Free Bible Commentary
“Ephesians 1:11-14 (Part 2)”
Categories: Ephesians“Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 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, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.”
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More on the idea of “receiving the Holy Spirit” for today. Receiving the Holy Spirit cannot be separated from “listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation” and “having also believed” (verse 13). Hearing (or reading) and believing the Spirit-revealed message (the Truth taught in the Bible, the Gospel, the New Testament) is exactly how we receive Him. If we reject His revelation then we reject Him and have no part with Him, and He will not “seal” us and we cannot receive Him as a “pledge” of a future inheritance. If we receive His message and believe and obey it, and allow the Truth to transform us, we welcome the Spirit into our lives and have fellowship with Him.
Quoting from the Truth Commentary series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians written by Colly Caldwell, Guardian of Truth Foundation, Copyright 1994:
“Scripturally, being sealed does not entail supernatural intervention by the Holy spirit. We are marked or certified by the Spirit as children of God when our character and attitudes are changed by our response to the Word delivered through the Spirit. Paul said, ‘And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, and forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you’ (Eph. 4:30-32). We are sealed by the Holy Spirit when we put away evil and become kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. All this occurs through the instruction of the Spirit, not through some miraculous or supernatural indwelling or special activity of the Spirit.”
Please read Ephesians 1:15-19 for tomorrow.
Have a great day!
-Louie Taylor
