Charles Hodge on Ephesians 5:18

V. 18. And (especially) be not drunk with wine. This is an ἀφρόσυνη, a want of sense, especially inconsistent with the intelligence of the true believer. The man who has a right discernment will not seek refreshment or excitement from wine, but from the Holy Spirit. Therefore the apostle adds, but be filled with the Spirit. In drunkenness, he says, there is ἀσωτία, revelry, debauchery, riot, whatever tends to destruction; for the word is derived from ἄσωτος, which means, what cannot be saved, one given up to a destructive course of life. Comp. Tit. 1, 6. 1 Pet. 4, 4. Men are said to be filled with wine when completely under its influence; so they are said to be filled with the Spirit, when he controls all their thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. The expression is a common one in Scripture. Of our Lord himself it was said, "He was full of the Holy Ghost," Luke 4, 1; so of Stephen that "he was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost," Acts 6, 5; and of Barnabas, Acts 11, 24, &c. To the Christian, therefore, the source of strength and joy is not wine, but the blessed Spirit of God. And as drunkenness produces rioting and debauchery, so the Holy Spirit produces a joy which expresses itself in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs. Quid gignit ebrietas? dissolutam proterviam, ut quasi excusso freno indecenter homines exultent. Quid spiritualis laetitia, quum ea perfusi sumus? hymnos, psalmos, laudes Dei, gratiarum actiones. Hi sunt vere jucundi fructus et delectabiles. CALVIN.