The Spirit-filled Church
What do you think of when you hear the words “Spirit-filled”? What does a Spirit-filled church look like? Ephesians 5:18 commands us to be “filled with the Spirit,” but how do we do it, and what does it look like when we do?
In Ephesians, the apostle Paul gives us one of the Bible’s loftiest expositions of God’s purpose for the church, a plan forged before the beginning when God “chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world” and “predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will . . . a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth . . .This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1:4-5,10; 3:11). It is in this context of God’s eternal plan that we can best understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the church.
The Holy Spirit permeates Ephesians, just as he permeates every aspect of the church and the Christian life. Like a down payment, the Spirit proves God’s intentions for us: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (1:13-14).
It is the Holy Spirit who enables us to understand the hope we have in Christ and who teaches us to treasure what Christ treasures—his glorious inheritance—the church “which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (1:23). Hence Paul’s prayer: “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (1:17-18).
The Spirit’s mission is to gather Jew and Gentile together into one family, one temple, a single dwelling place for God:
“For through him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (2:18-22).
Perhaps you’ve never thought of it this way, but we are too weak for Christ to dwell in our hearts. We cannot contain His great love without the work of the Spirit to strengthen us. This is why Paul prayed:
“according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (3:16-19).
When we understand the heart of the Holy Spirit, we understand why Paul urges us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3) and why he warns us, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (4:30-32). How do we grieve God’s Spirit? By tearing apart his work.
So now we return to our question: how can we be filled with the Spirit? Paul tells us plainly: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (5:18-21). This is the Bible’s picture of the Spirit-filled church. This is what it looks like to be a person with whom the Triune God dwells.
