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Ephesians 5 · a question people ask

"Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit," (5:18). What is it to be filled with the Spirit?

In the text

The verse doesn't explain it beyond its own words. It sets "Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation" beside "but be filled with the Spirit" (5:18). It doesn't say more of what being filled with the Spirit is, and these notes don't either, or apply the verse to anyone's drinking.

The verses

“Don’t be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,”
Ephesians 5:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Ephesians 5

Ephesians 5: Walk as children of light

Ephesians 5 doesn't say only that its readers were once in the dark: "For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord." (5:8). Three times it tells them how to walk: in love (5:2), as children of light (5:8), and "not as unwise, but as wise" (5:15).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions