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Commentaries,
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Ephesians
1:13 In
Him, you
also,
after
listening
to the
message
of
truth,
the
gospel
of your
salvation
-- having
also
believed,
you were
sealed
in Him with the
Holy
Spirit
of
promise,
(NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
en
o
kai
humeis
akousantes
ton
logon
tes
aletheias,
to
euaggelion
tes
soterias
humon,
en
o
kai
pisteusantes
esphragisthete
to
pneumati
tes
epaggelias
to
hagio,
Amplified:
In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings
(Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and
relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy
Spirit. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
NLT: And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that
God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, He identified you as
his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom He promised long ago. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: And you too trusted Him, when you heard the message
of truth, the Gospel of your salvation. And after you gave your
confidence to Him you were, so to speak, stamped with the promised
Holy Spirit (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: in whom also, as for you, having heard the word of the
truth, the good news of your salvation, in whom also having believed,
you were sealed with the Spirit of the promise, the Holy Spirit, (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: in whom ye also, having heard the word of the
truth -- the good news of your salvation -- in whom also having
believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, |
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IN HIM, YOU ALSO, AFTER
LISTENING TO THE MESSAGE OF TRUTH, THE GOSPEL OF YOUR SALVATION: en o
kai humeis akousantes (AAPMPN) ton logon tes aletheias, to euaggelion
tes soterias humon:
(Eph 2:11,12; Colossians 1:21, 22, 23; 1Peter 2:10) (Eph 4:21; John
1:17; Romans 6:17; 10:14, 15, 16, 17; Colossians 1:4, 5, 6,23;
1Thessalonians 2:13) (Psalms 119:43; 2Corinthians 6:7; 2Timothy 2:15;
James 1:18) (Mark 16:15,16; Acts 13:26; Romans 1:16; 2Timothy 3:15;
Titus 2:11; He 2:3)
In Him (846) (autos)
refers to Jesus Christ (Ep 1:10), the ground or source our inheritance
--Here we see the believer’s divine inheritance in Jesus Christ from our
own human perspective."
Listening (191) (akouo)
means to hear with attention, hear with the "ear of the mind". The idea
is to hear effectually as to perform or grant what is spoken. Listen or
pay attention to a person with resulting conformity to what is advised
or commanded. The context often implies to hear and obey.
Message
(3056) (logos
[word study])
means intelligence, word as the expression of that intelligence. Both
act of speaking and thing spoken. Here the GOOD NEWS that God has
provided a way of salvation through the atoning work of His Son, Jesus
Christ"
Truth (225)
(aletheia) refers to the: body of real things, events, facts. Obviously
whatever God says is truth. Truth, reality; the unveiled reality lying
at the basis of and agreeing with an appearance; the manifested, the
veritable essence of matter
The gospel
(2098)
(euaggelion
[word study]
from eú = good + aggéllo =proclaim,
tell) is the secular Greek term for proclamation of news of victory and
the death or capture of the enemy! Ponder this in terms of our enemies!
Other uses included news of approaching wedding. Gospel delivers man
from power of sin
A B Simpson
is reported to have said that the gospel
"Tells rebellious men that God is
reconciled, that justice is satisfied, that sin has been atoned for,
that the judgment of the guilty may be revoked, the condemnation of the
sinner cancelled, the curse of the Law blotted out, the gates of hell
closed, the portals of heaven opened wide, the power of sin subdued, the
guilty conscience healed, the broken heart comforted, the sorrow and
misery of the Fall undone."
Salvation (4991) (soteria
[word study])
pictures one's preservation from danger/destruction. Restore the state of
well being or health. Salvation can be described as -- Past = justified =declared righteous. From penalty of
sin Present = sanctified. from power of sin. Future = glorified From
presence of sin (see chart on the
Three Tenses of Salvation)
HAVING ALSO BELIEVED: en o kai
pisteusantes (AAPMPN):
Having believed
(4100)
(pisteuo
[word study]) refers to belief that effects heart and produces
changed conduct. Faith is man’s response to God’s elective purpose.
God’s choice of men is election; men’s choice of God is faith. In
election God gives His promises, and by faith men receive them.
The
aorist tense defines
the believing as an past action
which is definitive, and effective. Note that it is
not enough to hear the gospel of salvation but to place one's complete
trust in it to receive salvation.
D L Moody
illustrates "belief" by one of the two thieves crucified with Jesus
writing...
"The thief had nails through both
hands, so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot, so that
he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a
foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ offered him the gift of God;
and he took it. Christ threw him a passport, and took him into
Paradise." (Moody, D L: "Day by Day with D. L Moody. Moody Press)
YOU WERE SEALED IN HIM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE:
esphragisthete (2PAPI) to pneumati tes epaggelias to hagio: (Eph
4:30; John 6:27; Romans 4:11; 2Corinthians 1:22; 2Timothy 2:19;
Revelation 7:2) (Joel 2:28; Luke 11:13; 24:49; John 14:16,17,26; 15:26;
16:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; Acts 1:4; Acts 2:16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22,33; Galatians 3:14)
When a person
believes the "message of truth, the gospel of...salvation" they receive
the Holy Spirit, this transaction referred as a baptism, Paul
explaining to the Corinthians that...
by one Spirit we (all those saved by
grace through faith) were all baptized into one body (the body of
Christ, the Church), whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and
we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1Corinthians 12:13)
Being baptized
with the Spirit is different from being "filled with the Spirit"
(see note
Ephesians 5:18),
a term which does not signify one is getting more of the Spirit, but
that he or she is yielding every area of their lives to the Spirit’s
control and empowerment. The idea of filling is having one's life filled
with God’s Spirit as opposed to self.
You were sealed
(4972)
(sphragizo
from sphragis = seal, engraved object used to
make a mark - denoting ownership, approval, or closure of something
normally done by pressing into heated wax usually attached to a document
or letter) means to set a seal upon or to mark with a seal. To mark so
as to certify that something is so. Seals were used to make something
secure, to serve as a guarantee of the correctness of the contents, to
indicate authenticity, to indicate ownership. Sacrificial animals were
examined and sealed if perfect. Jars, sacks of fruit or grain were
sealed. To mark with a seal as a means of identification in Greek
secular writings was used to mark all kinds of animals, so that the mark
denoting ownership also carries with it the protection of the owner.
Wayne Detzler
writes that
sphragizo
was
largely a commercial or business
term, referring to sealing a building shut. In order to guarantee
property against theft, a seal was placed on it. Or sometimes it took
the form of a mark or a brand, as on livestock. When a merchant bought a
sack of grain, a seal would be placed on the sack until the full payment
was made. This was a guarantee of coming payment. Later the seal became
a mark of royalty. Any communiqué from the crown was sealed by the king.
After dabbing hot wax on the document, the king would seal it by
pressing his ring into the wax. Before long, the engraved ring was
called "a seal." In the religious sphere, a sacrificial lamb which was
found to be suitable was also sealed, marked as suitable. In the
Septuagint Greek Old Testament, a seal was a signet ring. This ring was
used to indicate a sale (Jer. 32:10). Royalty also used the seal to
authenticate its orders (Esther 3:10; 8:8). Though the precise word for
"sealing" is not used, Isaiah 44:5 speaks of people who had "for
Jehovah" tattooed on their hands as a mark of religious sacrifice
(Detzler, W: New Testament Words in Today's Language)
Sphragizo
is used 15 times in the NAS (Matthew;
John 2x;
Romans;
2 Corinthians;
Ephesians 2x;
Revelation 7x).
There are 19
verses in the
Septuagint (LXX)
(Deut 32:34; 1Ki 21:8; 2Ki 22:4; Neh 10:1; Esther 3:10; 8:8, 10; Job
14:17; 24:16; Song 4:12; Isa 8:16; 29:11; Jer 32:10f, 25, 44; Dan
6:16-17; 8:26; 9:24; 12:4, 9). For example in Kings we read of Jezebel's
treacherous action...
1Kings 21:8 So she wrote
letters in Ahab's name and sealed (sphragizo) them with his
seal (sphragis), and sent letters to the elders and to the nobles
who were living with Naboth in his city. (Comment: Jezebel's use
of King Ahab's seal made it look as if this letter came straight from
the king, illustrating the import of the act of sealing.)
Nehemiah 10:1 Now on the
sealed document were the names of: Nehemiah the governor, the son of
Hacaliah, and Zedekiah,
Esther 8:8 "Now you write to
the Jews as you see fit, in the king's name, and seal it with the
king's signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the
king and sealed with the king's signet ring may not be revoked...8:10
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the
king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on
steeds sired by the royal stud.
Isaiah 29:11 And the entire
vision shall be to you like the words of a sealed book, which
when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, "Please read
this," he will say, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
Jeremiah 32:10 "And I signed
and sealed the deed (when he bought the field which was at
Anathoth in obedience to the Lord's command), and called in witnesses,
and weighed out the silver on the scales. (Comment: This
particular property was worthless since it was in Anathoth, which by
this time had already been captured by the Babylonians. But by carrying
out this act and sealing it, Jeremiah was affirming that the land would
one day future return to the hands of Israel).
The Analytical
Lexicon has an excellent summary of the various nuances of meaning of
sphragizo...
(1) literally seal up, secure
by putting a seal on (Mt 27.66); figuratively, as keeping something
secret seal (up), conceal (Rev 10.4); (2) as providing a sign of
identification or ownership (mark with a) seal (Rev 7.3);
metaphorically, of endowment with the Spirit (Eph 1.13); (3)
figuratively, from the idea of an official seal on a document; (a)
confirm, attest, certify (John 3.33); (b) metaphorically, as a
commercial technical term indicating a safely accomplished transaction
literally seal to someone this fruit, i.e. safely turn over to someone
this kind provision (Ro 15.28) (Friberg,
T., Friberg, B., & Miller, N. F. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New
Testament. Baker's Greek New Testament library. Baker Academic)
In a parallel
passage we read (note four of the many spiritual blessings that we
receive when we are saved)...
Now He Who establishes us with you in
Christ and anointed us is God, Who also sealed (sphragizo) us and
gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge (earnest money - see
pledge). (2Cor 1:21-22)
Paul uses
sphragizo in another passage in this same letter writing...
And
do not grieve
(present
imperative with a
negative = stop this action) the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were
sealed for the day of redemption. (See note
Ephesians 4:30)
(Comment: Not that even when we pain the Spirit especially by
sins of the tongue we cannot unseal the seal set by the Spirit.)
In secular Greek
use of sphragizo the sealing signified at least four results...
(1)
A Finished Transaction -
(2)
A Mark of
Ownership -- Buyers of timber in the forests of Asia Minor would select
trees which would be felled, stamped them with the buyer’s seal, and
floated them downstream. At the port in Ephesus, the markings would
identify the logs. God stamps us with His seal, indicating ownership.
In Revelation we see the sealing
conveyed thoughts of ownership and protection, John recording the
angel's words...saying,
"Do not harm the earth or the sea or
the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their
foreheads." (Rev 7:3)
(3)
A Bond of Security -- Setting a seal to prevent opening.
Daniel’s lions’ den
was sealed by royal decree...
And a stone was brought and laid over
the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet
ring and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing might be
changed in regard to Daniel.
Christ’s tomb
was sealed by royal decree, Matthew recording...
And they went and made the
grave secure, and along with the guard they set a seal on the
stone. (Mt 27:66) (Comment: The chief priests and Pharisees
evidently took the Lord's promise to rise on the third day seriously and
must have assumed the disciples would try to steal the body. Their
paranoia, however, served only to strengthen the evidence for the
resurrection. This securing was likely done by connecting the stone to
the tomb with a cord and wax so that any tampering could easily be
detected.)
(4)
An Imprint of
Authenticity or of Identity -- In ancient times, everyone’s unique
seal, when pressed into wax, imprinted his identity. God places the Holy Spirit in us permanently as His "signet" (signet
= a seal used to stamp or authenticate documents)
Charles Wesley wrote in “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”...
Adam’s likeness now efface
Stamp Thine image in its place.
Sealed is
in the
aorist tense
which is a past completed action. The
passive voice
signifies that subject, believers,
are acted
upon by an outside force or power, God. The
indicative mood
is the mood of certainty which states a thing as being a fact --
the point is that every believer receives the Holy
Spirit the moment he or she believes.
In antiquity
people used seals to authenticate documents (Jer. 32:10), and
archaeologists have discovered more than 1,200 seals from Old Testament
times.
TDNT writes
that...
The seal serves as a legal protection
and guarantee. It is thus placed on property, on wills, etc. Laws
prohibit the misuse of seals, which owners often break just before
death. Seals serve as proof of identity. They also protect houses,
graves, etc. against violation. Both testator and witnesses seal wills.
In Roman law all six witnesses must break their own seals to open the
will, and in South Babylonia beneficiaries signify or seal when the
inheritance is divided. Seals also serve as accreditation, e.g., of
weights and measures. The seal plays an important public role in
government. All authorities have seals. The king’s seal confers
authorization. In both private and public life holding a seal expresses
an element of power.
NIDNTT has
a lengthy note writing that...
Seals were widely used very early
(3rd millennium onwards), especially in Mesopotamia, where Hdt. observed
that every man possessed not only a staff but also a seal (1, 195), and
later in the whole Mediterranean area (on the different forms of
seals-e. g. rolls, buttons, scaraboid-cf. BHHW III 1786 ff., 1812 f.).
The real importance of the seal is a legal one: the owner puts his mark
on his possessions, his beasts (cf. Virgil, Georgics 3, 157 ff.; BGU I,
87, 12 f.; P. Teb. 419), his slaves (cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist. 25, 13, 173;
BGU I, 15, etc.) and thereby guards his property against theft. To that
extent one can call it a protecting sign or a guarantee. When used with
documents (wills, deeds of sale, etc.) the seal served as a signature to
authorize what was written there (cf. TDNT VII 941). Things sealed were
at the disposal of the possessor of the seal. This applied not only to
private persons, but also particularly to the authorities of a city and
to kings. The seal symbolized their authority.
3. Seals were also significant in
religious life. For instance, a beast could be attested as ritually pure
and thus suitable for a sacrificial victim (cf. Hdt. 2, 38; BGU, I, 250,
15 ff.; 356, 7). Men show themselves to be the possession of their deity
by the imprint of their seal (Hdt., 2, 113; cf. 3 Macc. 2:29f.; also J.
Ysebaert, Greek Baptismal Terminology, 1962, 200 f.). More tangibly one
can seal houses, etc., to guarantee that they were preserved, or
documents, to keep their contents a secret. Hence, one can also say that
the mouth or words are sealed (cf. Diog. Laert., 1, 58; Theognis, 1,
178; Timotheus, Persians 148): what one has experienced must remain
secret and in safe keeping. This applied particularly to keeping the
secrets of the mysteries (Ysebaert, op. cit., 221-226). (Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan)
Puritan John
Owen wrote that...
"God's sealing of believers is His
gracious communication of the Holy Ghost unto them, so as to enable them
unto all the duties of their holy calling. The effects of this sealing
are gracious operations of the Spirit in and upon believers; but the
sealing itself is the communication of God's Spirit to them."
Is this truth
practical? Absolutely! Listen to an anecdotal story from Pastor Ray
Stedman...
A young man called me this past week
to tell me how discouraged he was, how he'd lost his confidence in
prayer because he felt that no answer was coming, and how ready he was
to quit. So I said to him, "Well, why don't you just quit, then? Give
up. Stop being a Christian. Try it." -- because I knew that if he did,
the first thing he would have discovered is that he couldn't quit. And
he knew it, too. The minute I said that, he acknowledged it: "You're
right. I can't quit." That is because, as Paul will describe in this
letter, there is imparted to us the Holy Spirit of God, and we are
sealed by the Holy Spirit so that we can't quit! That is a mark of a
believer in Christ. (Read the
entire sermon
Ephesians 1:1-14: God At Work)
Holy (40)
(hagios) means
pure, consecrated, set apart. Its fundamental idea is separation,
consecration, devotion to the service of Deity, sharing in God’s
purity and abstaining from earth’s defilement."
When a person
becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in his life. The
Spirit of God is our securing force, our guarantee."
Spurgeon
comments that...
Those who believe in Christ have the
Holy Spirit dwelling in them: the Holy Spirit is a part of heaven, "the
earnest of our inheritance"; and wherever he dwells, it is not possible
that the heart should lose the inheritance. It is entailed upon those in
whom the Spirit dwells. Judge, there, dear brethren, whether the Spirit
of God dwells in you or no.
Promise (1860)
(epaggelia from epí = upon or intensifier of meaning +
aggéllo = tell, declare = to announce with certainty as to what one
will do) is a declaration to do something with implication of obligation
to carry out what is stated. Epaggelia was a
legal term denoting promise to do or give something. It was a legally
binding declaration giving one to whom it is made right to expect or
claim performance of the specific act. Most often epaggelia is
used to describe the promises of God. and provides firm assurance of His future action.
><> ><> ><>
Our Daily Bread
has the following devotional entitled Interest in Advance on these
verses...
The Holy Spirit, who indwells every
believer, gives us a foretaste of the coming glory of heaven. He is
therefore called the “earnest” or pledge of the inheritance we shall
receive by God’s grace in eternity (Eph. 1:13,14). In biblical times,
the word “earnest” was a trade term for the initial payment on a debt.
It was made as a promise that full payment would be forthcoming. In
principle, then, when an earnest was given, the final installment was
guaranteed. Likewise, the joy we experience now through God’s Spirit is
just a kind of first installment of the rich blessings that His children
will receive in eternity.
A wealthy man called his faithful assistant into his office one day and
said, “I’ve put your name in my will, and someday you’ll receive
$10,000. Since it may be a while before you get that legacy, I want to
make you happy now by paying you the interest on that amount each year.
Here is a check for $600 as a starter.” The surprised clerk was doubly
grateful. The prospect of the inheritance was certainly good news, but
the money he received in advance gave him complete assurance that
someday the entire $10,000 would be his.
><> ><> ><>
As God’s children, let’s rejoice in
the riches we now have in Christ through the Holy Spirit. He is our
guarantee of the “exceeding and eternal weight of glory” that our
Heavenly Father will one day give to the heirs of salvation (2Cor
4:17). Our present blessings are but a token of the greater inheritance
we will eventually receive.
Several centuries ago, a Japanese
emperor commissioned an artist to paint a bird. A number of months
passed, then several years, and still the artist did not deliver the
painting. Finally the emperor became so exasperated that he went to the
artist's home to demand an explanation. Instead of making excuses, the
artist placed a blank canvas on the easel. In less than an hour, he
completed a painting that was to become a masterpiece. When the emperor
asked the reason for the delay, the artist showed him armloads of
drawings of feathers, wings, heads, and feet. Then he explained that he
couldn't complete the painting until he had done exhaustive research and
study.
In a sense, Christians are similar to that piece of art. We are "sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13), and predestined by God "to
be conformed to the image of His Son" (Rom. 8:29). But the process takes
time. The "artist" is the Holy Spirit—sent by the Lord Jesus at
Pentecost to indwell believers. Slowly but surely He leads us to
spiritual growth and maturity. Our transformation requires years of
patience and will not be finished until we enter the presence of our
King.
The day is coming when all Christians will be like Christ. But now we
are growing and preparing. As we follow the Spirit's guidance through
one experience after another, we become more and more like the
masterpiece we will be someday in Glory. —D C Egner
The work Christ accomplished for us on the cross, His Spirit can now
accomplish in us on earth. (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
><> ><> ><>
F B Meyer has the following
thoughts in Our Daily Homily...
Possessed. — The saints have
been purchased at great cost by the precious blood of the Son of God.
Not only their spirits, but their bodies, have been bought with an
infinite expenditure. Is it not a wonderful thought that God should have
thought it worth his while to expend so much on us! But, since He has
done it, we cannot suppose that He will not make all He can of us! He
will bring his estate under cultivation; there will be no corner of it
that will not yield Him produce.
To be redeemed. — Our bodies
are owned by God, but they are not yet entirely redeemed. And if we
should die before the Lord’s advent, they will return to their mother
earth, possessed but not redeemed. Hence the apostle says that we are
waiting for our adoption — to wit, the redemption of our body (Romans
8:23). We are under the sentence of corruption for Adam’s sin; but we
are to be redeemed.
Sealed. — In Ezekiel’s day a
mark was set on the foreheads of the men that sighed and cried for sin
(Ezekiel 9:4); and in the Apocalypse we read of the sealing of God’s
servants (Revelation 7:2–3). For sealing there are needed the softened
wax; the imprint of the beloved face; the steady pressure. Would that
the Spirit might impress the face of our dear Lord on our softened
hearts, that they may keep it for evermore!
This sealing is an earnest of our
inheritance. — The eternal future is all unknown, yet we may guess
at it, because the work of the Spirit within us is the first fruits —
the grapes of Eshcol, showing what the vintage will be; the
earnest-penny, which is the pledge as well as part of the entire
payment; the first streak of the coming day. (Our Daily Homily) |
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Ephesians
1:14 Who
is
given as a pledge
of our
inheritance,
with a
view
to the
redemption
of God's
own
possession,
to the
praise
of His
glory (NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
o
estin
arrabon
tes
kleronomias
hemon,
eis
apolutrosin
tes
peripoieseos,
eis
epainon
tes
doxes
autou.
Amplified:
That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits,
the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in
anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete]
possession of it—to the praise of His glory. (Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
NLT: The Spirit is God's guarantee that He will give us
everything He promised and that He has purchased us to be his own
people. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious
God. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: as a guarantee of purchase, until the day when God
completes the redemption of what He has paid for as his own; and that
will again be to the praise of his glory. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: Who is the token payment of our inheritance guaranteeing
the full payment of all, looking forward to the redemption of the
possession which is being preserved with a view to the praise of His
glory. (Eerdmans)
Young's Literal: which is an earnest of our inheritance, to the
redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory. |
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WHO IS GIVEN AS A PLEDGE OF OUR
INHERITANCE: o estin (3SPAI) arrabon tes kleronomias hemon: (Romans
8:15, 16, 17,23; 2Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Galatians 4:6)
Have you had a
victory over sin this past week? If you are a believer surely you can
remember some time when sin was tempting you to surrender and you were
enabled to say "no" because of the "pledge" that was indwelling you. You
can mark it down that every spiritual victory you experience as a result
of the Spirit of God living in you as God's "pledge" is one more
indicator of the greatness of the redemption every believer will
experience in the future. The Spirit is the first fruits, but a greater
harvest is on its way at the return of Jesus Christ, when our redemption
is finally consummated!.
Pledge (728) (arrabon)
is the payment of part of a purchase price in advance. Literally
was a legal and commercial technical term, representing an advance
transaction that guarantees the validity of a contract or a full
purchase price. The corresponding modern term is "earnest money",
"down payment", installment or deposit that guarantees full amount will be paid.
One form
of arrabon was used
for an engagement ring! God's bestowal of His Spirit is the church's irrevocable
pledge, her divine engagement ring and firm assurance as Christ's bride.
In the NT
arrabon is used only in a figurative sense and is used to describe
the Holy Spirit Who the Father has given to believers in this present
life to assure them of their future and eternal inheritance (2Cor. 1:22;
5:5; Eph. 1:14 - these are all the NT uses of arrabon. there are 3 uses
in the
Septuagint (LXX)
- Gen 38:17-18, 20)
Now He Who establishes us with you in
Christ and anointed us is God, Who also sealed (sphragizo) us and
gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge (earnest money - see
pledge). (2Cor 1:21-22)
Now He who prepared us for this very
purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. (2Cor 5:5)
In Genesis we read the 3 uses...
Genesis 38:17 He said,
therefore, "I will send you a kid from the flock." She said, moreover,
"Will you give a pledge until you send it?" 18 And he said, "What
pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord,
and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her, and went
in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and departed, and
removed her veil and put on her widow's garments. 20 When Judah sent the
kid by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the
woman's hand, he did not find her.
The Analytical
Lexicon notes that arrabon is...
transliterated from the Hebrew;
literally, as a legal and commercial technical term, an advance
transaction that guarantees the validity of a contract or a full
purchase price. down payment, first installment, pledge (Friberg,
T., Friberg, B., & Miller, N. F. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New
Testament. Baker's Greek New Testament library. Baker Academic)
The Holy Spirit is
God's "earnest money" given in to assure that the whole will be
fulfilled in the proper time
NIDNTT
writes that in classical Greek and the
Septuagint (LXX)...
The Gk. word arrabon (borrowed from
the Semitic, cf. Heb. 'erabôn) is a legal concept from the language of
business and trade. It is found only rarely (Isaeus, Aristotle and later
grammarians such as Suidas) and means: (1) an instalment, with which a
man secures a legal claim upon a thing as yet unpaid for; (2) an
earnest, an advance payment, by which a contract becomes valid in law;
(3) in one passage (Gen. 38:17ff.) a pledge. In each case it is a matter
of payment by which the person concerned undertakes to give further
payment to the recipient (Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan)
Barclay
says
The arrabon was a regular feature of
the Greek business world. It was a part of the purchase price of
anything, paid in advance as a guarantee that the rest would in due time
be paid. There are many Greek commercial documents still extant in which
the word occurs. A woman sells a cow and receives so many drachmae as
arrabon. Some dancing girls are engaged for a public entertainment and
are paid so much in advance. What Paul is saying in (Ep 1:14) is that
the experience of the Holy Spirit which we have in this world is a
foretaste of the blessedness of heaven; and it is the guarantee that
some day we will enter into full possession of the blessedness of God.
An arrabon was the first installment
of a payment, paid as a guarantee that the rest was sure to follow. It
is a common word in Greek legal documents. A woman selling a cow
receives 1,000 drachmae as arrabon that the rest of the purchase price
will be paid. Some dancing girls being engaged for a village festival
receive so much as arrabon, which will be included in the final payment,
but which is a present guarantee that the contract will be honored and
the full money paid. A certain man writes to his master that he has paid
Lampon, the mouse-catcher, an arrabon of 8 drachmae so that he will
start work and catch the mice while they are still with young. It was
the first installment and the guarantee that the rest would be paid.
Everyone knew this word. It is the same idea as is in the Scots word
arles which was a token payment made when a man was employed or a house
bought, and a guarantee that the full contract would be honored. When
Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit as an arrabon given us by God, he means
that the kind of life we live by the help of the Holy Spirit is the
first installment of the life of heaven and the guarantee that the
fullness of that life will some day open upon us. The gift of the Holy
Spirit is God’s token and pledge of still greater things to come. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press)
Wuest
writes that
The word “earnest” is arrabon.
Vincent defines it as “caution-money deposited by a purchaser in pledge
of full payment.”...The bestowal of the Holy Spirit is
God’s part payment in the salvation He gives the believing sinner, that
part payment guaranteeing the full delivery of all parts of the
salvation given. Salvation is in three parts; justification, the removal
of the guilt and penalty of sin and the bestowal of a positive
righteousness, Jesus Christ, is given at the moment the sinner puts his
faith in the Lord Jesus as Saviour; sanctification, a progressive work
of the Spirit in the life of the believer, is a present possession in
which He eliminates sin from the experience of the believer and produces
His own fruit; glorification, the act of God transforming the present
bodies of believers into perfect, sinless, deathless bodies. The
believer has the first two now. The Holy Spirit, indwelling the
believer, is God’s earnest money, guaranteeing to him the future
glorification of his body.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans)
Inheritance
(2817)
(kleronomia
[word study] from
kleros = a lot + nemo = to distribute)
(see study of related
Kleronomos)
is originally a portion which one receives by lot in a general
distribution. In the NT the idea of chance attaching to the lot is
eliminated for all believers
we inherit all spiritual blessings in Christ.
Kleronomia
is the portion or heritage which one receives by virtue of birth or by
special gift from someone who has died (Lk 12:13). In a figurative
sense, kleronomia refers to God's promised
salvation, gifts, and benefits
as
our inheritance (which is the use in Eph 5:5-note)
and eternal possession
for every believer.
(See dictionary discussion of
Inheritance)
and benefits, an
Kleronomia
- 14x in 14v - Mt 21:38; Mark 12:7; Luke 12:13; 20:14; Acts 7:5; 20:32;
Gal 3:18; Eph 1:14, 18; 5:5-note;
Col 3:24-note;
Heb 9:15-note;
He 11:8-note;
1Pet 1:4-note
Thayer summarizes
kleronomia as (1) an inheritance, property received (or to be
received) by inheritance, or (2) what is given to one as a possession.
NIDNTT says
that in classical Greek the root word...
kleros
is derived from klao, break.
In the first instance it means a lot. Used from Homer on it meant
originally the fragment of stone or piece of wood which was used as a
lot. Lots were drawn to discover the will of the gods. Since land
was divided by lot, probably in the framework of common use of
the fields,
kleros
came to mean a share, land
received by lot, plot of land, and finally inheritance. The
verb belonging to this is kleroo, to draw lots, apportion by lot
(only in Eph 1:11-note,
Heb 1:4-note).
Kleronomia compounded from kleros and nemo, allot,
is first the activity of dividing by lot, then the portion so divided,
the inheritance. The
Kleronomos
is one who has been given a
kleros, the inheritor.
synkleronomos is a fellow heir, and kleronomeo means be an heir, inherit
What is the difference between
kleros
and
kleronomia
(in the context of the uses in the Septuagint)? Sometimes both
terms are used interchangeably for nahªlâh (e.g. Nu. 18:23, 24.; 32:18,
19.; Josh 17:4; cf. Jdg. 2:9). However,
kleros,
which meant originally lot, stresses more the individual piece of
land allotted by lot, whereas
kleronomia
points more to the fact of inheritance with all its connotations
already mentioned. Kleros may be used in the plural, but
kleronomia is never so used. Kleronomia has the richer
associations in the context of salvation history.
(Brown,
Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986.
Zondervan)
Here is an excerpt
from Spurgeon's sermon on Ps 47:4 ("He chooses our inheritance
for us") entitled "A Wise Desire" in which the prince of
preachers speaks of God's inheritance in His Beloved and for the beloved
in Christ...
It
is a great truth that God does choose the inheritance for his people. It
is a very high honor conferred upon God's servants, that it is said of
them, "He shall choose their inheritance." As for the worldling, God
gives him anything, but for the Christian, God selects the best portion,
and chooses his inheritance for him. Says a good divine, "It is one of
the greatest glories of the Church of Christ, that our mighty Maker, and
our Friend, always chooses our inheritance for us." He gives the
worldling husks; but he stops to find out the sweet fruits for his
people. He gathers out the fruits from among the leaves, that his people
might have the best food, and enjoy the richest pleasures. Oh! it is the
satisfaction of God's people to believe in this exalting truth that he
chooses their inheritance for them. But, since there are many who
dispute it, allow me just to stir up your minds by way of remembrance,
by mentioning certain facts which will lead you to see clearly that
verily God does choose our lot, and apportion for us our inheritance. (Click
to read more about your inheritance in Spurgeon's Sermon A Wise Desire
Psalm 47:4)
F B Meyer
commenting on inheritance in 1Peter 1:4-note...
Yes, it is an inheritance. It is a
free gift, and yet we have a right to it. We do not ask for it — we were
born into its blessed privilege. The child that lies in yonder cradle,
over which the coronet is emblazoned, may claim his broad ancestral
estates simply by right of birth: and it is on that tenure that the
saints hold heaven. By God’s great mercy we have been begotten again
(1Pet 1:3-note).
Oh, blessed heritage!
Incorruptible! The gnawing
tooth of decay cannot injure it. Moth and rust cannot consume, nor
thieves break through to steal. No spendthrift hand can scatter or
over-spend its treasures.
Undefiled! Not a stain on its
pure robes; not a freckle on its leaves; not a taint of miasma on its
atmosphere. Into the city enters nothing that defiles, or works
abomination, or makes a lie.
That fadeth not away! To use
the Greek word, it is amaranthine (see
amarantinos).
Some of the fairest hopes that ever blessed human vision; the most
delightful friendships; the most perfect dreams of delight, have faded
and withered before our eyes. That never can.
It is kept for us, and we are kept for it. It is reserved in
heaven for you.
I have a heritage of joy,
That yet I must not see;
The hand that bled to make it mine,
Is keeping it for me.
Who by the power of God are
guarded through faith. (1Pe 1:5-note)—
The idea is that we are being brought through an enemy’s country under a
strong escortas (escort = a person or group of persons accompanying
another to give protection ) the women and children from Lucknow,
between the double line of English soldiers, till they were safe from
the onset of the Sepoys. We are not in heaven yet; but we are as safe
as if we were. (Meyer, F B: Our Daily Homily)
F B Meyer
writes about...
THE SAINTS' INHERITANCE IN GOD.
(Ephesians 1:14, Ephesians 5:5) -
When an emigrant first receives the title-deeds of the broad lands made
over to him in the far West, he has no conception, as he descends the
steps of the Government office and passes into the crowd, of all that
has been conveyed to him in the schedule of parchment. And, though acres
vast enough to make an English county are in his possession, rich and
loamy soil, or stored with mines of ore, yet he is not sensibly the
richer. For long days he travels, towards his inheritance and presently
pitches his flimsy shanty upon its borders. But even though he has
reached it, several years must pass before he can understand its value,
or compel it to minister, with all its products, to his need.
O child of God, thy estate has been procured at the cost of blood and
tears; but thou didst not buy it! Its broad acres have been made over to
thee by deed of gift. They became thine in the Council chamber of
eternity, when the Father gave Himself to thee in Jesus. And they became
thine in fact, when thou wast born at the foot of the cross. As soon as
thou didst open thine eyes to behold the crucified Lord, thou didst all
unconsciously become heir to the lengths and breadths, and depths, and
heights of God!
No sooner has the emigrant reached his estate, than he commences to
prospect it. He makes a circuit of its bounds; he ascends its loftiest
hills; he crosses and recrosses it, that he may know all that has come
into his ownership. And this is God's message to thee, O Christian soul!
Look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and
eastward, and westward; for all this land is given to thee! Precious
things of the sun and of the moon, for God is light; of the ancient
mountains of his faithfulness, and the everlasting hills of his truth;
of the fountains and brooks of his love, that gush spontaneously forth
to satisfy and enrich.
But next to this, the emigrant encloses some small part of his
inheritance, placing around it a tentative fence or partition; and here
he begins to expend toil and skill. The giant trees are cut down; and
their roots burnt out, or extracted by a team of horses. The
unaccustomed soil is brought beneath the yoke of the plough. The
grassland yields pasture to the cattle; and there is not a square inch
of the enclosed territory that does not minister to the needs of the new
proprietor. But not content with this, in the following year he pushes
his fences back further into the depth of prairie or forest, and again
renews his efforts to compel the land to yield him her secret stores.
Year after year the process is repeated, until, perhaps when twenty
years have come and gone, the fences are needed no longer, because the
extent of occupation is commensurate with the extent of the original
purchase.
Let every reader mark this, that supposing two men obtained a grant of
an equal number of acres, if other things were equal, their wealth would
be in exact proportion to the amount of use which each had made of his
special acres. If one had learnt a swifter art of appropriating the
wealth that lay open to his hand, he would be actually, though perhaps
not potentially, richer than his neighbour. All of which is a parable.
The difference that obtains between Christians is not one of grace, but
of the use we make of grace. That there are diversities of gift is
manifest; and there always will be a vast difference between those who
have five talents and those who have two, in the amount of work done for
the kingdom of God. But as far as our inheritance of God's grace is
concerned, there are no preferences, no step-children's portions, no
arbitrary distinctions. It is not as under the laws of primogeniture,
that one child takes all, while the younger children are dismissed with
meagre allowances. Each soul has the whole of God. God gives Himself to
each. He cannot give more; He will not give less than Himself.
If then you would know why it is that some of God's children live lives
so much fuller and richer than others, you must seek it in the
differences of their appropriation of God. Some have learnt the happy
art of receiving and utilizing every square inch if we may use the
expression of that knowledge of God which has been revealed to them.
They have laid all God's revealed character under contribution. They
have raised harvests of bread out of the Incarnation; and vintages of
blood-red grape from the scenes of Gethsemane and Calvary; and
pomegranates and all manner of fruit out of the mysteries of the
Ascension and the gift of the Holy Ghost. In hours of weakness they drew
on God's power; in those of suffering, on his patience; in those of
misunderstanding and hatred, on his vindication; in those of apparent
defeat and despair, on the promises that gleam over the smoke of the
battle, as the Cross before the gaze of Constantine; in death itself, on
the life and immortality which find their home in the being of Jehovah.
The analogy that we have quoted, however, fails us utterly in its final
working out. The emigrant at last covers his estate, its mines become
exhausted, its forests levelled, its soil impoverished; but when a
million years have passed, the nature of God will lie before us as
utterly unexplored and unexhausted, as when the first-born son of light
commenced like a Columbus in the spiritual realm to explore the contents
of the illimitable continent, God.
When we were children, the map of Africa gave us a few scattered names
around the coast line; but the great interior was blank. Modern maps
containing the results Of the explorations of Livingstone, Stanley,
Burton, tell another story of river, Savannah, tableland, and of myriads
of inhabitants. Probably, ere long the whole will have been opened up to
European civilization and commerce. But with God this shall never be. We
shall never know the far-away springs of the Niles and Congo's of his
nature; we shall never unravel the innermost secret of his being. (The
Reciprocal Inheritance)
WITH A VIEW TO THE REDEMPTION OF
GOD'S OWN POSSESSION: eis apolutrosin tes peripoieseos, eis epainon tes
doxes autou:
(Ep
4:30; Leviticus 25:24-34; Psalms 74:2; 78:54; Jeremiah 32:7,8; Luke
21:28; Acts 20:28; Romans 8:23; 1Peter 2:9)
With a view to
(1519)
(eis) is a preposition of
motion signifying unto, towards. Metaphorically of a state or condition into which
one comes (in this case redeemed God's own possession forever)."
Redemption
(629)
(apolutrosis
[word study]
from apo =
marker of dissociation or separation + lútron = ransom from lúo
= loosen what is bound -
How to do Greek
Word Study) describes the payment of a price to ransom, buy
back and deliver, from a situation from which was powerless to liberate
himself or from a penalty which one could never pay. It was used of
prisoners of war, slaves, those under penalty of death, of Israel when
set free from slavery in Egypt and for God's continual rescuing of His
people in the time of their trouble. In the NT, apolutrosis means to to
set free men who are prisoner to power of sin, the old nature inherited
from Adam, by the payment of a ransom price.
Possession
(4047)
(peripoiesis
[word study]
from perí
= acquisition + poiéo = make thus to acquire, purchase) expresses
the general
ideas of preserving, acquiring, or gaining for one’s self, without
specific reference to a price. Refers to the saints as God’s heritage
which He preserves for Himself.
TO
THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY:
(6,12)
Praise (1868)
(epainos
[word study]
from epí = upon
+ ainos = praise). In our humanly–oriented society, God’s wanting
exclusive credit seems inappropriate only because men have no concept of
His greatness, holiness glory. "
Epainos -
11x in 11v - Rom 2:29; 13:3; 1 Cor 4:5; 2 Cor 8:18; Eph 1:6, 12, 14;
Phil 1:11; 4:8; 1 Pet 1:7; 2:14. fame(1), praise(9), worthy of
praise(1).
Glory (1391) (doxa)
means to give a proper opinion or estimate of. God desires creatures
that will give Him glory by both proclaiming and displaying His glory.
For that reason He redeems men. God alone deserves glory
I like what Wayne
Barber says about Ephesians 1...
If you were to come to me and say,
"Wayne, if you had one chapter in the Bible that a new believer should
be studying and should understand, what chapter would it be?" I would
have to say the first chapter of Ephesians because in that chapter
everything that God has done for us is very carefully outlined. It shows
us His grace. It shows us His love. (Sermon)
F B Meyer
writes of the Spirit...
HE IS THE SEAL AND EARNEST OF OUR
INHERITANCE. (Ephesians 1:14) Upon the yielded soul the blessed Spirit
descends, bearing with Him the likeness of Jesus, which He imprints and
fixes, as a stamp will leave its die upon the softened wax. Only melted
gold is minted; only moistened clay is moulded; only softened wax
receives the die; only broken and contrite hearts can take and keep the
impress of heaven. If that is thy condition, wait beneath the pressure
of the Holy Spirit; He shall leave the image of Jesus upon thee, and
change thee into his likeness, from glory to glory.
This gracious operation is God's seal of authentication. It is as though
by an act that could not be mistaken, He said: This soul is
mine--redeemed and appropriated for my own possession; and it shall be
mine in the day when I make up my jewels. We place our seal on that
which is unmistakably our own, and deem to be of value; so the likeness
of Jesus wrought on us by the Spirit is the sign that God counts us his,
and reckons us to be his peculiar treasure.
It is also the earnest of our inheritance. The love, and joy, and peace,
which are wrought in us by the Blessed Spirit, are fragrant with the
scent and beautiful with the hues of Paradise. They are the grapes of
Eshcol; the peaches and pomegranates of the Homeland; the first notes of
angelic symphonies; the first flowers of the everlasting spring; the
herald rays of a morning that shall rise to the meridian glory of a
nightless day. We know that there is a land of pure delight, because we
have tasted its fruits; just as Columbus knew that he was drawing near
land, when the land-birds alighted on his ship, and the drift of the
waves told of human habitations.
Nay, more: we know, as we experience the gracious work of the Holy
Spirit, the quality, though not the infinite measure, of the blessedness
of heaven. The Spirit's work is not only the pledge; it is the specimen
of our inheritance.
><> ><> ><>
In Morning and
Evening, Spurgeon writes the following devotional on Ephesians
1:14...
Oh! what enlightenment, what joys,
what consolation, what delight of heart is experienced by that man who
has learned to feed on Jesus, and on Jesus alone. Yet the realization
which we have of Christ's preciousness is, in this life, imperfect at
the best. As an old writer says, "'Tis but a taste!" We have tasted
"that the Lord is gracious," but we do not yet know how good and
gracious he is, although what we know of his sweetness makes us long for
more. We have enjoyed the firstfruits of the Spirit, and they have set
us hungering and thirsting for the fulness of the heavenly vintage. We
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption. Here we are like
Israel in the wilderness, who had but one cluster from Eshcol, there we
shall be in the vineyard. Here we see the manna falling small, like
coriander seed, but there shall we eat the bread of heaven and the old
corn of the kingdom. We are but beginners now in spiritual education;
for although we have learned the first letters of the alphabet, we
cannot read words yet, much less can we put sentences together; but as
one says, "He that has been in heaven but five minutes, knows more than
the general assembly of divines on earth." We have many ungratified
desires at present, but soon every wish shall be satisfied; and all our
powers shall find the sweetest employment in that eternal world of joy.
O Christian, antedate heaven for a few years. Within a very little time
thou shalt be rid of all thy trials and thy troubles. Thine eyes now
suffused with tears shall weep no longer. Thou shalt gaze in ineffable
rapture upon the splendour of him who sits upon the throne. Nay, more,
upon his throne shalt thou sit. The triumph of his glory shall be shared
by thee; his crown, his joy, his paradise, these shall be thine, and
thou shalt be co-heir with him who is the heir of all things.
><> ><> ><>
Guaranteed Future - One day my friend Arthur Lewis, an
expert in biblical Greek, was walking along the streets of Athens.
Accompanying him was a professor who teaches Greek. They stopped
occasionally to read the signs in shop windows.
As they gazed into a jewelry store, they saw a sign with the word
arrabon
on it. When they entered and talked to the proprietor, he told
them that in modern Greek the word
arrabon
means "an engagement ring."
The Greek professor thought for a moment, then commented, "How
interesting! In the New Testament that's the term for 'a guarantee, a
down payment.'"
In Ephesians 1:13, 14, we are told that the Holy Spirit is given to
believers as an arrabon, a down payment, a guarantee of heaven. The
blessing of the Spirit's presence in our hearts is a foretaste of the
greater blessings we will enjoy when as the bride of Christ we are
eternally united with our Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus.
Now the Spirit lives in us to give us guidance and power to live for God
(Jn 16:13; Gal. 5:22, 23-note). But someday we'll have even more: We will
live in the very presence of God. With joyful anticipation we await that
day--for our future is guaranteed! --V C Grounds (Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
God's guidance and help that we need
day to day
Is given to all who believe;
The Spirit has sealed us--He's God's guarantee
That heaven we'll one day receive. --J D Brannon
The greatest joy on earth is the sure hope of heaven.
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