"If then you were raised with Christ..." suggests a condition of having been raised with Christ. The Strong's Lexicon explains Ei as a primary particle of conditionality and translates it, "Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ." Coupled with the present imperative active 'strive for'.
Strong's Lexicon Col3:1
At the same link click the Strong's Geek link and look at Helps Word studies re: 'ei' ('if'). Translating as "since" is not a good practice because many of these 'first-class conditions' do not mean 'since'. Even if we think they may, it's just not necessary to take the condition out of the "if" statement Paul is using.
I'd remain with "seek" as the primary meaning for
zētéō.
Do you receive it as a command because it is impossible that it be viewed as a strong suggestion, very good advice, or wise instruction?
I take all imperative mood's as commands to be volitionally obeyed. I also realize that 'torah' at root means 'instruction' so commands IMO are instructional. For that matter law is instructional. What God commands, we do. What God teaches, we do. Since 'obedience' is a part of our instruction, a command is to be obeyed which is the primary force of the imperative mood.
I was referring to the cross-referenced annotation of
Eph4:17-32 and
Col3:1-17, which ties together their BSB + Strong's section subheadings,
New Life in Christ and
Put On the New Self, respectively.
So, it's this cross-referencing that is pointing to you to see the sealing in the sense of concealment? See below.
Referring to
Strong's Eph4:30 and
Strong's Greek 4972: To seal, set a seal upon. From sphragis; to stamp for security or preservation; by implication, to keep secret, to attest.
This inspires an analogy of winners of the Academy Awards, where the audience knows who has been nominated up to the point when the presenter opens the envelope. If it the meaning is intended to be something to that sense, then we are the winners and Christ is the envelope. If the envelope is sealed, it is an indication that a winner has been chosen but it is kept from the audience until the award ceremony.
I would remain with the primary sense of 'seal' and would have to consider more this sense of concealment. My first sense is that Col3:3 is explained in Col3:4. I'd hope by reading many of these posts it's hard to see any glory in many of us and in my experience using a mirror or looking at others, I don't see much of our Lord's glory in fleshly bodies. I like 1John3:2 in this regard.
The aorist verb is a snapshot of a past event.
If I was passively hidden, then how could I actively and effectively reveal myself?
Does the aorist say it's finished forever and cannot be undone? My answer would be, no it doesn't. So just like the perfect tense which started some of this discussion, these verb tenses do not demand a 'forever' sense.
Again, I don't see 'concealment' as the primary meaning of being sealed, so it's tough to stay with your argument. But, the point is that the verb tense does not say the sealing is forever, no matter what.
Not to compare Him to Charlie Brown, but I think in cartoons. Is there scripture the offers the consequences of grieving the Holy Spirit other than the obvious pain, sadness, and distress it incurs to His Person?
I guess the point of this is at least twofold:
1. how grievous is grieving the Holy Spirit - grieving God?
- BDAG has this in its first section defining lupeō : 1. to cause severe mental or emotional distress, vex, irritate, offend, insult, act.... used abs. is certainly more than cause pain or vexation. In Polyaenus 8, 47 it is used of the severe humiliation or outrage experienced by a king who has been deposed by his subjects.
- I think our tendency is to want to see in this second sense per BDAG: 2. to experience sadness or distress, pass. (But note the passive ('pass.') sense here and the active sense of #1 (which is where BDAG puts Eph4:30).
- Note the close context of Eph4:30. Does it sound like love? The entire OC per Jesus is summarized in 2 commands to love God & neighbor. Jesus' command to us is to love one another as He loved us & gave Himself for us. So, again, how grievous is grieving the Holy Spirit?
- Look at Heb10:29. Irrespective of our debates about security, note the end of what IMO is a horrific thing to consider doing. Note how this sentence ends. What's being described ends in "insulted the Spirit [of] grace" - who or what is the 'the Spirit [of] the grace'? The word translated as "insulted" means to insult, to outrage.
- to make a longer story shorter, we can link through the Hebrew this concept of grieving the Spirit to NKJ Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled/disobeyed and grieved/provoked His Holy Spirit;
So He turned Himself against them as an enemy, And He fought against them.
- Bottom line - I don't think grieving the Spirit of God is a minor issue.
2. We're commanded not to grieve the Holy Spirit
-Bottom line - I don't think disobeying God is a minor issue - I don't using our God created volition to disobey God is a minor issue Adam and Eve.
If I take all of this into consideration in the light of this security issue, I can see the sealing for the day of redemption in at least 2 ways:
- God is the one who sealed and protects us for that future day.
- God is the one who sealed and protects us for that future day - do we really want to disobey and grieve Him? Do we really want to disobey all those commands surrounding Eph4:30? Each time w read "Let us..." we're looking at a 3rd person command made by God to our volition to obey God, which is the same as choosing to continue to believe in God, which is ultimately to love God and one another, which Jesus tied inextricably together, which is very likely part of the 'good works' we were created to do in Christ Jesus.
