In the book of Romans, the Spirit is the Spirit of life, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of the Son of God for our sonship to make us the real sons of God so that Christ may be the Firstborn among many brothers. These many sons of God and brothers of Christ are the living members that form the Body of Christ as His corporate expression. Then in 1 Corinthians, the Spirit is the indwelling Spirit who reveals to us all the things of Christ to bring us into the enjoyment, the fellowship, of all His riches, and through this enjoyment He builds us up together as one Body. Thus, He is the building Spirit. As the Spirit for our sonship in Romans, He is the Spirit of life, and as the building Spirit in 1 Corinthians, He is the indwelling and revealing Spirit. This is the message of Romans and 1 Corinthians concerning the Spirit.
In 2 Corinthians, the Spirit is the transforming Spirit (3:18). For the building up of God’s house there is the need of transformation. This means that we all must be metabolically and inwardly changed in life, nature, and disposition and be renewed in our mind, will, and emotion. In this way we are wholly transformed in our soul. Then we will be the precious materials that are good for the building up of God’s habitation.
The thought of transformation is also found in Romans. Romans 12:2 says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” We are transformed in our soul by the renewing of the mind, emotion, and will. In 1 Corinthians 3 there is the thought of transformation, although this specific word is not in this Epistle. This chapter tells us that we must build the temple of God with gold, silver, and precious stones, rather than with wood, grass, and stubble (vv. 12, 16). Along with the building Spirit in 1 Corinthians there is the thought of the need of transformation for the building. Now the following book, 2 Corinthians, tells us that this indwelling, building Spirit is the Spirit who transforms us. Therefore, we may state in a simple way that in Romans He is the Spirit of the Son for our sonship, in 1 Corinthians He is the building Spirit, and in 2 Corinthians He is the transforming Spirit.
Second Corinthians 1:21 and 22 say, “The One who firmly attaches us with you unto Christ and has anointed us is God, He who has also sealed us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” We should highlight the words anointed, sealed, and pledge. These are precious words. Pledge is equal to the modern terms guarantee, security deposit, or down payment. A down payment is the first payment and a guarantee of future payments. The Holy Spirit given to us by God today is the down payment, deposit, and guarantee of a future payment. Ephesians 1:13-14 also tells us that God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit and given us the Spirit as the pledge of our inheritance. In addition to sealing and pledging, 2 Corinthians 1 speaks of a third item, the anointing. God has anointed us with the Spirit, sealed us by and with the Spirit, and given us the Spirit as a pledge.
According to the sequence in verses 21 and 22, the anointing is first, followed by the sealing and the pledge. In typology, the oil of the anointing ointment signifies the Spirit. We may compare the ointment to paint. In this sense, to anoint is to paint. The more we paint something, the more the paint is added to that thing. Originally, it may have been only wood with a natural color, but as we paint it, the paint is added to the wood and even worked into it. God Himself is the anointing ointment, the “paint.” For God to anoint us means that He paints us with Himself, and the more He anoints us, the more His element is added to us and wrought into us. Moreover, the ingredients of this anointing are all the elements of God. Thus, as He anoints us with Himself, His “ingredients” are being worked into us; that is, we have more of His element within us.
After a certain amount of painting, the paint and the thing that is painted are mingled as one. Likewise, God is within us in Christ as the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ to anoint us. It is by this anointing that God works Himself into us and mingles Himself with us. God has anointed us and is still anointing us with Himself, that is, with His Spirit as the ointment, so that we may have His elements, His ingredients. This must be very clear to us; it is vital to the Christian life.
Second, verse 22 says that God has sealed us. According to the custom of the ancient times, for someone to seal something meant that he put a mark, a likeness, on that thing to signify that it belonged to him. Likewise, for God to seal us means that He puts His likeness upon us as a mark. The more God seals us, the more we have God-likeness as a mark that we belong to Him. On a certain occasion I went to a ship pier to meet a new believer. I had only received a cable concerning him, but I had never seen him, even in a photograph. As hundreds of people come off a ship, it is usually difficult to recognize anyone. However, this did not bother me. While people flooded out of the ship, I simply kept watching until I saw a person upon whom God had placed His mark. Then I knew that this one must be a brother. There was no outward mark upon him, simply a certain kind of expression by which I could recognize him as a brother.
Once in 1933 a sister sent us a letter telling us that she was coming to us from Shanghai. Again, we had never seen her, but we went to wait for her. As the ship stood at a distance, a number of small sampans carried people to the shore. With so many small boats in the sea, it is was difficult to find a particular person. However, as we were watching from the pier, I told the brothers, “Look, there is one person in the third boat. I believe she must be the sister.” All the other brothers agreed that she must be the one, and indeed it was she. There is a certain kind of seal, a mark, placed upon us through the work of the Spirit. From our appearance, our countenance, people can recognize that we are children of God, those who belong to the Lord. This is a living mark as the outer operation of the inner Spirit. When we have the Holy Spirit within us, God causes us by the Spirit to have His likeness. This does not mean that we merely behave in a certain way. Even if we do nothing but stand here, the believers can still recognize that we are children of God, their brothers and sisters. This is because of the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
As we are being anointed by God with the Spirit, spontaneously we have this mark. In a sense, the anointing itself is the sealing. People often use paint to mark certain items. If we paint something in this way, this means it belongs to us. The anointing is the marking. It is a shame if others cannot tell whether we are children of God or children of the devil (1 John 3:10). We need to have a living mark, a living seal, that tells others that we belong to God, that we are children of God. We should have a certain kind of likeness that is the mark of God. God has marked us, sealed us, with the anointing Spirit. However, it is sometimes not easy to recognize whether or not someone is a brother. This is because the “paint” is not deep and rich enough in him. If the mark upon us is not clear, this means that we are short of God’s anointing.