Seal and Pledge

Introduction

Last week we spent some time on this phrase Paul uses at the end of Romans 8:9: He does not belong to him. We examined that from the converse perspective, in other words, what does it mean that we belong to Christ? What does it mean that we are in Him? That we are in union and communion with Him? You’ll remember that we examined John 5 in order for us to understand how Jesus related to His Father, and then how we reflect that relationship in our belonging to Christ.

By way of reminder, we also examined Paul’s logical progression here in his argument. We observed that from 8:1, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and out of that, in 8:9, those who are in Christ Jesus have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, and out of that, those who have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, walk not according to the flesh but according to that Spirit that lives within them. As we’ve seen over the last few months, the implication of this is that Christ-united person must walk in worthy obedience to the Law of the Spirit, and by so doing, to borrow the terminology from John Owen, makes him or herself a “fit dwelling” for the Holy Spirit.

And so Paul’s big idea here is , in view of the monumental truth of 8:1, that we do in fact belong to Christ, and He to us, to demonstrate the guarantee, the proof, the pledge, the seal of that relationship. What is the guarantor of the Christian’s belonging to Christ? What is the proof that Christ will in fact hold you, and hold His church fast until he returns? It is the Holy Spirit.

So today, with an understanding of the close, intimate, Trinitarian relationship we have with Christ, we now want to turn our attention to the proof of that relationship, the Holy Spirit.

But before we dig in, I want to just spend a moment marveling at the providence of God. I was speaking with Sasha and Noemie on Thursday night, and we were all mutually encouraged by God’s timing in bringing us His Word last Thursday and the Thursday before on the importance of marriage in the life of the Christian. And God has continued to demonstrate His providence, because on Thursday we briefly discussed the idea of the relationship between Christ and His church being typified by the institution of human marriage. The reason that marriage is so near to the heart of God is because it is the picture by which God shows us, in the feebleness of our minds, how Christ loves us and how we submit to him.

I mention all of this because the doctrine of the sealing of the Spirit dovetails into this marriage picture directly, and I just find it amazing, every time, it just never gets old, that what God is teaching us through one portion of His Word, He allows to expand on as we study another. Marriage as a picture of our relationship to Christ in Deuteronomy and in Romans.

But where’s the connection, you might ask? What’s Romans and the Spirit got to do with this? I’ll show you by publicly embarrassing my fiancé. Sarah hold up your left hand. You all see that thing? That might be the best illustration of the doctrine of the seal of the Spirit that we have in our modern culture. Why is that? That ring is the proof that I love Sarah and I am fully committed to her. Every time she sees that ring, she knows that I’m committed to her for life. Sure, we haven’t said our vows or had our first dance or gone on our honeymoon, but I’ve made a down payment on all that. I’ve put a seal on my love for and commitment to Sarah with that ring.

In the same way, Christ has put a seal on his love and commitment to his church with his Spirit.

The indwelling and sealing of the Spirit, is a spiritual engagement ring. We won’t get that wedding ring until later, and we’ll talk more about that in a couple weeks when we talk about resurrection, but what we do have right now, in this very moment, if we are in Christ, is the sure seal of our salvation, the Spirit of Christ.

So let’s consider, from a theological perspective, the seal of the Spirit.

The Seal of the Spirit

I want to attack this doctrine today from a two different angles. The first is the seal angle. The Spirit is the seal of our saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 this:

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 NASB95

Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

Paul also speaks of this sealing elsewhere in his writings, specifically in Ephesians 1 and 2 Timothy 2.

The imagery of a seal would have come from common cultural practice of the time. When a deal was cut between two parties, a blob of hot wax or clay would be dropped onto the paper of the deal, and a special “signet” ring would be pressed into wax by both parties, certifying their agreement with the terms and the authenticity of the deal. The seal in the time of Paul was a rough equivalent to our modern signature. By signing, you certify that you are now taking ownership of whatever was set forth in the agreement.

By sealing us, God places His mark of authentic ownership on us, and that mark of authentic ownership is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

We are all familiar with the Disney/Pixar film Toy Story, in which the boy Andy marks his toys as his own with his seal of authenticity: a scrawled “Andy” on the foot of each toy. And the great trauma for Sheriff Woody in Toy Story 2 is when Al from Al’s Toy Barn has his toy restoration specialist paint over Andy’s name on Woody’s foot, effectively removing that seal of Andy’s authentic ownership of Woody. That’s a great illustration for us this morning. Instead of marking on our foot with a Sharpie, God marks on our hearts with His Holy Spirit, certifying and authenticating that we belong to him and him alone.

Joel Beeke says that the sealing of the Holy Spirit gives believers a divinely certified experiential basis for assurance of salvation.

You might ask when this sealing took place. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:13:

Ephesians 1:13 NASB95

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

So God places His seal upon us at the time that we hear the message of the gospel, repent of our sins, and place our faith savingly in Christ. At that point the Spirit is is poured out on us as a seal, as a confirmation that we are no longer our own, but have been bought with a price. A certification of the reality that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives by His Spirit in me.

Throughout history, the interpretation and implication of the doctrine of sealing has been developed and expounded in various ways.

Early in church history, many associated the seal of the Spirit directly with the act of baptism. This doesn’t necessarily align with Paul who indicates that the seal takes place at the moment of saving faith. In a moment, we’ll touch on the connection between baptism and sealing.

As Christians we generally identify the sealing of the Spirit as a common privilege of regeneration, or more simply, a benefit of our salvation, a benefit of Christ.

Calvin says in his Institutes that the Spirit is called “the guarantee and seal” of our inheritance [2 Cor. 1:22; cf. Eph. 1:14] because from heaven he so gives life to us, on pilgrimage in the world and resembling dead men, as to assure us that our salvation is safe in God’s unfailing care

The Canons of Dort, the document produced by the Synod of Dort, in which third generation Reformers rebuked the teachings of Jacobus Arminius, says this:

The Articles of the Synod of Dort Chapter V: Of Doctrine: Concerning the Perseverance of the Saints

So that, not by their own merits or strength, but by the gratuitous mercy of God they obtain it, that they neither totally fall from faith and grace, nor finally continue in their falls and perish. Which as to themselves (quoad ipsos) not only might easily be done, but would without doubt be done; yet, in respect of God, it cannot at all be done, (or take place, fieri,) as, neither can his counsel be changed, his promise fall, their vocation according to his purpose be recalled, the merit, intercession, and guardianship of Christ be rendered void, nor the sealing of the Holy Spirit become vain, or be blotted out

Joel Beeke expounds on this idea when he explains that once God has sealed his people, no one in all creation has the power or authority to break that seal and take them from him. God’s seal demonstrates his unwavering intent to keep his promises to those whom he has sealed.

Practically speaking then, the seal of the Spirit ought to motivate a bold, courageous Christianity, made possible by the knowledge that God has sealed us by His Spirit, we are His, and therefore, it does not matter what man may do to me, what man may say. I am His and His is mine, by His Spirit.

This bold Christianity is described by Paul in Galatians 5:24

Galatians 5:24 NASB95

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

As those who belong to Christ, those who are sealed by His Spirit, those who have the Spirit dwelling within them, are called to crucify the flesh with it’s desires. In other words, the Spirit-sealed person must walk in holiness, must walk in purity, must walk in the righteous footsteps of Jesus Christ.

Another practical consideration is the simple joy and gratitude that come from knowing that we can rest in Christ. We can rest in full assurance that our salvation, that our eternity, is held in his strong arms.

A final practical consideration is meditating on the reality of the Spirit’s seal, to prompt a greater and truer awareness of it, in order that we might flee sins that grieve the Spirit, and in order that we might not cloud our hope of final glory that the Spirit assures us is ours in Christ.

So a final word of encouragement today: the Spirit dwells in you, and seals you, and because of that, you can know with certainty, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you belong to Christ.

But there is another angle that I would like to explore this morning, and that is the angle of the Spirit as a pledge.

The Pledge of the Spirit

Going back to 2 Corinthians 1:22

2 Corinthians 1:22 NASB95

who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

We see that the concept of sealing is directly connected with the concept of a pledge. What does this mean?

Simply, it means that the Holy Spirit is a kind of down payment on our future salvation. It is a down payment on future grace.

In order to allow this text to hit us as hard as it’s supposed to, we need to back up and read the preceding verses, specifically 20. 2 Corinthians 1:20-22

2 Corinthians 1:20–22 NASB95

For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

So what Paul is saying here is that by virtue of the Spirit residing in us, we can have confidence that every promise of God will indeed come to pass. Now I could go on for weeks about this but I want to just point out the major ideas here, which connect so directly and so clearly to Paul’s point in Romans.

One of Paul’s major pastoral messages is that of future grace, in other words, that the grace of God has been partially poured out, but has not been poured out in it’s fullness or finality yet. What do I mean by this? Just look at the world around us. We still walk in a world of darkness. We walk in a world of pain. We walk in a world of death. Christians are not immune to the effects of these things, even though God’s justifying grace has been given to us. We still hope, we still look forward to the day when God’s grace will be poured out in it’s fullness and finality, when our bodies will be made new and all sin and death will be destroyed, and God will walk among us, and there will be no need for the sun, for the Son will be our light.

As Christians sometimes it can be hard to stay focused on that hope, to stay focused on those promises, to stay focused on what we know God will do to us and for us at the end of time.

So to aid us in that, God has given us the Helper, the Spirit, as a downpayment, or pledge of His promises. So when Paul tells us that every promise is yes and amen through Christ, He tells us that in confidence because he knows that the downpayment, the pledge has already been made.

The best way for us to understand the pledge of the Holy Spirit is to understand our current relationship to Christ. We are the bride of Christ, he is our true and better husband, but the marriage has not happened yet. The wedding feast has not occurred. We are the bride of betrothal right now. What does this mean? In the Hebrew culture in which the Bible was written, the betrothal period wasn’t a time of wedding planning as it is today. It was a time of preparation. Specifically, the bridegroom would leave, and spend perhaps a number of years getting his affairs in order, becoming financially stable, and oftentimes building or buying a house. While not yet married, there was a covenant in place, a relationship between bride and groom, that was sealed with a pledge of some sort, usually a dowry, and now the couple would enter into this time of anticipation. And as the bride waited for the day when the bridegroom would return, having made ready their home, she could look at the token of the pledge and be reminded of the marriage bliss that awaited her.

In the exact same way then, Christ has left, and He said specifically in John 14:1-3

John 14:1–3 NASB95

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

By telling His disciples this, He is indicating that He and His bride, the church, are entering into this betrothal period, in which bride and bridegroom prepare themselves for marriage. But what is the pledge? What is the dowry? What is the down payment that demonstrates to us that Jesus is good for his word?

We already know from the context of our discussion thsi morning but let’s hear it from the mouth of Jesus: John16:7-16

John 16:7–16 NASB95

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.”

Jesus here tells the disciples that the token of the betrothal, the engagement ring of His promises, is the Holy Spirit.

So when we hear the promises of Christ, when we hear the promises of God, and we are tempted to not believe them, to not place our hope in them wholly, we can rest assured in their fulfillment because Christ gave us his Holy Spirit as the guarantee. Because we have the Spirit, we know that God in Christ is good for every one of the promises He has made. As the church father John Chrysostom said, “If God did not purpose to give the whole, He would never have chosen to give the pledge and waste it without object or result.” By logical inference, by giving the pledge or down payment, God shows His intent to give us the whole of all His promises.

Conclusion

So we see here, even this morning, that our belonging to Christ, our being in Christ, is sealed by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us as a pledge. God has signed our salvation with the Spirit, and then given us that same Spirit as a guarantee that He will complete the work that He began in us. Paul can tell the Philippian church, and I can tell you, what God started, He will complete, both for you personally and for our church and for believers around the world, because the Holy Spirit has sealed us and guaranteed us.

I want to share a story and an illustration as we close.

I love pens. Some of you might not know this but I have a small collection of high quality fountain pens. These are not just pens you buy at Staples in a pack of 12. These are pens you keep in a case, and you write with them carefully, and you keep them nice. Now my small collection is only worth a few hundred dollars, but my interest in pens was inspired by a man who has a collection worth far more than mine. That man is Dr. Steve Lawson, dean of the doctor of ministry program at the Master’s Seminary. Dr. Lawson has a legendary pen collection, and rumor has it that his collection is worth thousands of dollars. Now one of my favorite pen stories is a story told to me by Pastor Scott: when Pastor Scott graduated from the doctor of ministry program, it was customary for the graduating candidates to give Dr. Lawson a gift. Typically they would go in together to get him something nice. Now Pastor Scott’s class wanted to go above and beyond and get him something he would cherish forever, so they called his daughter, Grace Anne, and asked her, what would Dr. Lawson like? She said that he had talked for many years about a rare and highly-sought after fountain pen that cost over $900, but he could never bring himself to spend that much money in one go on a pen. So the graduating candidates decided to pool their money and buy him this pen. The story goes that Dr. Lawson was beaming from ear to ear when he opened the pen, and said that it was one of his favorite gifts he had ever received.

Now imagine that pen, worth $900. Imagine taking that pen, and signing a contract with someone, and that contract says that you guarantee that you will do something for the other signing party. That signature is the seal of the Holy Spirit. A distinctive mark that shows that you belong to God in Christ. But now imagine that after signing the contract, you give that $900 pen to the other signing party, and you tell them to keep it, and you tell them to put it somewhere visible, where they can see it, and every time they wonder, “Is he going to make good on this contract? Is he going to do what he said he was going to do?” all they need to do is look at that $900 pen, and they will be reminded, yes, you are good for what you promised. That pen then also becomes the pledge, the down payment, the guarantee of future fulfillment of promises. In the same way then, the Holy Spirit is not only the seal, the signature, it is also the pledge, the down payment guarantee, that we are Christ’s and He is ours, and every promise God made will be fulfilled.

That ought to give us great assurance. Greater assurance than a signature, greater assurance than a $900 pen, that the Holy Spirit resides within us. Joel Beeke says that the Spirit then, as a seal and pledge, sustains believers in their perseverance and cheers their hearts with a sure and certain hope of the glory of God. Are you cheered in your heart today with the certain hope of the glory of God? That is what the Spirit does as a seal and pledge.

This seal and pledge also ought to help us in our holy service to the Lord, as we reflect on and consider the great peace and joy of assurance of union with Christ. The Puritan John Flavel says that the seal and pledge of the Spirit allows the Christian to enjoy heaven upon earth, a joy beyond all joys of this world, as it produces in them an inflamed love for God, renewed care and diligence, deep abasement and great humblings, increased strength, desires of the soul after heaven, and mortification to the world, for it’s beauties cannot compare to the glory now seen in God.”

As we reflect on this seal and pledge, may we look forward to that glorious day, when the betrothal period is complete and we are united with our bridegroom, our true and better husband, Jesus Christ. May we walk worthy of Him, in full dedication and purity, as we look forward to that day.

Next week join us as we consider the life-giving power of the Spirit that resides in us.