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The Controlling Work of the Holy Spirit
Now,
we come to the controlling work of the Holy Spirit. This work of the
Holy Spirit is probably best captured in:
And do not get
drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the
Spirit.
(Ephesians 5:18)
Before we can explore this very important ministry of
the Holy Spirit, we have to explore the metaphor that Paul employs here,
in which he contrasts being drunk on wine with being drunk in the
Spirit. To get drunk on wine, I have to drink deeply of the wine.
Now, what happens when a person is drunk with wine? I
have never been drunk, but from what I can observe, a person who is
drunk with wine is not necessarily physically filled with wine, i.e.
their stomachs may still have room in them, but the wine is influencing
and literally controlling the behavior of that person.
When people are drunk
with wine, the wine controls them and makes them different than they are
normally or brings out aspects of them that are normally repressed.
Quiet people may
become loud.
Shy people may
become bold.
Hard people may
become gentle and reminiscent.
Nasty people may
become nice.
Wine controls or
influences people to do things that they normally don’t or cannot do in
and of themselves! This is what it means to be filled with wine! So,
when I talk about this from now on, I am going to refer to this as being
"controlled" by the Holy Spirit. I am not going to use the term
"filled," because that word does not convey to modern people the picture
that Paul drew and because Luke also talks about being "filled" with the
Holy Spirit, but means something different. This confuses people and
confuses teaching, because we assume that Paul and Luke mean the same
thing, when they use the word "filled." I am convinced the Luke means
something different than Paul, when he uses the word "filled," in Acts
2:4.
Now we can move
forward and look at the contrasts and comparisons that Paul draws
between being drunk with wine and being drunk in the Holy Spirit.
Paul gives a command
to not get drunk with wine and then he describes the impact of being
drunk with the words "in which is dissipation." The word "dissipation"
is a very interesting word. The English word means "overindulgence in
pursuit of pleasure" (Microsoft Encarta World English Dictionary). Isn’t
this exactly what drunkenness is all about? Many people are in such pain
that they overindulge in alcoholic beverages, because they are in search
of pleasure that will soothe the pain.
The Greek word is the
negative of the word for "salvation." It is the word asotia, i.e. sotia
made negative by the letter "a." Now the Greek word for "salvation"
stands for:
deliverance;
healing;
health;
help;
preservation;
prosperity;
rescue;
safety;
victory;
welfare;
So, being drunk with
wine is the opposite of what salvation stands for, i.e.:
From Denomination to
Reformation:
An Introduction to Biblecostalism™
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