"Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
The relationship that believers have with each other is unique because it is a relationship—always—that has been ordained by Father God. We are who we are together as a Body because there was first God who planned and designed that we would have relationships together.
There are four things Paul notes in this passage:
• God establishes us in Christ
• God anoints us for ministry
• God seals us
• God has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee
God establishes us in Christ
Salvation is both an individual and a corporate process. We are individually saved by our own confession of faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, but we weren’t saved to be saved alone. Once saved, we become part of a "body" of believers.
"For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many." (1 Corinthians 12:12-14 NKJV).
There is this inextricable fact: we cannot be saved alone! We must understand that when we are saved, we become eternally joined, not only with Christ, but with each other. "All the members of that one body." We are established together—us with you—in Christ. This creates a relationship from which we cannot escape, a relationship with every other believer. Whether or not we like them, whether or not they are lovable, we are joined with them for all eternity. And this was done by Father God Himself in order to create a Bride for the Son.
God is relational. He is a relational Being. He longs to be in relationship with others. That makes sense when we look at the Trinity: three Beings co-existing eternally as one God. But God wanted more. He wanted creations that would also be in relationship with Him. And because God is Three in One, in order to be in relationship with Him, those created beings would also have to be in relationship with each other.
God has established us together in Christ. Because of our sinful natures here on earth, it feels unnatural for us to be in eternity-type relationships. At some time or another, regardless of how much we love or respect someone else, we will want to be away from them. God established us in Christ so that the basis of our relationships with other believers would be the indwelling Holy Spirit. Since the Trinity already exists in relationship with itself, it becomes a more natural thing for us to want to be in relationship with each other because the Holy Spirit lives within us.
We are established with each other in Christ.
God anoints us for ministry
When you read the Old Testament, you see that the process of anointing was used to separate someone for the purpose of ministry. It wasn’t to separate that person out for exclusivity, but rather to propel them into the ministry to which God had called them.
We are all called to a ministry and so, we have all been anointed by the Holy Spirit. We don’t become saved for only the purpose of avoiding hell. If that were the only reason, once we turned to the Lord Jesus for salvation, we would immediately be taken to heaven. No, we have been left here on earth for the purpose of being light and salt to a dying world.
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they slight a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV)
The Lord Jesus, before He ascended back to heaven, commanded us to go into the world and preach the good news: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV).
We are anointed for ministry, to preach His gospel.
God seals us
Sealed, sphragizo (Strong’s 4972), which implies to mark a person, to prove, confirm, or authenticate beyond doubt.
Father God Himself has sealed us, has placed His seal of ownership on us. That seal confirms, beyond doubt, that we are His adopted children, that we belong to Him.
Many in our society talk about all people being the children of God. That is false. Not everyone is God’s child. We are all His creations, but we are not all His children. "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV). Satan wants the world to believe that everyone is God’s child because Satan wants to set the rules . . . and that’s not his right! Only God establishes the rules of His creation and one of those rules is that only those who are adopted can be God’s children.
God seals us so that, beyond all doubt, we can then call Him "Father" because we have become His adopted children.
God has given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee
It is impossible to please God within ourselves. Our frail, sin-inclined natures want really to only please ourselves. And so the Father sent His own Spirit to dwell within us so that we would be able to truly become the children of God. That ability, that power of the Holy Spirit, is the guarantee that we are His children, that we have been established in Christ, and that we are sealed without doubt.
The Father has given wonderful things to His children, to us! He didn’t just promise us heaven and then leave us here to fend for ourselves. He has given us the companionship of other believers, the anointing and empowering for ministry, the sealing for us to live without doubting, and the person of the Holy Spirit living within us. And all this happens from God, the Creator of the universe, the Master, the Lord of all things. How amazing is this!
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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