5:18\u00a0And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, \u2029\u2029<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many differ on their convictions regarding the use of alcohol. Within the church, a once held position of abstinence has shifted from being wide-spread to now the minority. Regardless of one’s personal conviction o this matter, Ephesians 5:17 speaks clearly on drunkenness and the importance of an inverse control.<\/p>\n

Drunkenness is equated to debauchery, which is an excessive indulgence in an external stimulant like sex or alcohol. In the Greek the word used for “excess”, found in King James, is as\u014dtia, which is the antonym of the word s\u014dz\u014d, meaning “to save”. Literally, Paul is saying that indulgence in alcohol has no saving power.<\/p>\n

Paul turns his attention to the encouragement toward being filled with the Spirit. This is written in the present tense to suggest that moment by moment, we should strive to be controlled by the Spirit. In practical terms, this requires that we pause and seek His guidance in decisions both large and small.<\/p>\n

Debauchery would no longers exist in the church if God’s people took the short time needed to pause and ask the Holy Spirit for permission, or guidance.<\/p>\n

Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest\u2019s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Eph 5:18). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.\u2029\u2029<\/span><\/p>\n

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 5:18). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5:18\u00a0And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, \u2029\u2029 Many differ on their convictions regarding the use of alcohol. Within the church, a once held position of abstinence has shifted from being wide-spread to now the minority. Regardless of one’s personal conviction o this matter, Ephesians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[6,8,5],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}