Holy Spirit: Our Seal and Inheritance

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Seals authenticate documents and declare that the promises contained in them are good. This is what the Holy Spirit does for Christians. So when Paul says, “Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,” he is saying that God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is an authentication that believers are truly God’s and that none of the promises God has made to them will fail.

The Holy Spirit, though is actually more than certification of God’s promises. He is himself a portion of our inheritance. Paul speaks of this when he terms the Holy Spirit “the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” According to this verse, Christians are God’s inheritance. But the Holy Spirit, who is God, has been given to us, in essence, as a down payment on the fullness of the inheritance which is already ours in Jesus Christ.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.