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.

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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.

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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)

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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!

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

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.

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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.

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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.