I pray that God blesses you and your family greatly for all the insight you share with all of us on a daily basis!
I have a question. Do we own our souls or are they God’s property? What I’m really asking is, can a person “sell their soul” to the devil?
The concept of selling your soul to the devil comes from a work of fiction by Christipher Marlowe where the lead character, Dr. Faustus, makes a deal with the devil for a 24 year supply of supernatural power in exchange for his immortal soul.
But the truth is, unless they choose to become born again during their lifetime, all mankind will have essentially sold their immortal souls to the devil and received nothing in return.
When a person becomes a believer all that changes. According to 1 Cor.6:19-20, as believers we are not our own, but have been bought at a price. That price was the blood of Jesus, which God paid to redeem us when we asked Him to save us from our sins.
Paul said when that happened, God anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our heart. He used legal language of the day to describe the Holy Spirit as a deposit (literally earnest money) guaranteeing our inheritance (2 Cor. 1:21-22, Ephes. 1:13-14). As it is in real estate today, an earnest money deposit in Paul’s day obligated the buyer to follow through on his purchase, and prevented anyone else from buying the property in the mean time.
By sealing the Holy Spirit within you, God obligated Himself to follow through on His promise to give you eternal life with Him, and at the same time “took you off the market”. No one else can buy you and you can not sell yourself to anyone else. Therefore, no born again believer can sell his or her soul to the devil.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).