Ephesians 5:18

Specifically we should not let wine control us but God’s Holy Spirit. Both forces are internal. "Be filled" is a passive command. It amounts to letting the Holy Spirit who indwells us control us completely. We do this by trusting and obeying Him as His Word directs. The wine that fills a person controls every area of his life as long as that person consumes it. Drunkenness results in incorrigible behavior. Likewise the believer who allows the Spirit to influence and direct his thinking and behavior will experience His control as long as he maintains that relationship to the Spirit (cf. Luke 1:15; Acts 2:12-21). Another translation of the command is, "Be being kept filled by the Spirit." [Note: See Chafer, He That . . ., pp. 39-81. See also Randall Gleason, "B. B. Warfield and Lewis S. Chafer on Sanctification," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (June 1997):241-56; Andreas J. Köstenberger, "What Does It Mean to Be Filled with the Spirit? A Biblical Investigation," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40:2 (June 1997):229-40; and Eldon Woodcock, "The Filling of the Holy Spirit," Bibliotheca Sacra 157:625 (January-March 2000):68-87.] This is our ongoing responsibility (present tense), and it is obligatory for every Christian, not optional.

"The baptism of the Spirit means that I belong to Christ’s body. The filling of the Spirit means that my body belongs to Christ." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:48. See also ibid., p. 49, for some helpful contrasts between being drunk with wine and being filled with the Spirit.]