Could Pre-crucifixion Believers be Filled with the Holy Spirit?

In an effort to downplay the Old Testament, it is sometimes claimed that before Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Holy Spirit could not fill believers, but only come upon them. Hence, the first time that believers were filled with the Holy Spirit was on the first Pentecost after Jesus ascended into Heaven (Acts 2:4).

Indeed, in the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) there are many mentions that the Holy Spirit “came upon” people, empowering them to accomplish things for God. However, there are also many mentions that people were “filled” with the Holy Spirit, or that the Holy Spirit was in them (Gen. 41:38; Exod. 28:3; 31:3; 35:31; Num. 27:18; Ezek. 2:2; 3:24).

Acts 1:7–8 says,

He [Jesus] said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Here, Jesus spoke to his disciples about the time when the Holy Spirit will “come upon” them. He was describing what they will experience in Acts chapter 2, when they would be “filled with” the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:4). Thus, according to Jesus himself, the Holy Spirit coming upon a person means the same thing as that person being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, in the Jewish Scriptures, whenever the Holy Spirit came upon a person, that person was filled with the Holy Spirit in the same sense that Jesus’ followers were filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2. Both expressions communicate the same thing: people were empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish great things for God.