Ephesians

Live in the Spirit

The next word Paul gives us in this passage has to do with our resources in the Spirit. We are to live life in the overflowing power and presence of the Holy Spirit. He writes, “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). Paul contrasts two opposing kinds of influence on our lives: Being drunk with wine versus being filled with the Spirit. It is interesting to note the parallels as well as the contrasts between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit. The same pressures in life, the same troubles and demands, will drive some people to drink, but will drive others deeper into the embrace of the Spirit. Under the influence of wine, people lose their inhibitions and gain confidence—but lose control. Under the influence of the Spirit, people gain boldness under God’s control.

The word here translated “debauchery” is the Greek word asotia, which means “without limits, with reckless abandon.” It refers to escapism and the tendency to throw all restraints overboard and live out of control. By contrast, Paul tells us that when we feel we need strength to face life with its troubles, we should not seek the reckless escapism of alcohol, but the strength and power of the Holy Spirit.

Here is the great secret of real Christianity—the reality of being filled with the Spirit. When you became a Christian, when you believed in Jesus Christ and received Him as your Lord, the Holy Spirit came to live in you. You are sealed by the Spirit and you are indwelt by the Spirit—but the paradox is that we still need to be constantly, repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the momentary access of the resources of the Spirit for individual situations. It has nothing to do with a “religious experience” or with feelings. It is a quiet drinking from an inner supply of strength given by the Spirit.

Jesus put it beautifully when He spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well: Please read John 4:7-14. Notice those two key words in verse 14: “in him.” The well, Jesus says, is no longer going to be outside of us, so that you have to go somewhere else, but it will be in us. That well is the Holy Spirit, and we can drink from it at any time. The Spirit is our adequate and ever-present resource for any demand that is made upon us.

Paul says that life is to be lived with the recognition that demands and pressures come all the time. We are not to meet them with artificial means, with alcohol or tranquilizers or any of the more modern substitutes. We are to meet them by being filled with the Spirit. We are to drink from the Spirit within us, not from a bottle of wine.