Ephesians 4:30 -- Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

I thought this argument defending Paul's exegetical technique was interesting. It is commentary from Peter O'Brien's commentary on Ephesians 4. It is a short typological comparison between Isaiah 63:10 and Ephesians 4:30.

The links between the two biblical passages [Isaiah 63:10 and Ephesians 4] are so significant as to suggest a typological correspondence between the two events in the history of God’s covenant people. In Isaiah 63, which looks back to the exodus, Yahweh is presented as the Saviour of Israel, who redeemed his people from Egypt, brought them into a covenant relationship with himself, led them by his own personal presence (i.e., his Holy Spirit) through the wilderness, and gave them rest. For its part, Israel the covenant people had rebelled against its Lord ‘and grieved his Holy Spirit’ (v. 10). In Ephesians Paul addresses the new covenant community, ‘the one new man’ (2:15) comprising Jews and Gentiles who have been redeemed (1:7) and reconciled to God through the cross of Christ (2:14-18). They have become a holy temple in the Lord, the place where God himself dwells by his Spirit (2:21, 22). Using the language of Isaiah 63:10, Paul issues a warning to this new community not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God, ‘as Israel had done’ in the wilderness (cf. 1 Cor. 10:1-11), the more so since they have been sealed by that same Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (4:30). The change from the indicative (‘they [Israel] grieved his Holy Spirit’) to the imperative (‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God’) is deliberate and makes eminent sense in the exhortatory context. Paul picks up the Isaianic text in a chapter that highlights the work of God’s Spirit (=God’s personal presence; Isa. 63:10, 11, 14) in relation to the major salvation-historical event of the Old Testament, namely, the exodus. As he handles this scriptural passage, the apostle is obviously not engaging in some kind of atomistic exegesis, as he is often charged. Rather, he reads the Old Testament text with an understanding of its immediate context, its place in the flow of salvation history, and, apparently, within a pattern of new Exodus typology. Paul interprets the passage according to its plain sense, applying it to the new covenant community upon whom the ends of the ages have come (cf. 1 Cor. 10:11). (pp. 347-348, The Letter of Ephesians)