We who serve the Lord have two weapons. One is outward and the other is inward. Our outward weapon is the Holy Bible, the Lord’s word, which is in our hands. Our inward weapon is the Holy Spirit, who is in our spirit. This is why Paul told us to “receive...the sword of the Spirit, which...is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17), and reminded us, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit” (5:18). In order to serve the Lord, we must be equipped with the truth in the Scriptures and must also pursue the filling of the Spirit.
In the past year many of you have spent much time in the Word. I believe that you all are clear that there are two aspects of the filling of the Spirit. One aspect is the filling of the Holy Spirit in life, essentially. The other aspect is the filling of the Holy Spirit in power, economically. You must study further, however, to see which verses in the Bible speak of the essential filling of the Spirit and which verses speak of the economical filling of the Spirit. Then when you go out to teach people, you will be able to quote the Scriptures and speak in a logical way so that people will understand and be convinced.
Five major religions have evolved over the past six thousand years of human history. Of these five major religions, the best religious writing is the Christian Bible. This is a well-known fact. This Bible is far superior to all the famous literary writings of both the past and the present. The Bible is the most precious heritage of mankind. Hence, people often show great respect to those who study the Bible. Even many atheists dare not despise the Bible, acknowledging that the Bible is the most difficult book to deal with. Regardless of how much people have sought to discredit the Bible, the Bible still has not been eliminated from human society. Indeed, this book is the Book of books. Although most people are aware of the existence of such a precious Scripture, they are still quite baffled by the truths contained within it. Therefore, when you go out to preach the truths in the Bible, once people see that you have a Bible in your hand, they will respect you, and when you begin to expound the truth to them, they will gladly receive it.
Although so many philosophies, theories, and “sacred” writings have been written and preserved throughout human history, none of these writings claims that its author is the Lord. Moreover, those who believe in these philosophies and theories do not say that their belief is in the Lord. When people believe in Jesus, however, they say that they have believed in the Lord. This is wonderful. It is also wonderful that the Bible is the only book described as being holy. The Bible is called the Holy Bible. Why is it that the Bible is the only book with such a title? It is because the Bible is in fact the only holy book. We cannot call the earth heaven, because only heaven is heaven. We cannot call iron gold, because only gold is gold, and although copper looks very much like gold, we cannot say that copper is gold. If we refer to a deer as a horse, we create confusion. We cannot do this, because a fact is a fact.
God created all things according to their kind. Even though monkeys resemble humans, we still cannot call a monkey a human. Furthermore, we cannot say that humans evolved from monkeys. Some Europeans are very hairy, yet none of them would ever say that they are European monkeys. Instead, they would call themselves Europeans. In the same way, throughout the six thousand years of human history, thousands and thousands of books have been written and preserved, but only one book is called holy. As such, people cannot help but respect this book. Since people respect the Bible, we must know this book. When we go out to visit people one on one, if we bring the Bible with us and speak to them in a proper way, they will surely respect us.
Today many Christians pursue the filling of the Spirit. If we meet someone who asks concerning the matter of being filled with the Spirit, we must immediately tell him that according to the Bible there are two aspects of being filled with the Spirit—the outward, economical aspect and the inward, essential aspect. Then we have to exercise our spirit to speak to him with our whole being according to the Bible concerning these two aspects of the Spirit’s filling.
The economical aspect of the filling of the Spirit is frequently mentioned in Acts. The first time that it is mentioned is in 2:4. The second time is in 4:8. These verses are the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise in 1:8. The essential aspect of the filling of the Spirit is mentioned only once in the entire book of Acts. It is mentioned in 13:52, which says, “The disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for filled in this verse is pleroo, a word which denotes inward filling. This is the aspect of the inward filling of the Spirit essentially. This aspect of the Spirit’s filling is for life, not for power. The fact that joy is a matter of life and not of power proves this point. Here the Greek word that is translated filled is a different word from the Greek word that is translated filled in 2:4 and 4:8.
While I was serving as the editor of The Christian, I wrote an article on the filling of the Holy Spirit titled “The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Believers.” In 1932 I started to study the New Testament by using Greek-English interlinear reference books. In 1936, while I was editing The Christian, I found out that when Luke wrote the book of Acts, he used the word pletho in 2:4 and 4:8 and pleroo in 13:52. These two words are both translated into English using one word, the word filled. Thus, in English there is no apparent distinction. These two Greek words are both derived from the same root, yet they are two different words. In English both words are translated filled because there is no other English word that can be used. Nevertheless, we have to see that pleroorefers to the inward filling of the Spirit and plethorefers to the outward filling of the Spirit.
Acts 6:3a says, “But brothers, look for seven well-attested men from among you, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” Verse 5 continues, “And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word in these two verses is pleres. According to Luke’s usage of this word, pleres is an adjective form of pleroo. When a person is filled with the Spirit essentially (pleroo), he is full of the Holy Spirit (pleres). I discussed these matters in detail in The Christian.
In Acts the word pleroo is used in 13:52 with regard to people. In 2:2 it is used with regard to a house—“And suddenly there was a sound out of heaven, as of a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.” In 2:2-4 both pletho and pleroo are used. Pleroo is used to describe the wind’s filling of the house inwardly, and pletho is used to describe the Spirit’s filling of people outwardly. This clearly shows us Luke’s understanding of these two words. Although Luke’s meaning is made clear by studying the Greek words, since both words are translated filled in English, it is impossible to tell the difference and know the proper meaning simply by reading the English translation.
To repeat this point again—the word translated filled in these verses is two different words in Greek. The word pleroo used in 2:2 denotes the filling of a house inwardly; the word pletho used in 2:4 denotes the filling of the disciples outwardly. When describing the condition of a person who has been filled inwardly with the Spirit, Luke uses the word pleres. Hence, when you speak the truth concerning the filling of the Spirit, first you have to tell people that there are two aspects of the Spirit’s filling. One aspect is the outward filling of the Spirit. This aspect is of power and is economical. The other aspect is the inward filling of the Spirit. This aspect is of life and is essential. Regarding the economical aspect of the filling of the Spirit, you can use 2:4, 4:8, and 4:31. Regarding the essential aspect of the filling of the Spirit, you can use 13:52.
Which part of our being does the Spirit fill when He fills us inwardly? According to Ephesians 5:18, He fills us in our spirit. Thus, when we speak of the inward filling of the Spirit, our presentation should be based on Acts 13:52 and Ephesians 5:18. If we speak concerning the outward filling of the Spirit, we need to use the Greek words to prove what we are saying. Hence, I encourage you to always have an interlinear Greek-English New Testament with you so that you can use it at any time to show people the Greek words. If you do this, many of the young people who hear your speaking will believe and be saved.
When we preach the gospel to elderly people, we do not need to reason with them that much, but when we preach the gospel to young people, we need to reason with them a great deal. After you speak to them about the filling of the Spirit, you need to tell them in which part of our being the Spirit fills us. According to the Scriptures, man was created with three parts—spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23). Both the spirit and the body are substantial, but the soul is abstract. This is because when God created man, He used only two kinds of material—the dust of the ground and His own breath, which He breathed into man (Gen. 2:7). Dust became man’s human body, and the breath became the human spirit. When the two mixed together, this produced man’s soul. Therefore, man’s soul was not created with a specific material. The human body was created with dust, so our body has all the elements of dust and needs to be maintained by minerals. The human spirit was created with God’s breath. This breath, the breath of life, became our spirit.
The human spirit is more important than the human body. This is why Ephesians 5:18 says, “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissoluteness, but be filled in spirit.” To be drunk with wine is to be filled in the body. Here it says that we should not be filled with wine in our body but that we should be filled in spirit. We need to be filled with Christ unto all the fullness of God (1:23; 3:19). Today all the riches of Christ are included in the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). To be filled in our spirit is to be filled with the essential Spirit. The essential Spirit is the life-giving Spirit, and the life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of reality as the realization of Christ, referred to in John 14:17.
The essential Spirit had to pass through a process before He could fill us. The essential Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the life-giving Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God (Col. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:45b). When the ultimate consummation, the ultimate expression, of the Triune God reaches us, He comes to us as the life-giving Spirit, the essential Spirit. We need to be filled with the essential Spirit in our spirit. Ephesians 3:17 says that Christ wants to make His home in our hearts. When we are completely filled with the essential Spirit in our spirit, then Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God will occupy our heart and make His home in our heart. When we are filled in our spirit experientially with the essential Spirit, the ultimate consummation of the Triune God, and when Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God fully occupies, possesses, and makes His home in our hearts, the result will be that we are filled with and occupied by the Triune God completely. This is the significance of the filling of the Spirit.
The inward filling of the Spirit is different from the outward filling of the Spirit. The outward filling of the Spirit is far less precious than the inward filling of the Spirit. Hence, after the book of Acts the word for outward filling is not used in the twenty-two Epistles from Romans to Revelation. Instead, inward filling is emphasized. Although the New Testament uses two different words for the filling of the Spirit and emphasizes the inward filling of the Spirit, the Pentecostal movement regards the two as one thing, thinking that spiritual baptism and drinking of the spiritual drink are the same. This is an incorrect understanding. Among Christians in general, groups such as the Southern Baptist Church and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship almost do not talk about the Spirit at all. Although the Bible mentions the Spirit and they have read about the Spirit, they almost completely ignore the Spirit. Those in the Pentecostal movement, especially those who emphasize tongue-speaking, pay attention to the Spirit, but in doing so, they mix the inward, essential aspect of the Spirit’s filling with the outward, economical aspect. As a result, they equate so-called spiritual baptism with drinking of the spiritual drink. This does not correspond to 1 Corinthians 12:13, which says, “For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body...and were all given to drink one Spirit.” Here the conjunction and indicates that to be baptized and to drink are two matters. To be baptized is to be filled outwardly, and to drink is to be filled inwardly. Therefore, the Pentecostals are mistaken in neglecting the distinction between the two.
I stayed in Shanghai after the second World War. From time to time I ministered in Nanking. At that time there was a saying in the region around the lower Yangtze River. The saying was, “In the morning the skin encompasses the water; at night the water encompasses the skin.” When a person drinks tea in the tea house in the morning, his skin “encompasses” the water. When he goes to take a bath at night, the water encompasses the skin. They believed that if one practiced this, he would surely be healthy. After I heard this saying, I found it to be very good and meaningful. The skin encompassing the water is a picture of the inward filling, and the water encompassing the skin is a picture of the outward filling. If you want to be a healthy Christian, you have to be revived every morning. This is the skin encompassing the water. You also need to receive the outward filling of the Spirit when you go out to labor for the Lord at night. This is the water encompassing the skin. The Pentecostals make these two “encompassings” into one “encompassing.” As a result, many of them get too deeply immersed in water and drown.