Scriptures
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Eph. 4:30)
Observation
Beginning at Eph. 4:17 is Paul’s admonition to Christian living and this continues until Eph. 6:20. But right after v. 29, the end of Paul’s exhortation to be converted in one’s life, he adds “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…?” How does one understand this phrase? Does it go with verses 17-29, or does it go with verses 31-32?
In Paul’s epistles, the Holy Spirit is the seal which marks the individual Christian as God’s child. One then becomes a member of the household of God. Verses 17-20 emphasizes changes in one’s life that reflects one’s passage from the life of the world to the life of God’s holiness. The principle for this is laid out in verses 17-24 where Paul exhorts the Ephesians to change their ways, to “put away your old self” and “put on the new self” which is created in the likeness of God. Thus, Eph. 4:30 can be understood as an admonition not to frustrate the Holy Spirit who has made one “holy”, a participant in God’s life and holiness. But one can also understand this anthropopathic verse as an emphasis on the following verses, vv. 31-32, because the fruits of the Holy Spirit include love, peace, kindness, generosity, gentleness (see Gal. 5:22ff) which are implied in “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God forgave you in Christ” (v. 32). The fruits of the Spirit are the result of one’s cooperation with the grace given to one at Baptism. To “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” is to frustrate the fruits that he produces in the Christian for the life of community, the family of God.
Application
“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” is an expression that gives emphasis on the personal character of the Holy Spirit — he is a person — a substance of an intellectual nature (Boethius) as the scholastics would say — not an impersonal force, as cults like the Iglesya ni Cristo (of Felix Manalo founded in Punta, Sta. Mesa in 1914) would declare.
The verse that we are considering is referenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church under the topic of “seal”(CCC #698, #1274, #1296). It is the mark, the character that sets us forever in the service of Christ and as member of the household of God.
The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord (“Dominicus character”) “for the day of redemption” (Eph. 4:30). Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life (cf. Irenaeus, Dem ap. 3:SCh 62,32). The faithful Christian who has “kept the seal” until the end remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism will be able to depart this life “marked with the sign of faith” (Roman Missal EPI), with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God — the consummation of faith — and in the hope of the resurrection (CCC 1274)
Prayer
Oh Holy Spirit, You are the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity. You are the Spirit of truth, love and holiness, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and equal to Them in all things. I adore You and love You with all my heart. Teach me to know and to seek God, by whom and for whom I was created. Fill my heart with a holy fear and a great love for Him. Give me compunction and patience, and do not let me fall into sin.
Increase faith, hope and charity in me and bring forth in me all the virtues proper to my state of life. Help me to grow in the four cardinal virtues, Your seven gifts and Your twelve fruits.
Make me a faithful follower of Jesus, an obedient child of the Church and a help to my neighbor. Give me the grace to keep the commandments and to receive the sacraments worthily. Raise me to holiness in the state of life to which You have called me, and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Lectio Divina 