What does Ephesians 4:30 mean?

Paul adds an interesting note here not to cause the Holy Spirit sadness. The Greek word is lypeite, which means to "cause grief," or "make sorrowful." Paul's point is fundamental to the entire Christian understanding of sin. In short, believers can make the Spirit sad by our sinful actions.

This ties together several critical ideas. First, it means saved Christians are still capable of sin. Second, it means that God does, in fact, care about how we live our lives once we are saved. Third, it ties into eternal security; Paul is not warning us about being cast aside as a result of sin. Fourth, this is part of the motivation Christians have for godly living. Eternal security is not a license to sin, because true believers don't want to make our Savior sad!

Along those same lines, Paul reminds us the Holy Spirit has "sealed [believers] for the day of redemption." Paul also developed this idea of being sealed by the Spirit in Ephesians 1:13. This "sealing" takes place at the point of salvation. Though we can bring grief to the Spirit, we cannot lose the Spirit. The Greek word translated "sealed" is from the root word sphragizo, which means being closed up, and marked. A classic example is the wax-pressed symbol applied to a letter. This implies both security and identification. We are marked by the Holy Spirit in anticipation of the day when we meet with Christ.

We need not fear losing the Spirit (Romans 8:37–39), but should fear grieving the Spirit. Jesus is described as "grieved" in Scripture (Mark 3:5), but this is the only place in which the Spirit is mentioned as being able to grieve. In the case of Jesus, He was grieved by the "hardness of heart" in other people. Likewise, we can make the Holy Spirit sad, or disappointed, when we are stubborn and refuse to follow God's will in our lives.