And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:30 ESV
Ephesians chapter one also uses the word sealed in reference to our salvation. Being sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession (that’s us). In other words, the Holy Spirit is the person that seals our belonging to the Lord and is the proof of our inheritance for all things in the family of God.
He who did not withhold his own son, how shall he not with Him, freely give us all things. Outside of salvation, the greatest gift we have been given by the Father is His spirit. He comes as the personification of the Fathers love to live in us, leading us and guiding us each day. He is our vital connection to the Father and the one who always works to keep us one with them; Father and Son. The Holy Spirit is the One who prompts us to read our Bible. ‘To pray always’ is prompted by the Holy Spirit. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. The ability and strength to do any and all things set before us from the Father and enabled by and through the Holy Spirit. We are strengthened with might by His Spirit in our inner man.
When we come to Ephesians 4:30 and these instructions to not grieve Him, we come with an understanding first of all that He can be grieved.
The word grieve is lupe (λύπη, 3077) signifies “pain,” of body or mind; it is used in the plural in 1 Pet. 2:19 only, rv, “griefs” (kjv, “grief”); here, however, it stands, by metonymy, for “things that cause sorrow, grievances”; * Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, p. 281). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson.
Ephesians 4:29 instructs to let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use of edifying that it many minister grace to the hearer and verse 31 states to let all bitterness and wrath, and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, Even as God for Christs sake has forgiven you. These things show us what grieves the Holy Spirit.
If, and it is, His relationship role is to make us one and keep us in the love of God, we then understand why these scriptures are so important. Jesus reminds us a house divided can not stand. The division can only occur where the heart removes itself from dealing with people from a place of love, literally shutting up the heart of compassion. Shutting up and shutting down the Holy Spirit are grievous acts because to do this we must first separate ourselves from the Holy Spirit.
There is to be no corrupt communication; [corrupt, rotten” (akin to sepo, “to rot”), primarily, of vegetable and animal substances, expresses what is of poor quality, unfit for use, putrid] BUT only those words that edify [build up] and minister grace [enabling power of God] to the hearer. These are the words the Holy Spirit is ALWAYS endeavoring to communicate TO us and through us to others.
Our standard, EVEN AS (from Ephesians 4:31) is applicable to every area of our lives. We don’t get to pick and choose. We conform. We’re transformed. We become and as we do the Holy Spirit has greater rule and influence in every thought, word and deed expressed through our lives.