To us the Holy Spirit is of two aspects-the inward aspect and the outward; therefore, to us there is also the inward filling and outward filling of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament uses two different words in its original language to describe the inward filling and the outward filling of the Holy Spirit. Speaking of the inward filling of the Holy Spirit, it uses the word pleroo, and speaking of the outward filling of the Holy Spirit, it uses the word pletho. First, we will look at the inward filling of the Holy Spirit.
1)“And the disciples were made full of joy and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52).
This verse speaks of the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit inwardly. This Spirit who fills us is for life and living, since He is mentioned together with joy in the daily life.
1)Being for the spiritual living that the spiritual life may mature-The inward filling of the Spirit is for our spiritual living that our spiritual life may mature. We may prove this with Acts 13:52, quoted previously, where joy and the Holy Spirit are mentioned together.
After we have been filled inwardly with the Holy Spirit, we are full of the Holy Spirit within. In the original language, “full of” is pleres, an adjective. To be filled with the Spirit is a procedure and should take place time after time, whereas to be full of the Spirit is a condition which results from such a procedure and should be constant.
1)“Select seven well-attested men from among you, full of the Spirit and of wisdom” (Acts 6:3).
At Pentecost the communal living of the church made it necessary for some to serve tables, and thus seven men full of the Spirit and of wisdom were chosen. The Holy Spirit and wisdom being mentioned here together proves that the Holy Spirit is for life and living. The service of the tables was cumbersome, which required men with a proper life and a spiritual living. They had to be persons full of the Holy Spirit.
2)“Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5).
It tells us here that Stephen was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. He was not only occasionally filled with the Holy Spirit, but a man always full of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, he had not only an abundant life and wisdom to serve many tables, but also an overcoming life and faith to stand for the Lord unto death (Acts 7:59-60).
3)“But [Stephen] being full of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:55).
Stephen maintained his condition of being full of the Holy Spirit. Although his persecutors hated him and gnashed their teeth at him, he was still full of the Holy Spirit. Hence, he was able to be faithful unto death, suffering martyrdom for the Lord’s sake.
4)“For he [Barnabas] was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts 11:24).
Barnabas was also full of the Holy Spirit, and that was why he could be a good man, full of faith.
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