Ephesians 4:30

Eph_4:30

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Grieve not the Holy Spirit

It is a very clear proof of the personality of the Holy Spirit that He can be grieved. Our text, moreover, reveals to us the close connection between the Holy Spirit and the believer; He must take a very tender and affectionate interest in us, since He is grieved by our shortcomings and our sins.

I. The astounding fact that the Holy Spirit may be grieved.

1. The loving grief of the Holy Ghost may be traced to His holy character and perfect attributes. It is the nature of a holy being to be vexed with unholiness.

2. But it is mainly for our sakes that He is grieved.

3. Doubtless also for Jesus Christs sake.

4. For the Churchs sake.

II. Secondly, let us refer to deplorable causes which produce the grief of the Holy Spirit. The context is some assistance to us.

1. We learn that sins of the flesh, filthiness, and evil speaking of every sort, are grievous to Him. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. In Noahs day, the dove found no place for the sole of its foot on all the carcasses floating in the waste; and even so the heavenly Dove finds no repose in the dead and corrupt things of the flesh.

2. It appears, from the thirty-first verse, that the Holy Ghost is grieved by any approach to bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil speaking, and malice.

3. I have no doubt it greatly grieves the Spirit to see in believers any degree of love of the world. His holy jealousy is excited by such unholy love. If a mother should see her child fender of someone else than of her; if she should know that it was more happy in the company of a stranger than when in the bosom of its own parent, she would feel it a very hard trial to bear. Now, the Spirit of God gives to us believers celestial joys and abounding comforts; and if He sees us turn our back upon all these, to go into worldly company, to feed greedily upon the same empty joys which satisfy worldlings, He is a jealous God, and He takes it as a great slight put upon Himself.

4. The Spirit of God is greatly grieved by unbelief. What would grieve you more, than to have your child suspect your truthfulness?

5. The Spirit is doubtless grieved by our ingratitude.

6. And by pride we sorely grieve the blessed Spirit.

7. Another thing which grieves the Spirit is a want of prayer.

8. The indulgence of any known sin.

III. The lamentable result of the Spirits being grieved.

1. The loss of all sense of His presence.

2. Loss of Christian joy.

3. Loss of power.

4. Loss of assurance.

5. Loss of usefulness.

Let a Church grieve the Spirit of God, and oh, the blights that shall come and wither her fair garden!

IV. Lastly, there is one personal argument which is used in the text to forbid our grieving the Spirit--Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. What does this mean? There are many meanings assigned by different commentators: we shall be content with the following.

1. A seal is set upon a thing to attest its authenticity and authority.

2. Once more, a seal is used for preserving, as well as for attesting.

The Eastern seals up his money bags to secure the gold within, and we seal our letters to guard the enclosure. A seal is set for security. Grieve not, then, that Spirit upon whom you are so dependent: He is your credentials as a Christian; He is your life as a believer. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Grieving the Holy Spirit

Anger begets anger; but grief begets pity, and pity is next akin to love; and we love those whom we have caused to grieve. Now, is not this a very sweet expression--Grieve not the Holy Spirit?

I. The love of the spirit. The love of the Spirit!--how shall I tell it forth? Surely it needs a songster to sing it, for love is only to be spoken of in words of song. The love of the Spirit.

1. Let me tell you of His early love to us. He loved us without beginning.

2. Was it not He who guided you to Jesus?

3. Since then, how sweetly has He proved His love. Not only in His first strivings, or after quickenings; but in the sequel, how much have we owed to His instruction.

4. Forget not, also, how much we owe to His consolation.

5. Remember how much He loves us, when He helps our infirmities.

6. Another token of His love, is His indwelling in the saints.

II. It is by the Holy Spirit we are sealed. The Spirit Himself is expressed as the seal, even as He Himself is directly said to be the pledge of our inheritance. The sealing, I think, has a three-fold meaning.

1. It is a sealing of attestation or confirmation. No faith is genuine, which does not bear the seal of the Spirit. No love, no hope can ever save us, except it be sealed with the Spirit of God, for whatever has not His seal upon it is spurious. Faith that is unsealed may be a poison, it may be presumption; but faith that is sealed by the Spirit is true, real, genuine faith.

2. It is a sealing of appropriation. When men put their mark upon an article, it is to show that it is their own. The farmer brands his tools that they may not be stolen. The shepherd marks his sheep that they may be recognized as belonging to his flock. The king himself puts his broad arrow upon everything that is his property. So the Holy Spirit puts the broad arm of God upon the hearts of all His people.

3. Again, by sealing is meant preservation. Men seal up that which they wish to have preserved, and when a document is sealed it becomes valid henceforth. Now, it is by the Spirit of God that the Christian is sealed, kept, preserved, unto the day of redemption.

III. The grieving of the Spirit. How may we grieve Him--what will be the sad result of grieving Him--if we have grieved Him, how may we bring Him back again?

1. How may we grieve the Spirit? I am now, mark you, speaking of those who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin is as easy as it is wicked.

(1) You may grieve Him by impure thoughts. He cannot bear sin.

(2) We grieve Him yet more if we indulge in outward acts of sin. Then is He sometimes so grieved that He takes His flight for a season, for the Dove will not dwell in our hearts if we take loathsome carrion in there.

(3) Again, if we neglect prayer, if our closet door is cobwebbed, if we forget to read the Scriptures, if the leaves of our Bible are almost stuck together by neglect, if we never seek to do any good in the world, if we live merely for ourselves and not to Christ, then the Holy Spirit will be grieved.

(4) Again, the Holy Spirit is exceedingly grieved by our unbelief.

2. Now, suppose the Holy Spirit is grieved, what is the effect produced upon us?

(1) When the Spirit is grieved first, He bears with us. He is grieved again and again, and again and again, and still He bears with it all.

(2) But at last, His grief becomes so excessive, that He says, I will suspend My operations; I will be gone; I will leave life behind Me, but My own actual presence I will take away. Our graces are much like the flower called the Hydrangia, when it has plenty of water it blooms, but as soon as moisture fails, the leaves drop down at once. And so when the Spirit goes away, faith shuts up its flowers; no perfume is exhaled. Then the fruit of our love begins to rot and drops from the tree; then the sweet buds of our hope become frostbitten, and they die. Oh, what a sad thing it is to lose the Spirit.

3. It is a mercy to know that the Spirit of God never leaves His people finally; He leaves them for chastisement, but not for damnation. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Grieving the Spirit

If we may speak it reverently of One so far above, out of the reach of all human language, the Holy Ghost is a Being with the tenderest of feelings. We all know the sensitiveness of the affections, the delicacy of thought, the exquisite accuracy of the moral touch, which are required for the sweet offices of consolation. In what an infinite measure, then, must those properties be combined in Him who is characteristically and exclusively the Comforter of the Church! Essentially He loves us.

1. Whenever you grieve the Holy Spirit you do then, in the first instance, cause sorrow--it is Gods own word--to Him to whom you are bound by every generous feeling to give only happiness.

2. But have you considered, further, that every time you grieve the Spirit, you weaken the seals of your own security?

3. For there are few of us, I trust, who have not long since learnt that the secret of all true comfort and satisfaction in the world, is to carry within us the sunshine of Gods love, which is peace and joy. And what is that sunshine but the unclouded indwelling of the Holy Ghost?

4. For mark it yet once more. There are four deep downward steps in the path to death: to grieve the Spirit is the first--to resist the Spirit is the second--to quench the Spirit is the third--to blaspheme the Spirit is the fourth. No one of these is ever reached but by going through that which is previous to it. Consider, therefore, first in everything you do or say--in the pleasures you allow, the friendships you form, the thoughts you indulge--how will this affect the Holy Spirit? remembering always His exceeding sensitiveness, that if you grieve Him He will leave you, till you have not feeling enough to grieve that He is gone; but if you please Him, you will more and more forever find a satisfying pleasure in Him who so graciously condescends to please Himself in you. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

The grieving of the Spirit

It is a very important question--How is the Holy Spirit grieved with us? The great instrumentality of the Holy Ghost is conscience. Only here take care; to refuse the encouraging voices of conscience is as bad as to neglect the reproving ones. To have sinned, and to doubt the forgiveness of the sin, after you have confessed the sin, grieves the Holy Spirit quite as much as the sin itself. He is Spirit,--therefore material religion,--a materialistic view of spiritual things,--grieves Him. He is the Holy Spirit; therefore everything which trifles with holy things--irreverence, levity on religious subjects, undevout familiarity with sacred subjects, low views of God--these things grieve Him very much. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)

Grieving the Holy Spirit

There are different ways in which you may grieve a person. If the person hate you, and wish you ill, then you may grieve and vex him by taking the course which will make you good and happy. If the person be a bad person, then you may grieve him by doing what is right. What greater stimulus to duty, than this?--Now, you will be industrious, and honest, and good; and make them all happy at home! And what healthier consideration in an hour of temptation to do wrong, than that which comes first and most natural: Oh, you will not do that, and break your mothers heart! My Christian friends, it hath pleased God, in the words of my text, to appeal to us with just that homely consideration. Grieve not--the words are spoken to all of us--the Holy Spirit of God.

I. And first, mark who it is we are asked not to grieve. You have seen how completely it turns upon the character of the person grieved, what the kind of things shall be that are to grieve him. The Person we are asked not to grieve is the Holy Spirit of God: the blessed Comforter. He is the kindest and best: He is our warmest well-wisher. And what kindness and consideration there are in the way in which the text shows us our duty I It is our own good that the Holy Spirit is desiring to work out: and we are asked not to vex Him by obstructing Him in doing what?

II. And now, looking at this precept--

1. We may be very sure that we grieve the Holy Spirit, by restraining prayer, or by heartless prayers.

2. A second way in which we shall especially grieve the Holy Spirit, by especially slighting His office and work, will be by refusing to allow Him to comfort us in sorrow.

3. There is a third way in which we shall specially grieve the Holy Spirit; and this is by resisting Him when He is seeking to lead us to Christ; by refusing to turn in penitence from sin to God; and then to grow in grace and holiness. (A. K. H. Boyd, D. D.)

Grieving the Holy Spirit

I. Who, then, are they, who are told not to grieve the spirit of God? It must needs be those with whom He has already taken up His abode. We may anger a stranger, but we grieve a friend.

II. But let us consider is what ways the believing Christian may grieve Gods Holy Spirit.

1. If we give way to any sin in thought, word, or deed, we are then grieving the Holy Spirit.

2. But it is not only thus that we are in danger of grieving the Spirit of God; it is not only by what we do amiss, but by what we leave undone.

3. Another way of grieving the Holy Spirit is by neglecting those means of grace by which God is pleased, to work in our souls.

III. What are the consequences of grieving the Spirit of God?

1. We thereby become guilty of great ingratitude.

2. We also hinder our own advance in holiness and goodness.

3. And, in so doing, we lose the comforts of religion.

4. Once more: by grieving Gods Holy Spirit, we unfit ourselves for doing good to men, and so adorning the gospel. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)

The warning against grieving the Spirit

Just what the heart is to the body; what the eyes are to the head; what the mainspring is to the watch; what the steam is to the locomotive; or what the rudder is to the ship, just this, and more, the Holy Spirit is to us, in trying to get to heaven.

I. And in the first place, we ought to mind this warning, because grieving the Spirit will injure our knowledge. Of ourselves, we have no knowledge of the way, to heaven, and never could tell how to get there. It is the Holy Spirit alone who can give us this knowledge, but if we grieve the Spirit we shall never get this knowledge. Suppose that you and I were travelling through a strange country, like Switzerland. We should have no knowledge of the right way to travel in, so as to get safely through the country. And this would make it necessary for us to have a guide to show us the way. I remember when the Rev. Dr. Cooper of this city, and myself, were, travelling through Switzerland some years ago, an incident occurred which may come in as a good illustration of this part of our subject. We were stopping at an inn in the beautiful valley of Interlachen, and had made arrangements one evening to go on foot the next day over a high mountain, called the Wengern Alp, to the valley of Lauterbrunnen, on the other side. We had engaged a guide to show us the way, and were to take an early start the next morning. There was an English traveller staying at the same inn with us. He was travelling alone, and wanted to take the same journey. He spoke to one of the guides about going with him. But he thought the man asked too much money. They could not agree about the price; so he refused to take the guide, and said he was sure he could find the way himself. He started all by himself the next morning, a good while before us. When we had got nearly half way over the mountain our guide stopped. He pointed to a dark looking little object, far off from the path in which we were walking, and said: Theres the gentleman who would not have a guide. He has lost his way. He never can get out of the mountains in that direction. If he doesnt come back hell lose his life. Then the guide climbed up on a high piece of ground, and putting his hands to his mouth, he called out as loudly as he could, Come back! come back! We could not tell whether the lost man heard him or not, or what became of him. But in refusing to take a guide to show him the way that man was injuring his knowledge, just as we do when we grieve the Holy Spirit.

II. The second reason why we ought to mind this warning is because grieving the Spirit will injure our happiness. When David was speaking of the happy effect which follows from our acquaintance with the truth of God, he said--Blessed are the people which know the joyful sound. This blessedness refers to the happiness which Gods people find from knowing Him. And here we see how the knowledge of God, and the happiness which springs from it, both go together. This knowledge is like a fountain; and this happiness is like the stream which flows from the fountain.

III. The third reason why we should mind this warning is because grieving the Spirit will injure our usefulness. If you are an errand boy in a store, and your duty is to carry parcels or messages, wherever you are sent, then if anything should make you lame, so that you could not walk, this would interfere with your usefulness. Suppose you have a position on one of the stations of the Pennsylvania railway. Your duty there is to watch the signals, which tell when a train is coming; and then to give notice of it by ringing a bell. And suppose that something should happen to your eyes, so that you could not see; this would at once injure your usefulness, and unfit you for the duties of your position. Or suppose that your mother is a very skilful seamstress, and is supporting her family by the diligent use of her needle. She has an attack of rheumatism, which settles on her right hand, making her fingers so stiff that she cannot use her needle. That would injure her usefulness. And it is just so with us, in trying to serve God. If we listen to the voice of the Spirit, when He speaks to us, and mind what He says, then He will show us what our duty is, and help us to do it. And that will make us useful. I have one other illustration for this part of our subject. We may call it Sorely Tempted. It shows us how a boy was kept from injuring his usefulness, by not grieving the Spirit, but by listening to His voice. The boys name was Tommy Wright. He was about fifteen years old, and the only son of his mother, who was very fond of him. Mrs. Wright had got a situation for him in a merchants store. When he was about leaving home to begin work in this new place, his mother said to him, Now, Tommy, before you go, there are two promises I want you to make me. What are they, mother? he asked, looking fondly into her loving face, which was always so calm and peaceful. Promise me first, that you will always, wherever you are, no matter how busy, read one or more verses in the Bible every day; and then promise me next that you will never take a penny that is not your own. The first is easy enough, mother dear, said Tommy; but I dont like the second at all. It seems almost like an insult. You know very well I have not been brought up to be a thief. Surely you dont imagine for a moment that I would ever steal? Give me the promise, Tommy dear, said his mother, and I will pray for you, as you must pray for yourself, that God will give you grace to keep your word. These are terrible times that we are living in. Men who stand high in honour are often known to do very mean and dishonourable things. The fairest reputations are blighted. The city is full of snares, and I dont know what temptations you may meet with. You will need Gods help every day to keep you from going wrong. So Tommy made the promise, and then his mother kneeled down with him, and in her simple earnest words, asked the Lord to go with her dear boy, and help him to do his duty in the new position he was about to occupy, and to keep him from ever doing what was wrong. For some time after entering on the duties of his new position Tommy got on very well. He read every day at least one verse from the Bible. Sometimes he would read a number of verses, and occasionally a whole chapter. But after a while he began to be careless about it. Occasionally he would omit his reading in the morning, intending to do it at night, and at night deferring it till the next day. Then he would forget to pray. The next wrong step was his going with bad companions. His anxious, loving mother, up at the old farm, felt sure that he was not doing well, for his letters were few and short. But she kept on praying for him with increasing earnestness. At last he got into debt, and was at a loss to know what to do. One day he was left alone at the close of the day, in a room where there was an unlocked drawer, with a large sum of money in it, in notes and silver. Just then Satan came and tempted him. He said to him, Why cant you take some of this money and get out of debt? Mr. Courtney, your employer, will never find it out. And when you get your wages, if you like, you can pay it back. Tommy made up his mind to do this. He went to the drawer and took a handful of silver; but just as he was about to put it into his coat pocket he was startled by what seemed like someone whispering in his ear. The quiet voice seemed to say Tommy Wright! Tommy Wright! Take care! Remember the promise you made to your mother. In a moment he put the money back in the drawer and went home. On arriving there, he went straight up to his little room, and kneeling down in great distress and with many tears, he confessed his sin to God, and asked to be forgiven. Then he prayed that God would help him to resist every such temptation in the future, and always do what was right. Now it was the Spirit of God who whispered those warning words in Tommys ear. He listened to the Spirits voice, and that kept him from doing wrong.. But if he had not minded those whispered words he would have grieved the Spirit. And then he would have gone on from one sin to another, till he lost his situation, and so he would have injured his usefulness. And here we see that the third reason why we should mind this warning is, because grieving the Spirit will injure our usefulness.

IV. The fourth reason why we should mind this warning is because grieving the Spirit will cause the loss of our souls. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God--whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. To seal the soul unto the day of redemption is to make its salvation sure. This is what the Spirit will do for those who listen to His voice. See, there is Noahs ark just finished. God told Noah and all his family to come into the ark. They listened to His voice. They all went into the ark; and when the flood came they were saved. But suppose now they had not minded what God had said to them, and had refused to go into the ark; that would have been like grieving the Spirit; and the result would have been that when the flood came they would all have been destroyed. And so if we go on grieving the Spirit, it must certainly result in the loss of our souls. (Dr. Newton.)

On grieving the Holy Spirit

There are several ways in which more especially the Spirit may be said to be grieved. Thus, for example--

1. When His office is dishonoured. This is the case whenever the spirituality of Divine worship is called in question or practically ignored. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

2. Again, the Spirit may be said to be grieved whenever His sovereignty is limited. The Spirit is a free agent. He acts as He will, dividing unto every man severally according to His own good pleasure.

3. The Spirit may further be said to be grieved when His prerogative is infringed. If, for example, He is to any extent defrauded of His title as the supreme and only infallible interpreter of the written Word, if, in place of seeking earnestly and humbly to be guided by Him into all truth, we seek to human wisdom or guidance for the interpretation of the inspired Word, if we forsake His guidance--this is to grieve Him.

4. Again, the Holy Spirit is grieved whenever His influence is persistently withstood. This is a case, it is to be feared, of not infrequent occurrence under the ministry of the gospel. (Bishop R. Bickersteth.)

The sin and folly of grieving the Holy Spirit

I. What is here meant by the Holy Spirit of God, and now He seals us to the day of redemption.

II. What is implied in grieving him, and how this is generally done.

III. The sin, folly, and miserable consequences of grieving the Holy Spirit.

1. The sin of it. It is an act of undutifulness and injustice.

2. The folly of it. It may be compared with the folly of grieving a friend, whose direction and help we continually want; a father, on whom we are dependent; a husband, without whom we cannot live happy.

3. The miserable consequences of sin. So far as we grieve Him, we remain ignorant, sinful, guilty, depraved, weak, and wretched. (J. Benson, D. D.)

Influence of, and opposition to, the Holy Spirit

I. It is here supposed that there is a Divine influence necessary to the salvation of fallen men.

II. The influence of the Holy Spirit is expressed in scripture by a great variety of phrases. Christians are said to be born of the Spirit; renewed, sanctified, and led by the Spirit; to be anointed and filled with the Spirit; and to be the temples in which the Spirit dwells. Here they are said to be sealed by the Spirit--i.e., the Divine image is impressed on the believers heart.

III. Believers are said to be sealed unto the day of redemption.

1. The sealing or sanctification of the Spirit is a necessary preparation for heaven.

2. An evidence of our title to heaven.

IV. The Spirit is grieved when we act in opposition to His influence.

V. A solemn caution against grieving the Spirit of God.

1. Indifference and carelessness in religion is opposition to the grace of God.

2. Spiritual pride grieves the Divine Spirit.

3. The Spirit is grieved when we neglect the means appointed for obtaining His influence.

4. Opposition to the strivings of the Spirit is another way in which He is often grieved.

5. There are some particular kinds of sin which are, in an eminent and peculiar sense, opposite to the work of the Spirit.

(1) Among these may be reckoned impurity, intemperance, dissipation, and all the vices of sensuality.

(2) The indulgence of malignant passions grieves the Spirit.

(3) Contentions among Christians are opposite to the Spirit.

(4) Men grieve the Spirit when they ascribe to Him those motions and actions which are contrary to His nature. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)

Duties relating to the Holy Spirit

I. Inquire what duties are incumbent upon us, relating to the Spirit of God. According to the general rule of interpreting negative precepts, the charge not to grieve the Spirit implies more than is expressed; it carries an obligation to a contrary duty, and that is to behave in a becoming manner toward Him.

1. He is to be owned and glorified as a Divine Person.

2. We should entertain honourable thoughts of the Spirit of God, with regard to the peculiar part He bears in the work of salvation.

3. We should be earnest in our desires and prayers for the Spirit, to all the purposes for which we need Him.

4. It is our duty to make use of all the means of grace which God has appointed and owns for vouchsafement of His Spirit.

5. We should seriously attend to all the Spirits motions upon our souls.

6. We should live under His influence, in such a manner as is pleasing to Him, and answerable to His holy design upon us.

7. It should heartily grieve us that the Spirit of God is so much grieved.

II. Consider the several arguments contained in our text, to enforce these duties.

1. The authority of God demands these duties to be paid to His Spirit. It is God, by the apostle, that charges us in our text not to grieve His Spirit, but to carry it well toward Him; for all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (2Ti_3:16).

2. He to whom these duties have a special reference is the Spirit of God. It is not a man like thyself, it is not thine equal, not any created Spirit, but one infinitely above thee, and above all angels and archangels; it is the uncreated Spirit of God, who is Himself God. And canst thou dare to offend and provoke, or to behave undutifully toward Him?

3. He is the Holy Spirit. His nature and will, ways and works are holy, all the tendencies of his operations are to holiness, and all their effects, where they prevail, are holiness; there is no iniquity in Him or them. With what reverence and caution then shouldest thou behave in the sight and presence of such a Holy One.

4. The nature and design of the Spirits work is to seal us. Hath he hitherto preserved you and engaged to preserve you still, even to the day of complete redemption? And shalt thou not carry it well to such a kind indulging Friend as this?

5. This sealing work of the Spirit is unto the day of redemption. The Spirit in His sealing work is giving you the sweetest and surest earnests of this blessed day. And is not all this happy and delightful work for you? would you do anything to put a cheek upon it?

6. If we dont behave dutifully toward the Spirit, He will certainly be grieved. (J. Guyse.)

A fountain sealed

I. What it is to grieve the spirit. The Holy Ghost cannot properly be grieved in His own person, because grief implies a defect of happiness in suffering that we wish removed. It implies a defect in foresight, to prevent that which may grieve. It implies passion, which is soon raised up and soon laid down. God is not subject to change. It implies some want of power to remove that which we feel to be a grievance. And therefore it is not beseeming the majesty of the Spirit thus to be grieved. We must therefore conceive of it as befitting the majesty of God, removing in our thoughts all imperfections.

1. We are said to grieve God when we do that which is apt of itself to grieve; as we are said to destroy our weak brother when we do that which, he taking offence at, is apt to mislead him and so to destroy him.

2. We grieve the Spirit when we do that whereupon the Spirit doth that which grieved persons do; that is, retireth and showeth dislike and returns grief again.

3. Though the passion of grief be not in the Holy Ghost, yet there is in His holy nature a pure displeasance and hatred of sin, with such a degree of abomination, as though it tend not to the destruction of the offender, yet to sharp correction; so that grief is eminently in the hatred of God in such a manner as becomes Him.

4. We may conceive of the Spirit as He is in Himself in heaven, and as He dwells and works in us; as we may conceive of God the Father, as hidden in Himself and as revealed in His Son and in His Word; and as we may conceive of Christ as the Second Person and as Incarnate. So likewise of the Holy Ghost as in Himself and as in us. God, in the person of His Son, and His Son as man and as minister of circumcision, was grieved at the rebellion and destruction of His own people. The Holy Spirit as in us grieveth with us, witnesseth with us, rejoiceth in us and with us; and the Spirit in Himself and as He worketh in us hath the same name; as the gifts and graces and the comforts of the Spirit are called the Spirit; even as the beams of the sun shining on the earth are called the sun, and when we let them in or shut them out, we are said to let in or shut out the sun. We may grieve the Spirit, when we grieve Him as working grace and offering comfort to us.

II. Particulars wherein we specially grieve the Spirit. It is the office of the Spirit to enlighten, to soften, to quicken, and to sanctify. When we give content to Satan it puts the Holy Ghost out of office. Where the Holy Ghost hath not only set up a light, but given a taste of heavenly things, and yet we, upon false allurements, will grow to a distaste, it cannot but grieve the Spirit. Upon divers respects some sin may grieve more or less than another. As the Holy Ghost is a Spirit, so spiritual sins grieve most--as pride, envy--imprinting upon the soul, as it were, a character of the contrary ill spirit. Carnal sins, whereby the soul is drowned in delight of the body, may more grieve the Spirit in another respect; as defiling His temple, and as taking away so much of the soul. The office of the Spirit is to set out Christ, and the favour and mercy of God in Christ.

1. When we slight Christ in the gospel, the ordinance and organ of working good in us, the Holy Ghost is slighted and grieved.

2. The Holy Spirit is grieved when ye have a corrupt judgment of things, not weighing them in the right balance, nor value them according to their worth.

3. This grieves the Holy Spirit also, when men take the office of the Spirit from Him; that is, when we will do things in our own strength and by our own light, as if we were gods to ourselves.

4. Besides grieving Gods Spirit in ourselves, there is a heavy guilt lies upon us for grieving the Spirit in others, which is done many ways. First, By neglecting the grace of God in them, or despising them for some infirmities which love should cover. Contempt is a thing which the nature of man is more impatient of than of any injury. We likewise grieve the spirit of others by sharp censures, and the greater our authority is, the deeper is the grief a censure inflicteth. Again, Those that are above others grieve the spirits of those under them by unjust commands; as when masters press their servants to that which their conscience cannot digest, and so make them sin, and offer violence to that tender part. Again, We grieve the spirit of others, when those that are inferior show themselves untractable to those above them in magistracy or ministry, when they make them spend their strength in vain.

IV. What course we should take to prevent this grieving of the spirit.

1. Let us give up the government of our souls to the Spirit of God.

2. Study to walk perfectly in obeying the Spirit in all things.

3. If we would not grieve the Spirit, let us take heed of being wanting to the Spirits direction.

4. When the Spirit suggests good motions, turn them presently into holy resolutions. Let us not give over till these motions be turned into purposes, and those good purposes ripened to holy actions, that they be not nipped in the blossom, but may bring forth perfect fruit.

5. Let the Spirit have full scope, both in the ordinances, and in the motions stirred up by the ordinances. This is the way to make the ordinances and the times glorious, but the liberties of the gospel are contrary to the liberties of the flesh.

6. When we find the Spirit not assisting and comforting as in former times, it is fit to search the cause, which we shall find some slighting of holy motions, or the means of breeding of them.

7. Take heed of little sins, which we count lesser sins perhaps than God doth. The Holy Spirit by which ye are sealed. The Holy Ghost delighteth to speak in our own language.

We cannot rise to Him, therefore He stoopeth to us. The persons sealed are, first, Christ, and then those that are given to Christ. I, Christ is sealed.

1. By the Father (Joh_6:27).

2. He was sealed by the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in flesh, abased and exalted for us; so as His flesh is the flesh of the Son of God, and His blood the blood of God (Act_20:28).

3. Sealed by a testimony from heaven of all three persons: by the Father, This is my well-beloved Son; by the Holy Spirit descending like a dove; by Himself to His human nature dwelling in all fulness in it.

4. In being justified in the Spirit, being raised from the dead, and declared thereby to be the Son of God mightily with power (Rom_1:4); and then advanced to the right hand of God, that through Him our faith and trust might be in God (2Pe_3:14).

II. As Christ was sealed and fitted for us, so we are sealed and fitted for Christ, Many are the privileges of a Christian from this his sealing, as the use of a seal in mans affairs is manifold.

1. Seals serve for confirmation and allowance. To that purpose measures are sealed. God is said to seal instruction (Job_33:16). Confirmation is either by giving strength, or by the authority of such as are able to make good what they promise, and also willing; which they show by putting to their seal, which hath as much strength to confirm him to whom the promise is made, as he hath will and power to make it good that hath engaged himself.

2. The use of it likewise is for distinction from others that carry not that mark. So the sealing of the Spirit distinguisheth a Christian from all other men.

3. The use of a seal is likewise for appropriation. Merchants use to seal their wares they would not have others have any right unto.

4. Again, we use to set our seal only upon that we have some estimation of. Set me as a seal, saith the Church in the Canticles, upon Thy right hand (Son_8:6); have me in Thy eye and mind as a special thing Thou valuest.

5. Seals likewise are used for secrecy, as in letters, etc. So this seal of the Spirit is a secret work. God knoweth who are His (Rev_2:17). Our life is hid with Christ in God (Col_3:3).

6. Hence, likewise, the use of a seal is to show that things should be kept inviolable. Hereupon the Church is as a sealed fountain (Song of Solomon of Solomon 4:12). Sealing shows a care of preservation from common annoyance.

Hereupon likewise it is that sealing is the securing of persons or things sealed from hurt. Whereby you are sealed. Now there are divers degrees of the Spirits sealing.

1. Faith: He that believes hath the witness in himself (1Jn_5:10). The seal and first discovery of election is manifested to us in our believing.

2. The work of sanctifying grace upon the heart is a seal. Whom the Spirit sanctifieth He sayeth. The Lord knoweth who are His (2Ti_2:19).

But how shall we know it? By this seal: Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity, not only in heart and affection, but in conversation; and that shall be a seal of his sonship to Him. To the day of redemption.

1. There is a double redemption: redemption of the soul by the first coming of Christ to shed His blood for us; redemption of our bodies from corruption by His second coming.

2. Secondly, full redemption is not yet. But there is a day appointed for it. Consolatory thought! Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

From the consideration of all that hath been formerly spoken of, the sealing of the Spirit to the day of redemption, there ariseth these four conclusions:

1. For the first, we may know we are in the state of grace

(1) because the apostle would not have used an argument moving not to grieve the Spirit from a thing unknown or guessed at. It is an ill manner of reasoning to argue from a thing unknown.

(2) Again, sealing of us by the Spirit is not in regard of God, but ourselves. God knoweth who are His, but we know not that we are His but by sealing.

(3) The scope of the Scriptures indited by the Spirit is for comfort. The apostle saith so directly; and what comfort is in an uncertain condition, wherein a man knows not but he may be a reprobate?

2. The second conclusion: We may, upon the knowledge of our present estate in grace, be assured for the time to come, for this sealing is to the day of redemption; that is, till we be put into full possession of what we now believe.

3. The third conclusion is this, that the Spirit doth seal us. This cannot be otherwise; for who can establish us in the love of God but he that knows the mind of God towards us? and who knows the mind of God but the Spirit of God?

4. The fourth conclusion is, that the sealing of the Spirit unto salvation should be a strong prevailing argument not to grieve the Spirit; that is, not to sin, for sin only grieves the Spirit (see Tit_2:11-12). Even the consideration of the benefits of Christ that are past, such as came with Christs first coming; but that is not all (verse 13, Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ) The second coming of Christ enforceth likewise the same care of holiness: Our conversation is in heaven (Php_3:20), and not as theirs, spoken of in the former verse, whose end is damnation, whose belly is their god, who mind earthly things. No. We mind heavenly things. And these heavenly desires, from whence sprung |hey but from the certain expectation of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies? etc. (Php_3:21); that is, shall redeem us fully, even our bodies as well as our souls.

(1) It is an argument of force whether we be not yet sealed, or be sealed. If not sealed, then grieve not Him whose only office is to seal; entertain His motions, that He may have scope and liberty of working.

(2) For those that have been sealed by the Spirit, and yet not so fully as to silence all doubts about their estate: those should, out of that beginning of comfort which they feel, study to be pliable to the Spirit for further increase. The Spirit sealeth by degrees. As our care of pleasing the Spirit increaseth, so our comfort increaseth: our light will increase as the morning light unto the perfect day.

(3) For those that the Holy Spirit hath set a clearer and stronger stamp upon, that do not question their condition, they of all others should not grieve the Spirit. To conclude this discourse, let Christians therefore be careful to preserve and cherish the work of assurance and sealing in them. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)

Grieving the Holy Spirit

I. Let us first consider some truths which appear to be implied in the statement here made.

1. It is plainly implied that the Holy Spirit is a Person.

2. A second truth implied in the text is, that not only is the Holy Ghost a Person, but that He is a Divine and holy Person.

3. But the third thing implied in this text is, that the Spirit of God so dwells within us, as that the indulgence of angry tempers, or a walk of ungodliness and sin, will cause distress to this Divine inhabitant.

II. Now, having considered those truths which seem to be implied in the text, let us proceed to consider what is contained in the exhortation itself: Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

1. And, first, wherein are we most prone to grieve the Spirit? Grief, in the sense of offence taken by one person against another, arises from the offering of some supposed indignity, whether in the omission of some customary respect, or in the offer of some admitted slight, or in ungrateful requital for certain benefits received, or in some open contrariety to the mind and wish of our benefactor. Thus, look at the Spirit of God in some of those gracious offices and relations which He sustains towards us. Is He the enlightener, the guide, the counsellor of man in all the parts and duties of a godly life? What greater indignity can we offer to Him than taking counsel with flesh and blood--leaving the directions of a friend, to follow the advice of an enemy.

2. But observe, secondly, the special aggravation of this grieving--Whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Now, the point of all this, you will perceive, is that sin becomes more than ever sin, when it is committed against received light and knowledge-that grief against the Holy Spirit of God becomes double grief, when we have been made partaker of His gifts already.

3. And now, brethren, look at the text as it is a tender, affectionate, fatherly appeal to your gratitude. It is asked--If God the Spirit has done this for you, if God the Spirit will continue to do these things unto your lives end, how have you received Him? (D. Moore, M. A.)

The Holy Spirit sealing believers, yet grieved by them

I. And, first, of the agent here spoken of--the Holy Spirit of God--and the peculiar office, which He is said to execute on behalf of believers. The figure used in my text--that of grieving the Spirit--leads us to the acknowledgment of the personality of that blessed Spirit. The use of seals to signify appropriation was a very early practice; the patriarch Judah, you know, had his seal; and ministers of state had their seals of office in very ancient times; and you read, in the Book of Esther, these words, Write in the kings name, and seal it with the kings ring, for the writing which is written in the kings name, and sealed with the kings ring, may no man reverse. But again, under this head, I observe, that it is the office of the Holy Spirit, not merely to seal believers, by an eternal designation to God, but at times--at times, we say--as to His infinite wisdom and grace may seem fit--it is the office of the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to their spirits that they are thus called. But I proceed, furthers to observe, that wheresoever this sealing to God, known at all times to Him--this sealing of appropriation from eternity--known to believers themselves, in the degree in which God sees it to be good for them--wheresoever this sealing takes place, it is always accompanied by an outward seal, by which believers are more or less discernible to the world around them. For seals, as you know, my brethren, are not merely used to signify appropriation, but are also used to make an impression. The seal stamps its own impression. And the Holy Spirit of God seals believers as His own, by making His own impression of holiness upon them--by diffusing His graces over their souls. Let us, then, consider some of the ways in which believers may be said to grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

1. Among these we may rank, my brethren, the sin of ingratitude--a sin, of which all believers are more or less guilty, and apt thereby to grieve the Holy Spirit.

2. And, again, I would observe, that the Holy Spirit is grieved by resisting His operations in the soul, by turning a deaf ear to His friendly warnings and His friendly remonstranees.

3. Again, I observe, that the Spirit of the Lord trains up believers for redemption in the school of affliction: and we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, when we do not endeavour, at least, to see the hand of God in those trials, and when we rebel against that rod, wherewith He chastens us for our good.

4. And, again, my brethren, I would observe, that the Holy Spirit is grieved by the indulgence of unhallowed tempers and of sinful dispositions.

5. Allow me, once more, to add grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by running in the way of temptation. And as to the fearful consequences of grieving Him, or of causing that blessed Agent to withdraw, what, my brethren, can be said, or what need be said? In that moment when He is withdrawn, the means of grace become useless. Our salvation, be it remembered, depends entirely upon the agency of the Holy Spirit; and to forfeit that agency is to cut off ourselves at once from all hope. (Norman Macleod, D. D.)

The sealed ones

I. The sealing. They were sealed in their sonship. Moreover, as sons, they were sealed for the purpose of separation, that they should be a distinct people, and hence the prediction concerning them was put forth in a very early period in the history of the Church on earth. Moreover, they were sealed in this secret compact between the persons of Deity for sanctification, set apart for that purpose. Now, what is the first thing that you and I should do in sealing, to keep literally to the expression? Suppose we seal a letter, or seal a will or testament, or seal any document or covenant among mortals? Why, the first thing is to melt the wax, or whatever we are about to impress. There is the efficiency, and there is a need of fire for that. My hearer, when we are baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, it is melting work. Moreover, in this sealing work there is an elevation of character--a dignity stamped upon it. You know, in olden time, when letters were written, as by Ahasuerus and others, and said to be sealed with the kings seal, there was a dignity and importance stamped on the documents; it elevated them above the scale of the subjects of the realm, for it was the monarchs own impression, the monarchs own authority, the monarchs own command and injunction. So with the Lords family. Just go on to mark that they are sealed apparently and manifestly, so as to be known before men. Pass on to mark that, according to my text, It is a lasting seal. Ah! there are some seals that you may break or deface--they are not lasting; but here is a seal that shall last till the day of redemption.

II. The exhortation given to the sealed ones. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Let everything in the shape of sin be loathed and abhorred; that, although it dwells in old Adam, and sometimes strives for the mastery, it shall be crucified, mortified, put off, denied, and kept under, that the Holy Spirit may not be grieved. Again, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God by opinions which are heterodox. All those things which tend to grieve one another, to separate brother from brother, and Church from Church, and create schism in the Body of Christ, grieve the Spirit of God. (J. Irons.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EPHESIANS

GRIEVING THE SPIRIT

Eph 4:30

The miracle of Christianity is the Incarnation. It is not a link in a chain, but a new beginning, the entrance into the cosmic order of a Divine Power. The sequel of Bethlehem and Calvary and Olivet is the upper room and the Pentecost. There is the issue of the whole mission and work of Christ-the planting in the heart of humanity of a new and divine life. All Christendom is professing to commemorate that fact to-day, [Preached on Whitsunday] but a large portion of us forget that it was but a transient sign of a perpetual reality. The rushing mighty wind has died down into a calm; the fiery tongues have ceased to flicker on the disciples’ heads, but the miracle, which is permanent, and is being repeated from day to day, in the experience of every believing soul, is the inrush of the very breath of God into their lives, and the plunging of them into a fiery baptism which melts their coldness and refines away their dross. Now, my text brings before us some very remarkable thoughts as to the permanent working of the Divine Spirit upon Christian souls, and upon this it bases a very tender and persuasive exhortation to conduct. And I desire simply to try to bring out the fourfold aspect in those words. There is, first, a wondrous revelation; second, a plain lesson as to what that Divine Spirit chiefly does; third, a solemn warning as to man’s power and freedom to thwart it; and, lastly, a tender motive for conduct. ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.’

Now let us look briefly at these four thoughts: Here we have-

I. A wonderful revelation.

Wonderful to all, startling to some. If you can speak of grief, you must be speaking of a person. An influence cannot be sorry, whatever may happen to it. And that word of my text is no more violent metaphor or exaggeratedly strong way of suggesting a motive, but it keeps rigidly within the New Testament limits, in reference to that Divine Spirit, when to Him it attributes this personal emotion of sorrow with its correlation of possible joy.

Now, I do not need to dwell upon the thought here, but I do desire to emphasise it, especially in view of the strangely hazy and defective conceptions which so many Christian people have upon this matter. And I desire to remind you that the implied assumption of a personal Spirit, capable of being ‘grieved,’ which is in this text, is in accordance with all the rest of the New Testament teaching.

What did Jesus Christ mean when He spoke of one who ‘will guide you into all truth’; of one who ‘whatsoever He shall hear, those things shall He speak’? What does the book of the Acts mean when it says that the Spirit said to the believers in Antioch, ‘Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them’? What did Paul mean when he said, ‘In every city the Holy Ghost testifieth that bonds and afflictions await me’? What does the minister officiating in baptism mean when he says, ‘I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost’? That form presents, according to many interpretations, a Divine Person, a Man, and an Influence. Why are these bracketed together? And what do we mean when, at the end of every Christian service, we invoke ‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’? A Man, and God, and an Influence-is that the interpretation? You cannot get rid from the New Testament teaching, whether you accept it or not-you cannot eliminate from it this, that the divine causality of our salvation is threefold and one, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Now, brethren, I do not think I am exaggerating when I say that practically the average orthodox believer believes in a duality, and not a Trinity, in the divine nature. I do not care about the scholastic words, but what I would insist upon is that the course of Christian thinking has been roughly this. First of all, in the early Church, the question of the Divine nature came into play, mainly in reference to the relation of the Eternal Word to the Eternal Father, and of the Incarnation to both. And then, when that was roughly settled, there came down through many ages, and there still subsists, the endeavour to cast into complete and intelligible forms the doctrine, if I must use the word, of Christ’s nature and work. And now, as I believe, to a very large extent, the foremost and best thinking of the Christian Church is being occupied with that last problem, the nature and work of that Divine Spirit. I believe that we stand on the verge of a far clearer perception of, and of a far more fervent and realising faith in, the Spirit of God, than ever the Churches have seen before. And I pray you to remember that however much your Christian thought and Christian faith may be centred upon, and may be drawing its nourishment and its joy from, the work of Jesus Christ who died on the Cross for our salvation, and lives to be our King and Defender, there is a gap-not only in your Christian Creed, but also in your Christian experiences and joys and power, unless you have risen to this thought, that the Divine Spirit is not only an influence, a wind, a fire, an oil, a dove, a dew, but a Divine Person. We have to go back to the old creed-’I believe in God the Father Almighty ... and in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord ... I believe in the Holy Ghost.’

But further, this same revelation carries with it another, and to some of us a startling thought. ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit’: that Divine Person is capable of grief. I do not believe that is rhetorical exaggeration. Of course I know that we should think of God as the ever-blessed God, but we also in these last days begin to think more boldly, and I believe more truly, that if man is in the image of God, and there is a divine element in humanity, there must be a human element in divinity. And though I know that it is perilous to make affirmations about a matter so far beyond our possibility of verification by experience, I venture to think that perhaps the doctrine that God is lifted up high above all human weaknesses and emotions does not mean that there can be no shadow cast on the divine blessedness by the dark substance of human sin. I do not venture to assert: I only suggest; and this I know, that He who said to us, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,’ had His eyes filled with tears, even in His hour of triumph, as He looked across the valley and saw the city sparkling in the rays of the morning sun. May we venture to see there an unveiling of the divine heart? Love has an infinite capacity of sorrow as of joy. But I leave these perhaps too presumptuous and lofty thoughts, to turn to the other points involved in the words before us.

I said, in the second place, there was-

II. A plain lesson here, as to the great purpose for which the Divine Spirit has been lodged in the heart of humanity.

I find that in the two words of my text, ‘the Holy Spirit,’ and ‘ye were thereby sealed unto the day of redemption.’ If the central characteristic which it imports us to know and to keep in mind is that implied by the name, ‘the Holy Spirit’ then, of course, the great work that He has to perform upon earth is to make men like Himself. And that is further confirmed by the emblem of the seal which is here; for the seal comes in contact with the thing sealed, and leaves the impression of its own likeness there. And whatever else-and there is a great deal else that I cannot touch now-may be included in that great thought of the sealing by the Divine Spirit, these things are inseparably connected with, and suggested by it, viz. the actual contact of the Spirit of God with our spirits, which is expressed, as you may remember, in the other metaphors of being baptized in and anointed with, and yet more important, the result purposed by that contact being mainly to make us holy.

Now, I pray you to think of how different that is from all other notions of inspiration that the world has ever known, and how different it is from a great many ideas that have had influence within the Christian Church. People say there are not any miracles now, and say we are worse off than when there used to be. That Divine Spirit does not come to give gifts of healing, interpretations of tongues, and all the other abnormal and temporary results which attended the first manifestations. These, when they were given, were but means to an end, and the end subsists whilst the means are swept away. It is better to be made good than to be filled with all manner of miraculous power. ‘In this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.’ All the rest is transient. It is gone; let it go, we are not a bit the poorer for want of it. This remains-not tongues, nor gifts of healing, nor any other of these miraculous and extraordinary and external powers-but the continual operation of a divine influence, moulding men into its own likeness.

Christianity is intensely ethical, and it sets forth, as the ultimate result of all its machinery, changing men into the likeness of God. Holiness is that for which Christ died, that for which the Divine Spirit works. Unless we Christian people recognise the true perspective of the Spirit’s gifts, and put at the base the extraordinary, and higher than these, but still subordinate, the intellectual, and on top of all the spiritual and moral, we do not understand the meaning of the central gift and possible blessing of Christianity, to make us holy, or, if you do not like the theological word, let us put it into still plainer and more modern English, to make you and me good men and women, like God. That is the mightiest work of that Divine Spirit.

We have here-

III. A plain warning as to the possibility of thwarting these influences.

Nothing here about irresistible grace; nothing here about a power that lays hold upon a man, and makes him good, he lying passive in its hands like clay in the hands of the potter! You will not be made holy without the Divine Spirit, but you will not be made holy without your working along with it. There is a possibility of resisting, and there is a possibility of co-operating. Man is left free. God does not lay hold of any one by the hair of his head, and drag him into paths of righteousness whether he will or no. But whilst there is the necessity for co-operation, which involves the possibility of resistance, we must also remember that that new life which comes into a man, and moulds his will as well as the rest of his nature, is itself the gift of God. We do not get into a contradiction when we thus speak, we only touch the edge of a great ocean in which our plummets can find no bottom. The same unravellable knot as to the co-operation of the divine and the creatural is found in the natural world, as in the experiences of the Christian soul. You have to work, and your work largely consists in yielding yourselves to the work of God upon you. ‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you.’ Brethren! If you and I are Christian people, we have put into our hearts and spirits the talent. It depends on us whether we wrap it in a napkin, and stow it away underground somewhere, or whether we use it, and fructify and increase it. If you wrap it in a napkin and put it away underground, when you come to take it out, and want to say, ‘Lo! there Thou hast that is Thine,’ you will find that it was not solid gold, which could not rust or diminish, but that it has been like some volatile essence, put away in an unventilated place, and imperfectly secured: the napkin is there, but the talent has vanished. We have to work with God, and we can resist. Ay, and there is a deeper and a sadder word than that applied by the same Apostle in another letter to the same subject. We can ‘quench’ the light and extinguish the fire.

What extinguishes it? Look at the catalogue of sins that lie side by side with this exhortation of my text! They are all small matters-bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil-speaking, malice, stealing, lying, and the like; very ‘homely’ transgressions, if I may so say. Yes, and if you pile enough of them upon the spark that is in your hearts you will smother it out. Sin, the wrenching of myself away from the influences, not attending to the whispers and suggestions, being blind to the teaching of the Spirit through the Word and through Providence: these are the things that ‘grieve the Holy Spirit of God.’

And so, lastly, we have here-

IV. A Tender Motive, a dissuasive from sin, a persuasive to yielding and to righteousness.

Many a man has been kept from doing wrong things by thinking of a sad pale face sitting at home waiting for him. Many a boy has been kept from youthful transgressions which war against his soul here, on the streets of Manchester, full as they are of temptations, by thinking that it would grieve the poor old mother in her cottage, away down in the country somewhere. We can bring that same motive to bear, with infinitely increased force, in regard to our conduct as Christian people. ‘Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.’ A father feels a pang if he sees that his child makes no account of some precious gift that he has bestowed upon him, and leaves it lying about anywhere. A loving friend, standing on the margin of the stream, and calling to his friends in a boat when they are drifting to the rapids, turns away sad if they do not attend to his voice. That Divine Spirit pleads with us, and proffers its gifts to us, and turns away-I was going to use too strong a word, perhaps-sick at heart, not because of wounded authority, but because of wounded love and baffled desire to help, when we, in spite of It, will take our own way, neglect the call that warns us of our peril, and leave untouched the gifts that would have made us safe.

Dear brethren, surely such a dissuasive from evil, and such a persuasive to good, is mightier than all abstractions about duty and conscience and right, and the like. ‘Do it rightly’ says Paul, ‘and you will please Him that hath called you’; leave the evil thing undone, ‘and my heart shall be glad, even mine.’ You and I can grieve the Christ whose Spirit is given to us. You and I can add something to ‘the joy of our Lord.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:30 Believers must not alienate God’s Holy Spirit, who identifies them as belonging to God (cp. Mark 3:29; Acts 5:3-5, 9; 1 Thes 4:8; Heb 6:4-8). • has identified you as his own (or has put his seal on you): The presence of the Spirit both confirms and guarantees the future redemption of believers (see Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:16-17; 2 Cor 1:22; 1 Jn 4:13).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Eph 4:30. Μὴ λυπεῖτε, grieve not) by corrupt conversation. The Holy Spirit is grieved not in Himself, but in us [or in other men (by reason of our conversation)—V. g.], when His calm testimony is deranged. The LXX. often use λυπεῖν for חרה and קצף.—ἐσφραγίσθητε, ye have been sealed) that you may know that there is not only some day of deliverance, but also that that day will be a day of deliverance to you, as being the sons of God; and on that account rejoice [opposed to grieve].—εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως, to the day of deliverance [redemption]) This is the last day; of which there is a kind of representation [present realization—a pledge given in hand] in the day of death; it takes for granted all previous days, Rom 2:16. On that day especially it will be a matter of importance to us, who shall be found to be sealed.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_4:30. Connected by καί with what precedes; hence not, with Lachmann and Tischendorf, to be separated by a full stop from Eph_4:29, by which there would result an exhortation too indefinite in the connection.

And grieve not (which would take place by means of λόγοι σαπροί) the Holy Spirit of God. Evil discourses are so opposed to the holy nature and aim of the Divine Spirit, who dwells in the Christians, that He cannot fail to be grieved thereat. Comp. Hermas, ii. 10. 3, as also ii. Ephesians 3 : μὴ θλῖβε τὸ πνεῦμα ἅγιον τὸ ἐν σοὶ κατοικοῦν, μήποτε ἐντεύξηται τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἀποστῇ ἀπὸ σοῦ. An anthropopathic conception of the consciousness, with which the Spirit of God is holily affected, of the incongruity of human action with His holiness; but how truly and touchingly in keeping with the idea of the love of God, which bears sway in His Spirit (Rom_5:5)! The man becomes conscious of this grieving of the divine πνεῦμα, when he, who has become through the atonement and sanctification the dwelling-place of the Spirit, no longer receives from this Spirit the testimony that he is the child of God (Rom_8:16). The chosen expression, the Holy Spirit of God, renders the enormity of such action most palpable. An allusion, we may add, to Isa_63:10 is not to be assumed, since in that passage the παροξύνειν of the Spirit is characteristic.

ἐν ᾧ ἐσφραγ. εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρ.] furnishes motive for the exhortation: for if ye have received so great a benefit through the Holy Spirit, how wrong (ungrateful) is it the possibility of losing the seal here hinted at. But to this μὴ λυπεῖτε points less naturally than μὴ παροξύνετε (Isa_63:10) would point to it.

ἐσφραγ.] quite as at Eph_1:13.

εἰς ἡμέρ. ἀπολυτρ.] for the day of redemption; when at the Parousia the certainty of the deliverance unto salvation, indicated by ἐσφραγ., becomes reality. As to ἀπολύτρωσις, comp. on Eph_1:14; Luk_21:28; also Rom_8:23.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph 4:30 . καὶ μὴ λυπεῖτε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ : and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God . This is not a general exhortation, but one bearing, as the καί indicates, particularly on the preceding injunction. The utterance of evil or worthless words is repugnant to the holiness of the Spirit, and is to be refrained from as calculated to grieve Him. The injunction is made the more solemn by the designation of the Spirit as “the Holy Spirit” and the Spirit “of God”. The Spirit is here regarded as capable of feeling, and so as personal. In Isa 63:10 we have a similar idea, following the statement that Jehovah was afflicted in all His people’s affliction. These terms, no doubt, are anthropopathic, as all terms which we can use of God are anthropomorphic or anthropopathic. But they have reality behind them, and that as regards God’s nature and not merely His acts. Otherwise we should have an unknown God and One who might be essentially different from what we are under the mental necessity of thinking Him to be. What love is in us points truly , though tremulously, to what love is in God. But in us love, in proportion as it is true and sovereign, has both its wrath-side and its grief-side ; and so must it be with God, however difficult for us to think it out. ἐν ᾧ ἐσφραγίσθητε : in whom ye were sealed . ἐν ᾧ , not “by whom” (Tynd., Cranm., Gen., Bish.), or “whereby” (AV), but “ in whom,” the Holy Spirit being the environment of the seal, the sphere or element in which it takes effect. On the sealing see on Eph 1:13 above. εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως : unto the day of redemption . εἰς is most simply taken as = with a view to . ἀπολύτρωσις , as in Eph 1:14 , Luk 21:28 , Rom 8:23 , is the redemption of the future, and here specifically that redemption in its completeness and finality. The gen. is the gen. of temporal relation , = the day on which redemption will take effect, or manifest itself; cf. ἡμέρα ὀργῆς (Rom 2:2 ); κρίσις μεγάλης ἡμέρας (Jud 1:6 ). The consideration, therefore, that it is in the Spirit they have their security and their assurance of reaching the day when their redemption shall be made perfect, is an additional reason for avoiding everything out of harmony with His holy being and action.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eph_4:29, Eph_4:30

Forbid corrupt communication enjoin profitable discourse, assign as a motive the good of others and reverence for the Holy Spirit.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς, any foul word. The word σαπρὸς means literally putrid, and then figuratively offensive and injurious. But that which is good to the use of edifying, ἀγαθὸς πρὸς οἰκοδομὴν, adapted to edification. The words οἰκοδομὴν τῆς χρείας, edification of the necessity, means the edification the necessity calls for or which is suited to the occasion. This is the common and satisfactory interpretation. Our version to the use of edifying transposes the words. That it may give grace to the hearers. The phrase χάριν διδόναι, to give grace, is one of frequent occurrence, and always means to confer a favor i.e. to give pleasure or profit. There is no necessity for departing from this sense here. The meaning is, that it may benefit the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, i.e. by such corrupt language. Under the head of πᾶς λόγος σαπρὸς the apostle includes, as appears from Col_3:8, all irreligious, malicious and impure language, which not only injures others, but grieves the Holy Spirit. As a temple is sacred, and everything that profanes it is an offense to God, so the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in the people of God is made the reason why we should treat them with reverence, as this apostle teaches when he says, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. 1Co_3:16, 1Co_3:17. To pollute, therefore, the souls of believers by suggesting irreligious or impure thoughts to them, is a profanation of the temple of God and an offense to the Holy Ghost. This is one phase of the truth here presented. Another, and the one more immediately intended in this clause is, that the blessed Spirit who condescends to dwell in our hearts is grieved and offended whenever we thus sin. Thus in 1Co_6:19, Paul says, What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? Reverence, therefore, for the Holy Spirit who dwells in others, and for that same Spirit as dwelling in ourselves, should prevent our ever giving utterance to a corrupting thought. The Spirit, says the apostle, is grieved. Not only is his holiness offended, but his love is wounded. If anything can add to the guilt of such conduct, it is its ingratitude, for it is by him, as the apostle adds, We are sealed unto the day of redemption. His indwelling certifies that we are the children of God, and secures our final salvation. See Eph_1:13. To grieve him, therefore, is to wound him on whom our salvation depends. Though he will not finally withdraw from those in whom he dwells, yet when grieved he withholds the manifestations of his presence. And a disregard for those manifestations is proof that we have not the Spirit of Christ and are none of his.

The apostle next exhorts his readers to put away all malicious and revengeful feelings, to be kind and forgiving. This exhortation is enforced by the consideration of the mercy of God, and the great love of Christ, Eph_4:31.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A general precept against all excess of affections which dwell in the part of the mind, which they call, Angry, and he setteth against them the contrary means. And useth a most vehement preface, how we ought to take heed that we grieve not the holy Spirit of God through our immoderateness and intemperance, who dwelleth in us to this end, to moderate all our affections.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

grieve not--A condescension to human modes of thought most touching. Compare "vexed His Holy Spirit" (Isa 63:10; Psa 78:40); "fretted me" (Eze 16:43 : implying His tender love to us); and of hardened unbelievers, "resist the Holy Ghost" (Act 7:51). This verse refers to believers, who grieve the Spirit by inconsistencies such as in the context are spoken of, corrupt or worthless conversation, &c.

whereby ye are sealed--rather, "wherein (or 'in whom') ye were sealed." As in Eph 1:13, believers are said to be sealed "in" Christ, so here "in the Holy Spirit," who is one with Christ, and who reveals Christ in the soul: the Greek implies that the sealing was done already once for all. It is the Father "BY" whom believers, as well as the Son Himself, were sealed (Joh 6:27). The Spirit is represented as itself the seal (Eph 1:13, for the image employed, see on Eph 1:13). Here the Spirit is the element IN which the believer is sealed, His gracious influences being the seal itself.

unto--kept safely against the day of redemption, namely, of the completion of redemption in the deliverance of the body as well as the soul from all sin and sorrow (Eph 1:14; Luk 21:28; Rom 8:23).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God] By giving way to any wrong temper, unholy word, or unrighteous action. Even those who have already a measure of the light and life of God, both of which are not only brought in by the Holy Spirit, but maintained by his constant indwelling, may give way to sin, and so grieve this Holy Spirit that it shall withdraw both its light and presence; and, in proportion as it withdraws, then hardness and darkness take place; and, what is still worse, a state of insensibility is the consequence; for the darkness prevents the fallen state from being seen, and the hardness prevents it from being felt.

Whereby ye are sealed] The Holy Spirit in the soul of a believer is God's seal, set on his heart to testify that he is God's property, and that he should be wholly employed in God's service. It is very likely that the apostle had in view the words of the prophet, Isa 63:10: But they rebelled, and VEXED his HOLY SPIRIT; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them. The psalmist refers to the same fact in nearly the same words, Ps 78:40: How oft did they PROVOKE him in the wilderness, and GRIEVE him in the desert! Let every man, therefore, take heed that he grieve not the Spirit of God, lest God turn to be his enemy, and fight against him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. And grieve not. As the Holy Spirit dwells in us, to him every part of our soul and of our body ought to be devoted. But if we give ourselves up to aught that is impure, we may be said to drive him away from making his abode with us; and, to express this still more familiarly, human affections, such as joy and grief, are ascribed to the Holy Spirit. Endeavour that the Holy Spirit may dwell cheerfully with you, as in a pleasant and joyful dwelling, and give him no occasion for grief. Some take a different view of it, that we grieve the Holy Spirit in others, when we offend by filthy language, or, in any other way, godly brethren, who are led by the Spirit of God. (Romans 8:14.) Whatever is contrary to godliness is not only disrelished by godly ears, but is no sooner heard than it produces in them deep grief and pain. But that Paul’s meaning was different appears from what follows.

By whom ye are sealed. As God has sealed us by his Spirit, we grieve him when we do not follow his guidance, but pollute ourselves by wicked passions. No language can adequately express this solemn truth, that the Holy Spirit rejoices and is glad on our account, when we are obedient to him in all things, and neither think nor speak anything, but what is pure and holy; and, on the other hand, is grieved, when we admit anything into our minds that is unworthy of our calling. Now, let any man reflect what shocking wickedness there must be in grieving the Holy Spirit to such a degree as to compel him to withdraw from us. The same mode of speaking is used by the prophet Isaiah, but in a different sense; for he merely says, that they “vexed his Holy Spirit,” (Isaiah 63:10.) in the same sense in which we are accustomed to speak of vexing the mind of a man. By whom ye are sealed. The Spirit of God is the seal, by which we are distinguished from the wicked, and which is impressed on our hearts as a sure evidence of adoption.

Unto the day of redemption, — that is, till God conduct us into the possession of the promised inheritance. That day is usually called the day of redemption, because we shall then be at length delivered out of all our afflictions. It is unnecessary to make any observations on this phrase, in addition to what have already been made in expounding Romans 8:23, and 1 Corinthians 1:30. In this passage, the word sealed may have a different meaning from that which it usually bears, — that God has impressed his Spirit as his mark upon us, that he may recognize as his children those whom he perceives to bear that mark.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(30) And grieve not the holy Spirit.—This verse refers to all the practical commands given above. The four cardinal sins forbidden are regarded as “grieving the Holy Spirit of God.” In that expression, even more than in the cognate expressions of “quenching the Spirit” (1Th_5:19), and “resisting the Holy Ghost” (Act_7:51), there is implied a personal relation to a Divine Person, capable of being “grieved” by our transgressions, partly as sins against His perfect holiness, partly as suicidal rejections of His unfailing love. In the description of this effect of sin we have the needful complement to the view hitherto taken of its effect, as marring our unity with men; for that unity is always in God, through the Holy Spirit working out in each soul the image of Christ. “There is one Body” only because “there is one Spirit.” Sin vexes the one, but grieves the other.

Whereby ye are sealed.—Properly, in whom ye were sealed. See the fuller expression of the same truth in Eph_1:13-14, and the Notes there. The reference to it is here emphatic. The “sealing unto the day of redemption” reminds us of the glorious consummation to which we are destined, and from which every sin is a falling off. The very thought of this perfection, with all its associations of purity and love, should shame us from sin.

This general exhortation seems fitly to close the warning against the series of typical sins, which is itself exhaustive of the general sins against men. In the passage which follows (Eph_4:31 to Eph_5:21) St. Paul does not indeed traverse new ground, but dwells with special emphasis on some of these sins, which especially beset the society to which he wrote, viz.: (in Eph_4:31 to Eph_5:2) bitterness, (in Eph_5:3-14) impurity, (in Eph_5:15-21) reckless excess.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. grieve not] A distinct indication of the Personality of the Blessed Spirit. “Grief is certainly a personal affection, of which a Quality is not capable” (Pearson, On the Creed, Art. VIII). Putting aside passages where “spirit” obviously denotes “breath” or “wind,” the usage of the word in Scripture favours the interpretation of it as always denoting a personality, good or evil.—See further Bp Pearson’s discussion.—This precept, in this context, seems to indicate that polluting words would be a special “grief” to the Holy One.

ye are sealed] Better, ye were sealed, at the definite crisis of reception. See above, Eph_1:13 and notes.

the day of redemption] “the redemption of the purchased possession,” Eph_1:14, where see note.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Ver. 30. And grieve not, &c.] As men in heaviness cannot despatch their work as they were wont; so neither doth the Spirit. if we grieve the Holy Ghost, how should we expect that he should comfort us? It is a foul fault to grieve a father; what then the Spirit? Delicata res est Spiritus Dei, saith Tertullian, God’s Spirit is a delicate thing, and must not be vexed. "It is a holy thing, that Spirit of that God" (so the original hath it, το πνευμα το αγιον του Θεου), "whereby we are sealed," and so are declared to be the excellent ones of the earth; for whatsoever is sealed, that is excellent in its own kind, as Isa 28:25, hordeum signatum, sealed barley, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God - This is addressed to Christians, and it proves that it is possible for them to grieve the Holy Spirit. The word used here - λυπεῖτε lupeite - means properly to afflict with sorrow; to make sad or sorrowful. It is rendered to make sorry, or sorrowful, Mat 14:9; Mat 17:23; Mat 18:31; Mat 19:22; Mat 26:22, Mat 26:37; Mar 14:19; Joh 16:20; 2Co 2:2; 2Co 6:10; 2Co 7:8-9, 2Co 7:11; 1Th 4:13. It is rendered “grieved,” Mar 10:22; Joh 21:17; Rom 14:15; 2Co 2:4-5; Eph 4:20; and once. “in heaviness,” 1Pe 1:6. The verb does not elsewhere occur in the New Testament. The common meaning is, to treat others so as to cause grief. We are not to suppose that the Holy Spirit literally endures “grief, or pain,” at the conduct of people. The language is such as is suited to describe what “men” endure, and is applied to him to denote that kind of conduct which is “suited” to cause grief; and the meaning here is, “do not pursue such a course as is “suited” in its own nature, to pain the benevolent heart of a holy being. Do not act toward the Holy Spirit in a manner which would produce pain in the bosom of a friend who loves you. There is a course of conduct which will drive that Spirit from the mind as if he were grieved and pained - as a course of ingratitude and sin would pain the heart of an earthly friend, and cause him to leave you.” If asked what that conduct is, we may reply:

(1) Open and gross sins. They are particularly referred to here; and the meaning of Paul is. that theft, falsehood, anger, and kindred vices, would grieve the Holy Spirit and cause him to depart.

(2) Anger, in all its forms. Nothing is more suited to drive away all serious and tender impressions from the mind, than the indulgence of anger.

(3) Licentious thoughts and desires. The Spirit of God is pure, and he dwells not in a soul that is filled with corrupt imaginings.

(4) Ingratitude. “We” feel ingratitude more than almost anything else; and why should we suppose that the Holy Spirit would not feel it also?

(5) Neglect. The Spirit of God is grieved by that. Often he prompts us to pray; he disposes the mind to seriousness, to the perusal of the Bible, to tenderness and penitence. We neglect those favored moments of our piety, and lose those happy seasons for becoming like God.

(6) Resistance. Christians often resist the Holy Spirit. He would lead them to be dead to the world; yet they drive on their plans Of gain. He would teach them the folly of fashion and vanity; yet they deck themselves in the most frivolous apparel. He would keep them from the splendid party, the theater, and the ballroom; yet they go there. A l that is needful for a Christian to do in order to be eminent in piety, is to yield to the gentle influences which would draw him to prayer and to heaven.

Whereby ye are sealed - see the notes on 2Co 1:22.

Unto the day of redemption - see the notes on Eph 1:14.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Grieve not the Holy Spirit: not that the Holy Ghost can be contristated. It is a metaphor; and the sense is, sin not against the Holy Ghost. (Witham) --- To contristate the Holy Spirit is a metaphorical expression, which signifies to offend God, or the Holy Ghost, who has sealed us by the sacraments of baptism and confirmation with particular marks, by which we shall be distinguished from others in the day of our retribution. (Sts. Chrysostom, Jerome, Ambrose, &c.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

And grieve not the holy Spirit of God; viz. by corrupt communication. The Spirit is said to be grieved when any thing is done by us, which, were he capable of such passions, might be matter of grief to him; or when we so offend him as to make him withdraw his comfortable presence from us: see Isa 63:10.

Whereby ye are sealed; set apart or marked for, and secured unto the day of redemption; see Eph 1:14; 2Co 1:22; so, Eze 9:4, they are marked that are to be delivered; and Rev 7:3, the servants of God are sealed that were to escape the following plagues.

Unto the day of redemption; i.e. full and final salvation at the resurrection: see Luk 21:28; Rom 8:23.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

30. And—Caution as to the consequences of the putrid communication. There is a pure, a Holy Spirit who hears.

Grieve not—It is not only a pure Spirit, but a tender, a sensitive Spirit: for all pure natures are sensitive. The modest spirit cannot bear indecency; the pure spirit cannot bear foulness: and the divine Spirit is here said to be grieved because such lips utter such words, before it is angry. Its grief, amazement, and horror precede its wrath and departure.

Ye are sealed—Repetition of same image as Eph_1:13, (where see note,) of a spirit-seal to the day of redemption, Eph_1:14, typified by attainment of Canaan, and exhibited in the central verse, Eph_1:10. The danger of apostasy is exemplified by this allusion to Israel, who “rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy.” Isa_63:10. For the Spirit bestowed upon us is itself the seal, Eph_1:13, and so the departure of the Spirit is the withdrawal of the seal. By that withdrawal they were sealed over to a reverse destiny. The pedantic remark of Riddle (in Schaff’s Lange) that the words imply a “logical possibility of falling” while “the more theological and soteriological statements preclude such a possibility,” seems an attempt to overrule the apostle’s purpose with his own dogma. There is not a statement in the Bible that would “preclude such a possibility.” Nor is there any reason, from experience, to doubt that such apostasies often occur in human history. Dr. Eadie says it is an appeal to their love, and not to their fear, and asks: “Which of the twain is the stronger appeal? And this is the question we put as our reply to Alford and Turner.” We answer: The appeal is made to both their love and their fear; and which is the stronger, an appeal to one or both? And so all the encouragements and warnings of Scripture are equally sincere, and by attracting to a real reward and determining by a real danger (not a factitious “logical possibility”) would, by a double force, gain us to a happiness we may freely forfeit. And that is our reply to Dr. Eadie.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Very solemn and emphatic counsel. The name is given with unusual fullness, in order to show the magnitude of the sin to Pneuma to agion tou Qeou, "The Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God." By an anthropopathy the Spirit is represented as grieved by such treatment as would grieve us e.g. when his work is obstructed, when sin is trifled with, when Deity is treated carelessly, when place is given to the devil, when the spirit of the world is cherished. Those who act thus resemble the Sanballats and Tobiahs of the time of the restoration, who hindred the rebuilding of the temple and the restoration of order and prosperity. When the Holy Spirit would urge consecration, separation from the world, holy exercises, active service, our indolent and worldly hearts are liable to rebel and vex him. To grieve a parent heedlessly is a great sin; how much more to grieve the Spirit of God? In whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption. The Spirit being rather the Seal than the Sealer, who is the Father (see, (Eph_1:13) it is better to translate in whom than by whom; besides, this preserves the force of the ejn, which, whether used of Christ or of the other persons of the Godhead, is so characteristic of the Epistle. To grieve the Spirit is to help to obliterate the seal, and thus weaken the evidence of our redemption.

Sin and ingratitude of grieving the Spirit of God.

The apostle, as if to show the serious consequence of corrupt speech in a Christian, says, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God." That would be a most deplorable result.

I CONSIDER WHAT IS IMPLIED IS THIS ACT.

1. It implies the holy personality of the Third Person of the Trinity. He is a Person as much as the Father and the Son?

2. It implies that the Holy Spirit is already a Dweller in the hearts of those who are capable of this act. We grieve those we love or those who love us. A very different term than "grief" would be applied in the case of unbelievers who are said to resist him.

3. The Holy Spirit represents himself as susceptible of grief or affront. Not that there is any break in the calm of the Godhead, but to signify that he carrieth himself toward us after the manner of a person grieved," as if he were a human being capable of grief. When we consider that it is he who applies to us the redemption procured by Christ; that it is he who, as the Spirit of holiness, works in us every pure thought, every chaste desire, every noble sentiment; that he dwells in our very bodies as his holy temple; our unworthy conduct is manifest in its true light as a grieving of the Spirit. His love is wounded as well as his holiness offended.

4. The effect of our "grieving" him is to lead to the suspension of his influences, to the withdrawal of his comforts, to the temporary loss of our assurance. In a word, he will withhold the manifestations of his presence.

II CONSIDER THE ARGUMENT BY WHICH THE APOSTLE ENFORCES THE EXHORTATION. "In whom ye have been sealed till the day of redemption." It is ingratitude on our part to grieve him upon whom our salvation depends. The apostle does not make an appeal to our fears as if the Spirit would leave us, but to our gratitude, as any corrupt speech or action on our part would wound the heart of our best friend. The passage implies our perfect security till the day of judgment.

1. There is no hint of apostasy in the passage, or of the Spirit"s departure.

2. The term sealing" implies security. "A security that may be broken at any time, or the value of which depends on man"s own responsive fidelity, is no security at all.

3. The sealing is spoken of as a past act: "Ye have been sealed." Thus their perseverance in grace was secured.

4. The security lasted beyond death: "till the day of redemption." The apostle never regards the day of death as marking the day of final security, but rather fixes it for that day which completes the redemption in the rejoining of body and soul in their changeless incorruptibility. T.C.

Grieving the Holy Spirit of God.

I WHAT IT IS TO GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD. We are startled at the expression. Few of us would have thought of using it if we had not found it in the Bible. It cannot be a mere figure of speech. It must describe a strange, sad, touching fact.

1. God is a living Spirit. He can be grieved.

2. God is our Father, related to us, loving us. It is of the self-sacrificing nature of love that it lays itself out to be wounded when it is treated unworthily. We can always hurt most those who love us most.

3. God is within us. The Holy Spirit is God dwelling in our spirits. Because he is so near he is much concerned with our character and conduct.

II HOW WE MAY GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD.

1. All sin is grievous to him, as holiness is hurt by unholiness and love by unworthiness. This should be one warning against our carelessness in falling into temptation. If we do not feel it, God does. A child who would not refrain from a bad thing on its own account, checks himself as he thinks how it would vex his mother. We should be warned by remembering that our sin hurts God; did it not kill Christ?

2. St. Paul has in mind the particular sin of corrupt speech (ver. 29). This defiles the soul and dishonors the temple in which the Spirit of God dwells. Flippant conversation on sacred subjects, as well as language that is absolutely debased, is grievous in the ears of God, not only on its own account, but because it reveals a low tone of spiritual life and a want of the reverence and love that we owe to the Holy Spirit.

III WHY WE SHOULD BE MOST CAREFUL NOT TO GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD.

1. Because of the obligations of gratitude for past grace. If we are spiritual Christians we are "sealed;" i.e. we have the mark of God"s recognition and owning given by the Spirit. After accepting the uniform of the Divine King, how can we heedlessly bring dishonor on his Name?

2. Because of the responsibilities of our present condition. We are sealed "in the Spirit." To be in living relation with the Spirit of God is the condition of all who are new creatures in Christ. This higher fellowship brings higher claims.

3. Because of the hope of our future redemption. Christians are sealed "unto the day of redemption." The first day of redemption is the day of Christ"s death, but that marks only the beginning of deliverance. To each soul the day of God"s forgiveness and welcome of the penitent is a day of redemption; but perfect redemption is deliverance from all evil. This is at present a hope, and the hope depends on the work of the Spirit of God. If we are grieving the Spirit of God how can we ask for his aid? There is danger lest one grieve the Holy Spirit so that he take his departure, and then how dark and woeful will the deserted soul be! W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Grieve not the Holy Spirit - By any disobedience. Particularly by corrupt discourse; or by any of the following sins. Do not force him to withdraw from you, as a friend does whom you grieve by unkind behaviour. The day of redemption - That is, the day of judgment, in which our redemption will be completed.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Observe here, 1. The title given to the Spirit of God: he is styled the Holy Spirit, being essentially and infinitely holy in himself, and the author of all grace and holiness in us.

Observe, 2. The affection of grief, which is here attributed to the Spirit, not properly, but improperly: when we do that which would most certainly afflict and grieve him, were he a subject capable of grief; and when, upon provocations given on our parts, he carrieth himself towards us after the manner of a person grieved, namely, when we provoke him to suspend his influence, to withdraw his comforts, leaving us wuthout any present sense of feeling of his assistances; he is also then grieved when he is opposed, interrupted, controlled, and disturbed, in his operations of grace and comfort upon our souls.

Observe, 3. The argument used to enforce the exhortation, not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God: because by it we are sealed to the day of redemption.

But what doth God’s sealing his people by his Holy Spirit intimate and imply?

Ans. 1. It intimates that God has distinguished them from others.

2. That he has appropriated them to himself.

3. That he has put a value upon them, and a very high esteem. and,

4. It imports the irrevocable purpose of God for their salvation.

Seals are for these uses, ends, and purposes: seals are for distinction, for appropriation, for confirmation; and argue a high evaluation and precious esteem of the person or thing which the seal is put upon. Grieve not the Spirit, whereby ye are sealed to the day of redemption; that is, to the day of judgment.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit. Such sins as those described above grieve the Holy Spirit, nor will he continue to dwell those addicted to them. Sealed unto the day of redemption. The sealing of the Holy Spirit is an earnest, a proof, an assurance of the final redemption. See 1:13. If we grieve him away, the seal will be gone.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

30. καὶ μὴ λυπεῖτε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον τοῦ θεοῦ, κ.τ.λ. Cf. Eph 1:13. This verse introduces a further consideration which would help to the control of the tongue, because the Spirit is especially connected with the gift of Christian utterance, cf. Eph 6:17; Luk 12:12. The Spirit however is also in a special sense the guardian of the corporate life (Eph 4:3), so the thought has a wider range, covering all the topics discussed in this section. The presence of the Spirit in and with all the members of the Body carries with it, as we were taught in Eph 1:13, a mark of God’s possession, and a pledge of coming deliverance. We are reminded here that the Spirit is a Person, Who cannot be regarded as indifferent to our response to His care and guidance. The appeal to the love of the Spirit in Rom 15:30 is parallel; cf. Heb 10:29; Isa 63:10; Hermas, Mand. x. 2.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30.] and (Thl. finely gives the connexion: ἐὰν εἴπῃς ῥῆμα σαπρὸν κ. ἀνάξιον τοῦ χριστιανοῦ στόματος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἐλύπησας, ἀλλὰ τὸ πν. τ. θεοῦ) grieve not (the expression is anthropopathic,—but as Meyer remarks, truly and touchingly sets forth the love of God, which (Rom 5:5) is shed abroad in our hearts by His Spirit) the Holy Spirit of God (the repetition of the articles gives solemnity and emphasis), in whom (as the element, condition, of the sealing: not by whom; the sealing, both of the Lord and of us His members, is the act of the Fathar, Joh 6:27: the Spirit being the seal, ch. 1:13) ye were sealed unto (in reservation for) the day of redemption (the day when redemption shall be complete in glory—see again ch. 1:13. On the genitive, see Winer, § 30. 2,—so ἡμέρα ὀργῆς, Rom 2:5, &c. So far from the doctrine of final perseverance, for which Eadie more sharply than reasonably contends, being involved here, there could hardly be a plainer denial of it by implication. For in what would issue the grieving of the Holy Spirit, if not in quenching His testimony and causing Him to depart from them? The caution of Thl., μὴ λύσῃς τὴν σφραγῖδα, is a direct inference from the passage).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

30. καὶ μὴ λυπεῖτε τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον τοῦ Θεοῦ. The connexion with the foregoing is well expressed by Theophylact: ἐὰν εἴπης ῥῆμα σαπρὸν καὶ ἀνάξιον τοῦ χριστιανοῦ στόματος, οὐκ ἄνθρωπον ἐλύπησας ἀλλὰ τὸ πνεῦα τοῦ Θεοῦ. The warning assumes the indwelling of the Spirit, and vividly expresses the offence done to that Spirit by such sins of the tongue. Aquinas weakens it by referring it to grieving the Spirit of God in others.

ἐν ᾧ ἐσφραγίσθητε. This supplies the ground of the motive. εἶτα καὶ ἡ προσθηκὴ τῆς εὐεργεσίας ἵνα μείζων γένηται ἡ κατηγορία, Chrys. Some of the older as well as later commentators see in the words a suggestion that the Spirit may thus be led to depart, and the seal be lost. Had this been intended, μὴ παροξύνετε would have been more suitable. But there is no suggestion of a possible departure of the Spirit; even the tense of ἐσφραγίσθητε, referring as it does to a sealing once for all, is against this. But it would be equally erroneous to say that the doctrine of “final perseverance” is contained or implied. When a son is warned that if he acts in such and such a manner he will grieve his father, this does not suggest that his father may cast him off.

εἰς ἡμέραν ἀπολυτρώσεως, i.e. for, or with a view to, the day of complete redemption. On ἀπολ. cf. 1:14.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.