Sealed by the Holy Spirit

Billy said to Jimmy, “My Dad has a list of names of men that he can wipe and your daddy’s name is first on it.” Jimmy went home and told he daddy, “Daddy, I have something to tell you. Billy’s dad has a list of names of men he can wipe and your name is first.” Jimmy’s dad went to see Billy’s dad and rolled up his sleeves. “Is it true you have a list of men you can wipe and my name is on it.” Billy’s dad responded, “That is right.” Jimmy’s dad replied, “You can’t do it and what are you going to do about it?”

Billy’s dad said, “Well, I guess I’ll just take your name off.” 

Did you know, child of God, God has your name on a list, and He will never take it off?  In Luke 10:40, Jesus said, “Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” We call this the doctrine of eternal security and this blessed truth is the result of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. In John 10:28, Jesus gave a powerful promise of security:

“I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.” William Mounce in his Basics of Biblical Greek states the significance of the double negative (ou ma) with a subjunctive verb (apolontai):

This chapter describes a fascinating combination used by the Greek language to show emphasis: it is the use of the two negatives ou ma with a subjunctive verb to indicate a strong negation about the future. The speaker uses the subjunctive verb to suggest a future possibility, but in the same phrase, he emphatically denies (by means of the double negative) that such could ever happen. This linguistic combination occurs about eighty-five times in the New Testament, often in significant promises or reassurances about the future.

In Jesus’ description of himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10, he gives one of the most treasured of these promises: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish [ou ma apolontai]” (10:27-28a NIV). It would have been enough to have ou with a future indicative verb here, but Jesus is more emphatic. The subjunctive combination strongly denies even the possibility that any of Jesus’ sheep would perish: “they will certainly not perish,” “they will by no means perish,” is the sense of Jesus’ assertion. This is reinforced by the addition of the phrase eis ton aiovion, “forever.” Jesus’ emphatic promise is the bedrock of assurance and godly motivation for every one of his sheep! (William Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993, p. 281).

WE HAVE ETERNAL SECURITY BECAUSE OF THE SEALING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 

1. Who Seals The Believer?

There are three passages that specifically mention the sealing of the Holy Spirit: 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30. According to 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, God the Father is the agent who seals believers with the Holy Spirit. The last reference informs us that believers are sealed in the Holy Spirit: “Grieve not the holy Spirit of God in [gk. en] whom you are sealed” (Eph. 4:30). The closeness in the meaning of the sealing of the Holy Spirit to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is seen in the reference to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 1:21 (“anointed” which means indwelling as in 1 John 2:20,27) and sealing of the Holy Spirit in the very next line in 1:22.

2. When are Believers Sealed? At the time of conversion.

In Ephesians 1:13 Paul wrote in Greek, “in whom having believed [aorist participle] you were sealed [aorist passive indicative] with that Holy Spirit of promise.” At the moment the sinner put his faith in Christ, he is sealed in the Holy Spirit.

Charles Ryrie discusses the grammar of Ephesians 1:13 which can legitimately be exegeted two ways, which result in two different answers to the question of when are people sealed. The principal verb is “you were sealed.” The aorist participle that accompanies it is “believing.”

  1. The participle [having believed] may express an action that preceded that of the principal verb [you were sealed]. If so, then the believing occurred before being sealed; i.e., there was an interval of time between believing and being sealed.

  2. Or the participle [having believed] may indicate action that occurred at the same time as that of the principal verb [you were sealed]. If so, then the believing and the sealing happened at the same time.

  3. Exegetically either could be correct. But theologically, believing and sealing must be simultaneous. Otherwise, it would be possible to have unsealed believers (Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology, Moody Publishers, Kindle Edition, 414-415).

3. Who are Sealed in the Spirit?

All believers are sealed, even the carnal Corinthians (2 Cor. 1:22). One carnal Corinthian had even committed incest. Believers who sin are chastened by the Lord; not cast out (Heb. 12:6-8). Eternal security, however, is not a license to sin (Eph. 4:30-32). The sealing of the Holy Spirit is the basis for not sinning; not making an excuse to sin. Paul based on the doctrine of the sealing of the Holy Spirit admonished believers in Ephesians 4:30-32, “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God in whom you are sealed.”

“It should be noted that the Scriptures nowhere exhort any believer to be sealed. This would imply strongly that it is a universal experience since it need not be sought by any. If it were not universal, then one would expect to find at least one, if not numerous, exhortations to be sealed, as is the case, for instance, with the filling of the Spirit” (Charles Ryrie, The Holy Spirit, Chicago: Moody Press, 1965, page 81).

4. Why are Believers Sealed? The two verses in Ephesians on the sealing of the Holy Spirit give the believer security in his/her faith.

  • Paul recorded in Ephesians 1:13 the promise that believers are sealed in the Holy Spirit who is the “earnest of our inheritance” which is the “guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.”

The Greek word translated “guarantee” in this passage (arrabon) is a legal and commercial term that means ‘first installment, deposit, down payment which obligates the contracting party to make further payments. When God gave us the Holy Spirit within, he committed himself to give all the further blessings of eternal life and a great reward in heaven with him. This is why Paul can say that the Holy Spirit is the ‘guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Eph. 1:14) (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994, page 791).

Paul uses a different illustration in Romans 8:22-23. Instead of a commercial example as in Ephesians 1:13, Paul uses an agricultural example of first fruits which guaranteed a full harvest of blessings is coming. The NET Bible gives this explanation: “who have the Spirit as first fruits.” The genitive πνεύματος (pneumatos) can be understood here as possessive (“the firstfruits belonging to the Spirit”) although it is much more likely that this is a genitive of apposition (“the firstfruits, namely, the Spirit”); cf. TEV, NLT.

The first fruits is the Holy Spirit. One of the blessings in the coming harvest is “the adoption, that is, the redemption of our body” or the glorification of our bodies.

  • Paul in Ephesians 4:30 promised that believers are sealed until the day of redemption. This is God’s promise of security to each believer. The day of redemption is when we experience “the redemption of our body” or perfect conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. At that time, we will no longer need the sealing of the Holy Spirit to keep us saved.

5. What Does Sealing Mean? Sealed meant “ownership.” God sealed them in Christ. This provided a guarantee of their eternal security. Seals at the time Paul wrote indicated security (Matt. 27:66; Eph. 4:30), authentication and approval (John 6:27), genuineness (John 3:33), and ownership (2 Cor. 1:22; Rev. 7:2; 9:4). God seals the believer by giving him or her the indwelling Holy Spirit who keeps the Christian in Christ (Thomas Constable on Ephesians 1:13).

A Biblical example is in Revelation 7:1-8; 9:4; 14:1. The 144,000 believing Jews are sealed in the middle of the Tribulation (7:1-8) in the absolute most difficult of all times, the seven-year Tribulation Period. Because they are sealed by God, they are preserved and not killed by the anti-Christ. In 14:1, the same 144,000 are alive on mount Sion at the end of the Tribulation.

John Walvoord describes these 144,000 sealed believers as having been preserved through the Tribulation: “To interpret this [mount Sion] as a heavenly city . . . involves numerous problems . . . . If this group is the same as the 144,000 of chapter 7, they are specifically said to be sealed and kept safely through the tribulation. In this case, they move on into the millennial earth without going to the third heaven [God’s abode], since this is the meaning of the seal (cf. 7:3)” (John Walvoord, The Revelation, 214).

If God can keep the sealed believers in the Tribulation Period surely He can keep us in less difficult times.