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As I’ve studied what it means to be filled with the Spirit, one of the most surprising insights I’ve made is that Paul constantly equates fullness of the Spirit with depth in the gospel. In Ephesians Paul says that as we become more intimately aware of the largeness of the love of God in Christ, we have an experience of “all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14–18). In Galatians he says that we grow more full of the Spirit in the same manner we first received him — by hearing and believing the gospel (Galatians 3:1–3). Depth in one leads to fullness in the other.
Many Reformed and Baptist people don’t make that connection. We think growth in the gospel merely yields new affections for, and joy in, God. And of course, that it does. But sometimes we don’t realize that the presence of those affections and joy is, in reality, the presence of a Person — a living, moving Person. It is God himself. The Spirit himself “floods our hearts” with the love of God, and cries up from our spirit “Abba, Father!” (Romans 5:5; 8:15).
“Charismatic” Christians can sometimes forget that fullness of the Spirit is found primarily in depth in the gospel. We seek him in the mystical and the spectacular, forgetting that the Spirit’s primary desire is to magnify Jesus in our hearts (John 16:14).
On both sides, we risk missing something absolutely critical. The Baptist/Reformed side majors on gospel and doctrine, but often has little to no awareness of the presence of the Spirit. The more charismatic side majors on the Spirit, but often forgets that he is tied to the gospel. Both sides need to learn that there is a profound and inseparable unity between the two.
By going deep into the gospel you become alive in the Spirit. Thus, as D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “I spend half my time telling Christians to study doctrine, and the other half telling them doctrine is not enough!” We need to hear both.
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J. D. Greear, Desiring God Ministries
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