30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Paul alluded to Isaiah 63:10 in this verse.
With verses 30 to 32, Paul gave three reasons why we should not let our speech run away from us.
It grieves the Holy Spirit, v. 30.
It violates the Son who died for our sin, v. 32.
It offends the Father, who forgave us in Christ, v. 32.
30 And
The word “and” links this verse with verse 29. The previous verse presented the idea of speaking the right things, about edifying others with words. We can grieve the Holy Spirit by unguarded speech.
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God,
The Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity, God Himself. He begins to permanently indwell each believer at the point of salvation.
Although the Holy Spirit does not operation on His emotions, the idea of His “grief” is an accommodation to human language. The point here is that sin in the believer’s life violates the Holy Spirit by inconsistencies of his life.
“Grieve” is a concept that concerns someone who cares about us. The Holy Spirit loves us. When we communicate in a way that injures fellow Christians, we grieve the Spirit. We can grieve only a person, not a thing. Some believe that the Holy Spirit is not part of the Trinity or a person.
by [in] whom you were sealed
The believer is not only “in Christ” but he or she is sealed by the Holy Spirit. The Greek indicates that the sealing took place at one point in the past. The Holy Spirit Himself is the seal (Eph 1:13). We are God’s property, signed and sealed by God in giving us the permanent Holy Spirit to indwell us. Sealing indicates ownership; we are God’s property and possession. A seal indicates ownership. We are not to break a seal.
We should translate “by” as “in.” The Holy Spirit Himself is the seal; the indwelling Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our salvation. Our position in Him shows the penalty for our sin was fully paid by Christ.
PRINCIPLE:
The sealing of the Holy Spirit is the stamp of God’s approval on us.
APPLICATION:
The Holy Spirit is the seal rather than the sealer. The sealer is the Father. The Holy Spirit is the Father’s pledge to give us final redemption. There is coming an event when God will claim us finally as His own. At that time, we will receive our glorified bodies. God has made a stamp of His approval on the believer so that He guarantees our salvation to the point of our reaching glory itself.
The Christian life is lived either within a grieved Spirit or an ungrieved Spirit. The Christian life centers around our relationship to the Holy Spirit. Grieving the Spirit puts us out of fellowship with God. When we do this, we miss embracing the glory of Christ for our lives.
Hi Grant can you tell me what
( 1 Samuel 16:14
Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.) means sins believers are eternally secure?
Was he saved or wasnt he ever truly saved? Or is the choice of wording of how this verse is translated confusing? Thank you
Grant the question above is supposed to be since Believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit and eternally secure then what is the correct interpretation of
(1 Samuel 16:14
(Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.)? Thank you
Scott, only a few had the Spirit in the Old Testament and for the purpose of special unction. Possession of the Spirit had nothing to do with salvation. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit baptize every believer into the body of Christ (1 Co 12:13).
There is a typo above:
Isaiah 6:10 should be Isaiah 63:10
George, thank you for calling attention to the typo, especially in such an important quote. It is now corrected.