Understanding the Sealing of the Holy Spirit: A Mark of Assurance and Security for Believers

I know I’ve mentioned her before, but my grandmother was an incredibly godly woman. She lived her life with tremendous faith in her Savior. Not only did she live out the teachings of the Bible, but she was also as knowledgeable about the Bible as any seminary professor of mine. 

Whenever I would travel to see her in Alabama or she would come to visit us in Georgia, she would have a Bible passage ready to teach me. She taught with faith and passion, and I soaked in every word. 

One of those passages she taught me was Ephesians 1:1-14. She wanted me to know that I was “sealed.” Here’s the specific passage she was teaching:

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)

The sealing of believers is a vital teaching in the New Testament. But what exactly does it mean? The word “seal” here was a common word with multiple meanings in Paul’s day. Among other uses, a seal was used to identify the owner of an object and show that the object was protected from harm by the owner. Both meanings are present in these verses. Believers are God’s possession and protected by him.

So let’s answer some questions about this sealing. First, who does this sealing? Verse 13 says, “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” Of all the things the Holy Spirit does, one of them is that he seals believers. 

But who is sealed? Every believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit, and only believers are sealed. 

And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)

Let’s unpack these verses. The word “establishes” is present tense, meaning that God is constantly strengthening our commitment to him as we grow in our relationship with him. “Anointed” is past tense, and in this context means that God, in the Holy Spirit, has equipped believers to do his work in the world. 

“Put his seal” is also something that God has previously done for us. At some time in the past, the Holy Spirit placed a stamp on us showing that we belong to God as his possession. He also gave us the Spirit as a “guarantee” or “down payment.” The Holy Spirit is our guarantee that we will spend eternity with God. Life with him is a small taste of what life will be like in eternity. It isn’t that we receive part of the Holy Spirit now and the rest of him in the life to come, but that our experience of him now is a foretaste of what’s to come.

To answer our question of who is sealed, the answer is every Christian. If you read 2 Corinthians, you’ll see that those people had problems. Even so, Paul stated that each of them, even they, were being established and had been anointed, sealed, and given the Spirit as a down payment. The sealing isn’t only for super-Christians or those who have reached a certain level of holiness. The sealing is for every believer.

When does this sealing happen? The Holy Spirit seals us at the moment of salvation. In Ephesians 1:13 above, Paul uses the terms “when you heard” and “believed.” If the sealing of the Holy Spirit doesn’t take place at salvation, then there are Christians walking around not sealed, and the Bible never says that’s the case. Believers are sealed the moment we become believers and receive the Holy Spirit. At that point, we become God’s possession and receive life with him “until we acquire possession” of our inheritance, until we receive all of God’s future promises, including eternal life. This answers another question, “How long does the sealing last?” Our sealing lasts for eternity.

Christians can’t be unsealed, and we can’t unseal ourselves. No power can break the seal. Any power that could do that would have to be stronger than the God who seals us. Sealing is our guarantee of eternity with God.

That’s why the doctrine of sealing dovetails into the doctrine of eternal security. Some refer to this teaching as “once saved, always saved” or “perseverance of the saints,” which means that once a person accepts Christ, that person is saved and will be saved forever. We can’t “lose” our salvation.

Jesus taught this here and here.

Eternal security also ties in directly with another work of the Holy Spirit, who not only seals us for eternity but also assures us of our salvation.

And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (1 John 3:24b)

We can know that God lives in us by the Spirit he gave us. It isn’t just that God gives us eternal life; he also gives us his Holy Spirit to remind us that we have eternal life. God gives us salvation, and he also gives us assurance of that salvation.

Sure, sometimes we may not feel certain about our salvation. I wrote an entire series about doubt here. If you, as a believer, experience a season of doubt, it’s only because God allows it. He’s purposed your doubt to allow you to examine your faith and see your weak spots. A time of doubt is God inviting you into a deeper walk with him. Through it all, you have the Holy Spirit encouraging you and assuring you that you are his and will be forever. 

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (Romans 8:16)

The Holy Spirit first convinces us that Jesus loved us and died for us. He then constantly reminds us that Jesus loves us and lives for us, assuring us that we are God’s children forever. 

The only gift that compares to our salvation, of God making us his, is the gift of God keeping us his and reminding us that we’re his. He saves us, seals us, and constantly assures us. What a blessing he’s given us.

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