There is a popular teaching circulating among some people today about some sort of second work of grace called the filling of the Holy Spirit. These people say that after one "gets saved," he needs to be "filled with the Holy Spirit." The verse they use to support this doctrine is found in Ephesians 5:18 where St. Paul says:
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 5:18)
They say that one must yield one's life to God and pray a prayer asking God to fill him or her with His Holy Spirit. The people who teach this doctrine seem to think that there is a special class of Christians who are Spirit-filled Christians and another class of Christians who are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
Of course, we should yield our lives to God. We need to be doing this on a day by day, moment by moment basis, but there is no second work of grace called the filling of the Holy Spirit.
As for praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a prayer that Orthodox pray when they are beginning their prayers. It is:
O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who art in all places and fillest all things, the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Every Christian who prays this prayer in faith is being filled with the Holy Spirit as he or she prays.
The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. For attribute click here.
One of the things that I oppose in the teaching of this novel doctrine about being filled with the Holy Spirit is the idea that there are Christians walking around without some special filling of the Holy Spirit and there are Christians who have this special filling of the Holy Spirit after having made a decision to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
There are many fillings of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible. King Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he prophesied. (I Sam. 10:9-13) St. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke to the Jewish religious leaders about Christ. (Acts 4:5-12) St. Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke to Elymas the Sorcerer and told him he would become blind for a while. (Acts 13:8-11) St. John Chrysostom said that we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we are baptized.
See how even among the seven one was preëminent, and won the first prize. For though the ordination was common to him and them, yet he drew upon himself greater grace. And observe, how he wrought no (signs and wonders) before this time, but only when he became publicly known; to show that grace alone is not sufficient, but there must be ordination also; so that there was a further access of the Spirit. For if they were full of the Spirit, it was of that which is from the Laver of Baptism. (Homilies on the Acts of the Holy Apostles, Homily XV, by St. John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D., vol. 11, p. 94, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)
He also said that we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we sing psalms to God.
“But be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God even the Father; subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.” (Eph. 5:18-21)
Dost thou wish, he says, to be cheerful, dost thou wish to employ the day? I give thee spiritual drink; for drunkenness even cuts off the articulate sound of our tongue; it makes us lisp and stammer, and distorts the eyes, and the whole frame together. Learn to sing psalms, and thou shall see the delightfulness of the employment. For they who sing psalms are filled with the Holy Spirit, as they who sing satanic songs are filled with an unclean spirit.
What is meant by “with your hearts to the Lord”? It means, with close attention and understanding. For they who do not attend closely, merely sing, uttering the words, whilst their heart is roaming elsewhere. (Homilies on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, Homily XIX, by St. John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D., vol. 13, p. 138, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)
That is what St. Paul was talking about when he told the Ephesian Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 5:18) He meant to do that by singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to the Lord. (Eph. 5:19) He was not telling them they need some special second work of grace that would make them better than the average Christian.
Some of these people who teach this doctrine say that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit after having made a decision to do so, we immediately acquire the "fruit of the Spirit" mentioned in Galatians 5:22,23.
It is true that those qualities mentioned in Galatians 5:22,23 are the work of the Holy Spirit, but we ourselves often have to work with God at acquiring those qualities. We have to cooperate with God to obtain love, joy, peace, faithfulness, meekness, and all of those other qualities. They do not just come to us after we say one prayer. St. Gregory Dialogos said that those who are full of the Holy Spirit will exhibit both zeal and meekness.
Those, therefore, are to be admonished to fly what is close beside themselves, these to take heed to what is in themselves; those to discern what they have not, these what they have. Let the meek embrace solicitude; let the passionate ban perturbation, The meek are to be admonished that they study to have also the zeal of righteousness: the passionate are to be admonished that to the zeal which they think they have they add meekness. For on this account the Holy Spirit has been manifested to us in a dove and in fire; because, to wit, all whom He fills He causes to shew themselves as meek with the simplicity of the dove, and burning with the fire of zeal.
He then is in no wise full of the Holy Spirit, who either in the calm of meekness forsakes the fervour of zeal, or again in the ardour of zeal loses the virtue of meekness. (The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part III, chapter 16, by St. Gregory Dialogos, 540-604 A.D., vol. 12, part 2, p. 40, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)
So then, there are actually many ways that one can be filled with the Holy Spirit. One can be filled with the Holy Spirit when he or she is baptized. One can become filled with the Holy Spirit by striving to acquire virtue. One can be filled with the Holy Spirit while singing hymns and songs of praise to God.
Yes, we do need to yield our lives to God, but that is something every Christian should be doing anyway. Jesus said:
And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (St. Luke 6:46)
and:
If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed. (St John 8:31)
Striving to live a life pleasing to God is the job of every Christian. Any Christian who is doing that is filled with the Holy Spirit. Worshipping God is something every Christian should do regularly. Any Christian who sings hymns to God is filled with the Holy Spirit when he or she is doing so. There are many times during the life of a Christian when he or she will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Anyone who gives himself over to overindulging in carnal pleasure, however, becomes a servant of carnal pleasure. St. Paul said:
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:8)
Such people are not filled with the Holy Spirit. In the next verse, the apostle says:
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. (Rom. 8:9)
Everyone who has been baptized and chrismated has the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit from the very moment that we issue from the baptismal font. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit after being chrismated.
The apostle further adds:
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. (Rom. 8:9)
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit, is not a Christian. Anyone who is a Christian has the Holy Spirit. There is no special class of Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit and another class that is not.
Remember from previous blogs that I have said that the Holy Spirit is God. No one can have God without having the Holy Spirit. No one can the Holy Spirit without having God. It is impossible to have one Person of the Holy Trinity without having the other Two. All Three Persons are one God and share the same essence.
Now, it is possible for the Holy Spirit to depart from a Christian. Actually, it is the sinning Christian who departs from the Holy Spirit and not the other way around although we often speak of the Holy Spirit departing from a person. The Holy Spirit, being God, is in all places at all times. So, a Christian can lapse and depart from God.
There are many examples of someone losing his relationship with the Holy Spirit in the Bible. The Holy Spirit departed from King Saul because of his disobedience. (I Sam. 16:14) King David prayed that the Holy Spirit would not leave him after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. (Psalm 50:11, LXX; Psalm 51:11, Hebrew) When a Christian returns to a life of sin, the Holy Spirit departs from him. (Wisd. 1:4,5; II Chron. 15:2; Rom. 8:13, 14)
So then, there are many fillings of the Holy Spirit. All Christians have the Holy Spirit and any Christian who returns to a life of sin, has put his soul in jeopardy and lost his relationship with God. Lapsed Christians, like non-Christians, do not have the Holy Spirit. They must repent in order to regain their relationship with God.
SteveAnd be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. (Eph. 5:18)
They say that one must yield one's life to God and pray a prayer asking God to fill him or her with His Holy Spirit. The people who teach this doctrine seem to think that there is a special class of Christians who are Spirit-filled Christians and another class of Christians who are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
Of course, we should yield our lives to God. We need to be doing this on a day by day, moment by moment basis, but there is no second work of grace called the filling of the Holy Spirit.
As for praying to be filled with the Holy Spirit, there is a prayer that Orthodox pray when they are beginning their prayers. It is:
O Heavenly King, O Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who art in all places and fillest all things, the Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and abide in us, cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.
Every Christian who prays this prayer in faith is being filled with the Holy Spirit as he or she prays.
The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. For attribute click here.
One of the things that I oppose in the teaching of this novel doctrine about being filled with the Holy Spirit is the idea that there are Christians walking around without some special filling of the Holy Spirit and there are Christians who have this special filling of the Holy Spirit after having made a decision to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
There are many fillings of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible. King Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he prophesied. (I Sam. 10:9-13) St. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke to the Jewish religious leaders about Christ. (Acts 4:5-12) St. Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit when he spoke to Elymas the Sorcerer and told him he would become blind for a while. (Acts 13:8-11) St. John Chrysostom said that we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we are baptized.
See how even among the seven one was preëminent, and won the first prize. For though the ordination was common to him and them, yet he drew upon himself greater grace. And observe, how he wrought no (signs and wonders) before this time, but only when he became publicly known; to show that grace alone is not sufficient, but there must be ordination also; so that there was a further access of the Spirit. For if they were full of the Spirit, it was of that which is from the Laver of Baptism. (Homilies on the Acts of the Holy Apostles, Homily XV, by St. John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D., vol. 11, p. 94, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)
He also said that we are filled with the Holy Spirit when we sing psalms to God.
“But be filled with the Spirit; speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God even the Father; subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.” (Eph. 5:18-21)
Dost thou wish, he says, to be cheerful, dost thou wish to employ the day? I give thee spiritual drink; for drunkenness even cuts off the articulate sound of our tongue; it makes us lisp and stammer, and distorts the eyes, and the whole frame together. Learn to sing psalms, and thou shall see the delightfulness of the employment. For they who sing psalms are filled with the Holy Spirit, as they who sing satanic songs are filled with an unclean spirit.
What is meant by “with your hearts to the Lord”? It means, with close attention and understanding. For they who do not attend closely, merely sing, uttering the words, whilst their heart is roaming elsewhere. (Homilies on St. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, Homily XIX, by St. John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D., vol. 13, p. 138, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series)
That is what St. Paul was talking about when he told the Ephesian Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 5:18) He meant to do that by singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to the Lord. (Eph. 5:19) He was not telling them they need some special second work of grace that would make them better than the average Christian.
Some of these people who teach this doctrine say that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit after having made a decision to do so, we immediately acquire the "fruit of the Spirit" mentioned in Galatians 5:22,23.
It is true that those qualities mentioned in Galatians 5:22,23 are the work of the Holy Spirit, but we ourselves often have to work with God at acquiring those qualities. We have to cooperate with God to obtain love, joy, peace, faithfulness, meekness, and all of those other qualities. They do not just come to us after we say one prayer. St. Gregory Dialogos said that those who are full of the Holy Spirit will exhibit both zeal and meekness.
Those, therefore, are to be admonished to fly what is close beside themselves, these to take heed to what is in themselves; those to discern what they have not, these what they have. Let the meek embrace solicitude; let the passionate ban perturbation, The meek are to be admonished that they study to have also the zeal of righteousness: the passionate are to be admonished that to the zeal which they think they have they add meekness. For on this account the Holy Spirit has been manifested to us in a dove and in fire; because, to wit, all whom He fills He causes to shew themselves as meek with the simplicity of the dove, and burning with the fire of zeal.
He then is in no wise full of the Holy Spirit, who either in the calm of meekness forsakes the fervour of zeal, or again in the ardour of zeal loses the virtue of meekness. (The Book of Pastoral Rule, Part III, chapter 16, by St. Gregory Dialogos, 540-604 A.D., vol. 12, part 2, p. 40, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series)
So then, there are actually many ways that one can be filled with the Holy Spirit. One can be filled with the Holy Spirit when he or she is baptized. One can become filled with the Holy Spirit by striving to acquire virtue. One can be filled with the Holy Spirit while singing hymns and songs of praise to God.
Yes, we do need to yield our lives to God, but that is something every Christian should be doing anyway. Jesus said:
And why call ye Me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (St. Luke 6:46)
and:
If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed. (St John 8:31)
Striving to live a life pleasing to God is the job of every Christian. Any Christian who is doing that is filled with the Holy Spirit. Worshipping God is something every Christian should do regularly. Any Christian who sings hymns to God is filled with the Holy Spirit when he or she is doing so. There are many times during the life of a Christian when he or she will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Anyone who gives himself over to overindulging in carnal pleasure, however, becomes a servant of carnal pleasure. St. Paul said:
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:8)
Such people are not filled with the Holy Spirit. In the next verse, the apostle says:
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. (Rom. 8:9)
Everyone who has been baptized and chrismated has the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit from the very moment that we issue from the baptismal font. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit after being chrismated.
The apostle further adds:
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. (Rom. 8:9)
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit, is not a Christian. Anyone who is a Christian has the Holy Spirit. There is no special class of Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit and another class that is not.
Remember from previous blogs that I have said that the Holy Spirit is God. No one can have God without having the Holy Spirit. No one can the Holy Spirit without having God. It is impossible to have one Person of the Holy Trinity without having the other Two. All Three Persons are one God and share the same essence.
Now, it is possible for the Holy Spirit to depart from a Christian. Actually, it is the sinning Christian who departs from the Holy Spirit and not the other way around although we often speak of the Holy Spirit departing from a person. The Holy Spirit, being God, is in all places at all times. So, a Christian can lapse and depart from God.
There are many examples of someone losing his relationship with the Holy Spirit in the Bible. The Holy Spirit departed from King Saul because of his disobedience. (I Sam. 16:14) King David prayed that the Holy Spirit would not leave him after he committed adultery with Bathsheba. (Psalm 50:11, LXX; Psalm 51:11, Hebrew) When a Christian returns to a life of sin, the Holy Spirit departs from him. (Wisd. 1:4,5; II Chron. 15:2; Rom. 8:13, 14)
So then, there are many fillings of the Holy Spirit. All Christians have the Holy Spirit and any Christian who returns to a life of sin, has put his soul in jeopardy and lost his relationship with God. Lapsed Christians, like non-Christians, do not have the Holy Spirit. They must repent in order to regain their relationship with God.
Bibliography
Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts, D.D. & James Donaldson, LL.D., volumes 1-10, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, edited by Philip Schaff, D.D., LL.D. & Henry Wace, D.D., volumes 1-14, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., Peabody, Massachusetts
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