We are foolish if we study the truths in the Bible without using the life-study messages and the New Testament Recovery Version. If we want to study the inward and outward filling of the Holy Spirit, it is even more necessary for us to use the life-study messages and the footnotes in the New Testament Recovery Version.
Acts 2:4a says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Note 2 of this verse clearly indicates that the word filled in Greek is pletho. Pletho, which is also used in 4:8, 31, 9:17, 13:9, and Luke 1:15, 41, and 67, refers to being filled outwardly. According to its usage in Acts, the Greek word pleroo indicates the filling of a vessel within. This word is used in 2:2 to describe the wind’s filling of the house. Pletho indicates the filling of persons outwardly. This word is used in verse 4 to describe how the Spirit filled the disciples outwardly. The disciples were filled inwardly and essentially (pleroo) with the Spirit for their Christian living (13:52); the disciples were filled outwardly and economically (pletho) with the Spirit for their Christian ministry. The essential Spirit filled the disciples inwardly by coming into them (John 14:17; Rom. 8:11); the economical Spirit filled the disciples outwardly by coming upon them (Acts 1:8; 2:17). Every believer in Christ should experience both aspects of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Even Christ as a man experienced both aspects. He was born of the Spirit essentially for His being and living (Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20), and He was anointed with the Spirit economically for His ministry and move (Matt. 3:16; Luke 4:18). The essential Spirit was within Him, and the economical Spirit was upon Him.
Acts 13:52 says, “And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.” Note 1 of this verse shows us that the Greek word pleroo, which is translated filled, refers to being filled inwardly. This infilling by the Holy Spirit is essential, meaning that it is for life rather than for power. The fact that this verse links being filled with the Holy Spirit to being filled with joy, which is a matter of life, proves this.
Acts 6:3 says, “But brothers, look for seven well-attested men from among you, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.” Note 1 points out that the Greek word translated full is pleres. The way that this word is used in this verse and in 6:5, 7:55, 11:24, and Luke 4:1 shows that it is the adjective form of pleroo. Being full of the Spirit is the condition of one who has been filled with the Spirit inwardly and essentially, as mentioned in 13:52. This filling is a matter of life not work.
If we study the notes for the above verses in the New Testament Recovery Version, we will clearly see the distinction between the Greek words pleroo, pletho, and pleres, and we will understand the difference between the inward and the outward filling of the Holy Spirit. I cannot stir up all the saints to study the truth in depth, but I urge all of you full-time trainees to do this. If you do not study the truth in such a way, your function in serving the Lord will be greatly reduced. I would even encourage those of you who are elders to serve the Lord full time. By serving the Lord full time, you will have time to study the truth so that when you teach others, you will be able to do so properly. If you do not have the time to learn the truth, how can you teach others?
Our shortcoming is that we do not study the truth in depth. In fact, this is the weakness of Christianity as a whole. In Christianity the knowledge of the truth is truly poor. Many think that they understand the truth quite well. Actually, they understand only the historical councils and creeds of the early church. During the lawsuit over the book The Mindbenders, the opposing party questioned me five mornings a week for three weeks. They had prepared to question me concerning one hundred and nineteen items, but eventually they could question me concerning only nine of them. That was truly the best defense of the truth.
One of the questions that the opposers asked me concerned what I said at the end of one of the messages in the Life-study of Genesis. In that message I said that the local churches are today’s “ark” (pp. 393-398). They thought that they had found my fault and strongly declared that my speaking was completely nonsensical. After their lawyer questioned me, however, he himself agreed that I was able to give a detailed explanation of what I had said in the Life-study of Genesis. In answering their question, I spoke about Abel, Enosh, Enoch, and then Noah and said that God has a particular work in each age. I told them that God’s work during the age of Abel was for men to receive His redemption and to serve Him according to the way of His redemption. In the age of Enosh God had another work. His work in the age of Enosh was for men who had received His redemption to realize their vanity and emptiness so that they would call on the name of Jehovah to receive His riches. In the age of Enoch, God had a further work. His work in this age was that men would not only call on His name and receive His riches, but that they would also learn to walk with God and never leave Him. When it came to the age of Noah, God had an even further work. His work in the age of Noah was that men would not only walk with Him but that they would also build an ark.
I told them that our God has been progressing from one age to the next and that in principle His special move, His special work, in the present age is to recover the church, that is, to build up the local churches. I explained to them that this is why I used a figure of speech to say that the local churches are today’s “ark.” I told them that this is why I spoke of the ark as a type of the local churches. My explanation left them speechless and exposed their lack of the knowledge of the truth. Over the course of three weeks, their mistakes were exposed one by one, and they could not fight back. Their last question was whether or not I agreed with the doctrines that The Mindbenders identifies as orthodox doctrines. Most Christians know the orthodox Christian doctrines; however, The Mindbenders said that only the teachings given by Jesus Christ to the twelve disciples when He was on the earth are orthodox. I told them that this was altogether wrong. If only the teaching given by Christ to His twelve disciples were orthodox teachings, then Paul’s fourteen Epistles, which constitute a great part of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, would not be counted as orthodox because Paul was not one of the twelve disciples and Paul never heard any of the messages spoken by Jesus Christ when He was on the earth. I further explained that this understanding contradicts what the Lord Jesus said in John 16:12-13—“I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot hear them now. But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming.” In these verses the Lord Jesus clearly says that He did not tell the disciples all of the truths and that when the Spirit came, He would declare more truths to them. When the Spirit came, He surely declared many truths to the apostle Paul. This is why the fourteen Epistles written by the apostle Paul were included in the New Testament and are publicly recognized as orthodox.
The day after they questioned me about this matter, all of the main responsible ones among them examined the questions and answers given during the depositions. Soon after this they accepted the settlement agreement, and we won a complete victory.