Key scripture and commentary. Listed in alphabetical order.
Ephesians 5:18
“And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit.“
The word dissipation here refers to reckless, wasteful, morally uncontrolled living- behavior that lacks restraint and leads to run. In the original Greek, the word is asotia, which carries the idea of debauchery, excessive indulgence in sinful pleasures, especially those involving sensuality, immorality, and lack of self-control.
Drunkenness leads to dissipation. Being filled with the Spirit- leads to self-control and godly living.
Paul is saying: Don’t let alcohol control you and lead you into reckless living. Instead let the Holy Spirit control and guide you. Be under the influence of (filled with) the Holy Spirit and not the distilled spirit.
Scripture consistently condemns all drunkenness (Proverbs 23:29-35; 31:4,5; Isaiah 5:11,12; 28:7,8; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Peter 4:3).
Paul here is speaking especially about the drunken orgies commonly associated with many pagan worship ceremonies of that day. The are supposed to induce some ecstatic communion with the deities.
True communion with God is not induced by drunkenness, but by the Holy Spirit. Paul was not speaking of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling (Romans 8:9) or the baptism by Christ with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13), because every Christian is indwelt and baptized with (in, by) the Spirit at the time of salvation.
Rather, he is giving a command for believers to live continually under the influence of the Holy Spirit by letting the Word control them, pursuing pure lives, confessing all known sin, dying to self, surrendering to God’s will and depending on His power in all things. Being filled with the Spirit is living in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, letting His mind, through the Word, dominate everything that is thought and done. Being filled with the Spirit is the same as walking in the Spirit. Christ exemplified this way of life.
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
The Biblical Definition of Grace
“But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7)
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