The Seal of The Spirit

Once a person repents and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they are not only indwelt by the Spirit of God, but they are sealed by the Spirit also. But, what is the sealing of the Holy Spirit? This is the next logical question to ponder at this juncture in this study. Understanding the Spirit’s ministry of conviction, regeneration, and indwelling, one must examine the truth that believers are sealed with the Spirit at the moment they believe. The sealing of the Holy Spirit refers to His ministry of marking the children of God as His own possession and guaranteeing their complete salvation.  Once again the apostle Paul gives some insight into this wonderful blessing in Ephesians 1:13-14. There Paul said, 

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, ¹⁴ Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

In what way is the Holy Spirit God’s mark of ownership on believers? In the Ephesians 1:13-14, the emphasis is on the blessings from God the Holy Spirit. Believers have been sealed by the Spirit and had received the earnest of the Spirit.  It would be best to look at these two concepts separately at first and then consider what they mean together as employed by the apostle. 

CONVERSION

To begin with, every believer has been sealed with the Spirit (v. 13).  Note here that the entire process of conversion is given in verse thirteen, so it would be of maximum benefit to examine it carefully. It reveals how the sinner becomes a saint. First is proclamation, the unbeliever hear the gospel of salvation—“ye heard the word of truth.” This is the good news that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again (1Cor. 15:1-4). Then reception, the Ephesians heard “the Gospel” and embraced it personally– “your salvation” (Eph 1:13). That is they all consciously repented and placed their faith in Christ and His finished work at Calvary.  This is the standard and typical way a sinner comes to Christ—through hearing the gospel. This pattern follows what Paul wrote in Rom. 10:13-15, exactly. There Paul said, 

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. ¹⁴ How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things (Romans 10:13-15)! 

It is God’s plan for evangelism. Christians must proclaim the message that men may hear and believe.  Conversion can only follow the gospel declaration. Well, having heard the Word, the Ephesians believed—“who first trusted in Christ.  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the truth….” (Eph. 1:12, 13).  The God given gospel of Jesus Christ must not only be heard (Rom. 10:17) but believed (Jn. 1:12) to experience salvation (Rom. 10:8-10).  It is the exercise of this saving faith in the gospel that brings salvation (Eph. 2:8-9). Then when the Ephesians believed, they were immediately “sealed with the holy Spirit.” The phrase, “After that ye believed,” does not indicate a sequence or a process, but merely the resultant outcome.  The seal of the Spirit is not a second blessing—the “after that ye believed” (v. 13b) means effectively ‘when you believed’. That is once a sinner has placed his trust in the gospel of Christ. They receive the Spirit immediately upon trusting Him. Again this is not an experience following conversion, but simply the outcome of placing one’s faith in the complete redemptive work of Christ—it is part of conversion. Regeneration, indwelling, and sealing all happen instantly upon trusting Christ as Savior. A careful reading of Acts 10:34-48 demonstrates how the Spirit was received by sinners upon hearing the gospel and belief in Christ. Consider the words of Dr. Luke as he chronicled Peter’s characterization of these Gentiles receiving the gospel and the Holy Spirit. Luke said,

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. ⁴⁴ While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. ⁴⁵ And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. ⁴⁶ For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, ⁴⁷ Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? (Acts 10:43-47)

Thus the text communicates that they heard the word preached, received forgiveness of sins, the Spirit fell on them who listened, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, and they received the Holy Spirit just like the Jewish converts had. All of this happens simultaneously when the sinner believes. So upon belief the convert is seal with the Holy Spirit. This is the teaching of Ephesians 1:13. 

SPIRITUAL SEALING

But, what is the seal of the Holy Spirit? Paul states that very believer was “sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). The seal can be perceived as God’s mark. Since Christians are in Christ because they believed the gospel, they are marked out as God’s people. The idea of God putting his identifying mark on his people is mentioned several times in Scripture (See Ezek. 9:4–6 and Rev. 7:1–8).  So this is not unique and clearly not new. The seal used to mark the people of God, New Testament believers, is nothing less than the promised gift of the Spirit. Walvoord and Zuck (1985) in The Bible Knowledge Commentary noted that according to Acts 2, the promise in question is principally that of Joel 2:28–29; but understood in a distinctively Christian way (Acts 1:4, 5, 8; 2:16-21, 32, 33, 38, 39).¹  

Accordingly, through this promised gift Christians received: (a) wisdom and illumination to perceive the implications of the gospel (Eph. 1:17–20; 3:5); (b) inner strengthening in the gospel (Eph. 3:16; 6:17); (c) access to, and the indwelling presence of, God and of Christ (Eph. 2:18, 22; 3:16–17); (d) the beginnings of the promised oneness of believers; Spirit-given unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3–4; John 17:21; 1Cor. 6:17; 12:11-13; Phil. 1:27; 2:2); (e) inspiration and power for godly living and thankful worship (4:30; 5:18–20) and (f) guiding and enabling help in prayer (6:18). All these activities are what marks believers as God’s people and are indispensable to ongoing Christian experience. All of this is part of the promise and evidence of the Spirit’s sealing in every believer.  Christians are marked by these blessings. They testify to the reality of their conversion.

But still what is the significance of this sealing of the Holy Spirit?  An understanding of the meaning of the word “seal” would be helpful in discovering the significance of this ministry of the Spirit in the believers’ experience. The literal meaning of the word “seal” according to Biblesoft’s New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance (Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc. 2006) is to, “stamp (with a signet or private mark) for security or preservation (literally or figuratively); by implication, to keep secret, to attest.”² Basically it means to stamp for security purposes or to preserve by placing a signet mark upon. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (Zodhiate 1994), adds this insight about sealing, “Christians whom God attests and confirms by the gift of the Holy Spirit as the earnest, pledge, or seal of their election to salvation.”³ Therefore, God testifies to a Christian’s conversion by granting the genuine seal of the Spirit. Furthermore MacDonald and Farstad (1995, p. 1911) reiterated how this is true of every believer in Christ when he stated,  

This means that every true believer receives the Spirit of God as a sign that he belongs to God and that he will be kept safe by God until the time he receives his glorified body. Just as in legal matters a seal indicates ownership and security, so it does in divine affairs. The indwelling Spirit brands us as God’s property (1 Cor. 6:19, 20), and guarantees our preservation until the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30)⁴.

DIVINE OWNERSHIP

According to these theologians, this sealing implies ownership: God has put his seal on Christians because He has purchased them to be His own.  This should sound very familiar (1Cor. 6:19-20).  The Bible clearly is reinforcing this concept of divine ownership. The sense is the Holy Spirit Himself is the certification of the fact that repentant sinners who trust Christ are God’s people.  The Bible speaks of them as being God’s own particular possession in several places (1Pet. 2:9; Tit. 2:14). Believers belong to Him. The Holy Spirit within them is the mark or God’s sealing.  It has been suggested (Anders 1995, Chapter 3) that this can be understood if compared to branding cattle on a ranch. If one were a rancher raising cattle, the day would come when one would need to brand the yearling calves.⁵ The ranchers would ride out onto the range and drive the cattle with new calves to a holding pen. There they would catch each calf and burn a brand into its hip. Anders said (1995, Chapter 3), “Your brand would be unique, registered to you only. No other rancher can have the same brand. Your brand says, “This calf belongs to YOU,” and no one can dispute it.”⁶ Likewise, the Holy Spirit is God’s brand on every believer. They are marked as God’s people by the Holy Spirit who indwells them.  

Once again, the sealing of the Holy Spirit refers to His ministry of marking the children of God as His own possession and guaranteeing their complete salvation. So, if you are truly saved, then you are truly sealed by the Spirit of God. Therefore, God is yours and you are His.