Ephesians 5:18

“And be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit”

“Be not drunken with wine”: “Be not getting drunk” (Rhm). “Stop getting drunk on wine” (Wms). “Drunken”: Vine says that "Methusko" means, “to make drunk, or to grow drunk (an inceptive verb, marking the progress of the state expressed in ‘Methuo', drunk, to become intoxicated” (p. 341). The same word is used in Luke 12:45. Not only is the Christian to avoid drunkenness but we are told not even to begin such. process. The stages leading up to drunkenness are also spoken against (1 Peter 4:3). For. good examination concerning the subject of Social Drinking, see The Bible, The Saint. The Liquor Industry by Jim McGuiggan. In the context, getting drunk or engaging in activity that naturally leads to drunkenness is one of the most foolish ways to waste opportunities. “The ungodly world exemplifies its foolishness by soaking the brain with intoxicants and by dulling and drugging the mind. Wine was and is, of course,. common escape mechanism for even the men and women who lead society” (Caldwell p. 250). The bankruptcy of the world's way of doing things is evidenced by its heavy use of artificial intoxicants to bring about joy and happiness. Depending upon such things as alcohol to help one have. good time is proof positive that one's view of life, personal convictions and attitude has failed to provide one with real happiness. Please note that "drunkenness" not only includes the state of being passed-out, face down in the gutter and vomiting but the word "drunkenness" simply means "intoxicated". At the point you are intoxicated, you have committed the sin of drunkenness.

“Wherein is riot”: “For that is dissipation” (NASV). “Getting drunk on wine leads to debauchery (1 Peter 4:3)” (Boles p. 307). “Take up any book on pharmacology and look up alcohol, and you will find, always, that it is classified among the depressants. It is not. stimulant. Further, it depresses first and foremost the highest centers of all in the brain. They control everything that gives. man self-control, wisdom, understanding, discrimination, judgment, balance, the power to access everything; in other words everything that makes. man behave at his very best and highest. People who are drunk give way to wild, dissolute and uncontrolled actions. They behave like animals, indeed worse than animals. The results of being filled with the Spirit are totally different. If excessive alcohol dehumanizes, turning. human being into. beast, the fullness of the Spirit makes us more human” (Stott pp. 204-205). “But”: God always has. better way. “Be filled with the Spirit”: Instead of being under the influence of some artificial drug, be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. This is. command to every Christian. Paul is not discussing something that is mystical or only available to some elite class of Christians. We already know that every Christian in the first century did not receive. miraculous manifestation of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:28). Therefore, this is not. command to be baptized in the Spirit or to manifest. miraculous gift, such as speaking in tongues. Compare this statement to Colossians 3:16. and we find that being "filled with the Spirit" means that one is allowing the word of Christ to richly dwell within them, that is, one is allowing themselves to be influenced by the teachings revealed by the Holy Spirit. This infers that if the Word of God does not stimulate, motivate or incite one on, then something is wrong. Notice the language "be filled". We have control over this. Paul is not discussing some type of "supernatural takeover". We have the choice whether the instruction given by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 3:3-5) will influence us or not.

If we believed that the people in the Pentecostal Movement where really "filled with the Holy Spirit", then we would have to conclude that being filled with the Spirit means that one loses control, yet Paul argues that one of the major results of being influenced by the Spirit is "self-control" (Galatians 5:22). Stott makes. good point when he says, “it is. serious mistake to suppose that to be filled with the Spirit, is. kind of spiritual inebriation in which we lose control of ourselves. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit we do not lose control; we gain it” (p. 204).