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Filled
πίμπλημι pimplemi [peem’ play me] is the original term – what we translate “filled” in English. It’s a word often employed by Luke. It means to be filled, satisfied, or facilitated. Pimplemi appears regularly in the Greek version of the OT, which is where Luke probably first considered the term in a spiritual sense.
For example, consider this text from 2 Chronicles 5. Solomon has completed God’s temple, and the end of the temple dedication unfolds like this…
It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
[2 Chronicles 5:13-14 NRSV]
The glory of God fills – that’s pimplemi – the temple where God’s Spirit has come to dwell. And because God’s Spirit is there, the human priests can’t work. They are no longer in control as God takes over the work. That’s pimplemi – a word Luke references on purpose. Look at the parallels:
2 Chronicles Acts
Priests of a chosen nation All believers are chosen priests
God’s new dwelling place God’s new dwelling place
His glory comes His glory comes
People no longer in control People no longer in control
That’s what is means to be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. With pimplemi the issue is control. It’s not about the human controlling God, as in paganism. Filling is about God controlling the human. Which explains why filling with the Spirit is contrasted with wine. Throughout the New Testament, descriptions of the filling of the Spirit use drunkenness as a comparison/contrast. In each case, the person is controlled, but one is influenced by God, the other by alcohol.
God bless,
Wayne