The workings of the Spirit
Day 38
by Gini Crawford, MSW
The promise of the Spirit
In him (Jesus) 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, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 ESV®
When we hear the word of truth and believe, we are sealed in Jesus by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). The Greek word for sealed is sphragizo and it means to set a seal or mark upon, to show its approved, show ownership, a finished transaction, security. Being sealed with the Spirit indicates that Jesus paying for our sins is a finish transaction, and that we are securely and permanently His. (Esther 8:8; Daniel 6:17).
Now all believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit. Remember, in Old Testament times, the Spirit was in certain people, but they were not sealed in Him. Some people think a Christian can lose the Holy Spirit. I can understand why people think that looking at how some Christians live. But we can’t lose the Holy Spirit because we are sealed with Him. On the other hand we can certainly grieve and quench the Spirit’s power within so we are immature and unfruitful for God. (Ephesians 4:30; 2 Timothy 2:19). A beautiful truth is, we are sealed with the Spirit, so we are sealed with God’s love. What are your thoughts on being sealed with the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is also our pledge, guarantee or earnest depending upon the version of your Bible. (Ephesians 1:14). This Greek word is arrabon and it simply means a thing intended or regarded as a promise of what is to come. In Greece the word can be used for engagement ring. Here is a sampling of God’s guaranteed promises to us: Being His child; Having God’s grace or favor; Being loved; Having an intimacy with Jesus; Having complete forgiveness of our sins; Having the Holy Spirit within; Possessing supernatural wisdom, enlightenment, power, hope and a heavenly inheritance; Having eternal punishment replaced with eternal kindness as we sit with Jesus; Being God’s workmanship empowered to do good works (Ephesians 1:1-2:10). The indwelling of the Holy Spirit guarantees these promises and many more to us.
The Holy Spirit pledges God’s love to us. An engagement ring is an assurance that a person loves you and wants to marry you, but as life can be, a ring is no guarantee of true love and that a marriage will happen. My mother in-law’s first engagement ring ended up with no promises kept but her second ring ended up with many loving promises kept. Jesus knew we would feel and act lost without His Spirit guaranteeing we are His beloved. Instead of wearing His ring on our finger, He puts Himself within our hearts, guaranteeing His love and promises are ours. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22, 3:3-6, 5:1-5; Ephesians 5:25-27). Beautiful actions of love, aren’t they?
...God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit... Romans 5:5 ESV®
Life Application
The Spirit in the book of Romans
Romans chapter eight is one of my favorite passages because it is so rich in what we possess as Christians. A friend of mine just told me the other day, she has this chapter memorized because she reads it so much. A neat tidbit is that the Holy Spirit is mentioned more times in this chapter than in any other in the Bible. I am covering Romans 8:1-13 here, and the rest of the chapter on other days.
Approaching Romans chapter eight starting from Romans 7:22-25, Paul the author of Romans makes it clear that a believer doesn't have to spend her life on earth in frustration and defeat from her sin nature. There is always triumph over sin in God's Spirit within us.
For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 7:22-8:4 ESV®
There is not one bit of condemnation or guilt or judgment from sin for those who are in Jesus Christ. Remember, sin produces death but the Holy Spirit gives life to us. The written law is good because it reflects God's will, but it has no power to produce holiness in us or enable us to do God's will, because of our sin nature. (Galatians 2:16) However, a new dynamic has come about since Jesus took on our likeness condemning sin by His death on the cross – giving us the Holy Spirit. Jesus' Spirit dwelling in us, infuses us with a new principle - the law of life. (John 3:3-8). This law is stronger than our sin nature (flesh), therefore setting us free from the law of sin and death. This new nature given to us through the Spirit gives us the desire and strength to do God's will. The Spirit enables us to walk with God.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brother we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:5-13 ESV®
Looking at the tense of the Greek, "to live according to" means your mind is continuously set or dominated by the flesh or by the Spirit. The mind habitually set on the flesh is spiritually dead, hostile to God and doesn't submit to His ways (Ephesians 2:1-3). Setting your mind on the Spirit is life and peace. A Christian who sets their mind on the flesh doesn't please God (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). If Jesus Christ lives in you, although your body is dead because of sin - you have Jesus' righteousness and are spiritually alive. The Spirit indwelling us guarantees our mortal bodies will rise from the dead as Jesus' did. Given that the Spirit lives in you, you have no obligation to your flesh. If you are struggling with setting your mind on the flesh, just remember what Jesus' love did for you so you could have His Spirit and life, so refuse to follow your flesh's inclinations (1 John 4:9-10, 13).
Years ago we lived in the mountains and had two sweet dogs. I would take them on long walks enjoying the serenity and beauty. Once in a while the smell of death would wreck the moment. I would do my best to stay away from the dead creature but the dogs were drawn to death even to the point of rolling in it. Needless to say, the dogs' aroma didn't please me at all. When our minds are controlled by our flesh – we are rolling around in death and our thoughts and actions are hostile to God. The exact opposite is true of a person whose mind is controlled by the Spirit. They submit to the Spirit's directions and desire, and in doing so please God. (Galatians 6:8). Read Romans 7:22 - 8:1-13. Briefly explain what you have learned about the Spirit from this passage.
Reflect on Romans 8:1-13.