Ephesians 5:18

Context

In Ephesians 5:15–17, Paul urges believers to walk circumspectly, as wise people, "redeeming the time." Verse 18 contrasts drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit, and verses 19–21 continue with a series of participial clauses describing what the Spirit-filled life looks like: speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in one's heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things, and submitting to one another in the fear of God. The call to mutual submission in verse 21 leads directly into the household code that follows (5:22–6:9).

Interpretation

• As an ongoing state: "Be filled" is a present-tense imperative in the passive voice. Many in the Reformed and evangelical traditions read it not as a single experience but as a continuing life lived under the Spirit's control, and they regard the praise, thanksgiving, and submission of verses 19–21 as its marks.
• The Pentecostal reading: Pentecostal churches emphasize being filled with the Spirit as an experience accompanied by power and spiritual gifts, as in Acts 2:4, and often connect it with baptism in the Holy Spirit, received subsequent to conversion. Some denominations regard speaking in tongues as its initial evidence.
• The Holiness and Wesleyan reading: This tradition emphasizes the filling of the Spirit in connection with the experience of entire sanctification, in which the heart is made pure.

Debates and Issues

One question is whether the verse forbids alcohol itself or only drunkenness. Some, including many Western Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church, hold that moderate drinking is permitted, since the text itself says "be not drunk with wine." Others maintain that total abstinence is the wiser course, given the risk of drunkenness and, in the Korean context, the drinking culture of Korean society. Korean Protestantism has had a strong tradition, dating back to the early missionary period, of treating abstinence from alcohol and tobacco as a mark of the Christian life. For details, see the article Alcohol and Tobacco.

Interpreters also differ over whether the contrast between drunkenness and being filled with the Spirit implies that the two states can appear similar (Acts 2:13) or that the point lies in what controls the person.

In the Korean Church

In Korean Protestant churches, the verse is frequently used as a theme text for revival meetings, Holy Spirit rallies, and Friday prayer meetings.

Related Passages

• Acts 2:4, 13
• Ephesians 5:19–21
• Colossians 3:16
• Proverbs 23:29–35