Acts 13:52 tells us that the disciples were made full of joy and of the Holy Spirit. This is to be filled (Gk. pleroo from pleres) with the Spirit inwardly for life. After being baptized in the Spirit, the disciples began to drink of the Spirit and become full of the Spirit. They were filled with the Spirit again and again inwardly until they were made full of the Holy Spirit. The word joy in this verse indicates that this kind of inward filling of the Spirit is for the inner life and not for work.
In Acts in addition to the outward filling of the Spirit, being full of the Spirit inwardly, and the inward filling of the Spirit, there is also the guidance of the Spirit. In Acts 8:29 and 39 Philip, the evangelist, enjoyed the guidance of the Spirit: “The Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot,” and “when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.” In 13:2 the brothers in Antioch enjoyed the guidance of the Spirit in separating Barnabas and Saul for the work: “As they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” In 15:28 the brothers in Jerusalem sent a letter to the Gentile churches, which also reveals something of the guidance of the Spirit: “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.”
In 16:6 Paul and Timothy were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Furthermore, “When they had come down to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them” (v. 7). Paul and Timothy were guided by the Spirit of Jesus. “The Spirit of Jesus” is a special term. Its meaning differs from that of “the Spirit of God.” Since Jesus was a man, and is still a man, “the Spirit of Jesus” is the Spirit of the man, Jesus. Because the Spirit of Jesus possesses humanity, He could give guidance to the apostles who were carrying out the propagation of the resurrected and ascended Christ in their humanity among the human race.
In 20:23 Paul said, “The Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in city after city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.” Although this was the Holy Spirit’s testifying to Paul it bore some indication as a guidance to him. In verse 28 of the same chapter Paul said to the elders of the church in Ephesus, “The Holy Spirit has placed you as overseers, to shepherd the church of God.” The elders of the churches were appointed by the apostles (14:23). But Paul said here that the Holy Spirit had placed the elders as overseers to shepherd the church. This indicates that the apostles’ appointment of the elders was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In 21:4 the disciples in Tyre “told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem.” This was a direct guidance of the Spirit given to Paul through some disciples. In verse 11 of the same chapter, Agabus the prophet, having bound his own feet and hands with Paul’s girdle, said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, In this way shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man whose girdle this is and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” This was a foretelling bearing some indication of the Holy Spirit’s guidance to Paul. All these cases show us that the apostles and the disciples in Acts were people living, moving, working, laboring, traveling, and doing everything by the guidance of the Spirit, who is not only the Holy Spirit of God but also the Spirit of Jesus. Outwardly they were filled with the Spirit of power economically for them to carry out the work of God’s New Testament economy, and inwardly they were filled with the Spirit of life essentially for them to live a life of the processed God. As a result, they moved, walked, worked, acted, traveled, and did everything by the Spirit as men of the Spirit. These are the members of the Body of Christ, living and moving on this earth for the testimony of the resurrected and exalted Christ and the fulfillment of God’s plan according to His eternal economy. Now we have the Head in the heavens and the Body on this earth living and cooperating together to live the life of God to carry out God’s economy.