John Cooper (@no_mark_ever)

The sealing of the Holy Spirit and the earnest of our redemption. The relevant verses are 2.Corinthians 1:21,22; 5:1-5; Ephesians 1:13,14; 4:30. The seal is not the sealing that makes things air- or watertight, but the impress of a signet or stamp on molten wax, as a mark of ownership. 'Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his' (Romans 8:9). The possession of the Holy Spirit is the seal. An 'earnest' is an old word meaning a down payment, a pledge - part of the purchase-money given in advance as security for the rest. It is a guarantee that the rest will be paid. It guarantees our redemption, and that we shall eventually enter into our inheritance which is waiting for us. The possession of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of these things. If we have the Holy Spirit, then these things are secure. The question arises, is it possible for a Christian to lose the Holy Spirit? In the traditional Churches, there is a prayer which says 'Take not thy Holy Spirit from me' - Psalm 51:11. These are the words of king David after he was rebuked by the prophet Nathan over the matter of his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband. This was in response to the fate of king Saul, to whom such a thing had occurred - 1.Samuel 16:14. There are four main arguments that I know of against this possibility. Firstly, it is said, that if one has been born again of the Spirit of God, then one cannot be unborn again. Can a baby be unborn? No, but a baby can die. We read of the antinomians in the epistle of Jude who were described as 'twice dead' - Jude 1:12. Another argument is that Jesus promised his disciples another Comforter 'that he may abide with you for ever' - John 14:16. The argument goes that if the Holy Spirit abides with us for ever, then he will never leave us. However the promise is made to the Church as a whole, and may not apply to individuals who do despite unto the Spirit of grace - Hebrews 10:29. The third argument is based on a misunderstanding of what 'sealing' means. Christians have the Holy Spirit, but they are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit - Ephesians 5:18. The words 'be filled' are one word in the Greek, and the word is a present passive imperative. It is therefore a command, and something that we must do, and yet it is also passive, and is therefore something that is done to us, and it is also in the present tense, which implies something that happens regularly. It translates literally as 'be being filled'. If you can imagine a car as a living entity, and the car senses that it is running low on fuel, and therefore pulls in to a petrol station, and parks by a petrol pump, and opens the petrol cap, and allows itself to be filled with the fuel it so desperately needs to operate in the environment it was created to live in, then you will see the analogy with being filled with the Spirit. The reason we need to be filled with the Spirit regularly is because we leak. Remember the parable of the foolish virgins, whose lamps had gone out, because they had run out of oil - Matthew 25:1-13. The fourth argument is that if we are born of God, then God's seed remains in us - 1.John 3:9. However, here the seed is the word of God - 1.Peter 1:23-25; James 1:18,21; and we are exhorted to let the word of God remain in us - John 15:7; Colossians 3:16; 1.John 2:14. This is linked to being filled with the Spirit - John 6:63. There are warnings about the Holy Spirit - 1.Corinthians 3:16-18. There are implied warnings about the Holy Spirit - 1.Thessalonians 4:3-8; Ephesians 4:30. Grieving the Holy Spirit is a very serious matter - Hebrews 3:9-11; Psalm 95:9-11; Isaiah 63:9,10; Genesis 6:3,6,7; Hebrews 6:4-8; 10:26-31. We must not play with fire. God had mercy on David, but not on Saul. God had mercy on Peter, but not on Judas. Many backsliders have obtained mercy from God, but others have not. The Bible does appear to suggest that there are some cases where people can go too far. These warning are there to the intent that we should learn from them, and not find ourselves in this situation.