The Sealing of the Spirit (2)

The Spirit who seals us is described in Ephesians 1:13 as the "holy Spirit of promise." "Promise" is singular, referring to the one, central, OT promise of Messianic salvation for all the elect people of God. The "holy Spirit of promise" is the promised Holy Spirit. Thus the OT prophesies not only salvation, including all the blessings of Ephesians 1:3-14, by the power of the Holy Spirit; it also promises that the same Spirit who applies Christ’s salvation to us will seal it to us and assure us personally of our own gracious salvation.

Some might query this last point: "I know that the OT predicts the coming of Christ and His salvation, and that the Holy Spirit is prophesied as applying Christ’s blessings to us in the NT age (e.g., Joel 2:28-29; Isa. 32:15; 44:3; 59:21), but where does the OT promise that the Spirit will assure us of Messianic salvation?" Think, for instance, of Ezekiel 36:26-28. God promises to regenerate us (26) and put His Spirit in us (27) so that we recognise and keep His commandments (27). In this (new) covenant, we enjoy fellowship with Jehovah: "ye shall be my people, and I will be your God" (28). Knowing God as our God and ourselves as His people, by the Spirit (27), is assurance of our covenant salvation.

There is a wrong view of the timing of the NT believer’s assurance, that the sealing of the Spirit (i.e., assurance) usually comes some time after first believing the gospel. Some saints may be sealed at their conversion or soon after, but many, if not most, are only sealed years—often many years—later. According to this view, not all Christians are (currently) sealed by the Spirit and assured of their salvation, so ministers are to call these poor saints to a quest for assurance. If you do not have assurance, you must seek it—earnestly, fervently, passionately—often for many years. Then, finally, you will be sealed with the Spirit.

Many Puritans had this wrong view of assurance, though they were faithful in many things (e.g., double predestination, original sin, regulative principle of worship, paedobaptism, fencing the Lord’s table, Psalm-singing, opposition to lay-preaching, catechising, etc.). Sadly, Martyn Lloyd-Jones—fine preacher and expositor, and amillennialist that he was—followed these Puritans in this regard.

This idea of assurance as (ordinarily) coming some time after believing and usually after much seeking (often for years) is a form of second-blessing teaching. Later the content of the second blessing became "power for service," as with revivalists like R. A. Torrey and D. L. Moody; or entire sanctification, as with John Wesley and the Perfectionists; or the baptism with the Holy Spirit (often with tongue-speaking, i.e., gibberish, as the external sign), as with Pentecostals. Lloyd-Jones, viewing assurance as a post-conversion experience, also held to the baptism with the Holy Spirit as a second blessing. Tragically, he gave qualified approval to Charismatic outbreaks in South Wales and favoured R. T. Kendall as his successor in Westminster Chapel in London. That church’s demise—Charismaticism and Arminianism—is well-known.

Thankfully, assurance is not a second-blessing experience (usually) received years after first believing and only after much seeking. We are sealed with the Spirit when we believe the gospel of Christ. At this point, we should note that the AV translation of Ephesians 1:13 ("after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise") could be understood as suggesting the wrong view. "When ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" is better. It is difficult to prove this to a general audience, for it involves Greek grammar (aorists and participles) but the point can be made theologically and from the context.

First, Ephesians 1:3-14 is one long sentence mentioning "all spiritual blessings" (3) given to the "saints" (1). The sealing of the Spirit (13) is one of these spiritual blessings given to all Christians (and not just some and that typically years after their conversion). Second, "all spiritual blessings," including the sealing of the Spirit, are "in Christ" (3) who is possessed by all believers. Third, we are "sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (13) and God’s unconditional promise of salvation (which includes assurance) is to all believers. Fourth, as we saw in the last News, "seal" (13) centrally refers to ownership. Since all Christians are owned by the Triune God, they are sealed with the Spirit. Fifth, all believers have the Spirit as an "earnest" (14) and they also have Him as a "seal" (13).

All God’s children are sealed with the Spirit when they believe because assurance is part of faith. Thus the Heidelberg Catechism rightly defines faith as consisting of "a certain knowledge" and "an assuredconfidence" (A. 21).

Ephesians 1:13 teaches that the Spirit seals us through faith in the gospel, "the word of truth," not through mystical experiences or the Holy Ghost whispering in our ear. Believing the Word read and preached is the way of assurance. Thus it is very important that you listen to the true, not the false, gospel, for it is "the word of truth" that is "the gospel of your salvation" (13).

We see this logical (not chronological) order from our text: preaching, faith and the sealing of the Spirit. Child of God, the Spirit has sealed you from the time you first believed (13) all the way to the "day of redemption," so do not grieve Him (4:30) by your sins (25-29, 31-32)!