Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 1:13
In whom ye also [trusted,] after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
13. In whom ye also trusted] Here then (see last note) the thought moves from the general case of Christians to the particular case of the Ephesian Christians; “ we ” includes “ you.” The verb “trusted” is supplied by A. V. In R. V. we have: “In Whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation in Whom, having also believed, ye were sealed.” Here the second “in Whom” is treated as the resumption and repetition of the first, and the verb “ye were sealed” is connected with both. But a simpler explanation than either is possible; “ In Whom [ are ] ye also, having heard, &c.” And this adapts itself well to the repeated “in Whom”; as if to say, “In Whom you enjoy acceptance, attained by your reception of the message of salvation; in Whom further you experienced the special ‘seal’ of the Spirit” as an additional aspect of the privilege of union with Christ. But the grammatical difficulty does not affect the main import of the verse.
after that ye heard ] Better, on hearing; without the strong suggestion of sequence of time given by A. V. On the all-importance of “hearing,” in order to salvation, cp. Rom 10:14. The hearing may of course be literally with the ear, or not; but it must be the reception ab extra of a message, no mere result of thought or aspiration.
of truth ] Better, perhaps, of the truth; the Eternal Verity of Christ. So often in N. T. “truth” is truth not in general but in special; spiritual truth, Christian truth (cp. Joh 16:13, where lit. “He shall guide you into all the truth ”); a thing in harmony, of course, with all truth, scientific or other, but capable of being quite separately studied.
salvation ] The one place in the Epistle where the Gr. noun occurs; another noun being used Eph 6:17; which see. On the threefold aspect of “salvation” in Scripture see on Eph 2:5.
In whom also, &c.] Better, In Whom moreover, on believing, ye were sealed, &c. The Gr. does not forbid the rendering, “ on believing in Whom; ” but this demands an unusual construction. The Christian is here viewed as “ sealed in Christ; ” that is, as receiving a Divine attestation of his union with his Lord.
“ On believing ” : better than “ after believing,” because the Gr. does not emphasize sequence. It rather combines into one idea the facts of the faith and the seal. In experience, the latter might markedly follow the former; but not necessarily in the Divine ideal.
sealed ] So again Eph 4:30; and cp. 2Co 1:22. The idea of the phrase is a double one; attestation of reality (cp. Joh 3:33; Rom 4:11; 1Co 9:2), and claim of property (cp. Rom 15:28). “The Spirit” was at once the proof of the presence of Divine faith in the recipient, and the mark of Divine ownership over him. The latter view is the leading one in Eph 4:30. In the Fathers, the word “seal” is a frequent equivalent for Baptism; one explanation (given by Gregory of Nazianzus, cent. 4) being that Baptism was the “badge of lordship;” the mark of the Lord’s ownership. In the N. T. however the reference is plainly to something usually subsequent to Baptism, and we turn for illustration to the Acts. There we find many cases in which baptized converts receive supernatural powers, visible (Act 8:18) in their effects; which gifts in 1Co 12:14 are treated as things preeminently (in a certain sense) spiritual, the work of the Spirit. We find as a fact that these powers were conferred not in the ordinary ministry of the Church but in special connexion with the Apostles; at least, no clear case is to the contrary. So it is in Samaria (Act 8:14-18); at Csarea (Act 10:44-46); at Ephesus (Act 19:5-6). We do not find e.g. Philip the Evangelist (Acts 8) conveying these gifts. Ananias (Act 9:17) apparently does so to Saul at Damascus; but the circumstances in that case are unique. As a fact, the possession of Spiritual Gifts, in this sense, became early rare; a phenomenon falling in with this limitation of conveyance. And in one remarkable passage (1Co 13:8) we have inspired intimation that they were meant to cease. On these manifestations it will be here enough to remark that it is impossible in all details to lay down a precise theory, for instance as to the demarcation of the “gifts” from the “ordinary” graces of faith, hope and love, things equally due, in their regenerate exercise, to Divine agency; while on the other hand we soon, in observation, practically reach a point where the “gifts” and the “graces” (to use convenient though inexact terms) diverge. The connexion is always close, for both are effects of the same Power; the difference is real, for the “gifts” are limited by many circumstances, and are rather means to ends than ends, while the “graces” are universal and essential in the regenerate character, and in fact constitute that character, and are thus true ends. Cp. especially 1Co 12:31; 1Co 13:1-2 ; 1Co 14:22.
that holy Spirit of promise ] Lit. the Spirit of the promise, the Holy One; the Personal Paraclete, the great burthen of the promises of the Son (Luk 11:13; Joh 7:39; Joh 14:16; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26, &c.), and of the Father (Luk 24:49; Act 1:4-5).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In whom ye also trusted – This stands in contrast with those who had first embraced the gospel.
Heard the word of truth – The gospel; called the word or message of truth, the word of God, etc. See Rom 10:17. The phrase the word of truth means the true word or message. It was a message unmixed with Jewish traditions or Gentile philosophy.
The gospel of your salvation – The gospel bringing salvation to you.
In whom also – In the Lord Jesus. A little different translation of this verse will convey more clearly its meaning. In whom also, ye, having heard the word of truth, (the gospel of your salvation,) in whom having also believed, ye were sealed, etc. The sealing was the result of believing, and that was the result of hearing the gospel; compare Rom 10:14-15.
Ye were sealed – On the meaning of the word seal, see the notes at Joh 3:33; Joh 6:27, note. On the phrase ye were sealed, see the notes on 2Co 1:22.
With that Holy Spirit of promise – With the Holy Spirit that was promised; see Joh 16:7-11, Joh 16:13; Joh 15:26; Joh 14:16-17. It is not improbable, I think, that the apostle here refers particularly to the occurrence of which we have a record in Act 19:1-6. Paul, it is there said, having passed through the upper provinces of Asia Minor, came to Ephesus. He found certain persons who were the disciples of John, and he asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit since they believed, Eph 1:2. They replied that they had not heard whether there was any Holy Spirit, and that they had been baptized unto Johns baptism. Paul taught them the true nature of the baptism of John; explained to them the Christian system; and they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. They were thus sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, after they had believed Eph 1:13; they had the full evidence of the favor of God in the descent of the promised Holy Spirit, and in his miraculous influences. If this be the true interpretation, it constitutes a striking coincidence between the Epistle and the Acts , of such a nature as constitute the arguments in Paleys Horae Paulinae (though he has not referred to this), which shows that the Epistle was not forged. The circumstance is such that it would not have been alluded to in this manner by one who should forge the Epistle; and the mention of it in the Epistle is so slight, that no one, from the account there, would think of forging the account in the Acts . The coincidence is just such as would occur on the supposition that the transaction actually occurred, and that both the Acts and the Epistle are genuine. At the same time, there is a sealing of the Holy Spirit which is common to all Christians; see the notes referred to on 2Co 1:22.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 1:13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
The functions of the Word and the Spirit
1. God, by the hearing of His word, makes us partakers in His Spirit (Joh 6:45; Eph 4:21; Col 1:6). As the ground cannot be quickened with fruits till it receive seed and the clews from heaven, no more can our soul be quickened with the spirit and fruits of the Spirit, till by hearing it has taken in this seed immortal, and drunk in this heavenly shower of Gods Word. It is not every hearing which is accompanied with the Spirit, but hearing with the heart, so as the heart is affected to do what it hears.
(1) Where there is much hearing, yet the Word is not there heard as it should be. Some are viler after hearing than before. With much hearing they have become past hearing. As those who dwell near the continual roaring of mighty waters become deaf through constantly hearing such a great noise, so there are many who have so long had the Word of God in their ears, that they cannot discern anything in it, no matter what is spoken.
(2) This must teach us to attend on hearing. Wouldst thou keep the Spirit from being quenched? Despise not prophecy, i.e., hearing the Scriptures opened to thy use. Even as the conduit pipes carry the water hither and thither, so does the Word convey the graces of the Spirit into our hearts.
2. The word of the gospel is that which, being heard, brings us the quickening Spirit. Hence the ministry of the gospel is called the ministry of the Spirit.
3. All Gods promises made in Christ are true and faithful.
(1) Let us not give God the lie by our deeds. He that believeth not, maketh God a liar.
(2) Let this strengthen our faith toward the promises of God.
4. It is not enough to hear, but we must believe before we can partake of the good Spirit of Christ.
(1) Let us labour to be one with Him by faith.
(2) Let us take care that our faith is active and productive of holiness. Otherwise it is worthless.
5. The faithful are, as it were by seal, confirmed touching their salvation and full redemption (Eph 4:30; 2Co 1:22). As God sealed His Christ, as the Person in whom He would be glorious by working our redemption, so He seals us who are believers, for persons who shall have redemption by Him. Even as persons contracting do mutually seal and deliver each of them their deeds in several: so between God and the believer; the believer does by faith set to his seal, as it were, that God is true in that which He promises (Joh 3:33), and God seals unto the believer that he shall be infallibly brought to the salvation he has believed.
(1) A seal sometimes makes secret the thing sealed. So the graces of the Spirit make believers unknown to the world.
(2) A seal distinguishes. Believers are set apart from the world.
(3) A seal authenticates.
6. The Holy Spirit, and the graces of the Spirit, are the seal assuring our redemption.
7. The Holy Spirit, not only as a seal, but as earnest money, confirms to us our inheritance. It is not with the Spirit and His gifts as with the sun and its light–the body of the sun being in the heavens, while the light is with us here on earth; but we are to conceive the Spirit Himself dwelling in this sanctuary of grace which He has Himself erected in our souls. Even as men assure others that they will pay them the whole sum due for this or that, by giving an earnest; so God makes us, as it were, part payment, that we may be persuaded of His gracious purpose of bringing us to our heavenly inheritance.
(1) An earnest is part of the whole.
(2) An earnest is but little compared to the whole.
(3) An earnest assures him who receives of the good intention of him with whom he contracts. (Paul Bayne.)
The Spirits application of the promises to the believers heart
The sealing of the Spirit is evidently a distinct act from faith, and the sealing of the Holy Spirit appears to be a metaphorical expression to denote that the same Divine Agent who had implanted in their souls a principle of faith, and brought this principle into exercise, had likewise produced in their minds an assurance of their interest in the premises of the gospel, and in the blessings of salvation by a Redeemer. Preliminary observations.
(1) There is such a Being as the Holy Spirit (Gen 6:3; Pro 1:23; Luk 11:13; Joh 7:37-40; Rom 8:16; Rom 8:26; Eph 4:30).
(2) The Holy Spirit is a Divine Person.
(3) This Divine Spirit is the subject of many revealed and precious promises.
(4) A true and saving faith in Christ is the special gift of the Divine Spirit–a principle produced by His gracious operations on the heart, and ordinarily effected by means of a preached gospel.
(5) It is the peculiar office of the Holy Spirit to carry on and complete the work of sanctification in those who believe, and to comfort their minds by a sweet and spiritual application of the promises of grace in Christ Jesus to their souls.
(6) It is a matter of unspeakable importance to know and believe, on substantial evidence, that we are the subjects of the Spirits sanctifying and comforting influences. We inquire, then, How may we know this?
1. Our characters must answer to the characters of those who have a right to claim an interest in the promises. They only who are brought to believe truly in Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
2. We must be led to see our need of His assistance.
3. Our state must be that of those for whom the promises are designed. Sorrow for sin, fear of God, etc. (Psa 31:19; Psa 27:14; Psa 18:30; Psa 37:40; Psa 32:10; Psa 112:7). If God be not the object of our reverence, confidence, and love, these promises do not belong to us.
4. In the application of a promise of Scripture to the heart, the Holy Spirit impresses the mind with a conviction that the promise is true, and gives the soul a persuasion on scriptural grounds, that God is both able and willing to perform it.
5. We may know that a promise of Scripture is applied to the mind by the Holy Spirit, when, upon a strict and impartial examination, we are directed to conclude that we are possessed of those several qualifications and graces of the Christian life which are inseparably connected with a right application of the promises to the heart (see Gal 5:22-23). These graces are not the causes, but the necessary evidences of an interest in the promises.
6. There is ground to believe that we are interested in the promises, when our general conduct, both personally and relatively, answers to the rules and obligations prescribed in the Word of God (Heb 12:14).
Inferences:
1. Let us rejoice in the promises of revelation, and bless God for them.
2. Let us examine, strictly and closely, the foundation of our title to the promises.
3. Let those who have felt and enjoyed the application of the promises to their souls remember their obligations to sovereign mercy. (The Pulpit.)
How Divine grace is manifested
Let us observe how the operations of Divine grace are manifested in those who are the objects of it–that is, how those who are the objects of Divine grace are to be known.
I. The power of Divine grace was proved in their attention to the word preached by the apostle.
II. Faith in the Gospel of Christ, and trust in the Lord Jesus, is the manifestation of the power of Divine grace.
III. The power of Divine grace, and their election to their inheritance, were manifested by the operations and influences of the Holy Spirit upon them. (R. J. McGhee, M. A.)
Truth and trust
I. The Gospel which the Ephesians heard is designated–
1. The word of truth, because in itself emphatically and entirely true. History, not romance. Christs miracles were real events, manifesting the divinity of His person and mission; His doctrines, precepts, promises, threatenings, are the truthful declarations of the God of truth.
(1) Evidential proof, from the testimony of the Church, etc.
(2) Moral proof, from the witness of heart and conscience. The gospel, in some mysterious manner, is its own sufficient witness, and convinces the conscience of every man who prayerfully peruses it, that it is not a fable, but the word of truth. A most merciful provision of Almighty God! A man goes as a missionary among far off barbarians; how is he to convince these that the gospel he is gone to preach is not false, but true? How can the man do it? He has not the power to heal the sick, as the first evangelists and preachers of Christs gospel had; he has not power to hush the elements, to expel devils, or to raise the dead, and, by such means, win the confidence and faith of his barbarous congregations. Nor would it be of any use for him to point out to such barbarians the evidences of Christianity arising from miracles and from history; such things are above their comprehension. Yet, despite all this, the man succeeds, and everywhere multitudes voluntarily renounce their idols and embrace Christianity–the gospel carrying kith it its own credentials, and commending itself to every mans conscience in the sight of God.
(3) Divine truth, taught by God Himself, and which none but God could teach, and the very truth which meets mans needs, is found in the gospel. The gospel is a sun of Gods own kindling, and the more you look at it the more you are dazzled by its unearthly splendour and Divine magnificence. Its truths are too big to be the inventions of the human intellect. It is a sun which knows no eclipse and no change.
2. The gospel of salvation.
(1) Salvation is its great theme.
(2) Salvation is the end at which it aims.
II. The faith and the trust which the Ephesians exercised on hearing the Gospel.
1. Historical belief in the Messiah-ship of Jesus of Nazareth.
2. Heartfelt trust and hope in His sacrificial sufferings and death, for present and personal salvation. Having believed Him to be what He said He was, they were emboldened to trust that He would do what He had promised. (Luke Tyerman.)
Difference between belief and trust
Imagine a storm at sea. There is a ship tossed as the merest plaything on the maddened waves, while the tempest round about roars like a black spirit from the vast abyss, and the sky overhead is bent down with the rumbling vengeance of rolling thunder. The sails of the ship shiver; the planks give way; the men on board are pale with terror, for they are all conscious that they are in the utmost danger of being drowned. Their hearts beat; their bosoms heave; their lips quiver; their eyes stare. They think as they best can of their beloved friends, far, far away; and then they look at the foaming, boiling, billowy sea which is likely to become their grave; and for awhile all is deep, and dead, and significant, and solemn silence. At length silence can endure no longer; and now, mingling with the howling and raging of the storm, you hear cries and groans and prayers, such as none but persons who are conscious that they are perishing can utter. In this fearful crisis a boat appears, and approaching them it offers to rescue them, and promises to ensure their safety. How is the offer treated? One group of the drowning men believe that the boat is not a pirate, but a friend–that its pretensions are sincere, and that its flag is genuine; but they still stand and fear and hesitate. One says that the boat is for the better class of passengers, not for a poor, miserable, degraded wretch like him. Another is free from all fear such as that, and yet he hesitates to step into the boat. Why? He looks at the dashing waves; and he listens to the howling winds, and he thinks of the distance between him and the nearest shore; and, all things being thus considered, he fears that the boat is not strong enough to outride the storm; and hence, despite warning words and inviting looks, the poor timorous man in question, as well as the self-deprecating one already mentioned, neglects to rush into the boat, and so is lost. Here you have a representation of an immensely numerous class of persons in the Christian Church–persons who believe in Christ, and yet for various reasons fail to trust in Christ. How many believe in Christ as a Saviour, but dare not trust in Christ as their Saviour! They believe He waits to save others, but they dare not trust that He will save them. How many others, again, there are who, whilst they believe that Christ loved them and gave Himself for them, dare not trust in the simple means which Christ has prescribed (or sinners being saved! They dare not. Looking, on the one hand, at the badness of their hearts, and the guiltiness of their lives, and then, on the other hand, looking at the simple and easy method of salvation which Christ propounds, they dare not trust in its sufficiency. They fear the thing is too simple to be right, and they say they dare not trust for the welfare of their souls, in time and in eternity, merely on the merits of another. This may be quite sufficient, but they are afraid it may be otherwise. There they are, believing Christ, but not trusting Christ; and for want of trust they perish. (Luke Tyerman.)
Union of faith and trust
Another class on the foundering ship see the lightnings flash, and hear the thunders roll; they see the ocean tossed in tempest, and think of their distance from the nearest haven. Their plight is perilous–terrifically perilous; but the boat approaches, and is close at hand, They read the inscription on its flag; they listen to the invitations, and to the pledges of its commander; they count the cost; they know that the case is desperate. Anyhow, they feel their case cannot be worse than it is; and so, amid the tattering of sails and the splintering of masts, and forked lightnings and thunders terrible, amid howling winds and dashing waves, amid hearings and rockings and creakings and crackings, the poor perishing wretches make a rush, and, with a desperate leap, they trust themselves to the lifeboat which offers them assistance. Such were the Christian converts at Ephesus. They believed in Christ; i.e., they believed that He was no adventurer, but, in reality, what He professed to be:; but in addition to that historical faith in Christ there was also trust in Christ. They not only believed Him to be a Saviour, but trusted in Him as their Saviour–even theirs. Renouncing trust in everything else, they trusted in Christ, in His merits alone, for acceptance with God, and for the gift of eternal life in Him. Damned or saved, cursed or blessed, sink or swim, they made the venture, and put their whole trust for personal and for endless salvation in the merits and mediation of this Divine Redeemer. And with what result? In this lifeboat of salvation, launched by the illimitable benevolence of God, crimsoned all over with the blood of the Paschal Lamb, and bearing a banner emblazoned with the Cross, they found all they needed. The wind was sometimes boisterous; the sea was sometimes rough; ever and anon the waves dashed the rocks, lashed the cliffs, and seemed to splash the very skies; but in the midst of all the violence the boat is borne without a shrunken plank, or a tattered sail, or a splintered mast. (Luke Tyerman.)
The Ephesians faith
I. The object of their faith.
1. The word of truth. It contains all that truth which concerns our present duty and our future glory.
2. The gospel of our salvation, It discovers to us our ruined, helpless condition; the mercy of God to give us salvation; the way in which it is procured for us; the terms on which we may become interested in it; the evidences by which our title to it must be ascertained; and the glory and happiness which it comprehends.
II. The forwardness, and yet reasonableness, of their faith. They trusted in Christ after they heard the word of truth. They acted as honest and rational men: they did not trust before they heard it, nor refuse to trust after they heard it.
III. The happy consequence of their faith.
1. The sealing of the Spirit.
2. The earnest of the Spirit.
(1) The virtues of the Christian temper, which are called the fruit of the Spirit, are to believers an earnest of their inheritance, because they are, in part, a fulfilment of the promise, which conveys the inheritance.
(2) The graces of the Spirit are an earnest of the inheritance, as they are preparatives for it.
(3) The sealing and sanctifying influence of the Spirit is especially called an earnest of the inheritance, because it is a part of the inheritance given beforehand. Concluding reflections:
1. Our subject teaches us that all the operations of the Divine Spirit on the minds of men are of a holy nature and tendency.
2. Our subject strongly encourages humble souls to apply to God for the needful influences of His grace.
3. It appears that we can have no conclusive evidence of a title to heaven, without the experience of a holy temper.
4. We see that Christians are under indispensable obligations to universal holiness. (J. Lathrop, D. D.)
The effect of hearing the gospel
I. We are to consider the interesting light in which the gospel is represented in the text.
1. It is described as the word of truth. And it is thus designated, because it is not the word of man, but in truth the Word of God.
2. It is the gospel of your salvation. The best explanation of the word gospel, perhaps, is that given by the angel to the shepherds, when he announced to them the birth of the Saviour in these words, Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, etc.
(1) It is the gospel of our salvation, in the first place, because it acquaints us with our need of salvation. It does not take for granted that all is well with us. It does not flatter our pride, by giving us a lofty description of the dignity of human nature, or by furnishing us with a favourable account of our spiritual condition, Like a faithful friend, it lays before us a true, though a painful statement of our case. Like a skilful physician, it probes our wound to the bottom.
(2) But while it thus acquaints us with our disease, it does not leave us in the dark as to a remedy–a suitable and efficacious remedy. It does not, like the priest and the Levite in the parable, leave us to perish unpitied by the wayside. Like the good Samaritan, it has compassion on us, and binds up our wounds, pouring in oil and wine. It reveals to us a new and living way, opened by the obedience and death of Gods incarnate Son, through which we may not only escape the dreadful consequences of our sins, but secure to ourselves the possession of a glorious and eternal inheritance.
3. Moreover, the gospel, when accompanied with the influence of the Holy Spirit, is itself the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.
II. The biassed effect which the hearing of this gospel is stated to have had on the Ephesians. In whom, that is, in Christ, ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Christ is the sum and substance of the gospel. All the rays of its Divine light meet in Him as in their common centre. But it may be asked, What is meant by trusting in Christ?–or, What does the expression imply?
1. It implies that we have faith in His power or ability to save; faith in the all-cleansing virtue of His blood, in the perfection of His righteousness, in the prevailing efficacy of His intercession, in the all-sufficiency of His grace, in the everlasting strength of His arm, in His providential care and protection. Such a faith as this, it is plain, is absolutely necessary in order to our having anything like trust or confidence in Him. We must be fully persuaded that He can help us.
2. That trusting in Christ implies that we have faith in His mercy and grace, no less than faith in His power. It is not a persuasion of ability alone that can inspire confidence in the applicant for Divine aid. He must be equally convinced that sympathy and benevolence are connected with it; in other words, he must believe that there is in Christ a disposition to exert His almighty power for his relief.
3. Trust in Christ implies a simplicity of dependence upon Him for salvation.
4. Trust in the Lord, when steadfast and immovable, such as we may suppose that of the Ephesians to have been, implies a lively hope and expectation of receiving from Him all things that appertain unto life and godliness. A child, while he is conscious of being under the care and protection of a kind and affectionate father, fears nothing; but looks up to him with confidence for a due supply of all his wants. That parental love, tenderness, and care, of which he has constantly received the most pleasing and substantial proofs, leave him no room to doubt his fathers disposition to succour and provide for him, but beget and cherish in his bosom the most lively hopes and expectations. Similar, then, are the feelings which those who trust in Christ manifest towards Him. (D. Rees.)
The biography of trust
Trust in Christ is the fruit of faith in Him. We cannot believe Gods record concerning Christ without trusting in Him; and faith, which is the root of trust, cometh by hearing the word of the truth of the gospel. The word heard produces faith, and the Holy Ghost is the seal of the word believed. Trust in Jesus Christ regards Him from our standpoint as He is revealed to us in the word of the truth of the gospel. But the gospel reveals him to us from Gods standpoint as all in all, made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. There is nothing that God sees to be good for us that we may not have by trusting in Christ. He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Imagine being in the centre of the circle of mercies!–mercy above, mercy beneath, mercy around us. All Gods fulness is laid up for us in Jesus Christ, and abounds to us in superabounding mercies. Jesus Christ was the promise of the Old Testament to be believed. The Holy Ghost is the promise of the New Testament, and is from Christ to us who believe the seal of our union with Him. In whom ye also trusted. There are three truths here stated, and referring in common to both those who first trusted in Christ and ye also.
1. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth.
2. In whom also we have obtained an inheritance (verse 11).
3. In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. We both have trusted. We have both obtained an inheritance. We have both been sealed. Chosen! in Him before the foundation of the world. Blessed! adopted! accepted! redeemed! forgiven!–and sealed for all these in Him! (M. Rainsford, B. A.)
The inheritance and the seal
I. The apostle here shows how or by what means the inheritance is obtained, i.e., how anyone comes actually to have a right and interest in it. When speaking of his own interest in the inheritance, the apostles mind was occupied with a sense of that sovereign good pleasure of God, which is the foundation of all grace and mercy, and he seized on the opportunity of rendering praise to that original cause of his salvation. And so he might have spoken with regard to the Ephesians, for they likewise had been predestinated unto the adoption of children. But he rather refers in their case to the means by which that had been brought about under God. These are first, the word of truth, the gospel of salvation; second, the hearing that word; and third, the believing in Christ through the word. The first may be called the outward means, viz., the word read but especially preached; the second the inward means, hearing, i.e., the inward passage of the word through the sense of hearing and the intellect; and the third, the inner or inmost means, viz., faith, which is a thing of the heart or soul within. This accords with the statement made elsewhere, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Here is a threefold cord not easily broken, by which man, in a way suitable to his nature, is drawn effectually heavenward from the horrible pit and the miry clay, into which all have plunged by sin.
1. The outward means, the word of truth–the gospel of salvation. The latter of these clauses explains the former. The word of truth is the gospel of salvation.
2. The necessity of hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation. This is the means by which the saving truth of God reaches the conscience and the heart.
3. It had become effectual to the Ephesians, who, after they had heard, says the apostle, believed in Christ. The truth had penetrated into their hearts, and there produced all those effects which at last resulted in a living faith or trust in the Saviour. How the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, had operated, what process it had followed, what advancing states of mind, conscience, and feeling it had given rise to in the inner chamber of the soul, the apostle does not delay to specify. Certain convictions would be produced–convictions of ignorance, of depravity, of guilt. New light broke into the mind on spiritual and heavenly things, setting before them in clear manifestation Gods blessed and holy nature, His righteous law, His inflexible justice, whilst heaven and hell were disclosed to view. The terrible dominion of Satan, and their own bondage under him to sin, were revealed. Then the Deliverer, the Son of the Mighty One, was preached to them, nigh to justify, able to save to the uttermost. Seeing and believing all this, their hearts were at length moved in willing obedience to the gospel of their salvation. They submitted to the righteousness of God in Christ, and cast their own to the winds.
II. What are some of the present advantages possessed by those who have obtained that inheritance, and who are the heirs of eternal life?
1. Believers are sealed and made safe by the Holy Spirit. It is commonly understood that a seal put upon a letter or document secures it against detriment from any unfavourable quarter. The breaking of a seal would bring down the strong penalty of the law on the offender. The seal of the sovereign is the highest guarantee that can be afforded for the validity of any right, title, or possession which a subject can enjoy.
2. Believers are evidenced of the Holy Spirit as sealing them. (W. Alves, M. A.)
The gospel of salvation
Salvation in its proper sense means deliverance from something that is feared or suffered. For though salvation is sometimes taken to denote the happiness of heaven, yet still even then it directs our attention to those miseries out of which it is necessary that we be rescued before heaven can either be attained or enjoyed. That we may understand, therefore, the full import of this term, salvation, so frequently used and so vaguely apprehended, we must look to the situation in which we stand as sinners. We must look to it in its every aspect and in all its extent. We cannot at present do more than take a rapid sketch of those particular and specific benefits which are denoted by the term salvation in reference to the evils from which it delivers.
1. It implies deliverance from ignorance–not from ignorance of human science or of worldly objects, with which however the gospel that reveals it does not forbid us to make ourselves acquainted, and upon which it throws a sanctifying light–but from ignorance of God, the first and the last, the greatest and the wisest, the holiest and the best of beings; the maker of all things; the centre of all perfection; the fountain of all happiness.
2. The salvation here spoken of implies deliverance from guilt.
3. The salvation we have been considering implies deliverance from the power of sin. We are naturally the slaves of this power. Sin reigns in us, as the descendants of apostate Adam. We cannot throw off its yoke by any virtue or efforts of our own. And so long as it maintains its ascendency, we are degraded, and polluted, and miserable. But provision is made in the gospel for our emancipation.
4. The salvation of the gospel implies deliverance from the ills and calamities of life. It does not imply this literally. For under the dispensation of the gospel there is, strictly speaking, no exemption from bodily disease, from outward misfortune, or from the thousand distresses that humanity is heir to. But Christ has given such views of the providence of God, He has brought life and immortality so clearly to light, and has so modified and subdued the operations of sin, which is the immediate or the ultimate cause of all our sufferings, that these are no longer real evils to them that believe.
5. The salvation here mentioned implies deliverance from the power and the fear of death.
6. And then, while the salvation revealed in the gospel implies our deliverance from all these evils, it also implies our admission into the heavenly state. It is in order to bring us there at last that all the other benefits we have been speaking of were conferred upon us. We were delivered from ignorance that we might know what heaven is–that we might be made acquainted with the way that leads to it–that we might be aware of the preparation necessary for dwelling in it. We were delivered from the sentence of condemnation that our forfeiture of heaven might be annulled, and that God might justly and consistently introduce us into its recompense and its glory. We were delivered from the power of sin that, by the removal of moral depravity, and the renewal of Gods image on the soul, and the cultivation of holy habits, we might be qualified for the exercises and the joys of heaven, which are all most pure and immaculate. We were delivered from the ills and calamities of life as to all their evil influence, that they might be made instrumental in purifying our character, that they might be prevented from discouraging us in our progress towards heaven, and that they might enhance our blessedness there, by the greatness of our transition from trouble and sorrow to rest and joy. And we were delivered from the power and the fear of death that soul and body, united as constituent parts of the same redeemed child of God, might become, in heaven, joint partakers of that felicity for which they had acquired a joint title, and for which they made a joint preparation, upon earth; and that, regarding death as a messenger of peace rather than as the king of terrors, the prospect of his coming to summon us away might comfort us in the midst of those distresses, while it stimulated us to the discharge of those duties by which our meetness for glory would be hastened and matured. (Andrew Thomson, D. D.)
Trusting brings salvation
Well, says one, then if God commands me to trust Christ, though I certainly have no reason why I should, then Ill do it. Ah! soul, do it then. Can you do it? Can you trust him now? Is it a full trust? Are you leaning on your feelings? Give them up. Are you depending a little on what you mean to do? Give that up. Do you trust Him wholly? Can you say, His blessed wounds, His flowing blood, His perfect righteousness, on these I rest. I do trust Him, wholly? Are you half afraid to say you do? Do you think it is such a bold thing? Do it then; do a bold thing for once I Say, Lord, Ill trust Thee, and if Thou cast me away, Ill still trust Thee; I bless Thee that Thou canst save me, and that Thou wilt save me. Can you say that? I say, have you believed in Him? You are saved, then; you are not in a salvable state, but you are saved; not partly, but wholly saved; not some of your sins blotted out, but all; behold the whole list, and it is written at the bottom of them all–The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The way of salvation
They
(1) heard;
(2) believed;
(3) were sealed.
Faith is our seal. Assurance is Gods seal. God honours our sealing to His truth by His sealing by His Spirit. There must be the bargain before the earnest. (Trapp.)
Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
The sealing of the Spirit
There are many who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who are extremely anxious to obtain some token for good, some witness from God which shall render them quite sure that they are saved. They feel that these matters are too important to be left at all uncertain; and they, therefore, pine for some sure witness or seal.
I. First, let us speak of the position of this sealing. That sealing we can have, God does bestow it; but let us notice very carefully, lest we make a mistake, where that sealing comes in.
1. It does not come before believing. According to the text it is after that ye believed, ye were sealed. Now, there are hundreds of persons who are craving for something to see or to feel before they will believe in Jesus Christ; this is wickedness, and the result of an unbelief which is most offensive in the sight of God. If not a miracle, perhaps you demand a dream, or a strange feeling, or a mysterious operation; at any rate, if you do not see some sign and wonder, you declare that you will not believe.
2. Note, also, that this sealing does not necessarily come at once with faith. It grows out of faith, and comes after that ye believed. We are not in every case sealed at the moment when we first trust in Jesus. Whether you feel that you are justified or not is not the point, you are to accept Gods word, which assures you that every one that believeth is justified: you are bound to believe the testimony of God apart from the supporting evidence of inward experience. The foundation of our hope is laid in Christ from first to last, and if we rest there we are saved. The seal does not always come with faith, but it follows after.
3. Note, also, as to the position of its sealing, that, while it is not the first, it is not the last thing in the Divine life. It comes after believing, but when you obtain it there is something yet to follow. Perhaps you have had the notion that if you could once be told from the mouth of God Himself that you were saved, you would then lie down and cease from lifes struggle. It is clear, therefore, that such an assurance would be an evil thing for you, for a Christian is never more out of place than when he dreams that he has ceased from conflict. Here we must labour, watch, run, fight, wrestle, agonise; all our forces, strengthened by the Eternal Spirit, must be expended in this high enterprise, striving to enter in at the strait gate: when we have obtained the sealing our warfare is not ended, we have only then received a foretaste of the victory, for which we must still fight on. This is the true position of the sealing. It stands between the grace which enables us to believe, and the glory which is our promised inheritance.
II. We will notice, secondly, what are the benefits of this sealing, and while we are so doing, we shall be compelled to state what we think that sealing is, though that is to be the subject of the third head. No, brethren, the Holy Spirit does not make the promises sure, they are sure of themselves; God that cannot lie has uttered them, and therefore they cannot fail. Nor, my brethren, does the Holy Spirit make sure our interest in those promises; that interest in the promises was sure in the Divine decree, or ever the earth was, and is a matter of fact which cannot be changed. The promises are already sure to all the seed. The Holy Spirit makes us sure that the word is true and that we are concerned in it; but the promise was sure beforehand, and our interest in that promise was sure, too, from the moment in which it was bestowed upon us by the sovereign act of God. To understand our text, you must notice that it is bounded by two words, In whom, which two words are twice given in this verse. In whom, after that ye believed, ye were sealed. What is meant by In whom? The words signify In Christ. It is in Christ that the people of God are sealed. We must therefore understand this sealing as it would relate to Christ, since so far, and so far only, can it relate to us. Was our Lord sealed? Turn to Joh 6:27, and there you have this exhortation: Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed. There is the clue to our text. Him hath God the Father sealed: for since our sealing is in Him, it must be the same sealing.
1. Notice, then, first, that the ever-blessed Son was sealed on the Fathers part by Gods giving a testimony to Him that He was indeed His own Son, and the sent one of the Lord. As when a king issues a proclamation, he sets his seal manual to it to say, This is mine; so when the Father sent His Son into the world, He gave Him this testimony, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He said this in words, but how did He give a perpetual testimony by a seal, which should be with Him throughout life? It was by anointing Him with the Holy Spirit. The seal that Jesus was the Messiah was that the Spirit of God rested upon Him without measure. Hence we read expressions like these: He was justified in the Spirit, He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. Now, the Spirit of God, wherever it abides upon a man, is the mark that that man is accepted of God. We say not that where the Spirit merely strives at intervals there is any seal of Divine favour, but where He abides it is assuredly so. The very fact that we possess the Spirit of God is Gods testimony and seal in us that we are His, and that as He has sent His Son into the world, even so does He send us into the world.
2. To our Lord Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit was a seal for His own encouragement. Our Lord condescended to restrain the power of His own Godhead, and as a servant He depended upon the Father for support. When He began His ministry He encouraged Himself thus–The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has sent Me to bind up the broken hearted. He found His stimulus of service, He found the authorization of His service, He found His comfort and strength for service, in the fact that God had given Him the Holy Spirit. This was His joy.
3. An evidence to others.
4. A witness to the world. Christ spake with authority. Men knew not what Spirit He was of, but they knew they hated it, and straightway they began to oppose Hind. Those who have the same seal must expect the same treatment. Never in this world did the Spirit of promise appear without opposition from the spirit of bondage.
5. For perseverance to the end.
III. Consider the sealing itself. The very fact that the Spirit of God works in you to will and to do according to Gods good pleasure, is your seal; you do not require anything beyond. I do not say that any one operation of the Holy Spirit is to be regarded as the seal, but the whole of them together, as they prove His being within us, make up that seal. It is better, however, to keep to the doctrine that the Spirit of God in the believer is Himself the seal. Now let us look at what the context tells us about this.
1. If you read on, the apostle tells us that wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God are part of the seal. See, then, if ye have believed in Jesus Christ the Spirit of God comes upon you, and He gives you wisdom and revelation. Doctrines in the Word which you never understood before become clear to you the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; the blessings promised are more distinctly discerned, and you see the hope of your calling, and the riches of the glory of the Lords inheritance in the saints. The deeper truths, which at first quite staggered and puzzled you, gradually open up to you, and you see and appreciate them,.
2. Following on to the next chapter you will see that the Spirit of God works in every man who possesses Him life, and that life becomes another form of the seal. You hath He quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. That life is of a new kind, and has a renewing power, so that men forsake the course of this world, and no longer fulfil the desires of the flesh and of the mind. This new life they trace to God, who is rich in mercy, who in His great love wherewith He loved them, even when they were dead in sins, hath quickened them together with Christ.
3. Go on a little further, and you will notice upon the seal a further mark–fellowship (Eph 2:12-14). Those who have believed in Jesus Christ are led by the Spirit of God to love their fellow Christians, and thus we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.
4. Even more striking is that which follows, namely, that we have fellowship with God. The apostle speaks of us as reconciled unto God by the Cross, by which the enmity is slain, and he says of our Lord, Through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. I am following the course of the chapter. When you and I feel that we commune with God, that there is no quarrel between Him and us, that He is loved of us as we are loved of Him, that we can draw near to Him in prayer and speak to Him, that He hears us and deigns to grant us gracious answers of peace, these are blessed seals of salvation.
5. The apostle next puts in up building (Eph 2:20-21). Are you not conscious, believers, that you are being built up unto a divinely glorious form, after a high and noble model?
6. Last of all, the second chapter finishes up by saying, In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit, and this seems to me to gather up all that I have said before. The indwelling of the Spirit in the saints, in the whole of them united, and in each one in particular, is a choice seal. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The great Christian gift
This sacred presence of the Holy Spirit of God in our hearts, with its three great effects–
(1) of making us Gods beloved and accepted children,
(2) of joining us invisibly in a close and mystical union with Christ and His Church, and–
(3) of giving us a gift of new, sacred, spiritual life or vitality, is in its own nature everlasting. Having received it, we are in privilege, and should be, and may be, in fact, eternally possessed of it. The gift cannot wear out, nor can God cease to love His own children. There is no mortality or decay to which the gift is subject, for the gift is the seed of eternal life, by the presence of the eternal Spirit. And God loveth His own children, the accepted members of His Beloved, with an everlasting love. Nor can the gift be rendered frustrate by any direct malice or attack, or craft or subtlety of devil or man working against it; sin only, unrepented, can grieve, or wound, or quench the Holy Spirit, so as to make that cease, and come to an end, which is in itself, and in the design and desire of God, everlasting. But it is of the essence of this sacred gift to be capable of degrees. We received it as infants in such measure and degree as infants are capable of; we received the germ, the principle of Divine life. As the natural life in infants is a tender and precarious gift, hitherto capable of none of the greater exercises of older and more confirmed strength, needing tender and watchful care of nurse and mother, and slowly learning the natural lessons of strength and energy which the full estate of manhood is designed to enjoy and use, such in its tenderness, and need of tender care, is the spiritual life in infants. It is as the early spring and budding of vegetable life, when first the hair-like root is protruded from the bursting seed, and the soft colour and tender substance of the germinating plant give but faint promise of the rugged strength of the full grown oak. For infants indeed it is enough. Dying in their infancy, before actual sin, they are, as the Church teaches from Holy Scripture, undoubtedly saved. They pass pure and spotless to Gods sacred presence, there to enjoy forever such degrees of bliss as suit their infant but perfected souls. But for those who are spared to the prayers and love of parents, and grow on through the opening years of childhood, passing by imperceptible degrees into the time when they can choose and determine, yield or resist, obey or disobey, the measures of infantine grace will no more suffice, than the early gift of animal or vegetable life would suffice to keep up the strength or growth of animal or plant without its regular and necessary aliment. They need the constant food of prayers, the training of Christian discipline, the habit of yielding up their will, the habit of unquestioning obedience, the unhesitating spirit of dutifulness, the gradual growth of affectionate and trusting love, the temper of industrious and rejoicing duty. These will bring them safely, by Gods blessing, to their next stage. By such culture the Holy Spirit who is within them will be cherished, and His gifts not checked. (Bishop Moberly.)
The seal of God
I. What does the sealing mean? Clearly it is a figurative expression. To be sealed by God implies that we are His and loved by Him–that we are in that sense distinguished from the world at large–that His love is free, unmerited, simply a gift of His affection–that it secures us, and keeps us safe forever; and it is in this way that the believer looks up and perceives his blessed state in the sight of God.
II. How long is this sealing to endure? It is not to last forever; but until the redemption of the purchased possession.
III. Who are the parties that are thus sealed? The redeemed from among men. Unconverted, ungodly, and worldly men have no part in this. (H. M. Villiers, M. A.)
The Spirits seal
What is this seal? It is a signet, or a signet ring, used by kings and others, for various important ends, some of which we shall now mention.
1. The seal was attached to letters to give them the royal authority; and so the Church is the epistle of Christ, known and read by all men (2Co 3:3). The gifts and Daces of the Holy Spirit are the seal of God upon this epistle of His mercy, where the nations of the world and the angels of heaven may read His manifold wisdom (Eph 3:10).
2. The seal is used to secure the possession of property (Rom 15:28), and to show that it belongs to a particular master and no other. It has His seal. Jesus Christ has purchased His people with His own precious blood, and the sealing of the Spirit is the mark that they belong to Him.
3. As the seal is the conclusion of the letter or the agreement, so it signifies often the last, the end, the perfection; thus the Moslems call Mohammed the seal of the prophets, viz., the last and most glorious of them. In this respect also the sealing of the Spirit is full of meaning. He is the last of the heavenly witnesses, and to blaspheme Him is certain destruction. (W. Graham, D. D.)
Sealed
We have been already told we were chosen! blessed! adopted! accepted! redeemed! forgiven! and made an heritage! in Christ. Now, in addition to all, this great fact is added: In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. This is the consummation of our Divine security. The shepherds of earthly flocks seal them separately with their own name, for distinction and identification. Their seal is a dead thing, but it marks the owners property. God seals his flock individually for His own possession by a living seal–the Holy Ghost. The metaphor here employed alludes to the ordinary use of a seal amongst men.
1. A seal is affixed to valuable property for its protection, identification, and security. It does not make the property precious, or give it value; but because it is valuable the owner seals it for its protection. Because we are valuable to God, the Holy Ghost seals us. We are His jewels: united to Christ, members of His body, and therefore the Holy Ghost seals us.
2. A seal is affixed to a mans act and deed, to make it irreversible.
3. A seal affixed is a public attestation and token of the sealers promise, purpose, and undertaking. When the believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit, this is Gods public assertion before earth and heaven that His act and will and deed is the salvation of His redeemed.
4. A seal imparts its own image and likeness to that which is sealed. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. A new understanding, a new will, new affections, a new creation–a divine nature! Gods Spirit seals Christ into the soul!
5. A seal establishes a matter. See 2Co 1:21 (where this is defined): Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
6. Probably there may be an allusion to Act 19:1-16. Formerly such signs followed; but now we live by faith, not by sight. If it be asked, How, then, can I know if I am sealed? By the actings and operations of the Holy Ghost! After that ye heard the gospel of your salvation, ye also trusted, and after that ye believed ye were sealed. Have we heard the gospel? Not only with the outward ear, but also with the heart, the inward ear. If this is so indeed, then give the Holy Ghost the credit: He it is who alone has opened your eyes. In Christ a man is called into a new position in the world, a witness for Christ; he is made a new creature in Christ, and the Holy Ghost imparts a new nature, and stamps the impress of Gods likeness upon the character, to fit him for the new position he is to occupy. All believers are thus sealed, and equally so. They are equally united to Christ, and equally indwelt by the Holy Ghost. Why, then, are some Christians so much less holy, happy, assured, than others? The answer is suggested in the text: Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Alas! we grieve the Holy Spirit. There is no question as to His sealing us; but can a man who grieves Him in his daily walk and conversation be as happy, holy, assured as the man who lives to Serve Him? (M. Rainsford, B. A.)
The sealing of the Spirit
Whoever longs for a feeling of security–whoever sighs for a fuller certainty of Gods love–to that man it will be a pleasant thought that one of the offices of the Holy Spirit is to seal. And it will make it the more happy for every Christian to receive this seal, if he recollect, for a moment, that his Master Himself had it–for Christ testified it, concerning His own person and His own work–Him hath God the Father sealed–which word, sealed, we are to understand to refer, first, to His baptism, when the water, and the voice, and the dove, all designated His grace and mission; next, to His miracles–those witnesses of His power and His truth–but still more to His own infinite perfections, and His spotless reflection of the Fathers character–through all which Christ was stamped, for His vast enterprise. Though we can only have in small measure, what He had without measure, still the very same sealing; in baptism–grace–good works–and Gods own likeness. Now, in this sealing, the first, and I might say only, requisite–for God will take care of the rest–is to have a soft and an impressible heart. And, thank God, the Sealer is the Softener–for He prepares His own work! Why, the great end, brethren, of half which happens to you in life–inwardly and outwardly–is to turn the iron of nature into the wax of grace. Here is the ecstasy of childhood–here is the immense importance of yielding to early drawings. Who can tell the hardening influence, day by day, upon the man, who is daily leading a worldly life? Who can tell the callousness, which one allowed sin is always depositing upon a mans life? And what is the consequence? There is an end to sealing. The heart cannot take an impression. It is when one is able to say, My heart is like melted wax, that the sealing begins. The handle of the seal may be what God pleases. It may be a promise–it may be a word–it may be the Bible–it may be a sacrament–it might be my preaching at this moment. But the actual seal is beautifully described by St. Paul to Timothy. It has two sides. The one is Gods own electing love; the other is personal holiness. What stamps any man a child of God? First, Gods free choice and favour. What next? The sanctifying of the Holy Ghost–in him and on him. And thus God puts the two together, and sums it up–Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ, depart from iniquity. This, then, is the seal–exactly what you would have expected it to be–His own sovereignty, side by side with His own image. Now, the effect of this sealing of the Spirit will be threefold. First, in its very nature it unites; and to be fastened, indissolubly fastened, to Christ–we in Him, and He in us; we in Him for our justification, and He in us for our sanctification–is exactly the first thing a poor sinner needs. This fastening the soul to Christ, the Spirit does. And He does it thus: He brings us near; first, Christ to us, and then us to Christ; He makes Him attractive, pleasant, precious, necessary, to a mans soul: and then the mans soul confiding, communing, all-abandoning to Christ. Then He draws the two closer ant closer, till He rivets, with thousands of acts of love downwards, and thousands of little thoughts of gratitude upwards–passing and repassing–till He binds all–with His own Omniscience and with His own Omnipotence–and the seal is made. Secondly, it is a mans credential, that he has the Lord authorizing him and empowering him. It is a mans credential to himself. Is there the conscience within a man which will tell him when he is a Christian? Will there be a voice, and may a man believe that voice? Assuredly. How could it be otherwise? Can the great Presence of God be in a man and not speak? It tells a man; and, while it is telling him, it awakens a voice within the man, to repeat it to himself. The Spirit itself also beareth witness with our spirits–the voice of the echo–that we are the children of God. But not to ourselves only. Do not you know, brethren, that every one–who is a believer–is an epistle, to be known and read of all men? and that God has sent you out, like a letter; and that the letter is directed to the whole world–that the whole world may read you. And the world will read you. Whatever else the world may choose to read, or not read, they will read you. And to this very end the Spirit has sealed you, and set you apart by the sealing–that all men may read Christ in you; and that you, having His name and His likeness, may go, accredited, to all men, and that you may carry Him–His love–His work–His glory–into every society wherever you go. Therefore go–go, as a man who has a royal mark–go, as a man who is made for one purpose–go, as a man who has authority given him to speak! And thirdly, the seal is for safe keeping and holy preservation. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The true position of assurance
Many sincerely seeking souls are in great trouble because they have not yet attained to an assurance of their interest in Christ Jesus; they dare not take any comfort from their faith because they suppose that it has not attained to a sufficient strength. Their mistake seems to me to be this–they look for ripe fruit upon a tree in spring, and because that season yields nothing but blossoms, they conclude the tree to be barren. They go to the head of a river–they find it a little rippling brook, and because it will not float a Great Eastern, they conclude that it will never reach the sea, and that, in fact, it is not a true part of the river at all. They look upon themselves as being little children, and such they are; but because they cannot speak plainly on account of having been so newly born, they therefore conclude that they are not the children of God at all. They put the last things first. They make comforts essentials. There are three steps by which the hallowed elevation is reached. The first is hearing–they heard first the preaching of the Word; the second is believing; and then, thirdly, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
I. To begin then, faith cometh by hearing. The preaching of the gospel is Gods soul-saving ordinance. It hath pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. In every age God raiseth up men who faithfully proclaim His Word, and, as one departs, another arrives. Elijah ascends to glory, but his mantle falls upon Elisha. Paul dies not until Timothy is in the field. The true preacher has a claim upon mens attention. If God has sent him, men should receive him. The hearing of the gospel involves the hearer in responsibility.
II. After hearing came belief. We know that believing does not always follow hearing immediately. There is a case told of Mr. Flavel having preached a sermon which was blessed to a man, I think eighty-five years afterwards, so that the seed may lay long buried in dust; yet, had not that man heard that sermon, speaking after the manner of men, he had not received the quickening Word. You may have heard the gospel long in vain, and it should be to you a source of very serious inquiry if you have done so. Faith will yet, we trust, come while you are hearing.
1. This belief, you observe, is called trusting. Kindly look at the verse: In whom ye also trusted. The translators have borrowed that word trusted, very properly, from the twelfth verse. Do not, because you see it in italics, think that is not properly there. It is not in the original, but being in the twelfth verse it is very rightly understood here. Believing then is trusting. If you want it summed up in the shortest word, it is just this–trusting Christ. A message comes to me upon good authority–I believe it; believing it, I necessarily trust it. My receiving of the message is so far good, but the essential act, the act essential to salvation, is the trusting–the trusting Christ. The process of faith may be thus illustrated. You knew a friend of yours to be perfectly reliable–you are in debt. He tells you that if you will trust him to pay the debt, he will give you on the spot a receipt for it. Now, you look at him, you consider his ability to pay it, you consider the probability that he means what he is saying. Having once made up your mind that he is truthful, you could not then say, I cannot believe you. If you once know that person to be truthful, I utterly deny that you can hold any argument about your power to believe him. So, if Jesus Christ declares that He came into the world to save sinners, and, if He tells me, as He does tell me, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life–if I am already enabled by Gods Spirit to believe in the perfect truthfulness of Christ, I should be lying unto my own soul if I said I had not power to believe in Him. Understand, power to believe in Christ is the gift of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit has given that power to all men who know the perfect truthfulness of Christ.
2. Observe this, further, that faith is due to Christ. The faithful and true Witness demands of me that I should believe what He says. Not trust Gods own Son, the Mighty God, the Redeemer of men! It is due to Him that thou shouldst with thy whole heart lean upon Him, and give Him all thy confidence.
3. This faith is essential to salvation. Assurance is not essential, but no man can be saved unless he trusteth in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may get to heaven with a thousand doubts and fears; you may get to heaven without some of those graces of the Spirit which are the ornaments of the believers neck, but you cannot get there without the life-giving grace of faith.
4. Remark, again, this faith is not required in any particular degree. In order to salvation, it is not declared in Scripture that you are to believe to a certain strength, but if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed–if that be a mountain-moving faith, surely it shall be a soul-saving faith. Faith is not to be estimated by its quantity but by its quality.
5. Observe, further, that this faith is very variable, but it is not perishable. Faith may go to an ebb, as the tide does, but it will come to a flood again. When faith is at its flood, the man is not therefore the more saved; and when faith is at its ebb, the man is not therefore the less saved; for, after all, salvation does not lie in faith, but in Christ; and faith is but the connecting link between the soul and Christ. Faith may take Christ up in its arms, like Simeon, and it is true faith; but, on the other hand, faith may only venture to touch the hem of Jesus garment, and that faith makes men whole.
III. The Holy Spirits sealing.
1. This sealing is evidently distinct from faith–after that ye believed, ye were sealed. Believing, then, is not this sealing; and assurance, although it be akin to believing, is not believing. There is a distinction between the two things. I want you to notice the distinction. In faith the mind is active. The text uses verbs which imply action: ye trusted, ye believed; but when it comes to sealing it uses quite another verb: ye were sealed. I am active in believing–I am passive when the Holy Spirit seals me. The witness of the Spirit is a something which I receive, but faith is a something which I exercise as well as receive. In faith my mind does something, in being sealed my faith receives something. If I may say so, faith writes out the document, there she labours, but the Holy Spirit stamps the seal Himself, and there is no hand wanted there except His own. He stamps His own impression to make the document valid.
2. It is clear from the context that assurance follows faith–after that ye believed. The apostle does not say how soon. Brookes gives the case of a Mr. Frogmorton, who was one of the most valuable ministers of his day, but was thirty-seven years without any assurance of his interest with Christ; he did trust Christ, but his ministry was always a gloomy one, for he could not read his title clear to mansions in the skies. He went to the house of a dear friend, Mr. Dodd, to die, and just before he died, the light of heaven streamed in–he not only expressed his full assurance of faith, but triumphed so gloriously, that he was the wonder of all round about him. He also tells us of one Mr. Glover, who had been for years without assurance of his interest in Christ; but when he came to the fire to be burnt, just as he saw the stake, he cried, He is come! He is come! and instead of being heavy of heart as he had been in prison, he went to the stake with a light step. Three martyrs were once chained to the stake, two of them rejoicing; but one was observed to slip from under the chains for a moment, and prostrate himself upon the faggots and wrestle with God, and then coming back to the stake, he said, The Lord has manifested Himself to me at the last, and now I shall burn bravely. So, indeed, he did, bearing his witness for his Lord and Master. Assurance, then, is not to be looked for before faith. You might as well look for the pinnacle before the foundation; for the cream before the milk; for the apples before you plant the tree; for the harvest before you sow the seed. Assurance follows faith.
3. Assurance is to be found where faith was found. In whom ye also trusted–as I get my faith out of Christ, so I must get my assurance out of Christ.
4. This assurance, like faith, is the work of the Spirit of God. Ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. He does this in various ways. Sometimes we get the seal of the Spirit through experience. We know that God is true because we have proved Him. Sometimes this comes through the hearing of the Word–as we listen our faith is confirmed. But there is doubtless besides this, a special and supernatural work of the Holy Spirit, whereby men are assured that they are born of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Believers are sealed
Call it sealing, or what you will, it is a fact that believers in Christ, of every age, have enjoyed an inward, filial assurance, of which we certainly hear nothing from the mere students of nature. It is well known, moreover, that the more sharply the believers confidence has been tried, the more steadfast and triumphant it has become. How is it to be accounted for, that nature does not seal her disciples in the same way? They do not possess the restful certitude, and the joyous hope, of believers. Why do they not? Let others answer this question as they may, we answer, The Holy Spirit will not testify that nature has The Word of Truth, namely, The Gospel of our Salvation; nor will He assure the disciples of nature that they are the children and heirs of God. The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy. When He, the Spirit of Truth is come He shall glorify Me. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God–every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God Hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error. We are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Believers, then, are sealed with the Holy Spirit, for no other reason, than that they are in the Truth. Temporal nature is a division,–only a part of that which is perfect. Christ is unity. The men who believe in the results of scientific observation, rather than in the Gospel of our Salvation, will discover some day that they, and the Truth, are on opposite sides. They are the disciples of natures facts, but at variance with truth in its eternal form. Moreover, as the only enduring and all-controlling Power must be Gods truth, they will, sooner or later, find it to be a very unhappy thing, to stand opposed to the supreme governing Power of the universe and eternity. (John Pulsford.)
Relation to God experienced
It was in the course of studies in the Campo Santo of Pisa, in 1845, assisted by daily reading of the Bible, that Mr. Ruskin came into vital knowledge of the relations that might truly exist between God and His creatures. On his journey homewards he became ill, and the thought of the pain which his death might occasion to his father and mother preyed upon his mind. He thereupon fell gradually into the temper, and more or less tacit offering, of very real prayer, Through two long days, and what I knew of the nights, he continued in this mental attitude of earnest prayer. What followed is the memorable experience of which we have spoken. On the third day, as I was about coming in sight of Paris, what people who are in the habit of praying know as the consciousness of answer came to me; and a certainty that the illness, which had all this while increased, it anything, would be taken away. Certainty in mind, which remained unshaken, through unabated discomfort of body, for another night and day, and then the evil symptoms vanished in an hour or two, on the road beyond Paris; and I found myself in the inn at Beauvais entirely well, with a thrill of conscious happiness altogether new to me. The happy sense of direct relation with heaven experienced by Mr. Ruskin was not permanent. Little by little, and for little, yet it seemed invincible, causes, he says, it passed away from me. But he chronicles its departure as the gravest of all his losses, and evinces no doubt that it was a reality while it lasted. The same state of mind has, he remarks, been known evidently to multitudes of human souls of all faiths, and in all lands. Often it was, he has no doubt, a dream; but often, also, he conceives it to have been demonstrably a reality. If it has been a reality, in the innumerable multitude of cases in which it has been experienced, from that of Abraham to that of Bishop Hannington, then the fact of intercourse between God and man is scientifically verified.
Testimony of experience
From curiosity, a lawyer entered a meeting for the relation of Christian experience, and took notes. But so impressed was he that at the close he arose and said, My friends, I hold in my hands the testimony of no less than sixty persons who have spoken here this morning, who all testify with one consent that there is a Divine reality in religion; they having experienced its power in their own hearts. Many of these persons I know. Their word would be received in any court of justice. Lie they would not, I know; and mistaken they cannot all be. I have hitherto been sceptical in relation to these matters. I now tell you that I am fully convinced of the truth, and that I intend to lead a new life. Will you pray for me? (Dr. Haven.)
Assurance; or, the Spirits sealing
I. The subject of assurance, which is and can be no other than a soul that hath closed with Christ by faith. Reflex acts necessarily presuppose direct ones.
II. The nature of assurance. He calls it sealing–an apt metaphor to express the nature of it; for assurance, like a seal, both confirms, declares, and distinguishes; it confirms the grant of God, declares the purpose of God, and distinguishes the person so privileged from other men.
III. The author of assurance, which is the Spirit. He is the keeper of the great seal of heaven; and tis His office to confirm and seal the believers right and interest in Christ in heaven (Rom 8:16).
IV. Lastly, the quality of this spirit of assurance, or the sealing Spirit. He seals in the quality of an Holy Spirit, and of the Spirit of promise. As an Holy Spirit, relating to His previous sanctifying work upon the sealed soul; as the Spirit of promise, respecting the medium or instrument made use of by Him in His sealing work; for He seals by opening and applying the promises to believers from the Spirits order. (J. Flavel.)
The double seal
The sealing of the Spirit is, His giving a sure and certain testimony to the reality of that work of grace He hath wrought in our souls, and to our interest in Christ and the promises, thereby satisfying our fears and doubts about our estate and condition. Every matter of weight and concernment is to be proved by two sufficient witnesses (Deu 19:15). Our sincerity and interest in Christ are matters of the deepest concernment to us in all the world, and therefore need a further witness to confirm and clear them than that of our own spirits (Rom 8:16). Three things concur to the Spirits sealing work. He sanctifies the soul; He irradiates and clears that work of sanctification; He enables it thereby to apply promises. The first is His material or objective seal; the latter His formal sealing. None but the Spirit of God can clear and confirm our title to Christ, for He only searcheth the deep things of God (1Co 2:10); and it is His office (Rom 8:16) to witness with our spirits. This seal or witness of the Spirit must needs be true and certain, because omniscience and truth are His essential properties. He is Omniscient (1Co 2:10), and therefore cannot be deceived Himself. He is the Spirit of truth (Joh 14:17), and therefore cannot deceive us; so that His testimony is more infallible and satisfactory than a voice from heaven (2Pe 1:19). If an angel should appear, and tell us Christ had said to him, Go and tell such a man that I love him, that I shed My blood for him, and will save him, it could never give that repose and satisfaction to the mind as the internal witness or seal of the Spirit doth; for that may be a delusion, but this cannot. The witness of our own heart may amount to a strong probability, but the witness of the Spirit is demonstration (Joh 4:24). So that as it is the design and work of Satan to cast in doubts and fears into gracious hearts, to perplex and entangle them, so, oppositely, it is the work of the Spirit to clear and settle the sanctified soul, and fill it with peace and joy in believing (Joh 16:7; Rom 14:17). In sealing He both attests the doctrine or object of faith, and the infused habit or grace of faith. Of the former He saith, This is My word, of the latter, this is My work; and His seal or testimony is evermore agreeable to the written word (Isa 8:20). So that what He speaks in our hearts, and what He saith in the Scripture, are evermore concordant and harmonious testimonies. To conclude: In sealing the believer He doth not make use of an audible voice, nor the ministry of angels, nor immediate and extraordinary revelations, but He makes use of His own graces implanted in our hearts, and His own promises written in the Scriptures; and in this method He usually brings the doubting, trembling heart of a believer to rest and comfort. (J. Flavel.)
The sealing of the Spirit
How sweet it is. This is the manna in the golden pot; the white stone, the wine of paradise which cheers the heart. How comfortable is Gods smile! the sun is more refreshing when it shines out than when it is hid in a cloud; it is a prelibation and a foretaste of glory, it puts a man in heaven before his time; none can know how delicious and ravishing it is but such as have felt it; as none can know how sweet honey is, but those who have tasted it. (T. Watson.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. In whom ye also trusted] Ye Gentiles, having heard from us the word, , the doctrine, of the truth, which is the Gospel, or glad tidings, of your salvation, have believed, as we Jews have done, and received similar blessings to those with which God has favoured us.
In whom also, , through whom, Christ Jesus, after that ye had believed, viz. that he was the only Saviour, and that through his blood redemption might be obtained, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise; that is, The Holy Spirit, which is promised to them who believe on Christ Jesus, was given to you, and thus you were ascertained to be the children of God, for God has no child who is not a partaker of the Holy Ghost, and he who has this Spirit has God’s seal that he belongs to the heavenly family. It was customary among all nations, when a person purchased goods of any kind, to mark with his seal that which he had bought, in order that he might know it, and be able to claim it if mixed with the goods of others; to this custom the apostle may here allude but it was also customary to set a seal upon what was dedicated to God, or what was to be offered to him in sacrifice. See this proved in the note on “Joh 6:27“. The Jews themselves speak of the seal of God, which they term emeth, truth, and which they consider as a representation of the unoriginated and endless perfections of God. As the apostle is here speaking of the doctrine of truth, which came by the Holy Spirit, and is sealed on the souls of believers by this Spirit, he may have in view the Jewish notion, which is at once both correct and elevated. This Spirit of truth, Joh 14:17, who leads into all truth, Joh 16:13, and teaches all things, Joh 14:26, makes the impression of his own eternal purity and truth in the souls of them who believe, and thus they bear the seal of God Almighty. And they who in the day of judgment are found to bear this seal-TRUTH; truth in the inward parts, having truly repented, truly believed, and having been in consequence truly justified, and truly sanctified; and having walked in truth and sincerity towards God and man; these are sealed to the day of redemption; for, having this seal, they are seen to have a right to eternal life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In whom ye also; here is a defect of the verb in the Greek, which may be supplied either from Eph 1:11, which seems to be the principal verb in the sentence, and then it must be read: In whom ye also have obtained an inheritance; or from Eph 1:12, trusted, which is the nearest verb; so our translation:
In whom ye also trusted; but neither way makes any difference in the scope of the words.
Ye; ye Ephesians and other Gentiles.
The word of truth; the gospel, so called, either:
1. By a usual Hebraism, from the true word; or:
2. By way of eminency, as containing the most excellent and necessary of all truths, the doctrine of righteousness and life by Jesus Christ; or:
3. With respect to the law and its shadows, the truth and substance of which is held forth in the gospel.
The gospel of your salvation: both in respect of the matter contained in it, the doctrine of salvation, and in respect of its efficiency, as being the means whereby God works faith, and brings to salvation, Rom 1:12; Heb 2:3.
In whom also after that ye believed; in whom either is to be referred to believers; q.d. After ye believed in Christ: or to sealing; and then it shows by virtue of whom this benefit of sealing is bestowed, viz. by virtue of Christ.
Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit; ye were secured and ascertained of your right to the inheritance; which we may understand to be done either by the Spirits impressing upon the soul the image of God in the work of regeneration, or (because that cannot so well be understood to be after believing) rather by his testimony in mens own consciences afterward; whether immediate, by an overpowering light shining into the soul, and filling it with assurance of its interest in Christ and heaven; or mediate, enabling a man to discern that image of God in his soul, by which the Spirit bears witness to his interest in the inheritance, and assures him of it: see Eph 4:30; Rom 8:1;6 Gal 4:6.
Of promise; because the Spirits coming was before promised, or because he verifies and confirms the promises in and to the hearts of believers.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. In whom ye alsoYeGentiles. Supply as English Version, “trusted,” fromEph 1:12; or “are.”The priority of us Jews does not exclude you Gentiles from sharing inChrist (compare Ac 13:46).
the word of truththeinstrument of sanctification, and of the new birth (Joh 17:17;2Ti 2:15; Jas 1:18).Compare Col 1:5, where also, ashere, it is connected with “hope.” Also Eph4:21.
sealedas God’sconfirmed children, by the Holy Spirit as the seal (Act 19:1-6;Rom 8:16; Rom 8:23;1Jn 3:24; see on 2Co1:22). A seal impressed on a document gives undoubted validity tothe contract in it (Joh 3:33;Joh 6:27; compare 2Co3:3). So the sense of “the love of God shed abroad in theheart by the Holy Ghost” (Ro5:5), and the sense of adoption given through the Spirit atregeneration (Rom 8:15; Rom 8:16),assure believers of God’s good will to them. The Spirit, like a seal,impresses on the soul at regeneration the image of our Father. The”sealing” by the Holy Spirit is spoken of as pastonce for all. The witnessing to our hearts that we are the childrenof God, and heirs (Eph 1:11),is the Spirit’s present testimony, the “earnest of the(coming) inheritance” (Ro8:16-18).
that Holy Spirit ofpromiserather, as the Greek, “The Spirit ofpromise, even the Holy Spirit”: The Spirit promised bothin the Old and New Testaments (Joe 2:28;Zec 12:10; Joh 7:38;Joh 7:39). “The word”promised the Holy Spirit. Those who “believed the word oftruth” were sealed by the Spirit accordingly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In whom ye also trusted,…. The Gentile believers, the Ephesians, whom the apostle now particularly addresses; and who participated of the same grace and privileges with the believing Jews; the promise belonged to all that God called, whether afar off or nigh; and the same common salvation was sent to one as to another; and the same faith was wrought in one as in the other; and they were interested in the same Christ, and were heirs of the same inheritance; the Alexandrian copy reads “we”:
after that ye heard the word of truth; the Gospel; and which is so called, on account of its divine original, coming from the God of truth, who cannot lie; and because of the concern which Christ has in it, who is truth itself, and was the author, subject, and preacher of it, and who confirmed it by his miracles, and his death; and on account of the Spirit of God, the dictator of it, and who leads into all truths, and owns and blesses them for conversion and comfort; and because it contains nothing but truth, and particularly that eminent one, salvation alone by Christ, for the chief of sinners; and in contradistinction from the law, which was typical and shadowy; , “the word of truth”, is a phrase used by the Jews e, for sublime and heavenly doctrine: now, by the hearing of this, faith came; and this the Ephesians heard, not only externally, but internally; so as to understand, approve, and believe it, and to put it in practice: and which is also called
the Gospel of your salvation: because it is a declaration and publication of salvation by Christ; and gives an account of the author of salvation, of his ability and willingness to save, and of the nature of this salvation, and describes the persons who shall be saved; and because it is the means of salvation, when attended with the Spirit and power of God; and the instrument, in God’s hand, of showing to souls their special and particular interest in salvation:
in whom also after that ye believed; which may refer either to the Gospel of salvation, in which they believed upon hearing it; or rather to Christ, the Saviour revealed, in whom they believed to the saving of their souls: and this shows, that the sealing work of the Spirit after mentioned, and with which this stands in connection, is a distinct thing from faith, or indeed any other work of the Spirit; as illumination, regeneration, sanctification, c. it is what follows believing, and is a work that passes upon the soul after it and so is something over and above, and more than faith, at least than first believing: and from hence it also appears, that there may be true faith, where this is not as yet; and that none but believers in Christ enjoy the following privilege:
ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. This cannot have respect to the Father’s sealing his people in election, with the seal of his foreknowledge, 2Ti 2:19 for that is before faith, and is within himself, and not on them, and is distinct from the Spirit’s work; and for the same reasons it cannot design the Son’s affection to them, setting them as a seal on his arm and heart, So 8:6, or his asserting his property in them, and the security and protection of them, So 4:12, nor the Spirit’s finishing and completing his own work of grace upon the soul, in which sense the word is used, Ro 15:28 for this as yet was not done upon these believing Ephesians; nor the confirming the Gospel, and the saints in it, by the extraordinary effusion of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, or by his extraordinary works which attended the ministry of the word, to the establishing of it, and the faith of men in it; since these were not common to believers, nor did they continue; whereas the believing Ephesians, in common, were sealed; and the Spirit of God continues still as a sealer of his people, and as an earnest and pledge of their inheritance until the day of redemption; but it is to be understood of the confirming, certifying, and assuring the saints, as to their interest in the favour of God, and in the blessings of grace, of every kind, and their right and title to the heavenly glory; [See comments on 2Co 1:22], and the seal of these things is not circumcision, nor baptism, nor the Lord’s supper, nor even the graces of the Spirit; but the Spirit himself, who witnesses to the spirits of believers the truth of these things, and that as a “spirit of promise”: so called, both because he is the Spirit promised, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it, whom the Father and Christ had promised, and who was sent by them; and because he usually seals, or certifies believers of the truth of the above things, by opening and applying a word of promise to them: and which he does also, as the “Holy” Spirit; for this sealing work of his leaves a greater impress of holiness upon the soul, and engages more to acts of holiness; wherefore the doctrine of assurance is no licentious doctrine; no persons are so holy as those who are truly possessed of that grace; and as for such who pretend unto it, and live in sin, it is a certain thing that they in reality know nothing of it.
e Zohar in Numb. fol. 76. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye also ( ). Ye Gentiles (now Christians), in contrast to (we) in 12.
In whom ( ). Repeated third time (once in verse 11, twice in 13), and note or in 14.
Ye were sealed (). First aorist passive indicative of , old verb, to set a seal on one as a mark or stamp, sometimes the marks of ownership or of worship of deities like (Ga 6:17). Marked and authenticated as God’s heritage as in 4:30. See 2Co 1:22 for the very use of the metaphor here applied to the Holy Spirit even with the word (earnest).
Spirit (). In the instrumental case.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye also trusted. Gentile Christians. Trusted, which is not in the Greek, is unnecessary. The pronoun ye is nominative to were sealed. In whom. Resuming the in whom at the beginning of the verse, and repeated on account of the length of the clause.
Ye were sealed [] . See on Joh 3:33; Rev 22:10. Sealed with the assurance of the Holy Spirit. Rom 8:16; 2Co 1:22; 2Ti 2:19.
Spirit of promise. Strictly, the promise. Denoting the promise as characteristic of the Holy Spirit : the Spirit which was announced by promise. See Act 2:16 sqq.; Joe 2:28; Zec 12:10; Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3; Joh 7:39; Act 1:4 – 8; Gal 3:14.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “In whom ye also trusted” (en ho kai humeis) “In whom (Christ) ye also (trusted),” or believed with all their hearts ‘ as the Eunuch did, Act 8:37; and as the Philippian jailer did, Act 16:31-34; Rom 4:11.
2) “After that ye heard the word of truth” (akousantes ton logon tes aletheias) “Hearing (while hearing) the word’ of the truth.” This is what Cornelius and his household did, Act 10:43-46; Act 11:21. Believing or trusting in the Lord is evidenced in one by a voluntary turning to worship and service toward Him, Act 9:5-9.
3) “The gospel of your salvation” (to evangelion tes soterias humon) “The gospel of your salvation or deliverance.” The salvation of the Ephesians came through Paul’s preaching and their acceptance of “repentance toward God,” and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ, Act 20:20-21; Act 20:26-31.
4) “In whom also after that ye believed” (en ho kai pisteusantes) “in whom also (when) ye believed,” or having fully believed. The Holy Spirit quickens every believer to life eternal and seals the stamp of divine ownership upon him to eternal life, Joh 6:63; Joh 10:27-29; 1Jn 5:13.
5) “Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” (esphragisthete to pneumati tes epangelias to hagio) “With the Holy Spirit of promise.” This seal is heaven’s stamp of eternal ownership of the sealed property, 2Ti 2:19; Eph 4:30. If salvation could ever be lost, it would have to be after the resurrection of the body of the believer; for until the redemption of the body (the purchased (paid for) possession of every believer), one is sealed. See also Rom 8:23.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. In whom ye also. He associates the Ephesians with himself, and with the rest of those who were the first fruits; for he says that they, in like manner, trusted in Christ. His object is, to shew that both had the same faith; and therefore we must supply the word trusted from the twelfth verse. He afterwards states that they were brought to that hope by the preaching of the gospel.
Two epithets are here applied to the gospel, — the word of truth, and the gospel of your salvation. Both deserve our careful attention. Nothing is more earnestly attempted by Satan than to lead us either to doubt or to despise the gospel. Paul therefore furnishes us with two shields, by which we may repel both temptations. In opposition to every doubt, let us learn to bring forward this testimony, that the gospel is not only certain truth, which cannot deceive, but is, by way of eminence, ( κατ ᾿ ἐξοχὴν,) the word of truth, as if, strictly speaking, there were no truth but itself. If the temptation be to contempt or dislike of the gospel, let us remember that its power and efficacy have been manifested in bringing to us salvation. The apostle had formerly declared that
“
it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth,” (Rom 1:16😉
but here he expresses more, for he reminds the Ephesians that, having been made partakers of salvation, they had learned this by their own experience. Unhappy they who weary themselves, as the world generally does, in wandering through many winding paths, neglecting the gospel, and pleasing themselves with wild romances, —
“
ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,” (2Ti 3:7)
or to find life! But happy they who have embraced the gospel, and whose attachment to it is steadfast; for this, beyond all doubt, is truth and life.
In whom also, after that ye believed. Having maintained that the gospel is certain, he now comes to the proof. And what higher surety can be found than the Holy Spirit? “Having denominated the gospel the word of truth, I will not prove it by the authority of men; for you have the testimony of the Spirit of God himself, who seals the truth of it in your hearts.” This elegant comparison is taken from Seals, which among men have the effect of removing doubt. Seals give validity both to charters and to testaments; anciently, they were the principal means by which the writer of a letter could be known; and, in short, a seal distinguishes what is true and certain, from what is false and spurious. This office the apostle ascribes to the Holy Spirit, not only here, but in another part of this Epistle, (Eph 4:30,) and in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, (2Co 1:22.) Our minds never become so firmly established in the truth of God as to resist all the temptations of Satan, until we have been confirmed in it by the Holy Spirit. The true conviction which believers have of the word of God, of their own salvation, and of religion in general, does not spring from the judgment of the flesh, or from human and philosophical arguments, but from the sealing of the Spirit, who imparts to their consciences such certainty as to remove all doubt. The foundation of faith would be frail and unsteady, if it rested on human wisdom; and therefore, as preaching is the instrument of faith, so the Holy Spirit makes preaching efficacious.
But is it not the faith itself which is here said to be sealed by the Holy Spirit? If so, faith goes before the sealing. I answer, there are two operations of the Spirit in faith, corresponding to the two parts of which faith consists, as it enlightens, and as it establishes the mind. The commencement of faith is knowledge: the completion of it is a firm and steady conviction, which admits of no opposing doubt. Both, I have said, are the work of the Spirit. No wonder, then, if Paul should declare that the Ephesians, who received by faith the truth of the gospel, were confirmed in that faith by the seal of the Holy Spirit.
With that Holy Spirit of promise. This title is derived from the effect produced; for to him we owe it that the promise of salvation is not made to us in vain. As God promises in his word, “that he will be to us a Father,” (2Co 6:18,) so he gives to us the evidence of having adopted us by the Holy Spirit.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) In whom ye also trusted . . . in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed.The insertion of the word trusted (suggested by the word trusted in the previous verse) is probably erroneous, nor is it easy to find any good substitute for it. It is far better to refer the whole to the one verb, ye were sealed. The irregularity of construction (arising from the addition to hearing of its proper accessory of faith, Rom. 10:17) will surprise no one who studies St. Pauls Epistles, and especially these Epistles of his Captivity, remembering that they were dictated, and in all probability read over again to the Apostle for addition or correction.
After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.There is a contrast hero between the Jewish believers, looking on in hope and gladly embracing its fulfilment, and the Gentiles, who had no such hope, and who therefore waited for the word of the truth (the full truth, not veiled in type or symbol), the glad tidings of a present salvation. The greater emphasis laid on the latter process seems intended to impress on the Gentiles a sense of the simpler and fuller means by which they were led to Christ.
After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.The order is to be noted, and compared with the experience of the Day of Pentecost (Act. 2:38). First, the light of the gospel shines before men; next, by faith they open their eyes to see it; then they are sealed by a special gift of the Holy Spirit. Such faith is, of course, the gift of God by the Spirit; but our Lord teaches us (Joh. 16:8-13) to distinguish between the pleading of the Holy Spirit with the world to convince of sin, because they believe not in Christ, and the special gift of His presence in the Church and the believing soul to guide unto all the truth. This fuller presence is the seal of the new covenant.
Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.This word sealed is found in exactly the same connection in 2Co. 1:22. The original idea of this sealing (which, it should be observed, is not of documents, but of men) is best seen in the sealing of the servants of God in their foreheads, in Rev. 7:3-8. In that passage, and in the passage of Ezekiel which it recalls (Eze. 9:4), the sealing is simply an outward badge, to be at once a pledge and means of safety amidst the destruction coming on the earth. In like sense, circumcision appears to be called a seal of previously existing righteousness of faith, in Rom. 4:11; and the conversion of the Corinthians a seal of St. Pauls apostleship, in 1Co. 9:2. (Comp. also Joh. 3:33; Rom. 15:28; 2Ti. 2:19.) But the word is used in a deeper sense whenever it is connected with the gift of the Holy Spirit. Then it corresponds to the circumcision not made with hands (Rom. 2:29; Col. 2:11); it has the character of a sacrament, and is not a mere badge, but a true means of grace. In this connection we read first of our Lord, Him God the Father sealed (Joh. 6:27), with a clear reference to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at His baptism (comp. Joh. 1:33; Joh. 5:37; Joh. 10:33); next of His people (as here, in Eph. 4:30, and in 2Co. 1:22) as being, like Himself, baptised with the Holy Ghost. In this passage the very title given to the Spirit is significant. He is called (in the curious order of the original) the Spirit of the Promise, the Holy One. The promise is clearly the promise in the Old Testament (as in Jer. 31:31-34; Joe. 2:28-32) of the outpouring of the Spirit on all Gods people in the latter days. The emphatic position of the epithet Holy One seems to point to the effect of His indwelling in the actual sanctification of the soul thus sealed. From this passage was probably derived the ecclesiastical application of the name seal to the sacrament of baptism, which is undoubtedly made the seal of conversion in Act. 2:38.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Into which predestination ye Ephesians have entered by faith, Eph 1:13-14.
13. Ye From the we of the general elect St. Paul now makes transition to the ye of the Ephesian elect, (which ye is mostly maintained through the epistle,) tracing the brief history of their hearing the gospel, believing, and being sealed over by the Spirit, to the final restitution of Eph 1:10. As founder of the Ephesian Church, St. Paul’s memory naturally recurs to the blessed process in which, by faith, they came into the glorious scheme of the divine election. He begins at these three verses the history of the inclusion of the Ephesians into the predestination unto the inheritance, but suspends it through Eph 1:16-23, and then he resumes it at Eph 2:1. That is, he veers from completing that history here, because at Eph 1:16-19 his mind is carried away by the thought of his prayer for their realizing their lot in Christ’s headship; and then, at Eph 1:20-23, his mind is borne upward by the thought of the glory of that headship. When these two successive raptures have passed, Paul resumes, in Eph 2:1, the thread of history commenced at Eph 1:13-15. Overlooking these two parenthetic digressions, the reader should tie this verse fast to Eph 2:1, as forming one narrative.
In whom ye Ephesians, parallel to in whom we, Eph 1:11. We understand the two whoms of the present verse to be parallels, and the whole verse to be one sentence: In whom also ye, having heard, in whom also having believed: ye were sealed, etc. Faith came upon hearing; actual election came upon faith; and then sealing came upon their election. The first in whom, referring to Christ, implies that it is in him, as Lord and embodiment of the gospel, that men hear the gospel.
Sealed As heirs of your inheritance. In ordinary cases it is the title-deed that is sealed; but the regenerate nature, wrought by the Spirit, is the true title-deed of the elect.
Holy Spirit The impressive Greek phrase is, the Spirit of promise, the Holy. Why called the Spirit of promise? Meyer replies: “The term promise is a qualifying characteristic of the Holy Spirit, for it is promised in the Old Testament. Joe 2:28-29; Zec 12:10; Isa 44:3; Eze 36:26, and onward; Eze 39:29; compare Gal 3:14.” And so the body of commentators. All this is good, and prepares us for the true point; but the point itself, as we are obliged to understand it, they fail to give. He is the Spirit of promise, not as promised, but as promising. He is the Spirit of promise because, being to us who are sealed an earnest, he promises to us our inheritance; that same inheritance which we have obtained in Eph 1:11, (where see note,) identical with the gather together of Eph 1:10, procured by the redemption both in Eph 1:14 and Eph 1:7, which are, in fact, identical. It is to this inheritance (identical with the gather together of Eph 1:10) that the predestination, not only of Eph 1:11 but of Eph 1:5, is made, and into that predestination the ye of Eph 1:13 entered by the faith named in Eph 1:15.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In whom you also, (having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation), in whom you also, having believed, were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is an earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption of His own possession to the praise of His glory.’
The human side of this great activity of God is now laid out. We heard the word of truth, the good news of what God had done in arranging for our deliverance, and we believed in Christ, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the guarantee of our inheritance until we receive it.
‘In Whom.’ Emphasised twice. All that we receive is in Christ.
‘The word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.’ We heard the proclamation of truth, ‘the word of the cross’ (1Co 1:18) with its content revealing the truth of God, the good news about Christ and of the deliverance He has wrought in which we have our part.
‘Having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.’ The reception of the promised Spirit through believing is central to the Christian message. It is His coming to a man when he believes that makes him a Christian (Rom 8:9; Joh 3:5-6), is the evidence that he is a Christian and marks him off as belonging to God (compare Psa 4:3, ‘Yahweh has set apart for Himself he who is godly’). He is the seal that authenticates and guarantees once for all the status of a man in Christ and his future hope (Eph 4:30; 2Co 1:22).
We should note here that belief is not something that we have to do. It is a response worked within us as He works within us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13). It is the openness of heart of a person whose heart has been opened by God. It is the automatic response of our lives as the Sun of righteousness shines on us, in the same way as a flower responds to the rising of the sun. He put the inclination within us so that He might feed that inclination, and believing is the inclination flowering into bloom.
‘Who is an earnest of our inheritance.’ The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance. An earnest is something given to guarantee the fulfilment of the whole (compare 2Co 1:22). Today we might speak of a deposit being given. But the idea behind the earnest was that it was more than a deposit, it was also a sample of what was to come. The trader would provide a sample which demonstrated the quality and type of what was being sold, and this could then be compared with the goods that finally arrived. It could also be produced as proof of the contract. Thus the Holy Spirit within us and upon us is the sample of what our future inheritance will be in a spiritual life to come, and is the proof that we are His. Indeed it is by this sample that we will be tested. ‘If any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His’ (Rom 8:9). There cannot be a true Christian who is not indwelt by the Spirit of God.
‘Until the redemption of God’s own possession to the praise of His glory.’ The Spirit is also the guarantee of what the future holds in store, when those who are God’s own treasured possession, are finally and ultimately delivered by Him, because of the payment of the price (Eph 1:7), and brought for ever into His presence. Then will all redound to His glory. Again we have the thought of redemption but this time related to the buying back of ‘property’. Thus the redemption includes the thought of a purchase price, but also clearly includes an act of power by which all is brought to completion.
‘His own possession.’ Compare 1Pe 2:9, ‘a people for God’s own possession’. His special treasure. This was originally God’s purpose for His people Israel (Exo 19:5), that they would be ‘a peculiar treasure to me from among all peoples. For all the earth is Mine.’ And this included being a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This is now the privilege of His new people. They are ‘a people which I formed for myself that they might set forth my praise’ (Isa 43:21), for ‘they shall be mine in the day that I act, even a peculiar treasure’ (Mal 3:17).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Sanctification: The Spirit Sealed the Church Eph 1:13-14 tells us that the Holy Spirit sealed the Church. It describes the Holy Spirit’s role of sanctification in relation to God’s eternal plan for mankind, which is the theme of Ephesians. In contrast, Jesus describes the role of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter to God’s children and as the One who convicts the world of sin (Joh 16:7-15). In his first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul describes the role of the Holy Spirit as the One who imparts spiritual gifts to edify the Church (1 Corinthians 12-14). In 1 Thessalonians Paul discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in bringing about the sanctification of the entire man; spirit, soul and body (1Th 5:23). In the Old Testament we see the role of the Holy Spirit in Creation as the wisdom (Pro 8:22-31) and the power of God (Gen 1:2). To David the Holy Spirit was the one who taught his hands to war. Other New Testament passages give us insight into the office and ministry of the Holy Spirit as it relates to the theme of that particular book. However, here in Eph 1:13-14 the role of the Holy Spirit is seen as our deposit, or guarantee, of receiving God the Father’s future hope of redemption.
Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:13
Comments – Why does Paul refer to the Holy Spirit as the “Holy Spirit of Promise?” Perhaps it is because the office of the Holy Spirit in relation to God the Father’s plan of redemption for mankind is to seal us in order to bring us into our ultimate promise of redemption, and to strengthen us to walk in the promises while in this life.
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Eph 1:14
Eph 1:14 “until the redemption of the purchased possession” Comments – The phrase “until the redemption of the purchased possession” refers to our eternal glorification. The “purchased possession the Church of God, which was purchased with Jesus’ own blood.
Act 20:28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
Eph 1:14 “unto the praise of his glory” Comments The praise of His glory is our response for what God has and will do for us in redemption. We will be for His eternal glory.
Scripture References – God’s plan of salvation results in praise to God (Isa 43:7; Isa 43:21; Isa 60:21).
Isa 43:7, “Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”
Isa 43:21, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.”
Isa 60:21, “Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Eph 1:13. Ye were sealed In Rev 7:3 mention is made of God sealing the foreheads of his servants, that they might be known to be his; alluding to the custom of marking the foreheads of slaves, that the public might know that they were the private property of the purchasers. So St. Paul here says, that God sealed with his Spirit those who believed in him, to mark them for his own. See 2Ti 2:19.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eph 1:13 , so that leads over to the second constituent element ( you Gentile-Christians ).
As regards the construction , it is regarded by Wolf, Bengel, Morus, and others (comp. already Jerome), including Rckert, Matthies, Holzhausen, de Wette, Bleek, Bisping, as anacoluthic ; the of the second half of the verse is held to resume the first. Incorrectly, since in the resumption would have been essential . As Paul has written the passage ( .), there is added to what has previously been affirmed of the ( ), a new affirmation; hence . . . . . is the continuation , not the resumption of the discourse. The verb after is therefore to be supplied ; not, however, (Erasmus in his version, Beza, Castalio, Calvin, Estius, and others), since in fact the preceding which, besides, was only an appositional constituent element of the discourse would yield , which is inapplicable to the Gentile-Christians; nor yet (Erasmus, Paraphr .; Piscator, Zanchius, Cornelius a Lapide, Boyd, Vorstius, Zachariae, Koppe, and others, including Meier, Harless, Olshausen), since , Eph 1:11 , already embraced the Jewish and Gentile Christians, and with . . . a new portion of the development sets in. The right course is merely to supply mentally the substantive verb , in accordance with the current expression , to belong to Christ as the element of life, in which one exists. Hence: in whom also ye are . Thus Paul paves the way for his transition to the Gentile-Christians, in order, after first specifying how it was that they had become such (Eph 1:13-14 ), finally to assert of them also the (Eph 1:14 ).
. .] after ye have heard the word (the preaching) of the truth ; for after this hearing there set in with them the . The truth is the contents of the . But a contrast to the types and shadows of the O. T. (Chrysostom), or to heathen error (Cornelius a Lapide, Baumgarten; Grotius thinks of both), is not implied in the context. Comp. Col 1:5 ; 2Ti 2:15 .
. . . .] descriptive apposition to . The genitive here also denotes the contents ; that which is made known in the gospel is the Messianic salvation. Harless takes both genitives as genitives appositionis , inasmuch as the gospel is the truth and the . The gospel, however, is not the salvation, but an exertion of the power of God, which leads to salvation (Rom 1:16 ; 1Co 1:18 ); the analogous combinations, too, of . with a genit. abstract ., as . . (Act 20:24 ), (Eph 6:15 ), , are opposed to the assumption of a genit. apposit . Comp. on Mar 1:1 . Finally, the context also, by and , points not to what the doctrine is , but to what it proclaims . Comp. Rom 10:14 .
. . .] A further stage of the setting forth how they became what they were, in order to reach its goal , Eph 1:14 . Precisely with regard to the Gentile-Christians, who had previously been aloof from all theocratic connection (no ), the apostle feels himself impelled not to be content with the simple “in whom also ye are, after ye have heard the gospel,” but specially to bring into relief the sealing of the Holy Spirit.
] is referred not merely by those who regard it as resumptive (see above), but also by many others with Luther (including Harless, Meier, Olshausen, Baumgarten-Crusius, Schenkel), to Christ ; but why should we pass over the nearest antecedent? The finds its reference, agreeably to the context, in the accession of the faith to the hearing (Rom 10:14 ; 1Co 15:1 ). Hence is to be referred, with Castalio, Calvin, Beza, Erasmus Schmid, and others (comp. Erasmus, Paraphr .), to , and to be joined, with Castalio, to , not to . (as usually ), according to which . would be superfluous, [105] and the periodic flow of the discourse would be injuriously affected. Hence: in which ye having become believers, were sealed through the Holy Spirit . As to (Mar 1:15 ), see on Gal 3:26 .
] is not to be taken, with Harless, as contemporaneous with . (see on Eph 1:5 ; Eph 1:9 ); but it contains that which was prior to the . The order of conversion was: hearing, faith, baptism, reception of the Spirit . See Act 2:37 ; Act 8:12 ; Act 8:17 ; Act 19:5-6 ; Rom 6:3-4 ; Tit 3:5 f.; Gal 3:2 ; Gal 4:6 . Certainly even the becoming a believer is not the work of human self-determination (see Act 16:14 ; Phi 1:29 ; Rom 12:3 relates to the measure of faith of the baptized ); yet this divine operation is only preparatory, and the effusion of the Spirit, properly so called, ensued only after baptism: [106] hence water and Spirit (Joh 3:5 ).
] were sealed , i.e. confirmed , namely, as of the Messianic kingdom. See what follows. Comp. Eph 4:30 , and see on 2Co 1:22 ; Joh 3:33 . This sealing is the indubitable guarantee of the future Messianic salvation received in one’s own consciousness (Rom 8:16 ) through the Holy Spirit, not the attestation before others ( , . , Theophylact; comp. Chrysostom, Cornelius a Lapide, Flatt, Holzhausen, and others). An allusion has been arbitrarily found in . to circumcision (Rom 4:11 ), or to the of heathen ceremonies (Grotius assumes both: “ non extra signati estis in cute, quomodo Judaei circumcisi et Graecorum idolorum punctis notati ”), nay, even to the Dianae , with which those initiated into her mysteries were marked (Amelius; comp. note on Gal 6:17 ).
.] Dativus instrumentalis , and . is genitivus qualitatis , denoting the promise as characteristic of the Holy Spirit, for He is, in fact, the Spirit promised in the O. T. (Act 2:16 ff.; Joe 3:1-5 ; Zec 12:10 ; Isa 32:15 ; Isa 44:3 ; Eze 36:26 f., Eze 39:29 . Comp. Luk 24:49 ; Act 1:4 ; Gal 3:14 ). Others (Calvin, Beza, Castalio, Piscator; and as early as Chrysostom and Theophylact, alongside of the former correct view): the Spirit, who confirms the promise (of salvation). But how wholly imported, since in itself there is implied nothing at all of the notion of confirmation! No, the Old Testament promise belonged to the Spirit; He is specifically the Spirit of promise , and by that very fact He became for the recipients the sealing of Messianic blessedness .
] is not added accidentally, nor yet because the sanctificatio of the Spirit would be the confirmatory element (Pelagius, Lombard), for in there is implied the quality , not the effect of the Spirit; but Paul desires to bring out very emphatically and solemnly that, by which the has been accomplished; hence he says, with corresponding pathos: . We may add that we are not to think, with Grotius, Estius, and others, of the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, since, in fact, the generally are the , but rather of the outpouring of the Spirit, which all experienced after their baptism (Act 2:38 ; Gal 3:2 ff.). See also Eph 1:14 .
According to Schwegler in Zeller’s Jahrb. 1844, p. 383, the . is to be held as pointing to the later period, to which the doctrine of the Paraclete in the (not genuine) Gospel of John belongs. But comp. Gal 3:14 .
[105] If belongs to ., we must, in the event of applying to the Gospel, explain: “by means of which ye also, after ye became believers (or ye, after ye also became believers), were sealed.” Comp. Beza. But if is to apply to Christ, the sense would be: “in whom (being) ye also, after ye became believers (or: ye, after ye also became believers), were sealed.” How utterly superfluous is in either case, will be at once felt. Harless regards as more precisely defined by , inasmuch as the Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8:9 ; 2Co 3:17 ; Gal 4:6 ). But even thus : remains unnecessary, since surely expresses the already existing spiritual union with Christ.
[106] As to the single instance of the effusion of the Spirit before baptism, see on Act 10:44 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2094
THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT
Eph 1:13-14. In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
THE blessings which we receive through Christ are innumerable. Many are mentioned in the preceding part of this chapter. One of the last and greatest blessings which we receive in this life, is the sealing of the Holy Spirit. This was vouchsafed to many of the saints at Ephesus.
We shall shew,
I.
What the sealing of the Spirit is
The metaphor of sealing conveys no inadequate idea of the Spirits operations
[A seal stamps its own image on the wax that is impressed by it; and marks the thing sealed to be the property of him that sealed it: and the Holy Spirit forms all the lineaments of the Divine image on the soul that is sealed by him; and shews that it belongs to God.]
But the text itself affords us the best explanation of this term
[The future inheritance of the saints consists in a perfect conformity to Gods image, and a perfect enjoyment of his love. The sealing of the Spirit is an earnest of that inheritance, or, in other words, a part of that inheritance already vouchsafed to the soul, and a pledge that the remainder shall in due time be given to it. This gift of the Spirit is to be continued to the church till the final consummation of all things [Note: The Church is Christs purchased possession, Act 20:28 And its complete redemption from all the penal effects of sin will be at the day of judgment, Rom 8:23.]. The experience of individuals may vary with respect to it; but there shall always be some in the Church who possess and enjoy it.]
We are also informed respecting,
II.
The manner in which it is effected
The agent is none other than the Holy Ghost
[It is not in mans power to sanctify his own soul: nor can any one assure himself that he is the Lords. To impart these blessings is the prerogative of God alone [Note: 2Co 1:21-22.].]
The subjects of this work are true believers
[An unbeliever cannot possibly be sealed; because the Holy Spirit would never mark those as Gods property, who do not really belong to him: nor are persons usually sealed on their first believing in Christ. This higher state of sanctification and assurance is reserved for those, who, after having believed, have maintained a close walk with God. They must first be in Christ, and then for Christs sake this benefit shall be vouchsafed unto them.]
The means by which it is effected, are the promises
[We do not presume to limit the Spirits operations; but his usual method of sealing is by applying the promises to the soul [Note: 1Co 2:4, 1Th 1:5.]. Of themselves, the promises can accomplish nothing; but, through his divine power, they have a comforting and transforming efficacy [Note: 2Pe 1:4.].]
The Apostle further specifies,
III.
Its proper tendency and operation
The sealing of the Spirit will never elate a man with pride
[It may seem indeed that such distinguishing mercies would puff us up; but their invariable effect is to humble those who receive them. All the saints of old abased themselves in proportion as they were favoured of God [Note: Job 42:5-6 and Isa 6:5.]. Nor can there be any stronger evidence that a work is not of God, than its producing a contrary effect upon us.]
It is intended solely to honour and glorify God
Every work of grace should lead the mind to God as the author of it; and the more exalted the mercy, the more powerful should this effect be. Now this, above all, administers to us the greatest cause of thankfulness, and will certainly incline us to love and serve him from whom it has been derived.]
Address
1.
To those who are ignorant of this sublime subject
[To many, alas! the sealing of the Spirit is mere foolishness; but those who account it so, speak evil of things that they understand not. Let us seek to experience it ourselves, instead of censuring those who do.]
2.
To those who desire to be sealed
[God is willing to bestow this blessing on all who seek it. If we possess it not, we should inquire what there is in us which has occasioned God to withhold it from us. We should beg of God to take away from us that hardness of heart which incapacitates us for it, and should live more on the promises, that by them it may be imparted to our souls.]
3.
To those who are sealed
[What a mercy is it, that you, who might long since have been sealed for condemnation, have, according to the good pleasure of God, been sealed for heaven! He thankful to God for this unspeakable gift: be careful too that you grieve not him by whom you have been sealed [Note: Eph 4:30.]; but improve the promises yet further for your progressive advancement in true holiness [Note: 2Co 7:1.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
13 In whom ye also trusted , after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Ver. 13. After that ye believed ] They, 1. Heard. 2. Believed. 3. Were sealed, i.e. full assured. Assurance is God’s seal; faith is our seal God honours our sealing to his truth by his sealing by his Spirit. We yield first the consent and assent of faith, and then God puts his seal to the contract. There must be the bargain before the earnest.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13 .] What is the construction? Have we but one sentence, , the two participial clauses being parallel, and both belonging to the verb? so the ff., Beng., De W., Ellic., (by whom the view is well defended and explained,) &c. But this seems to me impossible, from the arrangement. It would require the omission of the second , or the placing of the after . As the sentence now stands, the second must begin a new sentence, and surely cannot be the mere rhetorical repetition of the first. This being so, we must understand some verb to complete . Nothing can be more usual or more simple than to supply : nothing commoner than : nothing better suited to the context than, after putting forward the Jewish believers, to turn to the Gentiles, ‘Ye also have your part in Christ our prominence does not exclude you.’ Some supply (Erasm.-ver., Calv., Est., al.), some (Erasm.-par., Harl., Olsh., al.); but the other is far simpler; and I cannot see how it deserves the charge which Ellicott brings against it, of being “a statement singularly frigid and out of harmony with the linked and ever-rising character of the context.” It is quite accounted for as above, as forming a link in the context, whose character is well thus described. In whom are ye also (ye Gentile believers) since ye heard (from the time when. Their hearing was the terminus a quo ) the word of the truth (the word whose character and contents are the truth of God: “quasi extra ipsum nulla esset proprie Veritas,” Calv.: see reff. This word is the instrument of the new birth, Jas 1:18 . See Col 1:5 , and, above all, Joh 17:17 ), (viz.) the Gospel of your salvation (the Gospel whose contents, whose good tidings are your salvation: not a genitive of apposition, as Harl., cf. the expressions . . , Act 20:24 , , ch. Eph 6:15 , . , Mat 9:35 , , Mar 1:1 ); in whom (belongs to Christ , as the former not to nor to , nor is to be taken with , see below: but with in whom ye not only are, but were sealed. The answers exactly to above; not being by this construction rendered superfluous (Mey.); see below) also (belongs to , not to either word alone) on your believing ( terminus a quo , as above. Not to be taken with (as = , an usage unknown to St. Paul), for see Act 19:2 , . ; ‘did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?’ and Rom 13:11 , : see also 1Co 3:5 ; 1Co 15:2 ; 1Co 15:11 ; Heb 4:3 . This use of the aorist marks the time when the act of belief first took place and it must naturally therefore stand absolutely) ye were sealed (the fact followed on baptism, which was administered on belief in Christ. See the key-passage, Act 19:1-6 .
is, and is not, contemporaneous with : it is not, inasmuch as in strict accuracy, faith preceded baptism, and baptism preceded the gift of the Spirit: but it is, inasmuch as on looking back over a man’s course, the period of the commencement of his faith includes all its accidents and accompaniments. See Ellic.’s note. The figure of sealing is so simple and obvious, that it is perhaps mere antiquarian pedantry, with Schttgen, Grot., and Wetst., to seek for an explanation of it in Gentile practices of branding with the names of their deities, or even in circumcision itself. The sealing was objective, making manifest to others ( , . , Thl.; so Chr., al.): see Joh 3:33 ; Rev 7:3 , but also subjective, an approval and substantiation of their faith ( , Theod. Mops.), see Rom 8:16 ; 2Co 1:22 ; 1Jn 3:24 b) by the spirit of the promise (i.e. who was , Luk 24:49 ; Act 1:4 ; Gal 3:14 ; Gal 3:22 ; and I therefore insert the article. This, and not the other alternative, that the Spirit confirms God’s promises to us, is the true rendering: He was the promise of the O. T. as well as of the N. T.: as Chr.: , , . To unite together both alternatives as Stier does, weakens the force of the reference of back to God, so necessary to the context. The fact, that the Spirit is to us the Spirit of promise, is abundantly expressed in the following clause), the Holy One (I have preferred giving the separately, feeling with Meyer that there is an emphatic pathos in it which should not he lost in the usual prefix, ‘the Holy Spirit.’ The Spirit with whom He sealed you is even His own Holy Spirit what grace, and mercy, and love, is here!) which (if the of the rec. be retained, it is not for a moment to be referred to Christ, nor to be insisted on as agreeing with the understood gender of the personal , but as so very often, a relative agreeing in gender with the subject ( ) of the relative clause: see ch. Eph 3:18 reff. and many more examples in Brder) is the (not ‘an’) earnest (“the word signifies the first instalment paid as a pledge that the rest will follow. It is used by the Greek orators, and by the earlier Latin writers, especially Plautus and Terence. A. Gellius [xvii. 2] speaks of it as a word considered in his time [A.D. 120 50] to be vulgar, and superseded by ‘arra,’ which is the substitute for it in later Latinity. It is remarkable that the same word is used in the same sense in Hebrew, Gen 38:17-18 , from to mix or exchange , and thence to pledge , as Jer 30:21 ; Neh 5:3 . It was therefore probably derived by the Greeks from the language of Phenician traders, as tariff, cargo , are derived, in the English and other modern languages, from Spanish traders.” Stanley, on 2Co 1:22 . And so here-the Spirit is the , Rom 8:23 , the , as Chrys., or , as Hesych.: the pledge and assurer to us of , 1Co 2:12 , which eye hath not seen, &c.) of our inheritance (here the first person comes in again, and not without reason. The inheritance (see above on , which involved the converse idea) belongs to both Jew and Gentile to all who are the children of Abraham by faith, Gal 3:28-29 ), for (‘in order to,’ not ‘ until ,’ as E. V.; nor in ch. Eph 4:30 : nor does belong to , but to . These two final clauses express the great purpose of all not any mere intermediate matter nor can the Holy Spirit be said to be any such intermediate gift) the full redemption ( . is often used by the Apostle in this sense, e.g. ch. Eph 4:30 ; Rom 8:23 , of the full and exhaustive accomplishment of that which the word imports) of His purchased possession (the sense of has been much disputed, and many ungrammatical and illogical renderings of the words given. A full discussion may be seen in Harless’s note. The senses to be avoided are (1) the nonsensical antiptosis , that . . . = : (2) the equally absurd hendiadys, taking . for , which fits neither the true sense of , nor the context: (3) the taking as active in meaning ‘redemptio qua contingat certa vit possession Bucer. But this it could not convey to the Apostle’s readers, unless constructed with some substantive to indicate such a meaning, as in 1Th 5:9 , where see note. A variety of this is proposed by Grot. ‘rescuing,’ i.e. salvation and defended by Heb 10:39 , where is opposed to . But besides that there the genitive fixes the meaning, the article here, in my view, is an insuperable objection. (4) the taking , in a passive sense, as res acquisita making it therefore = , and giving to the sense of entire bestowal , which it cannot have. It remains then, that we seek some technical meaning of , since the obvious etymological ones fail. And such a meaning is found by considering its uses in the O. T. It, and its cognate word , are found applied to the people of God, in the sense of a people whom he preserves for Himself as His possession. So Exo 19:5 , , Deu 7:6 ; Deu 14:2 ; Deu 26:18 ; Ps. 134:4, , Isa 43:21 , , Mal 3:17 , , ., , , , . . . . In ref. 2 Chron. we have the wider meaning of a remnant generally. The above sense as applied to the people of the Lord, was adopted by the N. T. writers: e.g. St. Paul, Act 20:28 , . , . . , St. Peter, 1Pe 2:9 , . And such seems to be the meaning here: though no other case can be alleged in which the word stands so absolutely. We must suppose, that it would explain itself to the readers, from their familiarity with O. T. expressions, or with the Apostle’s own use of it. This view is taken by the Syr., c., Erasm., Calv., Grot., and most Commentators, also by De Wette, Harless, Olsh., Meyer, Stier, Ellic. Stier endeavours, as so often, to unite the meanings regarding God, and ourselves, for that we in being God’s possession, reserved for survivorship to others, do, in the root of the word, thus survive, are thus saved: and undoubtedly this is so, but is not the leading idea) for the praise of His glory (as before, Eph 1:6 : but as Stier well remarks, does not appear here, grace having done its work . is the Father: cf. Eph 1:17 , . This, the thorough and final redemption of the Church which He hath acquired to Himself, is the greatest triumph of His glory: as Grot. well says, ‘Plus aliquanto est in voce quam in voce quam antea habuimus. , sors, jus proprium perpetuumque significat: , acquisitio, et hoc, et modum acquirendi gravem et laboriosum. Solemus autem plurimi ea facere qu magno nobis constant’). See the typico-historical connexion of this wonderful passage with the patriarchal, legal, and prophetic periods, unfolded in Stier, i. pp. 129 136. I would not be understood to subscribe to all there advanced: but though his parallelism sometimes borders on the fanciful, the connexion is too striking to be altogether set aside by the real student of Scripture.
(B) Eph 1:15-23 .] The IDEA OF THE CHURCH carried forward, in the form of a prayer for the Ephesians, in which the fulfilment of the Father’s counsel through the Son and by the Spirit, in His people, is set forth, as consisting in the KNOWLEDGE of the hope of His calling, of the riches of His promise, and the power which He exercises on His saints as first wrought by Him in Christ, whom He has made Head over all to the Church .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Eph 1:13 . : in whom ye also . The reading appears in certain manuscripts of importance ( [68] [69] [70] [71] 3 , e, f, g , etc.); but the weight of documenttary authority is greatly on the side of . Taking, therefore, the , as contrasted with the previous , to refer to the readers of the Epistle as Gentiles in distinction from the writer and those whom he couples with himself as having formerly been Jews , we have in this verse and the following a paragraph which gives first a description of the evangelical standing and experience of Gentile Christians such as these Ephesians were, and then a statement of the fact that, in their case as in that of the others, God’s ultimate end in His gracious dealing with them was the praise of His glory. The opening clause, however, presents some difficulty. The sentence is left with something unexpressed, or its form is disturbed. How is it to be construed? It is natural to think first of explaining it by supplying some verb for the , and as the substantive verb is often left to be understood, some introduce here = “in whom ye also are,” “in whom ye also have a part” (Mey., Alf.). But the great Pauline formula can scarcely be dealt with thus, the in it has too profound a sense to allow of its being dropped and left to be understood as is possible with the ordinary substantive verb. Others, therefore, look to the immediately preceding for the word that is to be supplied (Erasm. Calv., Beza, Est., etc.; and so AV “in whom ye also trusted ”). But to make this applicable to Gentile believers requires us (unless the Second Advent is supposed to be the object of the hope) to supply only not , and to give the verb the modified sense of trusting or believing . Much more may be said in favour of supplying the definite verb which rules the larger sentence (Erasm. in his Paraphrase , Cornel, a Lap., Harl., Olsh., etc.) = “in whom ye also were made God’s , or possession”. The comparative distance of the from is no serious objection, especially in view of the fact that it is the definite verb, and not a qualifying participle, that is in view. There remains, however, yet another method of explanation, viz. , to regard the sentence as an interrupted construction, in which the expression of the main thought, that of the , is delayed by other preliminary ideas, the second being a resumption and continuation of the first (Theod. Mops., Jer., Beng., De Wette, Rck., Bleek, Bisp., Ell., Humphrey, Abb., Von Sod., Haupt). This solution of the difficulty appears on the whole to be the best, and it has been preferred by the majority of interpreters. It seems to be favoured by the Syr., Copt. and Eth. Versions, and is adopted by the RV “in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed”. The interruption of the regular construction in the statement of the fact of their having been “sealed” appears to be caused by the introduction of the idea of the primary Christian requirement of faith after the mention of the hearing . It is objected that the distance between the one and the other is much less than is usual in such cases, and that in a resumption we should expect not , but . But anacoloutha are quite in Paul’s way, and they are not all of one type or one extension ( cf. Win.-Moul., p. 704), and the ( minus the ) is appropriate as giving an ascensive force to the . This view of the construction has the advantage also of enabling us to retain substantially the same sense for the in these three occurrences (Eph 1:11 ; Eph 1:13 ), and it makes the defining participles (with its clause) and important preparations for the statement of privilege in the , each contributing something proper in its own place to the order of ideas. Hence both the first and the second are to be connected with the = “in whom, on hearing and believing, ye were sealed”; it being in Christ , in virtue of our union with Him, that we receive the gift of the Spirit. : having heard (or, on hearing ). This comes in its proper order, the first in the series of things, preparing the way for the sealing of the Spirit. In the narratives of cases of reception into the Christian Church in the Book of Acts we discover this order of grace: hearing, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost (Act 2:37-38 ), or hearing, faith, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost (Act 8:6 ; Act 8:12 ; Act 8:17 ). Yet this is not an invariable order. Sometimes only hearing, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost (Act 19:5-6 ) are mentioned; and in such instances as those of Paul (Act 9:17 ) and the men of Csarea (Act 10:44-47 ), the gift of the Holy Ghost appears to have preceded the administration of baptism. On the importance of hearing , that is, access to the preached word, cf. Rom 10:13-17 , where the is declared to come by the . : the word of the truth . The here is evidently the word of preaching, and it is said to be “of the truth,” not with any particular reference, as Meyer justly observes, to the OT word as one that dealt with types and shadows rather than realities (Chrys.), or to the word of heathenism as the word of error (Corn. a Lap., etc.), but in the sense in which our Lord Himself spoke of the truth and the word (Joh 17:17 ; cf. Col 1:5 ; 2Ti 2:15 ; Jas 2:17 ). The gen. is not that of apposition (Harl.), but the gen. objecti , “the word concerning the truth;” or, as Ell. suggests, the gen. of ethical substance or ethical content , “the word of which the truth is the very essence, or content”. : the gospel of your salvation . Further definition of “the word of the truth”. The preached word which has the truth for its essential content is that which brought you the good tidings of salvation. Here, again, the gen. is not that of appos. or identity (Harl., etc.), but most probably that of content or subject matter (Mey., Ell., etc.). Elsewhere we have the defined as that of the Kingdom (Mat 9:35 ), of God (Rom 1:1 ), of the Kingdom of God (Mar 1:14 ), of Christ, Jesus Christ, His Son , etc. (Rom 1:1 ; Rom 1:9 ; Rom 1:16 ; Mar 1:1 ), of peace (Eph 6:15 ), of the grace of God (Act 20:24 ), of the glory of the blessed God (1Ti 1:11 ), of the glory of Christ (2Co 4:4 ). Nowhere in the NT is the word used so frequently and in such a variety of applications as in the Pauline Epistles. It is never used in Luke’s Gospel, in John’s Gospel or Epistles, in Hebrews, or in James; in Matthew’s Gospel it occurs four times, in Mark eight times, in Acts twice, in Peter once, and in the Apocalypse once. The noun , which has so large a place in the rest of the Pauline writings, is of rare occurrence in these Epistles of the Captivity. It is found thrice in the Epistle to the Philippians, but only once in this profound Epistle to the Ephesians (in Eph 6:17 we have the other form ), and not even once in the sister Epistle to the Colossians. : in whom, I say . With the former the writer turned from the case of those like himself who, having been Jews, had been made God’s in Christ, to that of Gentiles like these Ephesians who also had been made partakers of God’s grace in Christ, though in a different way, not as having had the hope of the Jews in a promised Messiah, but simply as having heard the word of Christian preaching. The particular gift of grace which it was in his mind to state as bestowed on these Gentile Christians was the sealing of the Spirit. With this second , “ in whom, I say,” he takes up the statement which had been interrupted by the mention of the way in which they had come to receive the grace, and brings it (with a further reference to the antecedents to the sealing) to its intended conclusion. This , therefore, is not to be dealt with differently from the former and made to relate to the , as if = “in which Gospel having also believed, ye were sealed” (Mey.). It simply continues the idea of the previous , expressing the fact that the grace which came to the Gentile who heard the word of preaching, like the grace which came to the Jew who had the Messianic hope, was bestowed “in Christ,” and had its ground in Him. : having also believed . The belongs not to an implied but to the . It is the ascensive , adding to the first condition of hearing the second and higher of believing . The object of the is the previous , “having also believed that word of preaching;” not the , “believing also in whom” (Calv., Bez., Mey.). In Biblical Greek the phrase is of very rare occurrence, especially in the sense of believing or confiding in a person (Psa 78:22 ; Jer 12:6 ). In Mar 1:1 it has as the object. In Joh 3:15 both the reading and the connection are uncertain; in Joh 16:30 the idea is “by this”. The here expresses something prior to the fact conveyed by the definite verb, not contemporaneous with it (Harl.). The sealing was in Christ ( ), and it followed on their . : ye were sealed . The verb (= ) in the NT expresses several distinct ideas, e.g., confirming or authenticating (Joh 3:32 ; Joh 6:27 ; cf. in Rom 4:11 ; 1Co 9:2 ); securing (Mat 27:66 ; Rev 20:3 ); keeping secret (Rev 10:4 ; Rev 22:10 ; cf. in Rev 5:1-2 ; Rev 5:5 ; Rev 5:9 ; Rev 6:1 ; Rev 8:1 , etc.); marking as one’s possession or as destined for something (Rev 8:3-8 ; cf. in 2Ti 3:4 ; Rev 9:4 ). Here and in Eph 4:30 the idea seems to be either that of authenticating or certifying them to be of God’s heritage, or that of marking them as such. The two ideas are near akin. The latter will be more applicable, if (with Theophyl., Chrys., Cornel. a Lap., Alf., etc.) we take the attestation to be the objective attestation to others, the evidence to our fellows that we are the chosen of God; the former, if (with Mey., Ell., etc.) we take it to be the attestation to our own consciousness. This hope or assurance which is given to ourselves seems rather in view here ( cf. Rom 8:16 ). There is no reason to suppose that there is any allusion here to any peculiar use of the seal whether in Jewish custom or in heathen religious service. Nor is the rite of Baptism specially referred to. In ecclesiastical Greek, indeed, baptism came to be denoted by the term ; but there is no instance of that in the NT. The terms , , are used in the Pauline Epistles of circumcision (Rom 4:11 ), of the contribution from Macedonia and Achaia (Rom 15:28 ), of the Corinthians as the witnesses to Paul’s apostleship (1Co 9:2 ), of the inward certification of believers (2Co 1:22 ; Eph 1:13 ; Eph 4:30 ), and of the destination or ownership of the Church or congregation of believers (2Ti 2:19 ). : with the Holy Spirit of promise . The Spirit is that by which ( instrumental dative) the sealing is effected; and that Spirit is called the Spirit of promise , not in the active sense of bringing or confirming the promise (Calv., Bez., etc.), but in the passive sense of having been announced by the promise, or being the object or content of the promise in the OT. The , thrown emphatically to the end of the clause, designates the Spirit solemnly in respect of the essential personal quality of holiness. Taken together with the general tenor of the paragraph and with the fact that in the Gentile Christians as a whole are addressed, and not any select number or class, it is clear that what is in view here is not the extraordinary or miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but that bestowal of the Spirit in which all believers shared, which was the subject of the great OT prophecies (Joe 3:1-5 ; Isa 32:15 ; Isa 44:3 ; Eze 36:26 ; Eze 39:29 ; Zec 12:10 ), and of which a new heart, a new spirit, was to be the result.
[68] Codex Alexandrinus (sc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).
[69] Codex Mosquensis (sc. ix.), edited by Matthi in 1782.
[70] Codex Angelicus (sc. ix.), at Rome, collated by Tischendorf and others.
[71] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
In Whom, &c. The Ellipsis (App-6) should be supplied from the subject of Eph 1:11. In (Greek. en) Whom ye were made an inheritance also; or, allotted as God’s own inheritance.
after, &c. = having heard. See Eph 1:5.
word of truth. The Word always the instrument of the new begetting. Compare Joh 17:17. Jam 1:18. 1Pe 1:23.
word. App-121.
truth = the truth.
gospel. App-140.
salvation. Only occurance of the word in Eph.
in Whom, &c. = in (Greek. en) Whom ye also on believing were sealed.
believed. App-150.
sealed. Compare Eph 4:30. Mat 27:66. Joh 3:33. 2Co 1:22. Rev 7:3; &c. A seal affixed implies possession, or security, as well as being a distinctive mark.
with. No preposition. Dative case.
that = the (Emph.)
holy Spirit. Although both articles occur (see App-101.), yet it is clear from the “earnest, a pledge” (Eph 1:14) that it is the gift, not the Giver.
promise = the promise. See Joh 16:13, and compare Act 1:4, which latter refers to the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise in Joh 16:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] What is the construction? Have we but one sentence, , the two participial clauses being parallel, and both belonging to the verb? so the ff., Beng., De W., Ellic., (by whom the view is well defended and explained,) &c. But this seems to me impossible, from the arrangement. It would require the omission of the second , or the placing of the after . As the sentence now stands, the second must begin a new sentence, and surely cannot be the mere rhetorical repetition of the first. This being so, we must understand some verb to complete . Nothing can be more usual or more simple than to supply : nothing commoner than : nothing better suited to the context than, after putting forward the Jewish believers, to turn to the Gentiles, Ye also have your part in Christ-our prominence does not exclude you. Some supply (Erasm.-ver., Calv., Est., al.), some (Erasm.-par., Harl., Olsh., al.); but the other is far simpler; and I cannot see how it deserves the charge which Ellicott brings against it, of being a statement singularly frigid and out of harmony with the linked and ever-rising character of the context. It is quite accounted for as above, as forming a link in the context, whose character is well thus described. In whom are ye also (ye Gentile believers) since ye heard (from the time when. Their hearing was the terminus a quo) the word of the truth (the word whose character and contents are the truth of God: quasi extra ipsum nulla esset proprie Veritas, Calv.: see reff. This word is the instrument of the new birth, Jam 1:18. See Col 1:5, and, above all, Joh 17:17), (viz.) the Gospel of your salvation (the Gospel whose contents, whose good tidings are your salvation: not a genitive of apposition, as Harl.,-cf. the expressions . . , Act 20:24,- , ch. Eph 6:15,-. , Mat 9:35,- , Mar 1:1); in whom (belongs to Christ, as the former -not to nor to ,-nor is to be taken with , see below: but with -in whom ye not only are, but were sealed. The answers exactly to above; not being by this construction rendered superfluous (Mey.); see below) also (belongs to , not to either word alone) on your believing (terminus a quo, as above. Not to be taken with (as = , an usage unknown to St. Paul), for see Act 19:2, . ;-did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?-and Rom 13:11, : see also 1Co 3:5; 1Co 15:2; 1Co 15:11; Heb 4:3. This use of the aorist marks the time when the act of belief first took place-and it must naturally therefore stand absolutely) ye were sealed (the fact followed on baptism, which was administered on belief in Christ. See the key-passage, Act 19:1-6.
is, and is not, contemporaneous with : it is not, inasmuch as in strict accuracy, faith preceded baptism, and baptism preceded the gift of the Spirit: but it is, inasmuch as on looking back over a mans course, the period of the commencement of his faith includes all its accidents and accompaniments. See Ellic.s note. The figure of sealing is so simple and obvious, that it is perhaps mere antiquarian pedantry, with Schttgen, Grot., and Wetst., to seek for an explanation of it in Gentile practices of branding with the names of their deities, or even in circumcision itself. The sealing was objective, making manifest to others ( , . , Thl.; so Chr., al.): see Joh 3:33; Rev 7:3,-but also subjective, an approval and substantiation of their faith ( , Theod. Mops.), see Rom 8:16; 2Co 1:22; 1Jn 3:24 b) by the spirit of the promise (i.e. who was , Luk 24:49; Act 1:4; Gal 3:14; Gal 3:22; and I therefore insert the article. This, and not the other alternative, that the Spirit confirms Gods promises to us, is the true rendering: He was the promise of the O. T. as well as of the N. T.: as Chr.: , , . To unite together both alternatives as Stier does, weakens the force of the reference of back to God, so necessary to the context. The fact, that the Spirit is to us the Spirit of promise, is abundantly expressed in the following clause), the Holy One (I have preferred giving the separately, feeling with Meyer that there is an emphatic pathos in it which should not he lost in the usual prefix, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit with whom He sealed you is even His own Holy Spirit-what grace, and mercy, and love, is here!) which (if the of the rec. be retained, it is not for a moment to be referred to Christ,-nor to be insisted on as agreeing with the understood gender of the personal ,-but as so very often, a relative agreeing in gender with the subject () of the relative clause: see ch. Eph 3:18 reff. and many more examples in Brder) is the (not an) earnest (the word signifies the first instalment paid as a pledge that the rest will follow. It is used by the Greek orators, and by the earlier Latin writers, especially Plautus and Terence. A. Gellius [xvii. 2] speaks of it as a word considered in his time [A.D. 120-50] to be vulgar, and superseded by arra, which is the substitute for it in later Latinity. It is remarkable that the same word is used in the same sense in Hebrew, Gen 38:17-18, from to mix or exchange, and thence to pledge, as Jer 30:21; Neh 5:3. It was therefore probably derived by the Greeks from the language of Phenician traders, as tariff, cargo, are derived, in the English and other modern languages, from Spanish traders. Stanley, on 2Co 1:22. And so here-the Spirit is the , Rom 8:23,-the , as Chrys., or , as Hesych.: the pledge and assurer to us of , 1Co 2:12, which eye hath not seen, &c.) of our inheritance (here the first person comes in again, and not without reason. The inheritance (see above on , which involved the converse idea) belongs to both Jew and Gentile-to all who are the children of Abraham by faith, Gal 3:28-29), for (in order to,-not until, as E. V.; nor in ch. Eph 4:30 : nor does belong to , but to . These two final clauses express the great purpose of all-not any mere intermediate matter-nor can the Holy Spirit be said to be any such intermediate gift) the full redemption (. is often used by the Apostle in this sense, e.g. ch. Eph 4:30; Rom 8:23, of the full and exhaustive accomplishment of that which the word imports) of His purchased possession (the sense of has been much disputed, and many ungrammatical and illogical renderings of the words given. A full discussion may be seen in Harlesss note. The senses to be avoided are (1) the nonsensical antiptosis, that . . . = : (2) the equally absurd hendiadys, taking . for , which fits neither the true sense of , nor the context: (3) the taking as active in meaning-redemptio qua contingat certa vit possession Bucer. But this it could not convey to the Apostles readers, unless constructed with some substantive to indicate such a meaning, as in 1Th 5:9, where see note. A variety of this is proposed by Grot.-rescuing, i.e. salvation-and defended by Heb 10:39, where is opposed to . But besides that there the genitive fixes the meaning,-the article here, in my view, is an insuperable objection. (4) the taking , in a passive sense, as res acquisita-making it therefore = , and giving to the sense of entire bestowal, which it cannot have. It remains then, that we seek some technical meaning of , since the obvious etymological ones fail. And such a meaning is found by considering its uses in the O. T. It, and its cognate word , are found applied to the people of God, in the sense of a people whom he preserves for Himself as His possession. So Exo 19:5, , Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; Deu 26:18;-Ps. 134:4, , -Isa 43:21, ,-Mal 3:17, , ., , , , . … In ref. 2 Chron. we have the wider meaning of a remnant generally. The above sense as applied to the people of the Lord, was adopted by the N. T. writers: e.g. St. Paul, Act 20:28, . , . . ,-St. Peter, 1Pe 2:9, . And such seems to be the meaning here: though no other case can be alleged in which the word stands so absolutely. We must suppose, that it would explain itself to the readers, from their familiarity with O. T. expressions, or with the Apostles own use of it. This view is taken by the Syr., c., Erasm., Calv., Grot., and most Commentators, also by De Wette, Harless, Olsh., Meyer, Stier, Ellic. Stier endeavours, as so often, to unite the meanings regarding God, and ourselves,-for that we in being Gods possession, reserved for survivorship to others, do, in the root of the word, thus survive, are thus saved: and undoubtedly this is so, but is not the leading idea) for the praise of His glory (as before, Eph 1:6 : but as Stier well remarks, does not appear here, grace having done its work. is the Father: cf. Eph 1:17, . This, the thorough and final redemption of the Church which He hath acquired to Himself, is the greatest triumph of His glory: as Grot. well says, Plus aliquanto est in voce quam in voce quam antea habuimus. , sors, jus proprium perpetuumque significat: , acquisitio, et hoc, et modum acquirendi gravem et laboriosum. Solemus autem plurimi ea facere qu magno nobis constant). See the typico-historical connexion of this wonderful passage with the patriarchal, legal, and prophetic periods, unfolded in Stier, i. pp. 129-136. I would not be understood to subscribe to all there advanced: but though his parallelism sometimes borders on the fanciful, the connexion is too striking to be altogether set aside by the real student of Scripture.
(B) Eph 1:15-23.] The IDEA OF THE CHURCH carried forward, in the form of a prayer for the Ephesians, in which the fulfilment of the Fathers counsel through the Son and by the Spirit, in His people, is set forth, as consisting in the KNOWLEDGE of the hope of His calling, of the riches of His promise, and the power which He exercises on His saints as first wrought by Him in Christ, whom He has made Head over all to the Church.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Eph 1:13. , in Whom) To be referred to in Christ, Eph 1:12, or to in Him, Eph 1:10.-, having heard) The sense is suspended,[13] till the participle having believed [after that ye believed], which is correlative to having heard, be added.- , of the truth) Hence it is called the hearing of faith. The mention of truth occurs again, ch. Eph 4:15; Eph 4:21; Eph 4:24-25; Eph 5:9; Eph 6:14.- , in whom also) In whom, after the intervening clause, is here taken up again; comp. in Himself, Eph 1:10, note.– , you were sealed-who is the earnest) 2Co 1:22, note.- , with the Holy Spirit of promise) The Holy Spirit was promised by the word; therefore when the Holy Spirit was given, those who believed the word were sealed; and those who have the Holy Spirit, know that every promise will be fulfilled to them.
[13] , at the beginning of the ver., is not, as Engl. Vers. takes it, governed by , ye trusted, understood from the previous ver., but by below.-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 1:13
Eph 1:13
in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth,-Here the Gentile Christians, as distinguished from the Jewish nation, are clearly meant. In whom is repeated before the dose of the sentence, which remains incomplete till near the end of the verse. So far as the Ephesians were concerned, they had heard the word of truth from Paul.
the gospel of your salvation,-This, the word of truth meant this good news of salvation which, through faith, they were enabled to appropriate to their own salvation.
in whom, having also believed,-The repetition of in whom keeps the attention fixed upon the main thought in the verse, that all this benefit so received is in Christ. We should notice how constantly the apostle keeps in view the faith which accompanies and conditions all these great benefits. Faith in God enables the humblest to trust and be guided by the wisdom of God. Jesus Christ and his teachings are the perfect wisdom of God, and the simple child of mortality through faith can walk in the light of that wisdom.
ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,-These Ephesians received this gift of the Spirit by the laying on of the hands of Paul. (Act 19:1-7). They received this gift of the Spirit in its miraculous manifestation. We do not; but we receive it in our hearts, by receiving the word of God into our hearts and bring them into subjection to it. The Spirit becomes the controlling element in the heart and dwells there. We do not recognize it by our senses as did those who received the miraculous gifts, but it is nonetheless a real controlling element in the heart and life, bearing fruit of the Spirit. And this Spirit of Christ in the heart is a seal that we have been accepted by God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Sealed with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13-14)
Next Paul turned to the Gentile converts, therefore the words are especially appropriate as applied to us, In whom ye also trusted. Notice the change in pronoun, from we in verse Eph 1:12 to ye, referring to the Gentiles: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth. He was not necessarily implying a lengthy period after they had heard the word of truth. The verse might be translated, In whom ye also trusted, upon hearing the word of truth. The gospel message believed results in immediate salvation. It is not necessary that people go through a long season of soul-searching and agonizing in spirit after hearing the gospel before they are converted to God. A man may hear the message for the first time, and hearing, believe and live.
Yet one can quite understand the pitiful question of the Chinese woman who had lived in the darkness of paganism all her life. Some itinerant missionaries came to her village, and for the first time she heard the message of grace. She came trembling and said, It is a wonderful story. I have never heard it before, and you are leaving us tomorrow. I may never hear it again, but I believe it. Do you think once is enough to make my soul secure? Yes, once is enough!
Once for all, O sinner, receive it;
Once for all, O brother, believe it;
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all.
Philip P. Bliss
Most of us have heard this message over and over again. I wonder how many can take these words to ourselves, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The gospel is indeed the good spell. That is the exact meaning of the Anglo-Saxon word, gospel. Centuries ago the word spell meant news or message. A dynamic orator may be called a spellbinder because he can hold an audience with his message. The gospel is the good spell, the good message. It is Gods good news for lost sinners; Gods good news about His blessed Son. It cannot be too often emphasized that the gospel is not good advice to be obeyed; it is good news to be believed. And when we believe the message, we are saved.
Now, following our salvation, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit-In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise. A good many have been misled by the rendering in the King James version:. In whom also after that ye believed. They have thought that this necessarily implied an interval between believing and being sealed with the Spirit. But I would call your attention to the fact that we have exactly the same words in the previous part of this verse: In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth. A better translation would be, In whom ye also trusted, upon hearing the word of truth. Not necessarily a week or a month, or yet ten minutes after, but upon hearing. The same is true in the latter part of the verse: upon believing we were sealed with the Holy Spirit.
There is, of course, a difference between the Holy Spirits regenerating work and the sealing. The difference is as great as that between building a house and moving into it. You may move into it the moment it is ready. When the Spirit of God creates a man anew in Christ Jesus, at that moment a house is built, a temple is prepared, and then the Holy Spirit of God moves in and takes possession of him. Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise. That is, the Spirit who had been promised in past ages and by our blessed Lord when here on earth, has now come to indwell every believer.
Three times in the New Testament we read of the believer being sealed with the Spirit. We find it here (Eph 1:13), and in 2Co 1:22, Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts, and then again in Ephesians (Eph 4:30), Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. These are the only three direct references to the sealing of the Holy Spirit in connection with the believer. But in Joh 6:27 we read that our Lord Himself was sealed: Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. You remember after His baptism in the Jordan, the Spirit of God descended like a dove on Him, and a voice from Heaven said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Mat 3:17). That is the sealing of the blessed Savior. It is always interesting to note that it is in John Chapter 6, where Christ speaks of Himself as the living Bread that came down from Heaven, of which if a man eat he shall live forever, that our Lord also speaks of Himself as sealed.
A seal was a stamp, a mark of ownership, a mark of approval. At one time when you bought a loaf of bread at the grocery store, it had a little stamp on it, or perhaps it had the name of the bakery or the trademark impressed on the bread. This was done by pressing the dough into the pan that had the name in the metal. That name on the loaf of bread is the bakers guarantee. It was as though he said, I stand back of this bread. It is just so with our blessed Lord. He is the Bread of God, the living Bread, the Bread of Life, and God the Father sealed Him when He gave Him the Holy Spirit. And now when we believe in Him, trust Him as our Savior, the same Holy Spirit comes to live in us. God the Father seals us by the Spirit, and says, as it were, This man, this woman, belongs to Me; henceforth I stand back of him, I own him as Mine.
It is a remarkable thing that the only two Epistles in which we read of sealing by the Spirit are those written to the Corinthians and Ephesians. Corinth and Ephesus were great centers of the lumber industry in ancient times. A raft of logs would be brought from the Black Sea and notice sent to the different lumber firms that the raft was in the harbor. These firms would send their men out and they would look over the logs and make their selection. One would say, I will take those logs, another, I will take these, and they would give a down payment and then cut a certain wedge on each log that the firm had agreed to take. This was called the seal. The logs might not be drawn out of the water for many weeks, but each was sealed by the mark of the firm that had pledged to purchase them.
I was standing on a high bridge at St. Cloud, Minnesota, watching a lumber jam, and as I saw the men working I said to my friend, Do all these logs belong to one firm? Oh no, he said, there are representatives of many different firms working here in the Minnesota woods. Well, I asked, How on earth can they distinguish between the logs? He showed me from the bridge how they were marked, so that when they reached their destination down the river, the various firms would be able to select their own logs. Though you and I are still tossed about in the waters of this poor world we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. When the appointed day comes and the Lord takes His own to be with Himself, that will be the day of the redemption of His purchased possession. Then He will take out of this world all who have been sealed with His Spirit. We will go to be with Him in glory.
We may well remember the admonition, Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed. He who has come to dwell within us will abide with us forever. When the Spirit of God indwells a believer, He never leaves him in life or in death, until the believer is presented faultless in the presence of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The bodies of our beloved dead in Christ are in the keeping of the Holy Spirit, and living saints are indwelt by the Spirit and will be until called to be forever with the Lord.
This enables us to understand the transition of thought as we pass to verse 14. In verse 13 the Holy Spirit is a seal, and in verse 14 He is the earnest, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. I mentioned the lumber dealer paying down a small sum as a pledge, the rest to be paid in full when the logs were drawn out of the water. God has given us the Holy Spirit as the pledge that eventually we are to be taken out of this world and fully conformed to the image of His Son. Now we are privileged to appropriate in a small measure what we will have in all its fullness when we get home to Heaven.
If here on earth the thoughts of Jesus love Lift our poor hearts this weary world above, If even here the taste of heavenly springs So cheers the spirit, that the pilgrim sings, What will the sunshine of His glory prove? What the unmingled fullness of His love? What hallelujahs will His presence raise? What but one loud eternal burst of praise?
What will it mean when we see Him face to face, when the last vestige of sin and infirmity will disappear, and we will be like Him for whom we wait? We will be to the praise of his glory. Think of it! Every sinner saved by grace divine, will add to the glory and satisfaction of the heart of God throughout eternity. It was in order that we might be won for Christ and set apart for Himself, that our blessed Lord came in grace from the throne in Heaven down to the cross of Calvary. He died that He might redeem us to God with His own blood and make us suitable habitations for the Holy Spirits indwelling.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
sealed
The Holy Spirit is Himself the seal. In the symbolism of Scripture a seal signifies:
(1) A finished transaction Jer 32:9; Jer 32:10; Joh 17:4; Joh 19:30.
(2) Ownership Jer 32:11; Jer 32:12; 2Ti 2:19
(3) Security Est 8:8; Dan 6:17; Eph 4:30
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
ye also: Eph 2:11, Eph 2:12, Col 1:21-23, 1Pe 2:10
after that ye heard: Eph 4:21, Joh 1:17, Rom 6:17, Rom 10:14-17, Col 1:4-6, Col 1:23, 1Th 2:13
the word: Psa 119:43, 2Co 6:7, 2Ti 2:15, Jam 1:18
the gospel: Mar 16:15, Mar 16:16, Act 13:26, Rom 1:16, 2Ti 3:15, Tit 2:11, Heb 2:3
ye were: Eph 4:30, Joh 6:27, Rom 4:11, 2Co 1:22, 2Ti 2:19, Rev 7:2
holy: Joe 2:28, Luk 11:13, Luk 24:49, Joh 14:16, Joh 14:17, Joh 14:26, Joh 15:26, Joh 16:7-15, Act 1:4, Act 2:16-22, Act 2:33, Gal 3:14
Reciprocal: Exo 28:11 – engravings of a signet 2Ch 16:7 – Because Psa 86:2 – trusteth Psa 125:1 – that trust Pro 16:20 – whoso Son 2:12 – of the turtle Son 4:12 – sealed Son 8:5 – leaning Jer 32:10 – and sealed Eze 36:27 – I will Dan 3:28 – that trusted Zep 3:12 – and Mat 12:21 – General Luk 15:22 – a ring Joh 4:14 – shall be Joh 5:23 – all men Joh 7:39 – this spake Act 9:31 – and in Rom 5:5 – shed Rom 8:9 – if so be Rom 8:16 – Spirit Rom 15:12 – in him 1Co 15:19 – hope 2Co 5:5 – the earnest Gal 2:5 – that Gal 3:2 – Received Gal 4:6 – God Eph 1:12 – who Phi 1:27 – the faith Phi 2:1 – if any fellowship Phi 2:19 – But Col 1:5 – the word 2Ti 1:12 – believed Jam 1:21 – which 1Pe 1:8 – full 1Pe 1:21 – your
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Eph 1:13.) . This clause is variously construed. Morus harshly renders -therefore, making it to correspond to the Hebrew . Meyer, Peile, and Alford supply the verb of existence-in whom are ye. But this appears tame in contrast with the other significant verbs of the paragraph. Far better, if a verb is to be supplied to the clause at all, either to take , with Beza, Calvin, and Estius; or , with Zanchius, a-Lapide, Bodius, Koppe, Meier, Harless, and Olshausen. But the clause presents only one compacted sentence-In whom also ye, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom (I repeat) ye, having believed, were sealed. refers to the verb -in Christ ye too have been sealed; and the second resumes and intensifies the declaration, for it refers to Christ, as Harless, Olshausen, and Stier rightly think, and not-as Piscator, Grotius, and Rosenmller affirm-to , or-as Castalio, Calvin, Beza, and Meyer aver-to . The apostle, in assuring the Gentile converts that their interest in Christ, though more recent, was not less secure than that of believing Jews, first of all turns to their initial privilege as having heard the gospel, and then he cannot but refer to their faith; and this second reference, so important, suspends the construction for a moment. The apostle describes their privilege-
-having heard the word of the truth. The aorist has its proper meaning, though rendered having heard, and points to the period when their privilege commenced. The genitive is that of contents or substance. Scheuerlein, 12, 1. This clause describes the revealed system of mercy. That word has truth, absolute truth, for its essence. There is no occasion to suppose any allusion to the types of the Old Testament, with Chrysostom, or to the lying vanities and ambiguous oracles of Heathendom, with Baumgarten-Crusius and a-Lapide. The idea was familiar to the mind of Paul, Rom 1:18; Rom 2:8; Col 1:5 – ; 2Th 2:12. This special truth is adapted to man’s spiritual state. It is a truth that there is a God, but the truth that this God is the Saviour; a truth that God is benevolent, but the truth that grace is in His heart toward sinners; a truth that there is a future world, but the truth that heaven is the home of the redeemed. The gospel is wholly truth, and that very truth which is indispensable to a guilty world. And it comes as a word, by special oral revelation, for it is not gleaned and gathered: there is a kind and faithful oracle.
It is further characterized as -the gospel of your salvation. But what is the precise form of the genitive? We cannot regard it, with Harless, as merely a peculiar form of apposition; nor can we make it, with other critics, the gospel which secures your salvation. Rom 1:16. For the occurrence of , as explaining their relation to the gospel, would suggest the explanation-the gospel which reveals salvation, because it contains it. Bernhardy, p. 161; Winer, 30, 2, b. The gospel is good news, and that good news is our salvation-the best of all news to a sinful and dying world. Salvation makes safe from all the elements of that penalty which their sin brought down upon transgressors, and possession to the inheritance of the highest good-the enjoyment of the Divine favour, and the possession of the Divine image. This truthful and cheering revelation they had heard, and that at two several periods, from the lips of the apostle himself. Having heard the gospel, they believed it: Faith cometh by hearing. They heard so as that they believed, for they had heard with candour, docility, and attention. While others might criticise the terms of the message, or scoff at it, they believed it, they took it for what it professed to be. They gave it credit, received its statements as truths, and felt its blessings to be realities.
-in whom also having believed. The pronoun has for its antecedent, and it is in close connection with the verb. The verb is found with in Mar 1:15, but not in the writings of the apostle. The aorist marks a time antecedent to the following verb. They not only heard, but they also believed the word of truth.
-ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. The dative is that of instrument, and the position of gives a signal solemnity to the epithet. This Divine Being is termed , not on account of His essence, since the whole Godhead is Spirit, but because of His relation to the universe as its Life, and to the believing soul as its Quickener. And He is the HOLY Spirit, not as if the sanctity of His character were more brilliant than that of Father and Son, but because of His economic function as the Sanctifier. The genitive is supposed by Chrysostom, Calvin, Beza, and the early church, to have an active sense, and to mean the Spirit who confirms the promise. Better is the idea which makes the genitive denote quality, as in the Syriac version-the Spirit which was promised. The genitive is almost that of ablation, as Theophylact in his first explanation gives it- . The Spirit is a prominent and pervading promise in the Old Testament. Isa 32:15; Isa 44:3; Eze 36:27; Eze 39:29; Joe 2:28; Zec 12:10. The Spirit was also the leading promise which Christ left to His disciples, as recorded in John, referred to in Act 1:4-8, and in Gal 3:14. See Luk 24:49. The fact is, that up to the period of our Lord’s ascension, the Spirit stood to the church in the relation and attitude of a promised gift. Joh 7:39. Holy Ghost was not yet in plenary possession and enjoyment, because Jesus was not yet glorified. The same truth was taught by the apostle at Ephesus. Act 19:2. Paul said to certain disciples there who had been baptized into John’s baptism, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed? And they said unto him, We did not so much as hear whether there be any Holy Ghost. Surely such ig norance referred not to the person of the Holy Ghost, for these men were Jews; but the reply seems to be, We did not hear whether His promised outpouring has been vouchsafed. And when they were rebaptized, the blessing came upon them. To a church where such a scene occurred, where men had waited for the Spirit, and felt that His descent did not follow John’s baptism-for it was the prerogative of the Messiah to baptize with the Holy Ghost-no wonder that Paul designates this Divine Agent by the name of the Spirit of promise. And though the church now possess Him, still, in reference to enlarged operation and reviving energy, He is the Spirit of promise.
By this Spirit they were sealed. 2Co 1:22. The sealing followed the believing, and is not coincident with it, as Harless argues. This sealing is a peculiar work of the Spirit. 2Ti 2:19. Various ideas may be contained in the general figure. It seems to have, in fact, both an objective and a subjective reference. There are the seal, the sealer, and the sealed. The Holy Ghost is the seal, God the sealer. -the Divine image in the possession of the Spirit is impressed on the heart, and the conscious enjoyment of it assures the believer of perfection and glory-Rom 8:16 -or, as Theodore of Mopsuestia says, . He who seals feels a special interest in what is so sealed-it is marked out as His: The Lord knoweth them that are His. He recognizes His own image. So Chrysostom- , just as if one were to make manifest such as have fallen to his lot. The notion of Theophylact is similar. But the idea that the sealing proves our security to others, or is meant to do so, is foreign to the meaning. That seal unbroken remains a token of safety. Rev 7:3. Whatever bears God’s image will be safely carried home to His bosom. The sealed ones feel the assurance of this within themselves. That there may be an allusion in the phrase to the miraculous gifts of the early ages, is not to be entirely denied, though certainly all who possessed those charismata were not converted men. Baptism was named a seal in early times, -signaculum. Greg. Naz. Or. xl. De Bapt.; Tertull. Apol. xxi. The reason of the name is obvious, but there is no allusion to it here. Augusti, Handb. der Christ. Archaeologie, vol. ii. p. 315, 16.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
The Holy Spirit in Ephesians
Eph 1:13-23
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
There are distinct lines of teaching relative to the Holy Spirit in several of Paul’s Epistles. The Book of Ephesians has seven outstanding statements regarding the ministry of the Spirit, so also are there seven statements in the Book of Galatians, and likewise seven in the Book of Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. No Book duplicates the message of the other Book, nor do the combined messages, therein, tell us all that God had to say through His Apostles concerning the Holy Ghost.
In our study today we will hold ourselves to seven things concerning the Holy Spirit as found in Ephesians.
By way of introduction we shall speak of what may be termed a prefatory statement which is found in Eph 1:13 : “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.” Where could we find any statement in Scripture relative to the Holy Spirit more marvelous than this one?
1. We are described as having trusted. The message which follows therefore is for believing saints, and not for the unregenerate. We heard the Gospel of our salvation which is the Word of Truth, and we believed in Him of whom the Gospel spake.
2. We are described as being sealed after we trusted. This sealing was God’s mark of the fact of our regeneration. It is His stamp that we have passed out of death and into life. Being saved we are sealed: sealed unto the day of the redemption of our bodies, unto the day of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection, unto the day when we shall see Him face to face, and be forever with the Lord.
Mark again: God is not sealing sinners but saints. There is no promise from the Holy Spirit that the wicked are either saved, or sealed, or safe. There is a promise to saints that what God seals is safe. No man can break His seal.
What security we have in these opening words of Ephesians! We have been blessed of God with every spiritual blessing. We have been chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
We have been predestinated unto the adoption of sons, by Christ Jesus. This “placing” is not according to anything that we have done, but according to the good pleasure of His will. We have been predestinated to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein we were made accepted in the Beloved.
In all wisdom and prudence God wrought out our redemption through the Blood of Christ, and according to the riches of His grace. This was purposed by God, in Christ.
When we believed we also obtained an inheritance. This inheritance was also predestined, and made sure unto us according to the purpose of God who works everything after His own will.
These marvelous promises should be enough to satisfy any saint. However, the Holy Ghost has one other climactic statement. Here it is: “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the Word of Truth.” Then He added: “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.”
This sealing is God’s “earnest.” He assures us that we shall enter into our final inheritance, and the sealing stands good as God’s earnest until He has obtained the redemption of His purchased possession. Thank God for this opening statement concerning the sealing of the Spirit.
I. THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM AND REVELATION (Eph 1:17)
Here is a prayer from the lips of the Apostle. It runs this way: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.”
God is not so much interested in our accumulation of knowledge relative to the works which He hath wrought, as He is in our knowledge of Him.
It is not what He has done, but what He is which should chiefly concern us. We want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. We want to know God and the riches of His grace. “We want to know Him, and the hope of His calling, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the greatness of His power as manifested toward us when He raised up Christ from the dead.
The natural man cannot see the things of God; neither can he understand them. These things must be made known by the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Truth.
Christ gave us the promise, that “when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will lead you into all Truth.” How wonderful it is that we may have this Holy Spirit of wisdom and of revelation! This Teacher of teachers, who journeys with us, takes of the deep things of God and reveals them unto us.
We are so ignorant that we need to be taught. There is no man, in the flesh, whom we can trust. We would wander in a maze of uncertainty concerning the spiritual things of God had He not given us One who knows what and how to teach us. Now we have no need that any man should teach us, for we have an anointing of the Holy One, and He teaches us all things.
“Holy Spirit, faithful Guide,
Ever near the Christian’s side;
Gently lead us by the hand,
Pilgrims in a desert land.
Weary souls for-e’er rejoice,
While they hear that sweetest voice
Whisp’ring softly, ‘Wand’rer come,
Follow Me, I’ll guide thee Home.’
“Ever present, truest Friend,
Ever near Thine aid to lend,
Leave us not to doubt and fear,
Groping on in darkness drear.
When the storms are raging sore,
Hearts grow faint, and hopes give o’er;
Whisp’ring softly, ‘Wand’rer come,
Follow Me, I’ll guide thee Home.'”
II. THE SPIRIT OF ACCESS (Eph 2:18)
“For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” The second chapter of Ephesians is discussing the Jew and the Gentile, with emphasis upon the Gentile. The Gentile world, under the Law, never had the direct access unto the Father, as had the Jew. They were “afar off,” “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,” “strangers from the covenants of promise,” “having no hope, and without God in the world.” Now, however, through the Blood of Christ, the Gentiles have access as readily as the Jews, for, Christ “is our Peace * * having broken down the middle wall of partition,” thus, of Jew and Gentile, “making one new man.”
When Jesus Christ died the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from top to bottom. From that hour there was no veil to keep us Gentiles from the Holy of Holies. We both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Here is the thought as we see it: In the first chapter of Ephesians the Holy Spirit teaches us to know God; in the second chapter of Ephesians the Holy Spirit becomes our Guide. He takes our hand and leads us into the very presence of the Father. What a wonderful vision is this that the Paraclete, who is the “One at our side,” leads us into the presence of God. This illumines that verse in Jude which says: “Praying in the Holy Ghost.” It also gives added force to the seventh statement in the Book of Ephesians about the Spirit: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
“Come, Holy Spirit, like a dove descending,
Rest Thou upon us while we meet to pray;
Show us the Saviour, His great love revealing;
Lead us to Him, the Life, the Truth, the Way.”
III. THE SPIRIT AND HIS HABITATION (Eph 2:22)
“In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” There are other Scriptures, notably in Romans and Corinthians and Galatians, where the truth of the personal indwelling of the Spirit in the individual believer, is clearly set forth.
Our bodies are proclaimed as the temples of the Holy Ghost, who is in us, and whom we have of God. Again, we are told, “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” In Galatians we read: “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts.” These verses all speak of a personal indwelling of God’s Holy Guest in each individual believer.
Our text, however, has another thought. It speaks of the saints being builded together for God’s habitation through the Spirit. It is not now the individual, but the saints formed into one body or building.
Thus, the same Spirit who indwells the believer, indwells the Church. How sad when that Church loses the sense of its hallowed Guest!
In Rev 3:1-22 we read these startling words, addressed to the Laodicean Church: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Alas! Alas! That God should be seeking entrance into that building” which was formed for His habitation.
We fear that in many churches, today, the Holy Spirit is not recognized. Men sit in the places of authority and headship. They are lording it over God’s heritage. Oh, that we might open the doors of the Church wide (not the church building) and let God in the Spirit come in.
“Holy Spirit, all Divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine;
Cast down every idol throne,
Reign supreme-and reign alone!”
IV. THE SPIRIT OF STRENGTH (Eph 3:16)
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.” We now come to a distinctive ministry of the Spirit. This ministry is different from the teaching ministry which we have already considered. It is different from the “access” ministry which has been developed.
The Spirit now is described as dwelling within us, that He might strengthen us. There is a little verse which says that when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
God found us in our sins, altogether weak. He quickened us; gave us a new life. He raised us up, and gave us a new position. He made us to sit together with Him in Heavenly places, gave us a new fellowship. And yet, with all of these blessings, which we have in Him-the conflicts of the earth-walk and the earth conversation often stagger us.
We know we are God’s and that God is ours, yet we cry, “Where is some one to help us to fight our fight, and meet our difficulties?” “How can we do His will and work?” Then the Holy Spirit says to us, “I have come to strengthen you.”
In line with this is that wonderful promise in Act 1:8. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
“Come, Holy Spirit, come;
Let Thy bright beams arise,
Dispel the darkness from our minds.
And open all our eyes.
“Revive our drooping faith,
Our doubts and fears remove,
And kindle in our breasts the flame
Of never-dying love.
“Convince us of our sin,
Then lead to Jesus’ Blood,
And to our wondering view reveal
The secret love of God.
“‘Tis Thine to cleanse the heart,
To sanctify the soul,
To pour fresh life in every part,
And new-create the whole.”
V. THE SPIRIT IN UNITY (Eph 4:3)
“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Here is something else, something different from anything we have before considered, and something most revealing.
There is but one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling; there is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. The word “one” does not only suggest solidarity; it also suggests unity.
We read of the Trinity, three in one. In Him there is oneness of purpose, oneness of thought. So also since there is but one Lord, one Spirit, one Father, one hope, one baptism, one faith, and, may we say, there should be but one church.
We mean that the church should be as one even as God is One. The church should be endeavoring to keep the “oneness,” that is, the “unity” of the Spirit.
How grievous it must be to the Lord to hear some one say: “I am of Paul,” or, “I am of Apollos,” or, “I am of Cephas.” How much better to say: “I am of the Lord.”
When Jesus Christ prayed that last memorable prayer, He said, “That they all may be one.” How beautiful it is for brethren to dwell together in unity-in oneness. On the day of Pentecost they were all of one heart, of one mind, of one soul.
Satan’s effort is to cause divisions, or schisms among the saints. The work of the Holy Spirit is the work of unification.
“Come, Holy Ghost, in love,
Shed on us from above
Thine own bright ray:
Divinely good Thou art;
Thy sacred gifts impart
To gladden each sad heart:
Oh, come today!
“Come, tenderest Friend and best,
Our most delightful Guest,
With soothing power:
Rest, which the weary know;
Shade, ‘mid the noontide glow;
Peace, when deep griefs o’erflow:
Cheer us this hour.”
VI. THE SPIRIT AND THE, SAINTS (Eph 4:30)
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” We now have before us a statement which should give us pause. Heretofore Ephesians has brought before us what the Spirit has done for us, or, seeks to do for us. Here He discusses our attitude toward Him.
The word “grieve” means to “bring sorrow.”
The Holy Spirit of God comes in order that He may show us the things of God, and we must not refuse to listen to His voice.
The Holy Spirit comes to us that He may dwell within us. Let us not grieve Him by refusing Him the sway of our lives.
The Holy Spirit comes to be our strength. Let us not grieve Him by walking in the energy of our flesh. The Holy Spirit comes to cement us into perfect unity in Christ. Let us not foster divisions. The Holy Spirit comes to make us like our Lord; let us not grieve Him; let us, therefore put away all bitterness, and all lying, and all corrupt communication, and wrath, and clamor, and evil speaking, and all malice.
How often have we, who name the Name of Christ, felt the Holy Spirit grieved within us? We were conscious of the fact that we had said something, or had done something that brought Him sorrow.
Let us, from this hour, determine that we will so live that we may bring joy to our Holy Indweller. Let us be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. If we do this the Holy Spirit in us will rejoice, and our joy will be full.
VII. THE HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS FRUIT (Eph 5:9)
“For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” In another Epistle, that to the Galatians, we read that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, etc. Here we read of the fruit of the Spirit, as being in all goodness, and in all righteousness, and in all truth.
These words are given us to contrast the words in the fourth chapter, which we have just considered. Words which tell us of the things which grieve the Spirit. If the Spirit is fruitful within us, our lives will be filled with goodness and with righteousness, and with truth.
We feel impelled to listen to a final statement of Ephesians, concerning the Holy Spirit. In the sixth chapter we read of two other things. The first is relative to the “Sword of the Spirit,” which is the Word of God; and the second is “praying in the Spirit.”
Since the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth; we are certain that there is an enemy both within, and without, which would keep us from this delightful experience of the Spirit’s fruitfulness.
Principalities and powers are centered against us from above, and the flesh is warring against us within to bring us into subjection. We have, however, two weapons of warfare in the Spirit. The Word of Truth is given us as the Spirit’s Sword.
An illustration of the effectiveness of this method of battle is found in the Book of Revelation where we read of the saint’s victory over Satan, and his cohorts. Here are the words: “And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”
2. In addition to this Sword of the Spirit is added another effective method of victory, and that is the expression: “Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” If defeat ever comes into your life, remember this twofold method of victory: first the wielding of the Sword of the Spirit, and second, the praying in the Spirit.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Do you remember dear old grandmother? In the days of her feebleness, do you remember, how, one day, she started up the steps of your home? She got out of breath and caught hold of the banisters. Finally she got up to the first landing. Do you remember the little settee you had built there? Well, dear old grandma, tired out, dropped down on the settee unable to proceed. Then you ran up the steps, calling: “Wait a moment, Grandma, I am coming.” You remember how you put your arm around the dear, precious, old grandmother, and you said, “Now you can make it, for I will help you up.” Have you ever gone into the life of prayer and fallen down fainting on the first landing? Then it was the Holy Ghost said, “I know, you don’t know how to pray, I will help you.” Then He put His arm through yours, and lifted you up. Thank God, He will teach us how to pray!
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Eph 1:13. Ye also refers to the Ephe-sian brethren in general, to whom the apostle is writing this letter. What he says to them as Christians applies to all others in contrast with the apostles. This italicized phrase is proof that what has been said so far in this epistle applies to the apostles officially, and hence does not teach predestination of any man’s personal salvation. There are some truths that can be said of all Christians, whether they are apostles, elders, deacons or unofficial members of Christ’s body. That is why it will be well for the reader to go back and again take note of all that has been said in the comments on this chapter from the first verse on, then resume his study of the present verse, etc. Trusted has no word in the original at this place, but it is implied in the preceding verse and is therefore justified here. Note the brethren trusted after they heard the truth of the Gospel. This shows that becoming a disciple of Christ is not done by any miracle, except that the whole scheme of salvation is a miracle. In whom is a pronoun standing for Christ (last word of verse 12), in whom only is a Christian sealed (furnished with assuring evidence) by the Spirit which reveals the truth of salvation, by having dictated to the chosen writers (the apostles) the revelation of the Truth. The outward proof of being in the Spirit is the fruit borne by disciples (Gal 5:22).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Here the apostle recounts the favours and privileges which the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, upon their believing in Christ were admitted to the participation of; he assures them, that in and through Christ they had obtained a right to this heavenly inheritance also, as well as the Jews, having been brought to trust and believe in him, by hearing the word of truth, the doctrine of the gospel, preached to them.
And next, that they were sealed for the children of God, by the sanctifying Spirit promised to the sons of God, which produced a real renovating change in their hearts and lives, and so was a pledge and earnest of, as well as made them meet and fit for, the heavenly inheritance; the full enjoyment of which is not to be expected till the last day, when (and not before) all believers shall receive complete redemption, and their bodies being raised, shall be reunited to their souls, and both rendered perfectly and everlastingly happy. The end of God, in all this dispensation of grace and mercy to the Gentiles, being the same with that before mentioned to the Jews; namely, the praise of his own glorious grace.
Here observe, 1. That both the Gentiles and Jews are saved by the same faith and trust in Christ; In whom ye also trusted; as they have the same common inheritance, so have they the same common affiance and faith in Christ.
Observe 2. That the faith of the Gentiles came by hearing of the word: In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word, &c. that is, presently after they heard they believed and obeyed;Ye obeyed from the very first day that we preached the gospel. Col 1:6
What a shame and reproach is this to those amongst us, who have heard the gospel preached all their days, yet never did believe or obey the gospel!
Observe, 3. A double encomium which the apostle gives the gospel by which these Gentile Ephesians were converted; he calls it,
l. The word of truth; that is, a word of the most eminent and excellent truth. There is no truth that ever God swore to but the truth of the gospel. The law is truth as well as the gospel, but the law was made without an oath; had it been made with an oath, it had never been recalled; the gospel is sealed with an oath, and therefore shall never be reversed.
2. He calls it the gospel of salvation, and the gospel of their (the Ephesians’) salvation. It is called a gospel of salvation, because the matter of it is salvation, because the offer of it is salvation, and it declares the only way and means by which lost sinners may obtain salvation. And the gospel of their salvation, because God had by his Holy Spirit made the preaching of this gospel effectual for their conversion and salvation.
Observe, 4. The privilege which the Ephesian Gentiles obtained, after they had by faith consented to this gospel of salvation; and that was their sealing: After ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
Where note, That the privilege of sealing always follows the duty of believing, never goes before it. Sealing doth imply that precious and excellent esteem which they have with God. Nothing but what is precious is sealed by us. Who seals up dung and pebbles in a bag? Believers are God’s jewels, his treasure, therefore sealed. Sealing also is for safety and security, for discrimination, and for confirmation. The Holy Spirit, by sanctifying of us, doth discriminate and distinguish us from the rest of the world, doth secure and preserve us from the fatal danger of a ruinous apostasy, and doth also confirm our hopes of the glorious inheritance.
Observe, 5. That the Holy Spirit is given to believers in the nature of an earnest; sanctifying grace, wrought in the heart here, is a sure earnest of glory hereafter; which is the earnest of our inheritance. An earnest binds the bargain, and is a part of the bargain, if it be but a shilling given as an earnest, it secures a contract for a thousand pounds. Believers are to consider and look upon grace, not barely as grace but as an earnest of glory.
O, be thankful to God for his sanctifying Spirit, not only as subduing thy corruptions, but as a pledge and earnest of a glorious inheritance. It is a great comfort to find grace in the soul, as sanctifying, as quickening, and renewing; but a greater matter of rejoicing to find it also there as witnessing, as sealing and confirming, as a part of our inheritance in glory, and as a pledge and earnest of the whole.
Observe, 6. That the Holy Spirit of God is God. To sanctify, to seal, to confirm our hearts, are divine operations: he that doth these, must be a divine Person. True; how the Spirit of God is God, and how he proceedeth from the Father and Son, cannot be comprehended by our reason and shallow understandings. No wonder that the doctrine of the Trinity is inexplicible, seeing the nature of God is incomprehensible; our faith, then, must assent to what our reason cannot comprehend, otherwise we can never be Christians.
Observe lastly, That heaven is here called a possession, and a purchased possession, that is, by the blood of Christ. A king’s ransom we account a vast sum; O, what will our ransom by the blood of the Son of God come to! Grace is purchased, and glory is purchased, both by the blood of Christ. Lord! what will that glory come to! In eternity we shall admire it, but never fully comprehend it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
The Spirit’s Part In Man’s Redemption
If the “we” of Eph 1:11 is the Jews, then, the “you” of Ephesians:1:13 is the Gentiles. They too trusted in Christ once they heard the gospel preached and believed. In Joh 3:36 , the A.S.V. has, “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” By this very accurate translation, we are able to clearly see the word believe suggests obedience. Once that obedience is completed, God places his mark of ownership, which Paul identifies as the “Holy Spirit of promise,” on those who are in Christ.
The Holy Spirit is like a down payment or guarantee that the Christian will be allowed to enter heaven. In 1:14, Paul uses “our” because this guarantee is for all in Christ, both Jew and Gentile. The redemption Christians still look forward to is that of our bodies from the tomb. When we come forth, it will of course be to the glory of God.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Eph 1:13-14. In whom ye, Gentiles, also trusted Believed and hoped for eternal life; after ye heard the word of truth The word which reveals and attests most important truth, the faithful saying, (1Ti 1:15,) that Jesus of Nazareth is the true Messiah, the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners; the gospel of your salvation Which brings the good tidings of salvation to you as well as others: or, which God has made the means of your salvation; in whom after ye believed Or rather, as signifies, having believed; ye were sealed Probably immediately after believing; with that Holy Spirit of promise Holy both in his nature and in his operations, and promised to all true believers, to all the children of God. Of the seal and earnest of this Spirit, see the note on 2Co 1:22, where the apostles are said to have been sealed by the Spirit, and to have the earnest thereof in their hearts. As applied to them, the expressions undoubtedly signified their having received the extraordinary gifts, as well as the sanctifying graces of the Spirit. But here being applied to all the Gentile believers, but few of whom certainly were endowed with these extraordinary gifts, the words can only mean those ordinary influences of the Spirit, whereby they were assured of their adoption and regeneration, were stamped with the image of God, and thereby constituted heirs of the heavenly inheritance, and prepared for the enjoyment of it. This sealing of the Spirit produces, in every man that possesses it, a new nature, whereby he is marked, or declared to be, the son of God; a mark which, as Macknight observes, is to him a stronger evidence of his title to eternal life, than if he possessed the miraculous gifts. See on Mat 7:22; 1Co 13:2. How earnest then ought we to be in our endeavours to obtain this important blessing! See also Eph 4:30, where believers are said to be sealed with the Holy Spirit to the day of redemption. When this sealing of the Spirit is enjoyed in the most perfect manner, it seems to imply, 1st, A full impression of the image of God on a mans soul; 2d, A full assurance of his receiving all the promises, whether relating to time or eternity. Which is the earnest
Both a pledge and a foretaste; of our inheritance, in heaven, until the redemption of the purchased possession Till the church, which he has purchased with his own blood, shall be fully delivered from all sin and sorrow, and advanced to everlasting glory. As the redemption here spoken of includes the redemption of the bodies of Christs purchased people from death, by the resurrection, (Rom 8:23,) the earnest of the Spirit, which is to remain in the church, that is, in the hearts of its true members, till that glorious event is accomplished, must be principally those ordinary influences of the Spirit, which produce in believers that holiness which is necessary to fit them for heaven, and that happiness which is an anticipation thereof.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
ARGUMENT 3
THE LETTER SEALED
13. In which you also, having heard the Word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Paul (2Co 3:3) tells us that we are Gods letters,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. Hence, we see that regeneration transforms us into Gods letters, to be read by this wicked world, who will not read the Bible. Hence Gods plan is to save the world through his saints. When a letter is written, the seeing becomes indispensable, in order to secure the contents against theft, as Satan is a great rogue, and is certain to steal out the letter and the money. Hence, you see by these beautiful similes that regeneration writes the letter, and sanctification seals it. When the letter is written, and sent out into this thievish world unsealed, it will not long retain its contents. Some thieving demon will surely spoliate it soon or late, leaving nothing but the old, empty envelope.
The ordinary Church member of the present day has nothing but an old, dirty envelope, carrying it round, a laughing-stock for devils, tickled over his silly delusion, thinking he has a letter of introduction to heaven, when he has nothing but an old, empty envelope. Now, reader, be sure that the Holy Ghost writes you a good letter in regeneration, and then seals it in sanctification.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 13
Spirit of promise; the Spirit which had been promised. (Acts 1:8.) The influences of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of Christians are often spoken of as the seal and evidence of their redemption.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Note, “after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit.” There is a sequence to this whole salvation thing. Belief or faith (the term translated belief is closely related to the word normally translated faith) comes first and then the person is sealed. Now, that time gap is like a nano second or less, if there is an actual time lapse, but there is a sequence to all the grand things that occur at our salvation.
Indeed, if you take all those wonderful doctrines that relate to salvation and really consider them and what they are and how they are accomplished and why they are accomplished, you will find that there is a definite sequence of events, all of which are about instantaneous, though the sequence does exist.
We are sealed. How? With the Holy Spirit. We are given the Spirit, the Spirit baptizes us into Christ and we are sealed by Him. He is actually our seal. God sent Him as our seal. The word seal relates to something being sealed by someone. The seal designates ownership; it designates retribution if you mess with that owner s property.
When I was teaching, we had a missionary from Europe that had joined the faculty. He had sent all of his belongings in a large shipping container. The truck arrived and the faculty had gathered to move his belongings from the container to a storage spot until the missionary arrived.
As we neared the back of the trailer upon which the container rested we noticed a metal band that enclosed the latches along with the padlock. The container had been sealed when the missionary was finished loading it and the shipping company picked it up in Europe. That seal being intact as we looked at it, guaranteed that the container had not been opened between the missionaries home and that point in time.
This spiritual seal is to guarantee that the new believer is God’s property and in essence, if anyone messes with this child, God will intervene. The seal is the Spirit Himself within us rather than a mark or a physical seal upon our person.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:13 {16} In whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the {q} word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were {r} sealed with that holy {s} Spirit of promise,
(16) Now he makes the Ephesians (or rather all the Gentiles) equal to the Jews, because even though they came last, being called by the same Gospel, they embraced faith, and were sealed up with the same Spirit, who is the pledge of election, until the inheritance itself is seen. And this is so that in them also the glory of God might shine forth and be manifested.
(q) That word which is truth indeed, because it comes from God.
(r) This is a metaphor taken of a seal, which being put on anything, distinguishes between those things which are authentic, and those things which are not.
(s) With the Spirit, who does not bring the Law, but the promise of free adoption.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The seal of the Spirit 1:13-14
"God’s spiritual blessings for believers are based not only on the sovereign election of the Father (Eph 1:3-6) and the redemptive work of the Son (Eph 1:7-12), but also on the seal of the Holy Spirit." [Note: Hoehner, "Ephesians," p. 619.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
In contrast to the Jews, who were the first to hope in Christ (Eph 1:12), Gentiles also had come to salvation when Paul wrote this epistle. The vehicle God uses to bring his elect to faith is the message of truth, namely, the gospel message, the good news of salvation. When Gentiles heard it, they listened to it and believed it. This resulted in their salvation and their sealing by the Holy Spirit. There are about 59 references to the Holy Spirit in Ephesians, one-fourth of the total references in the New Testament. The AV translation implies that the sequence is hearing, believing, and then sealing. However the sealing takes place at the same time as believing (cf. Act 19:2). It is not a second or later work of grace.
When the Gentiles in view believed, God sealed them in Christ. This provided a guarantee of their eternal security. [Note: See Eldon Woodcock, "The Seal of the Holy Spirit," Bibliotheca Sacra 155:618 (April-June 1998):139-63; Robert G. Gromacki, Salvation is Forever; Michael Eaton, No Condemnation: A New Theology of Assurance.] Seals at the time Paul wrote indicated security (Mat 27:66; Eph 4:30), authentication and approval (Joh 6:27), genuineness (Joh 3:33), and ownership (2Co 1:22; Rev 7:2; Rev 9:4). God seals the believer by giving him or her the indwelling Holy Spirit who keeps the Christian in Christ. The Jews incorrectly regarded circumcision as a seal of their salvation (Rom 4:11). The Lord Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would permanently indwell believers (Luk 24:49; Joh 14:16; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:13; Act 1:5). That is evidently why Paul referred to Him as "the Holy Spirit of promise" (NASB).
"The arrabon [pledge, deposit, earnest, guarantee] was a regular feature of the Greek business world. The arrabon was a part of the purchase price of anything paid in advance as a guarantee that the rest of the price should in due time be paid." [Note: Barclay, p. 101.]
The Spirit seals all believers, not just Gentile believers. Though Paul addressed Gentile believers in particular in this verse, "you also" shows that what he said of them was also true of Jewish believers (cf. Eph 1:11). All the blessings that Paul spoke of become the possession of both Jewish and Gentile believers.