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Filled and Filling
There are two terms in Scripture used for filling that uniquely describe how something or someone is filled. The differences between these two concepts for filling are very important to understand concerning the Christian life and how the Holy Spirit interacts with us today compared to saints prior to the dispensation of grace.
Pimplemi (πίμπλημι) describes filling in a way that controls or saturates. It is used of the sponge filled with wine given to Christ on the cross, Matthew 27:48, of a King having his servants fill his wedding hall with guests, Matthew 22:10, a woman’s time for giving birth, Luke 1:57, and even the completion of days of service for a Levitical priest, Luke 1:23. All of these occurrences are describing a permeating of what is filled. It is this type of filling that describes how the Holy Spirit interacted with Old Testament saints, such as John the Baptist was mentally controlled by the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb, Luke 1:15; however, once his ministry had finished the Holy Spirit no longer filled him, which can be seen with him questioning Jesus if He is the One coming, Luke 7:18-20. In the upper room, on the day of Pentecost when the Church began, the Holy Spirit filled (πίμπλημι), mentally controlled, the disciples making it possible for them to speak in other dialects the wonders of God, Acts 2:4. This is not the Spiritual gift of speaking in tongues, which was given to the early Church as a sign to the unbelieving Jews along with other gifts for signs, wonders, confirmation, and edification of the body of the Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:10. The gifts given to the Church are not from a filling of […]
Praise
Praise (αἴνεσις) is defined within Scripture as the fruit of our lips confessing the name of God.
Therefore, because of this let us offer up a sacrifice of praise through all to the God, that is, the fruit of our lips confessing His Name – Hebrews 13:15
Confession means, “to say the same thing”, and “name” refers to the character of a person. This means we praise God when we verbally agree with Him concerning the manner in which He expresses His character towards us.
The angels are seen praising God when they speak of His good will towards men resulting in giving the world Christ, Luke 2:13. After heeding the voice of the angels, the shepherds found Christ and told all of what they saw and heard, praising God as they returned, Luke 2:20.
In the seventh Psalm, a Benjamite writes of praising God according to His righteousness. Righteousness is an aspect of God’s nature that is expressed through His character. David encourages the Gentiles to praise God for His mercy to His anointed, Psalm 18:48, and as his strength and shield he trusts in God singing praises to Him, Psalm 28:7.
Praise can be done with music and song (Psalm 33:2) or by word (Psalm 75:1), for in it we are speaking of God’s name and therefore confessing His character.
For a Christian, praise is a spiritual sacrifice. As priests, we have religious services that we perform before God. One of these sacrifices that is a part of our priestly service is praise. Through praise we express our admiration for God’s grace (Ephesians 1:6), which is based upon expressing a proper opinion of Him (Ephesians 1:12,14). This admiration also expresses itself in the way we live, not […]
Good (ἀγαθός)
Good is a word that describes activity that is beneficial, wholesome, and sufficient to be acceptable for its purpose. It is used to describe humans, trees, treasures, speaking, and most of all God.
Although humans can do good, only God is good (Luke 18:19), for goodness is an aspect of His nature. However, even though humans are not good by nature, we do know the difference between good and evil and can choose to produce good things in our lives rather than malignantly wicked things (Romans 2:15). The heart is the center of a human, where the person resides. It is within here that we will store up good treasures to use later, or malignantly evil ones to use against others (Matthew 12:35). What we allow to remain in our minds and within our hearts directly impacts our actions; therefore, our weapons are not fleshly, but are mighty in God for the pulling down of those strongholds within us that raise themselves up against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:4-6), by which we destroy the evil treasures, so our storehouse is filled with good.
Although the law is good, we do not live by it because through it is the full experiential knowledge of the sin nature (Romans 7:12-13) and rather than giving us victory over it, it becomes the sin natures strength against us (1 Corinthians 15:56). Trying to do good by law leads us into frustration and the realization that within our flesh no good dwells, for as soon as we desire to do good, we find that we lack the ability to do it through our flesh (Romans 7:18-19), and we end up doing things that lack in character, which we do not […]
Pious (ὁσιότητι)
Often translated as holy, it actually is expressing holiness in action. Holiness means to be separated, where being pious happens as we separate ourselves unto God in actions. This naturally results in the rejection in our lives of the things of the flesh, the world, and Satan because they are contrary to who we are in Christ.
As an apostle, Paul determined that men should worship in every place, lifting up pious hands. Hands that work out the holiness we have in Christ (1 Timothy 2:8 – Therefore, I determine while worshiping all men in every place lift up pious hands apart from wrath and dispute). He is not saying lift up your hands during a worship service or in Church while praying. He is saying that our hands are to work out the holiness that we have in Christ while we are giving God credit for Who He is and what He has done (worship).
One of the requirements of a Bishop (Pastor or Elder) is to be pious (Titus 1:8 but fond of strangers, fond of good, a saved frame of mind, just, pious, self-controlled). As one who is responsible for an assembly, there are specific Scriptural requirements to hold the position of a Pastor. These men are not to be self-willed, addicted to wine, fond of money gained through false means (tithing), but hospitable, fond of goodness, having a saved frame of mind, while holding fast the doctrine of the word of faith, which will result in a lifestyle that shows forth their separation unto God. Being pious is accompanied by righteousness and blamelessness (1 Thessalonians 2:10 You and God are my witnesses as pious and just and blameless we became…), as these are […]