The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 27

ns," for our so.notification; "Christ with us," for comfort and confidence. These are not three separate blessings, any one of which we may have without the others, but three parts of the Christian's privilege, bound up together in the same bundle of life, and given-upon our:believing. • There is a mysticism which speaks of Christ in his people which fails to realize Christ for his people; bnt our fellowship of life with Christ is not redemption, but ·as the Bible everywhere represents it, as the result, reward, a.nd fruit of the ra.i1som ~ffered by our Divine Redeemer.-T. C. , Vars. 13, 14.-17ie aealing of the Holy Spirit. "In whom, having believed, ye were sealed." ·It, is spoken of as a past process, but, though dating from a certain specific point of time, it ,ii. continuous in its, operation. I. Tm: NATURE OF THE SEALING. It is something different from faith, a.s the sealing of.ill letter isidifferent from the writing of it. In the order of nature there must be a difference; in the order· of time, the faith and the sealing may be contemporaneous. 'l'he sea.ling implies the direct contact of the seal with the thing sealed, and an impression made by it. It ha.s both an objective and a subjective meaning. It is objective so far as ·it is for identification. "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. ii. 19); for the Lord sets his mark-upon believers to-keep them safe for himself; and it is also for security, for" we are sealed unto the day of redemption" (eh. iv. 30), that is, to be preserved unto that day, the sealed ones of. the Revelation being expressly sealed for safety (Rev. vu. 3). Then it is subjective as it involves the assurance of faith, saints being thus assured of their interest in the· favour of God and in the blessings of his kingdom. "Faith -is the-hand that takes hold of Christ; assurance is the ring which God puts on faith's finger." Believers as sealed by the Spirit have the witness within them- selves that they are children of God (1 John v. 10; Rom. v. 5; viii. 18). II. THE SEALER. This is God, not the Holy Spirit; for it is said, "Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and bath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed u~, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts" (2 Cor. i. 21, 22). The Holy Spirit is not the Sealer, but the Seal. ·III. THE FERSON mTO WHOM BELIEVERS AllE SEALED-JESUS CHRIST. .. In whom ye were sealed." The see.ling he.s direct relation to our union with Christ, as the passage implies; but the apostle also says, "He which stablisheth us with you in [rather,' into'] Christ is God ... who bath also sealed us" (2 Cor. i. 22). Jesus said," At that day ye shall know t.hat I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." Thus all'the,three witnesses in heaven, as well as the three witnesses on earth, concur in the tt>.stitnony 'to our interest in the blessings of salvation. Our sealing is indeed in virhe of the sealing of Christ himself; for" him hath God the Father sealed'' (John vi. 2,). IV. THE SEAL IS NOT BAPTISM, OR THE LORD'S SUPPER, OR EXTRAORDINARY GIFTS, BUT THE HoLY SPIRIT HDISELF. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed till the day of redemption" (eh. iv. 30), as marking the element or sphere of the sealing. God stamps the image of his Spirit upon the Christie.n soul ; and all that is involved i_n the Spirit's operation-love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tempere.nce (Gal. v. 22)-is worked into man's spirit; for " we nil, with open face beholding e.s in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as/rom the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. iii. 18), that is, as reflecting his image., V. THE SEALED ARE BELIEVERS. It is not truths, or promises, or experiences, that are sealed upon the heart ; it is believers themselves who are sealed. A hard, cold, lifeless heart ce.nnot receive the seal. The believing heart must be melted by the love shed abroad by the Holy Ghost, just as wax is mP.lted to receive the device carveu on the seal, before it can be in a state receptive enough for taking the impress, that is, the witness of Divine favour and security. VI. THE INDELIBILITY OF THE SEAL. This seems implied in the very nature of the term employed, "ye were sealed "-in the past tense. "Whatever bears God's image will be safely carried home to his bosom." 'l'he seal that may be broken is no security. "Ye were sealed till the day of redemption "-till no day short of that; but it is a sealing that implies a perseverance in holiness. It is this security that supplies thu strongc~t argument why we should not grieve the Spirit. The apostls does not  24 THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS, [OS, L 1-28,