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Monday 13 February 2023

Ephesians 1:13,14 - Sealed with the Holy Spirit

1:13

Paul now extends the blessings to the Gentiles. They were also sealed with the    promised Holy Spirit. Now why does he express this as "sealed with the Holy Spirit", rather than saying they were included in the inheritance, or something like that? Maybe because they had experienced the Holy Spirit, it would make it more concrete for them. We rightly warn against putting too much weight on experience, but we should also note that the Bible does place a significant weight on experience. We need to have a proper balance. As indeed, Paul does here. For he starts this verse by saying "when you heard the word of truth" and "believed in Him".


1:14

"The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire the possession of it". So through the Holy Spirit we get a foretaste of what is to come. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, He is active in our lives. We are indeed to experience Him. And all of this is to the praise of His glory. So Jews coming to know Christ is to the praise of His glory, and Gentiles coming to believe is also to the praise of His glory.


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