In the Epistles of Ephesians and Philippians we see the Spirit, as the Son, with the Father, being the consummation of the Triune God. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God or the Triune God consummated. After the Triune God had gone through a marvelous process, the consummation came out, that is, the all-inclusive, processed, compound Spirit. In the Epistles the Spirit is not something “raw,” but something processed. The Triune God has passed through all the processes, consummating in the Spirit.
In Ephesians such a compound Spirit is the Spirit of the Body (4:4). In Ephesians the main topic is the Body of Christ, the church, so in this book the aggregate Spirit, the compound Spirit, is the Spirit for the Body and the Spirit of the Body. If there is no Spirit, there is no Body, no church. When people talk about the Body of Christ, the church, they mostly neglect the Spirit. Actually, the Spirit is the intrinsic reality of the Body of Christ. The reality of the church is this compound, aggregate Spirit.
Ephesians 1:13 tells us that we believers, who are the components, the members of the Body, have all been sealed with the Holy Spirit. A good example of a seal is a rubber stamp. When a piece of paper is stamped or sealed it receives some element of ink. Now it is no longer purely a piece of paper, but a piece of paper with the element of ink. This shows us that, firstly, to be sealed is to be impressed with some element. Ephesians 1:13-14 tells us that when we heard the Word and believed in the Lord Jesus, we were sealed with this compound Spirit. This sealing put the divine element into our being. This is just like the stamping of the ink on a piece of paper. It is very easy to erase something written with pencil. However, when the best ink is used, it is very hard to erase. Sometimes it cannot be erased unless you rub through the paper. This means that the ink element has become one with the paper and that the two elements are mingled as one. In like manner, the divine element has become one with us. The divine Spirit dwells in our human spirit and these two are mingled together as one spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17).
In addition, sealing something gives it a mark. To be sealed with the Holy Spirit means to be marked with the Holy Spirit as a living seal. If we had a seal with someone’s name on it, the stamping of this seal on a piece of paper would leave the mark of this person’s name on the paper. The mark looks exactly the same as the stamp. After we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit sealed us. It not only brought the divine element into our being, but it also put a mark upon us, causing us to bear God’s image signified by the seal, thus making us like God.
Sealing also denotes ownership. When a person buys a new book and stamps or seals it with his name, this seal denotes that the book belongs to him. The Holy Spirit put the divine element into our being as a seal to mark us out, indicating that we belong to God. The divine element added into our being, the mark made in us, and the indication of the divine ownership, when added together, become a pledge. A pledge is a guarantee that something is yours. The Holy Spirit sealed upon our being is the pledge that God is ours. It guarantees that God is our inheritance. The members of the church are the sealed ones. All the members have received the Holy Spirit as the divine element, as the divine mark, as the divine ownership, and eventually as a pledge that God is their inheritance. From the day of our salvation we may enjoy God every day as our portion.
In Ephesians 2:18 we are told that through Christ both the Jewish and Gentile members of the Body have access in the one Spirit unto the Father. Our access “unto the Father” means for us to contact God for our enjoyment. Whenever we come to God to contact Him, we enjoy Him. There is no enjoyment better than this. When we contact God, we come to Him through Christ in the Spirit to the Father. This is the divine Trinity in our experience of God as our enjoyment. We all have been sealed with the Spirit as a pledge that God is our inheritance for us to enjoy. Now through the Son in the Spirit we come to the Father to enjoy Him. According to the context, this verse also indicates that through Christ all the Jewish and Gentile believers, who were once at enmity, have access to the Father in one Spirit for their enjoyment. Regardless of whether we are Jewish or Gentile believers, all of us are coming to the Father, through the Son, in the one Spirit, to enjoy the Father as our inheritance.