Drunk in the Holy Spirit: Is it Biblical?

As some of my readers may have noticed, I do occasionally like to walk on thin ice.  And so today I want to look into a topic I was somewhat naïve about until fairly recently.  I decided to do a study on the concept of being “drunk in the Spirit.”  I will be using the New American Standard Bible for my references in case you wish to follow my thought process, as I pray you always do.

For the last several years many Christians have begun to practice a new paradigm.  Getting “drunk in the Holy Spirit” has become a popular concept in some churches.  Although it was birthed in Pentecostalism it has crossed denominational boundaries.  It seems to have literally changed biblical traditions for what is now called a “new thing” of the Spirit.

But is it biblical?

Unfortunately feelings, nor experience can be a test for truth especially in an atmosphere that resembles more of a laboratory experiment then a normal Church service with the authentic gifts operating.  They must be examined by Scripture to see if they are the nature of the Holy Spirit.  He is the Spirit of Holiness (See Romans 1:4), and the Spirit of Jesus Christ (See Romans 8:9; Philippians 1:19), meaning he represents Christ and he communicates these same properties into the believer which become the fruit of the Spirit in one’s life.  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)

I might as well begin by saying that nowhere in the Bible does it say we are to be drunk in the Spirit.  When the Bible speaks of being drunk, it always has a negative connotation.  Drunks are very self-centered people, concerned with their feelings and having a good time, they are obnoxious and mostly out of control. The only way one can validate this behavior is to use the flat bible affect.  Slide two scriptures over to each other, and mix to match.  Such as Joy of salvation = “holy laughter.”  

Preachers who promote being drunk in the Spirit point to Acts 2:13 as justification for their peculiar practice. “But others were mocking and saying, "They are full of sweet wine."  The accusation was obviously mocking the apostles, and in verse 15 Peter flatly denies any possibility of inebriation.  Yet today’s Word of Faith teachers take this joke from an ungodly crowd and use it as “evidence” that Peter and the apostles were preaching in a drunken state.  Such twisting of Scripture not only demeans the apostles, it also dishonors the Holy Spirit.

In Ephesians 5:18-19 the Apostle Paul admonishes us, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord...”  He tells us that joy and contentment comes from those controlled by the Spirit; it is peaceable and it exhibits communion with the Lord.

Paul contrasts drunkenness (See Proverbs 20:1; Isaiah 28:7; Titus 2:11-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:8) with the filling of the Spirit.  (See Acts 6:3; Acts 7:5; Acts 4:31)  The drunk is not in control of himself, but is under the power of a foreign substance. In contrast, the Spirit-filled Christian is entirely in control of himself under the direction of the Holy Spirit.  There is absolutely no case in the New Testament of the Lord Jesus, or the Apostles, or early Christians staggering about in a drunken stupor, unable to attend to necessary duties. 

To be fair, the only example of “spiritual drunkenness” in the Bible is in the prophets, yet taken in context, it is referring to God’s judgment upon sin and apostasy. (Isaiah 29:9-14; Jeremiah 51:37-40)  These prophecies sound a serious warning.  They have rejected the sound teaching of the Bible; they have refused to be sober and vigilant; they have mocked careful Biblical discernment; they have exalted experience over doctrine; they have gone chasing after feelings and “signs and wonders”; and they have been blinded by demonic delusions. God warns that those who refuse to obey the truth will be blinded by lying wonders. (2 Thess. 2:9-12)

God wants every aspect of our lives as believers to be under the complete control of the Holy Spirit.  This does not come by drunkenness, and it does not mimic its effects.

Acting drunk and blaming it on the Spirit of God is sin.  Those who teach spiritual intoxication are more closely allied with Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and drunkenness, than with the true God of the Bible. Being filled with the Spirit is not some ecstatic or emotionally charged experience.  It is not a heavenly high or a spiritual buzz.  Being filled with the Spirit is a steady submission of one’s life to the God of glory.

“And the one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And we know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” (1 John 3:24)

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