This sealing with the Holy Spirit — what is it about? As Reformed people we know of the “regeneration” through the Holy Spirit. We know that our “faith” needs to come from the Holy Spirit. We know about “gifts” and “fruits” of the Spirit. But what do we mean by being “sealed” with the Holy Spirit?

 Experiential People and Charismatics⤒🔗

In so-called experiential circles there is a clear understanding of this. They see the sealing with the Holy Spirit as a separate thing after you have come to faith. The sealing is some sort of “second step” of the Holy Spirit in our lives. With this seal you enter a new phase, the second phase. First you come to faith—in no other way than through the Holy Spirit. But with this you have not arrived yet. For your faith can still be very uncertain and weak. You need more than just rebirth. You still also need the sealing with the Holy Spirit. Once he has completed this, your faith has certainty: a firm trust. Only then do you come out of the ranks of those who are unsure into the ranks of those who have received assurance.

A few things stand out of this conception of the sealing by the Holy Spirit.

The first is that apparently you can believe and be born again without being sealed — and therefore without being sure. This faith in itself is apparently not yet what it is as described in Lord’s Day 7 of the Heidelberg Catechism: “a firm confidence.” That trust is only something of the second phase of the school of faith. You can also believe without having certainty.

A second point that stands out in these experiential views is that this sealing only happens a while after being born again and after coming to faith. Rebirth and assurance have been pulled apart. The Holy Spirit can dwell in you without actually sealing anything to you.

And a third point that strikes you is that this sealing is the unique work of the Holy Spirit. You have to be sealed by the Holy Spirit. He does it at his time, and you have to just wait and see when he will start the process with you.

In charismatic circles you will not often hear about the “sealing” with the Holy Spirit. They prefer to talk about the “baptism with the Holy Spirit.” But in actual fact they mean something just like it.

On closer inspection the charismatic baptism with the Holy Spirit has the same function as does the sealing of the experiential believers. The charismatic movement also says that you are not there yet if you have come to faith. Then you are just an ordinary Christian. There is still something to be done to become a spiritual Christian. Only then is it for real! You need a second blessing after your conversion: the baptism with the Holy Spirit. And this becomes visible in gifts of the Spirit, of which the speaking in tongues is the most desired. Only when you are baptised with the Spirit, are you truly a spiritual Christian. Then you have accepted the full gospel. These congregations then also call themselves full-gospel churches. They do not stop with Christ, but also come with the gospel of the Holy Spirit: the full gospel.

Here you see similar motives as with the experiential people we read about: believing as such is not enough. There must be an additional intervention by the Holy Spirit after your conversion that makes you into a genuine and assured believer. And the question is whether and when the Holy Spirit will come to you with that second blessing.

You will understand the consequences of these views. Believing in the Christ and in his gospel is simply not sufficient. You still have no certainty from that. For this certainty one needs to wait for the special intervention by the Holy Spirit. And it remains a question whether and when you will receive this. Often this results in worrying and in an inner search for characteristics of such sealing. People become uncertain about this sealing by the Spirit, while the aim is to provide certainty. Therefore we do well to focus on Paul’s teaching about being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

The Arrival of the Gospel←⤒🔗

In the one long doxology that runs from verse 3 up to and including verse 14, a striking transition takes place in verse 13. So far the apostle spoke in the first person plural: “we” and “us.” He was talking about all who believe in Christ. But in verse 13 he suddenly starts to speak in the second person: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”

Paul addresses his readers directly and very personally. He does not tell them in general terms how things work, in the hope that “they get it.” No, he speaks to them! He points them to their wealth. And he makes an appeal to them. You cannot speak distantly or intellectually about the Holy Spirit.

The apostle reminds his readers of the moment when they heard the gospel and accepted it. Did their lives ever change! Before they had come to know Christ, they had lived by their own urges. It might be attractive for a little while, but it did not yield anything lasting. When they thought about something more deeply, they had to ask themselves: What is the meaning of everything? Where do we come from and where are we going? They had not known. They lived without God and without hope. And this happened while the decomposing forces of sin and death continued to devastate their lives.

Then Christ arrived in their town. In the midst of their dark and empty existence, he caused his gospel to be proclaimed: the gospel of their salvation, the Word of truth. Yes, that is how it appeared in the midst of all kinds of philosophies and ideologies: the word of truth, the gospel of “their salvation.” You can rely on this. This is trustworthy. Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord; his salvation is real; his kingdom is absolutely imminent! And this gospel is also for you. It is not simply the gospel of “the” salvation, but of your salvation. And you should not just want to understand it intellectually, you must accept it! You must accept him, that is, Christ, as your Saviour and Lord. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Many Ephesians had done so! They had accepted the gospel. And then everything had changed for them. A new world had opened up for them. They had lived without God and without hope. But now Christ was there for them, everywhere! He governed their life. He surrounded them on the left and on the right, in front and behind. Paul is saying: from the time you accepted the word of truth and accepted the gospel of your salvation, you are in him, in Christ. He is all around you. You are nowhere without him. You will no longer do anything without him. He gives meaning to all of your life. There is not a square inch in your life where you can keep your own autonomy.

That is how the lives of the Ephesians had become after they had heard and accepted the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation. What a powerful gospel! It changes people. It changes our entire life. The whole world looks different because of it!

The Moment←⤒🔗

This was not the only thing that happened to the Ephesians when they came to faith, Paul says. For when they became believers they were also sealed “in Christ” with the Holy Spirit of the promise.

So when did the sealing take place according to the apostle? “When you believed in him” he writes in verse 13, “when you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit”! The King James Version has indeed “in whom also after that ye believed…,” but in other notes indicates “When you have believed. For this sealing of the Spirit is done by faith and upon faith.” The sealing of the Spirit that accompanies the gospel “is the regeneration or renewal of God’s image in us, with which he enriches our souls and impresses upon them, when we believe in Christ, to assure us more and more of the execution of his promises.” Here sealing and faith are connected with each other, and it does not insert a distance in time between the two. And that is correct not only within the context, but also according to the Greek (W. van ’tSpijker, The sealing with the Holy Spirit, pages. 30-32).

Previously we have seen that in experiential and charismatic circles the sealing is seen as a separate moment that has to come after coming to faith. It is a next step, a second blessing, separate from and after faith. But one cannot rely on the King James Version for this. It even says: the sealing is the regeneration! The “after you have believed” in the older translation does not see a difference in time, but indicates that the sealing is based on faith. It is a direct fruit of rebirth and faith. When you became a believer, then Christ pressed the seal of his Spirit upon you.

This is confirmed by a second observation: a small but still essential word.

In the experiential and charismatic circles, the sealing is seen as a separate work of the Holy Spirit. According to them you are sealed by the Holy Spirit. But Paul says it just a little differently! He says you are sealed (not “by” but) with the Holy Spirit. It seems like a small thing, this word “with,” but it makes a big difference. It indicates that the sealing is not an action of the Spirit but that the Spirit is a seal in the hand of another. The Spirit himself is the seal, in Christ’s hand! He is the one who impresses the seal of his Spirit upon us. The Holy Spirit does not operate by his own good pleasure and his own time. He is God together with the Father and the Son (Heidelberg Catechism,  Answer 53). In everything they have one will, and they use the same timeframe.

There is therefore no question of a two-phase structure with Paul: first faith in Christ, and who knows how long afterwards the sealing by the Holy Spirit; first a time of knowing and treating God’s Word as trustworthy, and only a long time afterward the firm confidence thanks to the sealing by the Holy Spirit. No, Paul calls the gospel of Christ “the word of truth.” It is the truth; you can depend on it. It offers security — absolute certainty. And it is the gospel of “your salvation.” Nothing less! Lord’s Day 7 says it quite rightly: that true faith is a firm knowledge and at the same time a firm confidence. There is no faith without confidence. Even though faith is being challenged and it is subject to doubts and superficiality from time to time, by its nature faith is a firm confidence that the Holy Spirit also works through tears and troubles.

Sola Fide←⤒🔗

In Ephesians 1 the apostle shows us how rich we are in Christ. God has blessed us richly in him. We may know that we are chosen by the Father, and accepted as his beloved children and heirs. We may know our sins are redeemed in the blood of Christ. We are included in the eternal plan of the Father and his Son. And so we may also know and fully trust that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. And all of this is by faith. To share in all these riches there is no more needed than only to have faith in Christ.

Here you find an important background of the reformational confession of the sola fide, by faith alone. Ultimately that is at stake in experiential and charismatic opinions about the sealing with the Spirit. Does the Lord ask us for more than faith? And do we have everything in faith or do we still lack all sorts of things? Then you might boast with your mouth about Jesus Christ as the one Redeemer, but in fact you deny the completeness of his work (see Heidelberg Catechism, q/a 30).

The gospel of Christ does not saddle us with uncertainty. It is precisely the word of truth. It is perfectly trustworthy. It contains guarantees. And it is not merely the gospel of the salvation of Christ, but of our salvation in Christ. That is how it demands faith from us. And as often as we accept it, we share in the salvation that it brings. This gospel does not lead to doubt and misgivings; rather, it leads us to the praise for God: blessed is he who has so richly blessed us in Christ!

Seal←⤒🔗

But what does that sealing with the Holy Spirit actually mean?

This sealing is a work that Christ does to us. He does not do so only to the elite among us, to a group of “advanced” people, but to all who believe in him. He impresses upon them the stamp, the seal of his Spirit.

L. Floor points out that we should not understand this seal individually. In experiential and charismatic believers strongly focus on the individual sealing, but in Ephesians 1 the apostle addresses the congregation: the saints and believers who are at Ephesus. With this it is not denied that the seal is a work for believers personally. But that should certainly not become individualistic or elitist! It is about the wealth in which the believers share as members of God’s people.

But what does it mean that the seal of the Holy Spirit has been imprinted upon us? Anyone who wants to make clear that something is his can put his name on it. Or, if he has one, put his stamp on it. Such a stamp or such a name means, “This is mine.” For example, in earlier days a master could mark his slaves. Such a seal served as a sign of ownership.

And now Paul is saying: the Holy Spirit is also such a seal by whom Christ has marked all who believe in him. With this Christ declares, “All these people who believe in me, who live according to my Word, who sing my praise, who expect their strength and wisdom from me; they are mine. They carry my name. They belong to me. The Spirit designates them as my property.”

Such a seal also has a protective effect. If you put your name on something, it means that someone else cannot touch it without being asked. Such a seal means, “I am attached to this and I am careful with this.”

“Don’t touch!” was also the meaning of the seal that Pilate had put on Christ’s grave. The stone was positioned in front of the grave and a seal was attached. Nobody was allowed to break it open and enter the grave.

A letter can also be sealed. It is a means to prevent unauthorized people from reading the letter. Such a seal may only be broken by those who are authorized to do so, by the person who has been given authority from the one who affixed the seal.

In such a way the Lord has also impressed upon us his seal. This man, this woman, this boy, this girl—this one belongs to me. No one is allowed to touch him or her! For I love him/her, and I deem him/her special!

Protected Property←⤒🔗

In Ezekiel 9 we find a beautiful example of such a seal. There the Lord announces his judgment concerning Jerusalem. But before the time comes and before God’s angels of destruction execute their judgment, a man with an inkwell must first make a sign on the foreheads of all who sigh and groan over Judah’s sins. That mark or “seal” on their foreheads will keep them free from the horrible punishment that God will execute.

Something similar can be found in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 7 we hear of 144,000 who are “sealed.” In Revelation 9 we hear of a blow that is applied to the people who do not have the “seal” of God on their foreheads. And in Revelation 14 we hear about the Lamb who, in the midst of all the horrors, provides security in Zion to the 144,000 who carry his name and the name of his Father on their foreheads. There you meet again a seal that offers protection.

I am not saying that we should think of the Holy Spirit as the seal of Ezekiel and Revelation. Possibly another sign, another seal is meant with it. But what matters is that the Holy Spirit is just like this kind of “seal”: a seal that has been imprinted on us by God, and that indicates that we are his and that he considers us special; a seal that he sees and spares us from all the judgments he sends all over the earth; a seal that guarantees us his protection through all the disasters and horrors described in the book of Revelation. All who believe in Christ bear a seal that Christ has impressed upon them: the Holy Spirit. And that seal guarantees their protection and preservation.

Whoever does not have that seal is without protection in the world on which God sends his judgments. He who does not believe in Christ, but rejects him, who in indifference passes him by and does not want to repent, also misses that seal which protects him or her.

But, Paul says, if you believe in Christ, he has put his seal on you. He has marked you. You belong to him. And in everything that happens, he keeps seeing that seal on you. This is how we can stand as believers in the world today. In everything that rages upon the world and breaks into our lives, in everything that seems to cross God’s plan and that threatens to tear us away from him, the Lord sees his seal every time again and it tells him: that is one of mine! He spares them. He protects and keeps them.

The Holy Spirit←⤒🔗

The seal of which Paul is speaking of is not of ink or wax. That seal is the Holy Spirit. So it is not just a dead, inanimate object, but it is the Spirit himself, who lives and who works in us (A.N. Hendriks).

That is an important difference between a stamp that we put on any book of ours, and the stamp that is the Holy Spirit. Such a stamp in a book is a message to others, to pay attention, because you cannot use this unsolicited. But that book itself does not change anything because of the stamp. The stamp is itself a “dead thing.” But that is different with the Holy Spirit. He is not dead, but he lives and works. Toward God he is saying, “This is one of your children. Will you be careful with him or her?” But toward us he speaks and works, to assure us of our preservation! He is working hard to get us to know God safely. He gives us assurance of  eternal life! He works and strengthens in us the firm confidence that we have been granted forgiveness of sins, eternal righteousness and everlasting salvation.

There are people who because of a certain way of speaking and thinking about the Holy Spirit specifically deny that you may already be certain of your sonship of God. You have to leave that to the Spirit, they say. You cannot hope for more than that he will give you that certainty sometime later. Such people become very insecure about what they hear from their environment about the Holy Spirit. But that is exactly the opposite of what the Holy Spirit wants. He is precisely there to give us certainty, by sealing us, to make us know with certainty that we may know ourselves to be Christ’s property.

God’s Word←⤒🔗

The Spirit gives us assurance and he works toward that goal. He does not do this in a very mysterious way, but in a manner that he has shown us. Paul speaks in our text of the word of truth. That is the instrument which the Holy Spirit uses.

The word of truth. That means the reliable Word. God’s promises are not dubious. No, you can count on them, for they come from him who is faithful. He does not lie and he does not short-change us. He does not play games with us. He does not have a hidden agenda, by which he promises us everything, but at the same time says that it is actually not for you. No, he is trustworthy. We can trust his promises entirely. What he promises us in his Word and what he seals to us in baptism and Supper, he means seriously.

That Word is also the gospel of your salvation, Paul says. Not the gospel of “the” salvation, but of “your” salvation. In the church we hear not about a theory that we have to grasp, but a message directed at us that we need to believe. It is not a message for others or for people in general, but it is a message to us, which should be embraced and believed by us. Not only for others but also for me, the promise holds true: believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I may be assured of this. That is how the Holy Spirit offers me certainty and how he works this conviction in me, which lies confined in the seal that Christ has impressed upon me.

Christ’s Church

And there is still something more to say about the way the Holy Spirit works. When it comes to the work of the Spirit, we often place this in a very individual framework. We go down into our inner self. There we look for his assuring work. And we draw up a whole series of characteristics that we have to find within ourselves. This is how we try to arrive at certainty.

Paul says that it is the Spirit who gives you certainty, through the gospel that is trustworthy: the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. But not only that. When we look at Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we meet the Holy Spirit much more often! Time and again the Holy Spirit appears in the letter to the Ephesians as the Spirit given to the church and working in the church. He works all around us in the church of Christ:

As a congregation we form the house in which God wants to live by his Spirit (2:22). In the church Jew and Gentile both approach the Father in one Spirit (2:18).

In the congregation we endeavour to preserve the unity of the Spirit (4:3). Filled with the Spirit we sing our psalms, hymns and spiritual songs in the church and we are mutually submissive (5:18-21).

We pray in the Spirit for all saints and for the progress of the gospel (6:18 and following).

Together with the other members of the church we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit and we increasingly get to know the love of Christ (3:16-19).”  L. Floor

All the above texts are from the letter to the Ephesians, where we hear of the work of the Spirit in the congregation. He is active everywhere: in sermon and prayer, in song and study, in the practice of the community and in remaining in the teachings of the apostles—everywhere the Holy Spirit works on our certainty. Anyone looking for security should not struggle on alone; rather, he should give himself and open up himself to all the activity that the Spirit develops in Christ’s church. Find the brothers and sisters. Listen, study, sing, pray, and live in the church. In all of this the Spirit is active, working on our salvation and our certainty.

Promise and Collateral←⤒🔗

The Holy Spirit offers us assurance not only for the here and now. He also focuses on the future. Paul calls him in our text “the promised Holy Spirit” and “a guarantee of our inheritance.”

He is the Spirit of the promise which means that he is the Spirit promised by God. Already in the Old Testament, the prophets had promised that the LORD would pour out his Spirit and that it would herald a new time: the days of the Messiah and of the new covenant (Isaiah 44: 1-5; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:25-30; Joel 2:28-32).

On the day of Pentecost, Peter says that finally this time has come. God has poured out his Spirit; the last days have come. Paul writes in Romans 8 that we who live after Pentecost have received the Spirit as the firstfruit (verse 23).

Paul therefore also calls the Spirit “a pledge of our inheritance.” He is the beginning, the first payment, the first deposit of everything that God gives us. As such, he is also the guarantee that God will hand us everything that he has laid down for us in his will.

The Spirit as collateral of our inheritance means two things. In the Spirit we “still” have the first gift. We have not yet received the full pleasure of the inheritance here. We have not received more than a first deposit from God—with all the vulnerability and grief that still remains in us! “We walk [as yet] by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Our new life is still piecework, waiting for completion (Philippians 3:12).

However, on the other hand, it is the real beginning of the full legacy, and therefore a definite safeguard and guarantee! The Lord will not withdraw his inheritance. He has committed himself to share it with us — in his testament: the gospel of our salvation, the word of truth. Yes, indeed: he has started to distribute his benefits already! And he completes what his hand has begun.

The Spirit is the beginning of all of our promised salvation. He who does not have the Spirit continues to be empty-handed, but whoever has received that Spirit may know that in the gift of his Spirit the LORD has already begun to pay his inheritance! The gift of his Spirit guarantees and pledges the full legacy. It is still hidden in heaven now. But that legacy is ready to be revealed in God’s time. Then the world will tremble and shake on account of the cheering for the Lord our King. No contrary voice or dissonant sound will be heard anymore. God’s glory will then fill heaven and earth. And we, his children, will honour and praise him as never before! The praise of God’s glory (Ephesians 1:14b): that is where everything converges.

Questions←⤒🔗

1. Faith is a sure knowledge (Hebrews 11:1; Heidelberg Catechism q/a 21). How should we then look at and deal with uncertainty in our faith?
2. What do God’s covenant and promises mean specifically for the assurance of your faith?
3. In what way can we in the congregation support each other more in the matter of certainty of our faith?
4. You can also grieve the Spirit with whom you are sealed (Ephesians 4:30). How?
5. What is the connection between the sealing with the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit (see Galatians 5)?