Did everyone?

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Adino

To be filled with the Spirit is to be fully controlled by the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).

How do you come to that conclusion by that one verse?

Nowhere in the NT is the phrase "filled with the Holy Ghost" used to reference a saving work of God.

Romans 8:9-11 teaches us that without the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us, we do not belong to Christ. Jesus stated in John 3:5 that we must be born again of the water and the Spirit to enter into the kingdom of God. We are not born with the Spirit of God within us like John the Baptist so somewhere along the line there is a point in time in which the Holy Spirit enters us or fills us or comes to dwell within us. It first happened in new convenant times in Acts 2:4 and it has continued to happen in a like manner to all who come to Christ since that time. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is the same as being filled with the Spirit or the Spirit coming upon someone, or falling on someone, or being poured out on someone. These terms from what I can see in the NT are the same when the Spirit dwells a person for the first time.

We need and must have this 'filling with the Holy Ghost' to save us.

The phrase is used of John the baptist in Luke 1:15, his mother Elisabeth in Luke 1:41, his father Zacharias in Luke 1:67, and of a group of men in Acts 4:31 who were being "filled with the Holy Ghost" a second time, for these were the same "filled with the Holy Ghost" in Acts 2:4. I doubt you will say they were made regenerate again, so why should we say the author, who did not intend the phrase to refer to regeneration in any other passage, uses it to mean regeneration in Acts 2:4?

There were many Jewish folks in the OT who were filled with the Spirit and it was manifested for the most part by prophecy. Not all of God's people were filled with the Spirit under the Old covenant although Moses lamented this fact. I tend to think that it was not a temporary manifestation for those who had the Spirit in the OT for David prayed "take not thy Holy Spirit from me'. And the gifts and calling of God are without repentance which is written in Romans (NT) but is directed to the Jewish people for they will always be the chosen of God and the natural branches.

The distinction I believe the Bible makes is that of the INITIAL infilling. Acts 2:4 is the initial infilling of the Spirit for the disciples that were in the house in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit 'fell' on them. This 'infilling' is now given to all men that call upon the Lord. It is part of the new covenant experience and is no longer limited to certain ones that the Lord choses as He did under the old covenant but it is for whosoever wants to drink of the living waters of life.

Luke uses the term "filled with the Holy Ghost" in reference to special empowerment in Luke 1:15, 41, 67 and in Acts 4:31. I think the evidence is clear it should be understood in the same fashion in Acts 2:4.

I agree with your point about special empowerment or anointing that God provides at various times as well.

To sum this up I find two meanings to 'filled with the Spirit'.

1) The initial indwelling of the Spirit into a believer when it is considered part of regeneration or being born again.
2) An added anointing for a specific reason...such as Stephen at his stoning, or as a blessing in which case these are not regenerative.