Ephesians 1:13 and 14 speak of the Spirit as the seal and the pledge (cf. 2 Cor. 1:22), or we may say, the foretaste. Ephesians 1:11 says that we were designated as an inheritance to God. We are God’s inheritance, possession, and property. Therefore, God sealed us with the Spirit to testify that we are His. On the other hand, God has put His Spirit into us as the foretaste and a guarantee that God is ours. To be sealed proves that we are God’s, and the Spirit as the pledge, the foretaste, guarantees that God is ours.
Verse 18 of chapter two says of the Jewish and Gentile believers, “For through Him we both have access in one Spirit unto the Father.” The Spirit is revealed in Ephesians as the uniting Spirit because this book deals with the Body of Christ. In the Body, the Spirit is the uniting Spirit.
In Ephesians 3, the Spirit is the strengthening Spirit, the Spirit who strengthens us into our inner man (v. 16), and in chapter four the Spirit is again the uniting Spirit (vv. 3-4). Verse 23 says, “And that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” This is the regenerated spirit of the believers, which is mingled with the indwelling Spirit of God. Therefore, this verse implies the renewing Spirit (Titus 3:5). Ephesians 6:17 mentions the sword of the Spirit, indicating the fighting Spirit. Ephesians mentions the human spirit a number of times. In those verses spirit should be rendered in lower case, denoting the human spirit. These verses speak of a spirit of wisdom and revelation (1:17), the dwelling place of God in spirit (2:22), the revelation to the holy apostles and prophets in spirit (3:5), being filled in spirit (5:18), and praying in spirit (6:18).
When the apostle Paul wrote Ephesians, he had a particular burden with a certain realization and thought. The particular thought in Ephesians is that the church is the Body of Christ composed of many redeemed ones from both the Jewish and Gentile peoples. These redeemed ones are God’s possession, property, and inheritance, so He put the Spirit as His seal on them. In ancient times God promised that He would give His Spirit to His redeemed ones. Now this Spirit has been given as a seal to prove and testify that all the redeemed ones are God’s inheritance. This seal is nothing less than God Himself. Moreover, the seal that God puts on His redeemed ones becomes a pledge, a foretaste, a down payment, a deposit, to guarantee that God is our enjoyment and possession. This Spirit as the seal and the foretaste unites all the redeemed ones together as the Body of Christ, of which the redeemed ones are members. He also strengthens us within, renews us, and fills us with Himself. Then the daily walk of the redeemed ones comes out of this infilling, and He becomes the fighting Spirit, equipping us to fight the battle for God in the Body. If we look into Ephesians with this point of view, this book will become new to us.
Philippians 1:19 says, “For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The term bountiful supply in Greek is a particular word used in ancient times to denote the leader of the chorus. The leader of the chorus was responsible for supplying all the needs of the members of the chorus. When they needed food, drink, clothing, or a dwelling place, the leader supplied them with those things. When they needed instruments and music, he also supplied them with those. For this reason, the term can be translated as “bountiful supply” or “all-sufficient supply.”
The Spirit in 1:19 is not only the Spirit of Jesus or the Spirit of Christ but the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit today is no longer merely the Spirit of God. He is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, including His divinity, His incarnation, His humanity, His human life, His suffering and death, His resurrection, His ascension, and everything He has attained and obtained. Because He is such a Spirit, He can afford us an all-sufficient supply.
Philippians 3:3 says, “For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.” In the book of Philippians, the Spirit is revealed as the supplying Spirit who affords us the all-sufficient supply and as the serving Spirit for us to serve and worship God. In addition, 4:12 and 13 say, “I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack. I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” These verses should be put together with 1:19. The way Christ empowers us is by being the supplying Spirit. If Christ were not the supplying Spirit, how could He empower us? Christ is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), and it is as the Spirit that He empowers us.
Philippians is a book on the Christian life and living. The Christian life is a life that always has the all-inclusive, bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and it is a life of always serving and worshipping God by the Spirit. Moreover, the supplying Spirit and the serving Spirit is the very Christ who empowers us within, in whom we can do all things.