 1Ti 5:23 – General 2Ti 1:14 – by the Tit 1:7 – not given to wine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Eph 5:18.) -And be not made drunk with wine. Pro 20:1; Pro 23:20; 1Th 5:7. Again, there is first the negative, and then the positive injunction. By transition is made from a general counsel to a particular instance, and the injunction thus becomes climactic. The dative is like the Latin ablative of instrument. Winer, 31, 7. There is no proof in the context for the opinion held, and reckoned possible by de Wette, Koppe, and Holzhausen, that the apostle alludes, as in 1 Corinthians 11, to any abuse of the old love-feasts, or of the Lord’s Supper. (with the digamma-vinum, Wein), as the common drink of the times, is specified by the apostle as the means of intoxication. And he adds-
-in which is dissoluteness, or profligacy-Luxuria; Vulgate. Tittmann, De Synon. p. 152; Trench, Synon. 16. Pro 28:7; Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4. The antecedent to is not , but the entire previous clause. The Syriac borrows simply- The term , from privative and , is the picture of a sad and very common result. It is sometimes used by the classics to signify one who is, as we say, past redemption- (Etymolog. Mag.); oftener one qui servare nequit. The adverb is used of the conduct of the prodigal son in the far country in Luk 15:13. See Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4; Sept. Pro 28:7; 2Ma 4:6. Aristotle, in his Ethics, iv., virtually defines the term thus- ,-or again, -or again, . Cicero (De Finibus) says – nolim mihi fingere asotus, ut soletis, qui in mensam vomant, p. 1006, Opera, ed. Nobbe. Theophylact, alluding to the etymology, says- ; and the drunkard’s progress, described by Clement in the first chapter of the second book of his Paedagogue, is a series of tableaux without veil or reserve. Referring to the origin which he assigns to the term, he also says- , , .
There is in the vice of intemperance that kind of dissoluteness which brooks no restraint, which defies all efforts to reform it, and which sinks lower and lower into hopeless and helpless ruin. It is erroneous, therefore, on the part of Schoettgen, to restrict the term to lasciviousness, though intemperance be, as Varro called it, Veneris suscitabulum; as Jerome too, venter mero aestuans facile despumat in libidinem. The connection between the two vices is notorious; but libidinous indulgence is only one element of the . This tremendous sin of intemperance is all the more to be shunned as its hold is so great on its victims, for with periodical remorse there is periodical inebriety; the fatal cup is again coveted and drained; while character, fortune, and life are risked and lost in the gratification of an appetite of all others the most brutal in form and brutifying in result. There are few vices out of which there is less hope of recovery-its haunts are so numerous and its hold is so tremendous. As Ephesus was a commercial town and busy seaport, its wealth led to excessive luxury, and Bacchus was the rival o f Diana. The women of Ephesus, as the priestesses of Bacchus, danced round Mark Antony’s chariot on his entrance into the city. Drunkenness was indeed an epidemic in those times and lands. Alexander the Great, who died a sacrifice to Bacchus and not to Mars, offered a prize to him who could drink most wine, and thirty of the rivals died in the act of competition. Plato boasts of the immense quantities of liquor which Socrates could swill uninjured; and the philosopher Xenocrates got a golden crown from Dionysius for swallowing a gallon at a draught. Cato often lost his senses over his choice Falernian. The excess or dissoluteness attendant on drunkenness and the other vices referred to in the previous context, is also illustrated by many passages in the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus, the Latin version of an older Greek drama. The braggart captain, a citizen of Ephesus, is described in the prologue by his own servant as a vain, impudent, foul fellow, brimful of lying and lasciviousness. Another character of the piece thus boasts-Either the merry banterer likewise, or the agreeable boon companion will I be; no interrupter of another am I at a feast. I bear in mind how properly to keep myself from proving disagreeable to my fellow-guest, etc. . . . In fine, at Ephesus was I born, not among the Apulians, not at Animula-(there being in this last term a difference of reading).
-but be filled with the Spirit. The terms and are not contrasted simply, as is pleaded by Harless, but the two clauses are in antithesis. The verb is in the passive voice, and is followed by the instrumental -an unusual construction. It has after it sometimes the genitive and sometimes the dative or accusative, with different meanings. Winer, 31, 7. , therefore, may denote the element, as frequently, and not the instrument; the Spirit, as Matthies says, being represented not merely als Mittel und Inhalt. Col 2:10; Col 4:12. Not only were they to possess the Spirit, but they were to be filled in the Spirit, as vessels filled to overflowing with the Holy Ghost. Men are intoxicated with wine, and they attempt to fill themselves with it; but they cannot. The exhilaration which they covet can only be felt periodically, and again and again must they drain the wine cup to relieve themselves of despondency. But Christians are filled in or with the Spirit, whose influences are not only powerful, but replete with satisfaction to the heart of man. Psa 36:8; Act 2:15-16. It is a sensation of want-a desire to fly from himself, a craving after something which is felt to be out of reach, eager and restless thirst to enjoy, if at all possible, some happiness and enlargement of heart-that usually leads to intemperance. But the Spirit fills Christians, and gives them all the elements of cheerfulness and peace; genuine elevation and mental freedom; superiority to all depressing influences; and refined and permanent enjoyment. Of course, if they are so filled with the Spirit, they feel no appetite for debasing and material stimulants.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Eph 5:18. Excess is from ASOTIA. Thayer and Robinson agree on the meaning cf this word, butj shall quote the definition of the latter because he uses a more common language. “Debauchery, revelry, riot.” The American Standard Version also renders it “riot.” The heathens generally filled themselves with wine and then engaged in their idolatrous performances, which often were disorderly even to the extent of being immoral. In contrast to that, Paul instructs his brethren to be filled with the Spirit. That can be done by drinking deep from the fountain of truth as it is produced by the Spirit through the preaching and teaching of the apostles. Instead of making them drunk and leading them into riotous actions and filthy conversations, it will produce the kind of thought exchange that is indicated in the next verse.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eph 5:18. And adds to the general precept of Eph 5:17 a special prohibition of a common form of becoming senseless.
Be not made drank. To be taken literally, since the vice deserved then, and has ever since deserved, such special mention.
With wine; the usual intoxicating liquor.
But this word is not the prominent one.
Wherein refers to becoming drunk, not to wine, since the moral quality is not attributed to a material object, but to a human habit
Excess, or, dissoluteness. The word is derived from another which means one who does not know how to save, and has in the New Testament the sense of profligacy, dissoluteness; comp. Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4. It is true that other forms of intoxication are forbidden, but there is in the vice of intemperance that kind of dissoluteness which brooks no restraint, which defies all efforts to reform it, and which sinks lower and lower into helpless ruin (Eadie). Unfortunately efforts to check the vice have been frequently thwarted by the unwisdom of so-called reformers.
But be filled in the Spirit. Over against the temporary intoxication, is the permanent state of fulness; the contrast is between the verbs, as the originalindicate. Spirit does not refer to the human spirit, but to the Holy Spirit, as dwelling in our spirit In is instrumental, but points to that in which as well as with which they are to be filled. The Christians joy is not brief intoxication, but abiding exaltation in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The next verses show how this spiritual joy expresses itself.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. Our apostle’s seasonable dehortation: Be not drunk with wine. Drunkenness, as well as uncleanness, and drunkenness with uncleanness, for they commonly go together, were sins which the Ephesians and unconverted pagans were generally guilty of. St. Paul therefore cautions these new converts against this old sin, which transports men to insolent and outrageous practices, as the words next intimate, For therein is excess. The original word may be rendered lewdness and lust, to denote, that when persons are inflamed with wine, they are liable to all manner of excessive wickedness, and particularly to the sin of uncleanness.
Observe, 2. The duty exhorted to, in order to the prevention of this sin; and that is, to labour and endeavour, instead of being filled with wine, to be full of the Holy Spirit of God, to be filled with the sanctifying graces of the Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God, he allows us to seek after the greatest and fullest measures of the Holy Spirit; and injurious we are to ourselves, if we content ourselves with small measures and degrees of it.
The sense of the word seems to be this: Let no Christian allow himself in any sinful excesses; let him never fill himself with wine or strong drink, or with meat and drink to the full, for that fulness will breed all manner of sensual lusts in him: but let his desires and endeavours be carried out after the grace and Spirit of God, let him be filled therewith; for that fulness will keep the soul holy, the body chaste, and render the Christian fit for the fruitation and enjoyment of God in heaven. Take your fill of the Spirit; you can never be overfilled.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Eph 5:18-21. And be not drunk with wine As the heathen are when they celebrate the feasts of Bacchus, their god of wine; wherein is excess Which is the source of all manner of extravagance, and leads to debauchery of every kind. The original word , here rendered excess, signifies entire dissoluteness of mind and manners, and such a course of life as is void of counsel and prudent intention, like the behaviour of persons who are continually drunk. While the above-mentioned Bacchanalia continued, men and women made it a point of religion to intoxicate themselves, and ran about the streets, fields, and vineyards, singing and shouting in a wild and tumultuous manner; in opposition to which extravagant vociferations, singing praises to God is with great propriety recommended. Plato tells us, that there was hardly a sober person to be found in the whole Attican territories during the continuance of these detestable feasts. But be ye filled with the Spirit In all his graces, which gives a joy unspeakably more delightful, exhilarating, and permanent, than that which is produced by the fumes of wine. The antithesis is beautiful. The lewd votaries of Bacchus fill themselves with wine; but be ye filled with the Spirit. In which precept there is this remarkable propriety, that our Lord had represented the influences of the Spirit, (which he invited all who thirsted for them, to come to him and receive,) under the emblem of rivers of living water, which he commanded believers to drink plentifully, Joh 7:37-39. Speaking to yourselves That is, to one another, by the Spirit, for your mutual edification; in psalms Of David, and hymns Of praise; and spiritual songs On any divine subject; of this latter kind were the songs of Elisabeth, of Mary, and of Zecharias, recorded by Luk 1:42; Luk 1:46; Luk 1:67. By there being no inspired songs, peculiarly adapted to the Christian dispensation, as there were to the Jewish. it is evident that the promise of the Holy Ghost to believers in the last days, was, by his larger effusion, to supply this want. Singing and making melody Which will be as acceptable and pleasing to God as music is to us; in your heart As well as your voice, your affections going along with your words, without which no external melody, be it ever so exact and harmonious, can be pleasing to his ear; to the Lord Jesus, who searcheth the heart; giving thanks always At all times and places; for all things Prosperous or adverse, for all things work together for good to them that love God; in the name Or through the mediation; of our Lord Jesus Christ By whom we receive all good things. Submitting yourselves , being subject, one to another Performing those mutual duties to each other, which belong to you according to your several places and stations. As if he had said, While you are careful, as above directed, in the duties of praise and piety to God, be not negligent in those which you owe to your fellow-creatures, but perform them punctually in all the various relations in which you stand to each other; in the fear of God Properly influenced thereby, and evidencing to all around you that you truly fear and obey him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
18. Be not drunk with wine, in which there is riot, but be ye filled with the Spirit. This verse is beautifully and lucidly expository of the preceding, warning us not to be foolish, but to understand the will of the Lord. Now, what is the will of the Lord? The eighteenth verse answers, Be ye filled with the Spirit. Hence, we see that the will of the Lord is that we all be filled with the Spirit, and in case ofdelinquency we are denominated foolish. O how few people in this world are filled with the Spirit The virgins in the parable were called foolish, because they were not filled with the Spirit. We can well afford to let the people call us foolish, for that is no evidence that it is true. But we can not afford to have the Holy Ghost pronounce us foolish, for in that case we are fools to an absolute Certainty. Then let us all get filled with the Spirit, and keep full, as only in this way we can escape the imputation of folly by the Infallible One. Bear in mind, you must be completely emptied of sin before you can be filled with the Holy Ghost. Then expeditiously get under the blood, and trust for a radical emptying of your spirit from all evil. Then trust your Savior to fill you with the Holy Ghost, and there abide forever.
19,20. These verses establish the fact that the Holy Ghost not only fills the heart, but he opens the mouth and makes us sing, testify, and speak fluently and indefatigably for God. It is simply awful to spend an hour in a fashionable city church listening to Satans giggling choir squeal out a few operatic songs, utterly unintelligible to the congregation sitting dumb as tombstones. These graveyard Churches are the devils counterfeits. Gods Churches are like a graveyard on the resurrection morn, when the awful excitement of the archangels trump is bursting every tomb. Bishop FitzGerald well says, that when the singing is confined to the choir, it is very inappropriate to sing anything except Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound! as it is a funeral occasion; the Church is dead. Rest assured the Holy Ghost always makes people sing. So when a congregation quits singing, they have already become a good missionary field.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Now, to that age old question as to whether the wine of the Bible was mind impairing. Many declare unequivocally that it was not, but this verse tends to make them out to be fools in their statements.
Our pastor asked us over for dinner one Sunday. His grandmother and brother’s family were there as well. The topic of the alcoholic nature of wine in the Bible came up and the brothers were discussing it. I was sitting next to their grandmother, a friend of ours, and she started in to explain to them that they were really wrong on this one, that her Lord would not make booze, nor drink it.
She turned to me and glared asking, “Do you think the Lord turned water into alcohol?” and before my answer was formed in my mind she slapped my arm quite sharply and exhorted me “Well, yours might but mine wouldn’t!” Friends we remained and as grandma she was still loved.
Don’t be drunk or controlled by wine but be filled or controlled by the Spirit. The two are contrasted thus the control seems to be the thought of filled. “Filled” relates to completeness of a thing. In a cup of water it relates to that complete filling to the point just before the surface tension that allows the water to pile up above the rim of the cup breaks and allows the water to drain down the side.
Combine the thought of being pure, with the thought of being totally controlled by the Spirit should be an awesome duo for your mind to muddle around in. This is God’s desire and nothing less is the standard of living for the saint.
The obvious application is that saints should not be out boozing it up, but in the other end of the passage, we should never be controlled by anything but the Spirit – not anger, not lust, not desire, not work, not toys, not homes, not any material thing and certainly not any other person or philosophy.
Our life focus should be on maintaining a pure heart and committing ourselves to following the Spirit to the works that He would have us involved with. A side application of this might be that if you are living the best life you can and if you are seeking the Lord’s leading in your life, then you can be assured that you are squarely planted in the place/ministry/job situation that He wants you in.
There is no need for you to be squirming and straining to get on to the next phase, just be used where you are.
I visit a “pastors” board on the internet and one of the recent questions was “When should I start to think about moving on?” The man had been in his present pastorate less than two years and was already looking for an excuse to move on. The sad part wasn’t only that he was ready to move, but several of the answers seemed to support his beginning to look. They seemed to feel that the average pastor only remaining in a church for eighteen months was a good thing.
I would suggest you don’t even know your congregation yet at eighteen months, so how can you think you have done all you can do there? We are called to train and disciple. Christ even took three years to train His disciples, so why should a pastor think he can do it in a lesser time?
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
5:18 {5} And be not drunk with wine, wherein is {k} excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
(5) He sets the sober and holy assemblies of the faithful against the immoral banquets of the unfaithful, in which the praises of the only Lord must ring, whether it is it in prosperity or diversity.
(k) Every type of disorder, together with every manner of filthiness and shamefulness.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Specifically we should not let wine control us but God’s Holy Spirit. Both forces are internal. "Be filled" is a passive command. It amounts to letting the Holy Spirit who indwells us control us completely. We do this by trusting and obeying Him as His Word directs. The wine that fills a person controls every area of his life as long as that person consumes it. Drunkenness results in incorrigible behavior. Likewise the believer who allows the Spirit to influence and direct his thinking and behavior will experience His control as long as he maintains that relationship to the Spirit (cf. Luk 1:15; Act 2:12-21). Another translation of the command is, "Be being kept filled by the Spirit." [Note: See Chafer, He That . . ., pp. 39-81. See also Randall Gleason, "B. B. Warfield and Lewis S. Chafer on Sanctification," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (June 1997):241-56; Andreas J. Köstenberger, "What Does It Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit? A Biblical Investigation," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (June 1997):229-40; and Eldon Woodcock, "The Filling of the Holy Spirit," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:625 (January-March 2000):68-87.] This is our ongoing responsibility (present tense), and it is obligatory for every Christian, not optional.
"The baptism of the Spirit means that I belong to Christ’s body. The filling of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Christ." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:48. See also ibid., p. 49, for some helpful contrasts between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit.]