Eph 5:14  Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

Eph 5:15  See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 

Eph 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 

Eph 5:17  Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. 

Eph 5:18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 

Eph 5:19  Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; 

The Apostle Paul’s exhortation unto the Saints to “be filled with the Spirit” comes right after Paul teaches the Saints how they ought to “walk,” how they ought to view the “time” that we are living in, and that “the days are evil,” and that their “understanding” ought to be according to “the will of the Lord.” And that if they are ‘in the dark,’ when it comes to the understanding of the Lord’s will, they will be as those who “sleepest,” and those who are “fools,” and will actually be “unwise” in the sight of God. And the only way the Saints can “be as wise,” is through the Word of Christ, and in the context of verse 14, this is speaking to justified Saints who are walking “as fools,” and “unwise,” because they are not walking by the Word of God, and the doctrine of sanctification unto holiness.

Col 3:12  Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;

Col 3:13  Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

Col 3:14  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Moreover, being “filled with the Spirit” is allowing the “Word of Christ” to “dwell richly” in us “in all wisdom,” notice I said ‘allowing?’ Notice how many times Paul says “let,” and “put on,” just in the 5 verses above, Paul educates the Ephesian, and the Colossian Saints about the same doctrine of godliness, and about the ungodliness of this world in Ephesians chapter 5, and Colossians chapter 3. And it is the ‘working’ of the Holy Ghost’s ministry that is referred to as “the Spirit” in God’s Word of truth, and by revelation from the Holy Ghost, and the men of God wrote down the Holy Word, and what we have in our bibles is the “Spirit of God,” and it is God’s Word that we ought to be “led by” alone.

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

1Co 2:11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

And notice ‘how’ God “hath revealed” the things that are freely given to us of God? It is by “His Spirit,” but this is not referring to a ‘direct revelation’ from the Holy Ghost Himself unto men today, but it is that God previously “hath reveled” His Word unto us, and therein we “know the things that are freely given to us of God.” And our being “led by the Spirit,” is the saint who desires to be led by the Spirit of God, and this is what Paul is referring to in verse 15 when he says; “he that is Spiritual,” this is the saint who operates with a ‘Word of God mind,’ this saint judges the affairs of this life “by the Spirit,” or, in other words; by the Word of God. This is what it means to have “the mind of Christ,” because our minds ought to be “filled with” the “Spiritual things” of God, and His “Good.”

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 

Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 

Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 

Col 3:8  But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 

Col 3:9  Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 

Col 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 

Furthermore, we are taught that we can have “the mind of Christ,” we are taught that we are being “conformed to the Image of His Son,” we are taught to “put on the whole Armor,” we are taught to “put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,” and when the saint does this, he is being “led by the Spirit,” and he is ‘putting on” the “new man.” Now what does the new man look like? The new man is “after the Image of Him that created Him. We must remember, “the Word became Flesh,” and we are taught to “walk in Him,” and to ‘put Him on,” and to “put off,” our “old man with his deeds,” but the only way this is accomplished, is that we must “mortify” our members, (our body), with the Living Word of God; which is by the Spirit.

Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 

Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 

Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Finally, being “filled with the Spirit,” is being filled with the Living Word, of the Living God, and operating upon the “Spirit,” and having a “Spiritual” mind. And in verse 9, Paul expounds upon what he just taught from Romans 8:1, through verse 6, and that is what it means to be “in the Spirit,” and what it means to have “the Spirit of God dwell in you.” And that is by allowing the Word of God to dwell in you, this is the only way the saint will “please God.” Now, the second part of verse 9, refers to the justified standing that we have in Christ, this is why Paul says, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his,” the justified in Christ are “His,” but what we are shown is that a saint could either be “after the flesh,” or “after the Spirit,” but it is the saint who has chosen to allow “the Spirit of God to dwell” in him who are able to please God.

Rod Jones