Tag: sealed with the Holy Spirit

An Anointing from the Holy One

When you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, God seals you and deposits His Spirit in your heart and clothes you with power. But that’s not all. Along with being sealed and filled, you are also anointed.

21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
–2 Corinthians 1:21–22 NIV

Those who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit have received an anointing from Him, just like Jesus received (see Luke 4:18).

The Apostle John wrote about this anointing in two books of Scripture. Let’s look at the passage from his first epistle:

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
–1 John 2:20 NKJV

Note two things in this verse:

  1. This anointing comes from the “Holy One,” a name which refers only to Christ Jesus in the New Testament (see Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 13:35).
  2. Because John’s readers had this anointing, they knew “all things.”

This verse is reminiscent of what John wrote in his Gospel concerning Pentecost. In the Gospel of John, also note two things:

  1. Jesus said that when He ascended to heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit to His disciples: “‘When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth’” (John 15:26 NASB), and, “‘if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you’” (John 16:7 NASB).
  2. When the Holy Spirit came, He would teach them “all things” (John 14:26) so that they would know the truth. (See also John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13.)

Therefore, this “anointing from the Holy One” in John’s first epistle refers to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which he wrote about in his Gospel. It is the same anointing that Jesus received when He was baptized in the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:21–22). This is the Christ anointing!

And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
–1 John 2:27 NASB

If you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you were marked with a seal and you received an anointing from Him. It is the same anointing that belongs to Christ Jesus. This anointing remains and dwells in you as a deposit. (See 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14.)

What John had written about the Holy Spirit before Pentecost—“He… will be in you” (John 14:17 NIV)—had come to pass: “the anointing which you received from Him abides in you” (1 John 2:27 NASB). It dwells in the Spirit-baptized Christian.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
–1 Corinthians 3:16 NASB

Next time, we’ll take a look at the baptism in the Holy Spirit as “drinking” of the Spirit.

Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Seal

If you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you were included in Christ.

After conversion, if you went on to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you were sealed, anointed, and filled with the Spirit of God. In this issue, we’ll look at the sealing work of the Holy Spirit.

If you’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit, God stamped you with a seal.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a SEAL, the promised Holy Spirit.
–Ephesians 1:13 NIV

Included in Christ by the Word of Truth

The “word of truth” is the Gospel of salvation:

  • Jesus prayed for His disciples: “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17 NIV).
  • Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16 NIV).
  • James said, God “chose to give us birth through the word of truth” (1:18 NIV).
  • Peter explains, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23 NIV).

Trusting in Christ by accepting and believing His Word (Acts 8:14; 1 Thessalonians 2:13) includes us in the Church, the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Marked with a Seal

After heart conversion, there is a second experience the Bible refers to as “the baptism in the Holy Spirit” by which we are sealed as belonging to God.
This seal is the Holy Spirit.

21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
–2 Corinthians 1:21-22 NIV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
–Ephesians 4:30 NIV

Specifically, according to Ephesians 1:13, this seal is the “promised Holy Spirit,” which Jesus told His disciples of before His ascension:

4… “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
–Acts 1:4b–5 NIV

(See also Luke 24:49; John 14:16–17,26; 15:26; 16:7,13.)

The “gift my Father promised” is the baptism in the Holy Spirit, which is available to all believers (Acts 2:38–39). The seal of the “promised Holy Spirit,” then, is the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

A seal denotes:

After you believed, were you sealed? If you long to serve Christ with power, ask Jesus to baptize you with the Holy Spirit today.

9“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
–Luke 11:9-13 NIV

Next time, we’ll study more about being filled and anointed with the Holy Spirit.

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