Eph 1.13 – Being Sealed With the Holy Spirit is Not Regeneration

1. “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,” (Eph 1:13)
2. Does this verse teach that people are regenerated or given eternal life by the Holy Spirit after they believe the gospel?
   1. No, it doesn’t teach that because it doesn’t say that.
   2. It says that believers were sealed with the Holy Spirit after they believed.
3. Believers don’t get eternal life after they believe.
   1. Believers have everlasting life.
      1. Joh 6:47 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
   2. A person who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, not gets born of God.
      1. 1Jn 5:1 – Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.

• A person who believes the gospel passed from death unto life before they believed (Joh 5:24), which is the reason they could believe (1Co 1:18).
  1. Joh 5:24 – Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
  2. 1Co 1:18 – For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

1. So it was with the Ephesians to whom Paul was writing: they believed after they heard the gospel (good news) of their salvation (Eph 1:13).
   1. One doesn’t get saved by hearing about how God already saved him by His sovereign grace; one merely knows about it.
   2. Eph 1:4 – According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
   3. Eph 1:5 – Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
   4. Eph 1:6 – To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
   5. Eph 1:7 – In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
   6. Eph 1:8 – Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
   7. Eph 1:9 – Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
   8. Eph 1:10 – That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
   9. Eph 1:11 – In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
2. Therefore the sealing with the Holy Spirit is not regeneration or eternal life.

1. Sealed – 1. a. Bearing the impression of a signet in wax (or other material), as evidence or guarantee of authenticity.
   1. A seal on something shows evidence that it is a authentic; the seal doesn’t make it authentic.
      1. Joh 3:33 – He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
      2. 1Co 9:2 – If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
   2. The Holy Spirit is the seal that shows that a believer is an authentic child of God.

• A child of God is sealed with the Holy Spirit at baptism (Act 2:38) which comes after belief (Act 8:12,36-38).

1. This is the giving of the Spirit that Jesus said believers would experience after He was glorified (Joh 7:37-39).
   1. Joh 7:37 – In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
   2. Joh 7:38 – He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
   3. Joh 7:39 – (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
   4. This giving of the Holy Spirit is not the indwelling of the Spirit in regeneration (being born of the Spirit) because that had been happening for thousands of years prior to Christ’s glorification (Gal 4:28-29).
   5. Prior to His resurrection, Jesus said that people were being born of the Spirit (Joh 3:8).
   6. Therefore the giving of the Holy Spirit is something in addition to regeneration.
2. Jesus was the pattern of being sealed with the Holy Spirit.

1. Immediately after He was baptized the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove and the Father declared Christ’s authenticity as His Son.
   1. Mat 3:16 – And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
   2. Mat 3:17 – And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2. This was when God sealed Jesus Christ.
   1. Joh 6:27 – Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
3. Circumcision was a seal (evidence) of righteousness for Abraham, which righteousness he had before he was circumcised.
   1. Rom 4:11 – And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
   2. Abraham’s circumcision was the evidence that he was righteous; it didn’t make him righteous since it happened after he was already righteous.

• In like manner, the gift of the Holy Spirit received at baptism (Act 2:38) is a seal (evidence) of a believer’s eternal salvation which he had before he was baptized and before he believed (Eph 1:13 c/w Joh 5:24).