The Power of Passive Voice

“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” ~Ephesians 5:17-21

Last week we looked at the participles of Ephesians 5:17-21. There are five of them, and together they describe what it means to be filled with the Spirit. But there is something else of significance in this text: the passive voice of verse 18, “be filled with the Spirit.”

Passive voice means that the subject receives the action of the verb. He or she is acted upon by something or someone else. An example might be: South Carolina’s basketball team was humiliated by Clemson’s team. In Ephesians 5:18, the passive recipient of the verb be filled is the Christian. This is all well and good, but what’s so significant about this particular passive? Well, there are two things going on here that are worth noting.

First of all, this is what is referred to as a divine passive. It’s not that we fill ourselves with the Sprit; rather, God Himself does the filling! Don’t miss the significance of this. When we are told to be filled with the Spirit, the impetus is on the Spirit. How can we doubt that God will fill us with His Spirit when He is the active agent in accomplishing this task? I wonder if your mind goes to that great promise in Genesis 12 when God tells Abram that He will bless him and He will make his name great. Abram doesn’t need to work hard to make a name for himself (contra the folks at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:4). It is God who is the active agent in blessing Abram and making his name great.

The second thing to see here is that this is also a permissive passive. So while South Carolina didn’t allow Clemson win, we are to allow the Spirit to fill us by our open and willing submission to Him. The word for be filled was used to describe a sail being filled with wind to carry it along the sea. Of course, the sail doesn’t create wind, nor does it invite wind, but it certainly won’t catch any wind if it’s not up in the air, will it? Likewise, while passively receiving the filling of the Spirit, we must toss our spiritual sails up in the air in order to allow the wind to fill us up! This is done by living a life that doesn’t quench the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19) — by confessing our sin, walking in obedience to Christ (Eph. 5:15), obeying the Lord’s will (Eph. 5:17), and having faith (Acts 6:5).

Are you tossing your spiritual sails in the air regularly? If so, you can count on the Spirit filling you up with joy in Christ, so that you will sail in the direction the Lord intends for you to go — which happens to be summarized by five little participles.

Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Associate Pastor