Ephesians 5:17–24
Be Filled With The Spirit (Study notes)
Summary
Believers are called to understand God's will, be filled with the Spirit rather than drunk with wine, worship with psalms and hymns, give thanks always, and practice mutual submission—particularly in the marriage relationship where wives submit to husbands as the church submits to Christ.
1. Introduction
Ephesians 5:17 – "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."
Be not unwise. Stop being foolish, senseless, without intelligence, and lacking in wisdom and start using good judgement and reason.
But understanding what the will of the Lord is. Divinely enlightened by prayer and meditation what the will of the Lord is!
Be a Bible Christian, give God's Word the place that it deserves, then you will understand what He wants you to be and to do.
2. The Entrance of God's Word Gives Light
Psalm 119:130 – "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple."
God's will is revealed in God's Word. Our first concern is God's will.
Ephesians 5:18 – "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;"
No longer partake of strong drink. Drunkenness leads to riot and ruin. It corrupts the character, has no restraint, it sinks its victims lower and lower into helplessness and hopelessness.
What Paul is referring to is the culture that they once lived in, and that is worshiping false gods. The priests of those religions would pretend to speak for their god and then they would worship with wine drinking until all were drunk.
But a strong contrast from the physical to the spiritual. From debasing to ennobling. In days of routine men need stimulation and inspiration. The Christian resource is the Holy Spirit.
Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Although Christians have the Holy Spirit, not all are filled with the Spirit which is their heritage. The fullness of the Holy Spirit was the normal experience in the early church.
Be filled! The Greek word means you all, every one without exception. It is a positive command. A distinct duty. He has commanded every born again Christian to be filled and to keep on being filled. The question is not of having the Holy Spirit, but of the Holy Spirit having all of us.
Biblical Examples of Spirit Baptism
Acts 8:14-17 – "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."
Acts 10:44 – "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word."
Acts 19:3-6 – "And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied."
Luke 11:11-13 – "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"
3. A Personal Testimony
I was one of those hungry ones, though I had barely begun asking. I was eleven years old at junior camp—just a little girl among little girls, more concerned with friendships and fun than with deep theology. That night, after a typical camp sermon—one of those made-for-children messages about receiving the Holy Spirit—the altar call was given. The humid Florida air was thick, and the sound of Pentecostal praying began its customary crescendo. Several of my friends and I had gone forward together. We knelt and sat around the wooden altars, some crying softly, others praying out loud in the uncertain but sincere way children do.
There was another girl, not really part of our circle, who had been hovering around us all week. She was quiet—almost painfully shy—but kind. None of us had excluded her, yet she always stayed on the edge of things, watching. That night she came and knelt beside me. After a few moments she turned and whispered so softly I almost missed it: "Will you pray for me?"
Her words pierced something deep inside me. I was only eleven. I had no idea how to pray for anyone else. A mixture of compassion and unworthiness welled up inside me. I began to cry—tears that came from somewhere beyond my understanding.
As I opened my mouth to tell her that I didn't know what to say, the words that came out were not English at all.
Another language—three or four syllables repeated like waves—rose up from my heart and poured out of my mouth. I could not have stopped it if I had tried. The moment I spoke, joy, unlike anything I had ever known, flooded through me. It was the "unspeakable gift" Peter wrote about, the joy of being filled with the Spirit of God Himself. Acts 1:8 says, "You shall receive power when the Holy Ghost has come upon you" (paraphrased). I felt that power—not as thunder or lightning but as pure, overwhelming love.
The little girl beside me looked bewildered, perhaps even frightened, but I was lost in the Spirit. I remember lifting my hands, tears and laughter mingling together. The counselors let me be. I spoke in tongues for what seemed like an hour, waves of praise flowing over me. It was as though heaven had opened, and I was standing under its waterfall.
When at last the experience quieted, I felt lighter—cleaner somehow—as if every cell in my body was singing. I knew, even at eleven, that something holy had happened. I didn't have the vocabulary for pneumatology or any other type of theological explanation; I simply knew Jesus was closer than breath. I had knocked on heaven's door, asked for "bread at midnight" each night of camp, and then, without even realizing it, the Lord had "gotten up" to meet me there at that wooden altar and equipped me to do His work.
In the days that followed, I was different. I wanted to pray more, to read my Bible, to worship. I found myself boldly offering prayers for others. The verse "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38) came alive to me. The "fountains of the deep" broke open for me that night at camp. Rivers began to flow, and they have never stopped.
4. Speaking to Yourselves
Ephesians 5:19 – "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord"
This pictures a string instrument being played along with songs from the heart. Not just talent, but worship to God from the heart.
Ephesians 5:20 – "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;"
James 1:2-3 – "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."
Ephesians 5:21 – "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
The way to have harmony and peace. This submission is reciprocal, mutual, voluntary, and personal. It is opposed to rudeness, haughtiness, and self.
5. Marriage Relationships
Ephesians 5:22 – "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord."
The word for submission is a military word, and it means to line up under. It means to subject yourself in a special way. Submission is not slavish fear, neither is it forced upon her by a demanding domestic despot, but is voluntary. There is no hint of inferiority, but a matter of authority and responsibility in the home. Husbands and wives are parts of a unit.
As unto the Lord – The word Church seems to be necessarily understood here; that is: Act under the authority of your husbands, as the Church acts under the authority of Christ. As the Church submits to the Lord, so let wives submit to their husbands.
What if the husband is not a believer? (1 Pet. 3:1-7)
Genesis 2:18 – "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him"
Genesis 2:21-22 – "And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man."
Just as the pastor of a church is responsible for the members of the church, so then is the husband responsible for the conditions of the home.
Ephesians 5:23 – "For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body."
Ephesians 5:24 – "Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing."