After the Spirit descended upon the believers, He filled them outwardly. Acts 2:4 says, “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for “filled” in this verse is pletho (also used in 4:8, 31; 9:17; 13:9; and Luke 1:15, 41, 67). This Greek word means to fill outwardly. In Acts 2:2 a rushing violent wind filled the house where the disciples were sitting. In this verse another Greek word for “filled” is used-pleroo. This Greek word denotes an inner filling, to fill something within. According to its usage in Acts, pleroo denotes to fill a vessel within, as the wind filled the house inwardly, and pletho denotes to fill persons outwardly, as the Spirit filled the disciples outwardly in Acts 2:4. The disciples were filled (pleroo) inwardly and essentially with the Spirit (13:52) for their Christian living, and they were filled (pletho) outwardly and economically with the Spirit for their Christian ministry. The inward filling Spirit, the essential Spirit, is in the believers (John 14:17; Rom. 8:11), whereas the outward filling Spirit, the economical Spirit, is upon them (Acts 1:8; 2:17). Every believer in Christ should experience both aspects of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 4:8 says that Peter again was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Here Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly and economically. On the day of Pentecost Peter was outwardly filled with the Spirit the first time. That was his initial experience of the outward filling of the Spirit. Acts 4:8 describes another experience of such a filling. This does not mean that Peter was baptized in the Spirit twice. Rather, this indicates that he applied the experience of the baptism in the Spirit a second time, being filled with the Spirit outwardly and economically to speak the word.
According to Acts 4:29-31, Peter and the other believers prayed for boldness to speak the Lord’s word. “As they were beseeching, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke the word of God with boldness” (v. 31). Like Peter in verse 8, they were filled with the Holy Spirit outwardly and economically. Peter and his company were filled (pletho) again with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness. This was not the third time for Peter to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. On the contrary, it was the third time for Him to experience the baptism in the Spirit by being outwardly filled with the Spirit. Furthermore, Acts 4:31 does not say that the believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. Instead, this verse says that the disciples, being outwardly filled with the Spirit, spoke the word of God with boldness.
The book of Acts also describes Paul’s experience of being filled with the Spirit outwardly. In Acts 9:17 Ananias said to him, “The Lord has sent me, Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you came, so that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” This filling is the outward filling with the economical Spirit. According to the principle of salvation in God’s New Testament economy, Paul must have received the Holy Spirit of life essentially at the time of His conversion, prior to Ananias’ coming and laying his hands on him. Before Ananias came, he was praying to the Lord (Acts 9:11), indicating he had believed in the Lord and was calling on Him. But because he was not saved through a member of the Body, the Holy Spirit did not fall upon him economically until Ananias came, as the representative of the Body, to identify him with the Body of Christ. Therefore, in Acts 9:17, after his conversion, Paul experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit and was filled outwardly with the Spirit. He had the same experience again when he was filled (pletho) with the Holy Spirit in his ministry.
Acts 13:9 says that Paul was “filled with the Holy Spirit.” According to the record of Acts, this was the second time Paul was filled outwardly and economically with the Holy Spirit for power in his ministry.
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