The Believer Experiencing Fellowship with God is Filled with the Spirit (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday March 25, 2026

Fellowship Series: The Believer Experiencing Fellowship with God is Filled with the Spirit

Lesson # 7

In order for the believer to experience fellowship with God, they must be filled with the Spirit or more accurately, they must be influenced by the Holy Spirit who permanently indwells them.

Therefore, being filled with the Spirit and experiencing fellowship with God are one in the same.

Ephesians 5:15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.

19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (NIV84)

Ephesians 5:15 Therefore, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of paying careful attention to the manner in which each and every one of you make it your habit of conducting your lives. Each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to not make it your habit of conducting your lives in an unwise manner. On the contrary, each and every one of you must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives in a wise manner 16 by continuing to make it your habit of taking full advantage of your opportunity for your own benefit because these days are characterized by evil. 17 For this reason, each and every one of must continue to make it your habit of not conducting your lives as foolish individuals. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of conducting your lives as wise individuals by comprehending for the purpose of personal application what constitutes the Lord’s will (for the manner in which each one of you as a corporate unit are to continue making it your habit of conducting your life). 18 Consequently, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of not permitting yourselves to be drunk by means of the excessive intake of wine because this is non-sensical behavior. On the contrary, each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of permitting yourselves to be influenced by means of the Spirit’s teaching. (Pastor’s translation)

Ephesians 5:18 is composed of the following:

(1) prohibition mē methyskesthe oinō (μὴ μεθύσκεσθε οἴνῳ), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of not permitting yourselves to be drunk by means of the excessive intake of wine. (Pastor’s translation)

(2) casual clause: en hō estin asōtia (ἐν ᾧ ἐστιν ἀσωτία), “because this is non-sensical behavior” (Pastor’s translation)

(3) command: plērousthe en pneumati (πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι), “each and every one of you as a corporate unit must continue to make it your habit of permitting yourselves to be influenced by means of the Spirit’s teaching. (Pastor’s translation)

In Ephesians 5:18, the verb plēroō (πληρόω) literally means “to be filled,” however it is clearly being used in a figurative sense and means “to be influenced” by someone or something.

Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the word influence: (1) Capacity or power of persons or things to produce effects on others by intangible or indirect means. (2) Action or process of producing effects on others by intangible or indirect means. (3) A person or thing that exerts influence.

Consequently, if we were to paraphrase Webster’s definition of the word “influence,” we would say that Paul wants the recipients of this letter to permit the teaching presented in the contents of Ephesians (intangible means), which inspired by the Holy Spirit and a manifestation of His omnipotence (Person), to produce Christ-like character (effects) in them.

This would be accomplished by the believer exercising faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired teaching in the Ephesian letter, which would appropriate the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit.

Consequently, this would then enable them to obey the various Spirit inspired commands and prohibitions issued by Paul in this letter.

The word “influence” is a more accurate term to use in English when translating this word rather than words such as “possessed, controlled,” or “filled.”

“Filled” would be used of liquids, which is not the case here in Ephesians 5:18. “Possessed” denotes ownership, which is not the sense here.

“Controlled” has the connotation of someone doing something against your will, which is not the meaning of this verb here in Ephesians 5:18.

The referent of the second person plural form of this verb plēroō (πληρόω) is the recipients of this letter and it is not only referring to them as a corporate unit but also as individuals because the second person plural form of this verb is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

The passive voice of the verb plēroō (πληρόω) is a permissive passive which expresses the idea of “permitting oneself to be influenced” by the Spirit inspired contents of Ephesians.

The specific meaning of the filling metaphor in this verse is best understood as “to be under the influence of” because of the way that Paul contrasts wine with Spirit. Christians are not to be filled with (under the influence of the power of) wine, but they are to be filled with (under the influence of the power of) the Holy Spirit.

Paul is teaching that the dominant influence in our lives ought to be the Holy Spirit and specifically the application of the Spirit’s teaching in Scripture, which He inspired and makes understandable to the believer who exercises faith in this teaching.

The referent of the dative neuter singular form of the noun pneuma (πνεῦμα) in Ephesians 5:18 is the Holy Spirit and contains the figure of metonymy, which means that the person of the Holy Spirit is put for His teaching, which is communicated by Paul in this epistle.

The noun pneuma (πνεῦμα) is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which functions here as a marker of means, which indicates that the Spirit inspired contents of Paul’s teaching in this letter, is “the means by which” the recipients of this letter were to be influenced.

Therefore, the prepositional phrase en pneumati (ἐν πνεύματι) indicates that the Spirit inspired apostolic teaching of the apostle Paul in the Ephesian letter is “the means by which” the recipients of this letter were to make it their habit of permitting themselves to be influenced.

The present imperative conjugation of the verb plēroō (πληρόω) is a customary present imperative, which expresses the idea of the recipients of this letter “continuing to make it their habit of” being fully influenced by the Holy Spirit.

It has the force of a general precept and makes no comment about whether the action is going on or not.

However, it too does contain the idea of “continuing” because the contents of Ephesians 1:15 affirm that the recipients of this epistle were exercising faith in Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching as well as practicing the love of God when interacting with each other.

In fact, the contents of Ephesians 4:17-5:16 also affirm they were already being obedient to Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching recorded in this epistle.

Therefore, the present imperative conjugation of this verb expresses the idea that the recipients of this letter must “continue to make it their habit” of being influenced by the Spirit.

The command in Ephesians 5:18 is a character building command meaning that Paul wants to build the character of Christ in the recipients of this letter in that he wants them to “make it their habit” being influenced by the Spirit because that will build the character of Christ in them, which is the Father’s will.

The passive voice of this verb plēroō (πληρόω) is a causative or permissive passive, which indicates that the recipients of this letter were “to cause” or “permit” the Spirit to influence them and specifically, to permit the Spirit inspired contents of Ephesians to influence them.

Thus, the permissive passive voice of this verb emphasizes the volitional responsibility of the believer to be influenced by the Spirit inspired contents of Ephesians.

This would require them to exercise faith in this teaching, which appropriates the omnipotence of the Holy Spirit, which enables the believer to obey the various prohibitions and commands in this letter.

The commands, “be influenced by the Spirit” and “let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you,” are therefore synonymous because the Holy Spirit speaks to the believer through the communication of the Word of God regarding the Father’s character and nature and His will for the believer’s life.

Colossians 3:16 The teaching originating from and about the one and only Christ must continue to exist in a state of dwelling abundantly among each and every one of you. Each of you must execute this command by continuing to make it your habit of providing instruction, specifically by providing instruction for one another with regards to proper conduct. Each of you must provide this instruction by means of a wisdom which is absolute, by means of psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Each of you must execute the command by continuing to make it your habit of singing with gratitude with your entire being for the benefit of God the Father. (Pastor’s translation)

The believer who is filled with the Spirit or influenced by the Spirit is experiencing fellowship with God and vice versa and takes place when the believer is obeying the voice of the Spirit, which is heard through prayerful study of the Word of God.

It is not an emotion (though it will result in emotions such as joy) but rather is the mental state of the believer who does not have any unconfessed sins in their stream of consciousness and is applying the Word to their thought process.

The filling of the Spirit takes place in the soul of the believer when they allow God the Holy Spirit to influence their soul, which He does through the Word of God.

The filling of the Spirit is the operational power of God the Holy Spirit, which empowers the believer to execute the will of God the Father and enables the believer to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ meaning to become like Him experientially in His death and resurrection.