Drunkenness
There are no passages in the Bible to support the idea that the first disciples were roaring with laughter and exhibiting a drunken behaviour when they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Whenever the Bible mentions drunkenness, it is with disapproval. Some of the people witnessing the disciples being filled by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, mocked them saying that they were drunk with wine. In reply, Peter did not pick up on the subject of drunkenness at all. He did not say that they were drunk by the Holy Spirit, or invite the bystanders to get a taste of the spiritual drink. No, he simply and categorically stated that they were not drunk! What they had experienced was something completely different from drunkenness. It was the filling of the Holy Spirit, which enabled Peter to preach a powerful sermon on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the fulfilling of Old Testament prophecies (Acts 2).
The same Greek word for drunkenness (methyo) that is used in Acts 2 is also used by Paul in Ephesians 5:18. 14 Here he warns Christians against getting drunk. When he is urging Christians to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul chooses a completely different word in Greek (pleroo).15 Thus he does not point to the similarities between drunkenness and filling with the Holy Spirit but, rather, he contrasts them.
Falling
The Bible does describe incidents of people falling in connection with encounters with God. A number of these seem to be voluntary prostrations and, therefore, they cannot be used to justify today’s involuntary “falling in the Spirit” (Mark 5:22, Luke 5:12, 17:16, John 11:32).
In the Old Testament, there are two texts that may possibly be used as proof texts for today’s involuntary falling by the power. During an encounter with God, Ezekiel fell on his face and was lifted up in the air (Ezekiel 3:12, 43:5). Being lifted up in the air was certainly not a voluntary occurrence on Ezekiel’s part, and this indicates that the falling down was not voluntary either. During his encounter with God, Daniel fell on his face. It seems that he was overcome by weakness, because it says that the Lord had to lift him up (Daniel 8:17-18).
These Old Testament Scriptures indicate that people may fall as a result of an encounter with God. However, there are major differences between this and today’s behaviour of making people fall over by a spiritual power. Ezekiel’s and Daniel’s falling and being raised up were the results of sovereign acts of God, and they did not attempt to convey these experiences to other people. It was not regarded as something to be sought after.
The fact that they fell on their faces and not on their backs, may indicate that there was an element of voluntary falling down on the face in reverence before God, and this is most probably the case in Ezekiel 1:28 and 44:4. But even if these Scriptures describe involuntary falling, they can still not be regarded as precedents for today’s regular falling backwards en masse at the end of services.
In the New Testament, we see that the guards coming to arrest Jesus “drew back and fell to the ground.” (John 18:6). They were enemies of God both before and after the falling. It seems that they fell backwards. (Falling backwards is also described in a negative context in Isaiah 28:13). I am not sure if the direction of falling has any significance in itself, but at the very least these Scriptures do not support the idea that today’s habit of falling backwards is a blessing of God.
Paul fell involuntarily during an encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4, 26:14). This could conceivably be used as a proof text for today’s “falling in the Spirit” being considered a blessing. However, this is very different from the custom of lining up people after every service in order to make them fall over by a spiritual power. Paul, on the contrary, describes his experience of falling as a unique sovereign action by God. There was no service, no laying on of hands, no talking about the power of God, no worship-singing, or any other of today’s usual ingredients leading up to the falling in the Spirit. We are not informed that Paul fell at any other time as a result of the blessing of God.
According to the information we have, Paul did not proceed to convey his own experience of falling to others, and there is certainly no mention of him ending every service by making people fall by the power. As this is the best proof text that is used to justify today’s behaviour, it comes very short. On the contrary, it rather contradicts the behaviour of regularly making people fall by a spiritual power in services.
The apostle John fell down at the feet of Jesus during an encounter with Him (Revelation 1:17). The fact that John “fell at His feet as dead,” indicates that it might have been a case of involuntary falling. However, the same expression in the Greek text is used in describing Jairus’ falling down at the feet of Jesus, and that had to be a voluntary act (Mark 5:22). 16 It is also possible that John fell voluntarily at the feet of Jesus, as if he was dead. In that case, it would fit in with the voluntary prostrations in reverence before God described later on in Revelation (Revelation 4:10, 5:8, 5:14, 7:11, 11:16, 19:4). But even if John’s fall was involuntary, it is still very different from the involuntary fallings that are commonplace today.
If falling as a result of an encounter with God had been a regular occurrence in New Testament times, more would be mentioned about it in Scripture. Certainly, if it had been reckoned to be a sign of revival, as it is today, something more would definitely have had to be said about it than just the one single incident in the life of Paul and one possible incident in the life of John. Furthermore, the New Testament describes people falling involuntarily in connection with demon possession (Matthew 17:15, Mark 3:11, 9:20). Therefore, caution and discernment are called for in this area.
As we have seen from the Bible, God may at rare instances cause an individual to fall involuntarily as a result of an encounter with Him. However, we ought to get suspicious when involuntary falling is conveyed through certain people, and when it is reproduced regularly.
Laughter and Convulsions
Laughter is rarely mentioned in the New Testament (Matthew 9:24, mark 5:40, Luke 6:21-25, 8:53, James 4:9). None of these texts lend any support whatever to the involuntary fits of laughter known as “laughter in the Spirit” or “holy laughter”. In the Bible, there is no account of anyone rolling on the floor roaring with laughter as a result of an encounter with God.
Joy, which is one of the fruits of the Spirit, is mentioned many times in the New Testament. There is no indication that this would entail uncontrollable fits of laughter. Rather, it seems to be a joy on a much deeper level than that.
The Word of God mentions certain isolated cases of true disciples shaking and trembling when God reveals Himself to them, but there is no indication that shakes or trembles are transmitted to others by the laying on of hands as a Christian practice. Fits and convulsions are never described as signs of being filled with the Holy Spirit, on the contrary they are described on some occasions as a result of demon possession (Matthew 17:15, Mark 9:26, Luke 9:42).
Footnotes
14. Kurt Aland, The Greek New Testament.
15. Kurt Aland, The Greek New Testament.
16. Kurt Aland, The Greek New Testament.
