The Work Of The Holy Spirit in Salvation

R.I.B.S.

Four major ministries of the Holy Spirit occur today at the moment one believes in Christ. I remember it with the acronym RIBS: regeneration, indwelling, baptizing, and sealing.

Assurance

Luke 1:4 “that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.”

Ephesians 1:13–14 “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.” 2 Corinthians 1:22 “who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

2 Corinthians 5:5 “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

Sealed: σφραγίζω sphragizō seal

BDAG seal; seal up; mark, seal; attest, certify, acknowledge Matthew 27:66 “So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.” John 6:27 “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.””

John 3:33 “He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.”

Guarantee: ἀρραβών arrabōn first installment

BDAG first installment, deposit, down payment, pledge

Assurance of resurrection

2 Corinthians 5:1–8 “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 5:5 “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”

1 Corinthians 15:20–23 “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.”

1 Corinthians 15:20–22 (GNTC): Firstfruits recalls the OT accounting of the first sheaf from the field brought to the temple as an expression of praise to Yahweh (Lev 23:10–14). It was meant to promise the full harvest yet to come. Similarly Christ’s resurrection anticipates and promises the believer’s resurrection which is yet to come. A whole new age has dawned because of Christ’s physical resurrection (Col 1:18; 1 Thess 4:15–16). If Jesus is raised from the dead, then the believer will be raised from the dead.

From Chafer’s 33 Things, taken from his book Salvation

XXX. Blessed with the “First Fruits” and the “Earnest” of the Spirit: (RIBS)

1. “Born of the Spirit” John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

2. “Baptized with the Spirit,” 1 Corinthians 12:13 “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 10:17 “For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.”

3. “Indwelt by the Spirit”. 1 Corinthians 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

John 7:39 “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 8:9“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

2 Corinthians 1:21 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,”

Galatians 4:6“And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!””

1 John 3:24 “Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.” “For John had not yet been thrown into prison.”

4. “Sealed by the Spirit,” Ephesians 4:30“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

2 Corinthians 1:22 “who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

Every Spiritual Blessing (next week)