I want to tell you about a teaching that drove my life into the ground.
It goes like this: Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit for salvation and power for living. In order to tap into His power we need to be “filled with the Spirit.” Although God has given us His Spirit, there are degrees of filling with the Spirit. In order to be filled with the Spirit, we need to make sure that we have confessed our sin, remain consistent in Bible reading, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines.
Other Christian traditions will tell this two stage story a little bit differently. But no matter how you tell the story, the story is wrong. We play no part in the filling of the Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit if we are in Christ.
Colossians 2:9-10 says, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.”
If we are in Christ, we have been filled. We don’t lose the filling of the Spirit, ever. When we sin, we did not cease to be filled with the Spirit. In fact, we confess our sins BECAUSE we are filled with the Spirit, not in order to get the filling of the Spirit back. If we grieve the Spirit, we don’t cease to be filled. We will know His grief because He has filled us. He never leaves you. He does not leak.
When we are commanded to be filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18, Paul is contrasting getting drunk. His point is NOT that there are degrees of filling with the Spirit, but to be careful what influence we come under. The thought is this: “filled with the Spirit” is who we are in Christ, don’t come under any other controlling influence. See Michael Horton’s very helpful explanation here.
This error drove me to the ground because I was the responsible for the filling of the Spirit. I had to work to get life and power from Jesus. But I will work no more! His life and power is always available to me. I simply trust (believe!) that I “have been filled.” And if He fills me, He will perfectly carry out His will in me and through me.
Think that’s to good to be true? It gets even better.
To be continued…
Sounds a lot like a certain booklet propagated by a certain well-known international campus-oriented ministry…
Yeah Bill Bright’s Spirit-Filled Life was very influential to me. I love Campus Crusade for Christ and I don’t think Bright’s view of the Spirit-filled life has to be agreed on by everyone who works for Crusade. I am not sure about that though.
I will chime in as a full time staff member of said organization. Yes, I agree with David. Not everyone agrees on exactly the same thing all the time.
I know the heart behind the Holy Spirit filled booklet is that there are an exceptional number of “Christians” who have no idea what the Holy Spirit is or even that they have received it subsequently at conversion. I know this, because I lived that way a long time.
But, I do see the danger in the pendulum swinging way over to the works side like you are speaking of. So, feel free to call the organization by name, we are not chickens Mr. Skinner, we encourage open dialogue about theology as we are changing as organization ourselves. I am sure you can relate to this, being part of the House of Prayer movement.
Thanks for the post Mr. Dorr!
Indeed. I am actually a big fan of CCC, had a huge influence on my life in college. Thankful for workers like you, its very important work! Keep it up.
Thanks for the reply back Chris. I definitely appreciate the work of the House of Prayer; we have partnered with the C-HOP many times.
I guess I am just realizing, how easy in my mind I can mistake “Being filled with the spirit” with “living a spirit filled life.” There is a major difference. Thanks for the good conversation.
I don’t think that it is accidental that being filled with the Spirit is contrasted with being drunk with wine. We are to be under and remain under the control of the Holy Spirit. It is not automatic. It is hard to get around the fact that πληροῦσθε (Eph 5:18 BGT) is in the imperative present passive/middle, not the indicative. The force of the command, even in the passive, is still there.
I’m sure J. Gary Ellison said something very smart and important, but I have no clue what it means!
Haha!
Care to explain, J?