The Spirit as Seal and Pledge

The Father sealed us in the Son with the Holy Spirit. The indwelling Spirit is a pledge of greater things to come. This is Ephesians 1:13–14 in a nutshell. But what exactly is this sealing, and how is the Spirit a pledge?

Sealed with the Spirit

Sealing something in the Old or New Testament has a number of emphases. One is security. As the king sealed and secured the stone over Daniel in the lion’s den (Dan 6:17), so also Rome’s seal secured (they thought) the stone in front of Christ’s tomb (Matt 27:66). Another emphasis is authenticity. As Ahab and Ahasuerus sealed and authenticated letters as their own (1 Kgs 21:8; Est 8:10), so also the Father authenticated the Son of man (John 6:27). Yet another is ownership. As men would buy fields and seal deeds to claim them as their own (Jer 32:44), so also angels will seal the foreheads of 144,000 future Jews to mark them as God’s servants (Rev 7:3–5, 8).

In Eph 1:13, the ownership emphasis is in view. Having listened to the gospel and believed, we were sealed by God as His own in Christ with the indwelling Spirit. The Spirit within us means that we belong to God. Moreover, this sealing secured us for our glorification. Ephesians 4:30 reminds us that “the Holy Spirit of God” is the One “by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

2 Corinthians 1:21–22 echoes these thoughts. To be established in Christ and anointed by God comes with being sealed with the Holy Spirit. In this same passage, as Paul speaks of anointing and sealing, he also identifies “the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.” But what does that mean?

The Spirit as Pledge

Translations vary in how to take the Greek word arrabōn in Eph 1:14: pledge (NASB), earnest (KJV), guarantee (NKJV, ESV), down payment (NET), or deposit (NIV). The similarity between all of these translations is that something is given in advance with a promise of more to come. So, perhaps earnest, down payment, or deposit best captures this idea. In context, whatever word we use, the Holy Spirit is the first part of all that God gives us as our inheritance, a down deposit of amazing blessings to come. Most specifically in view is “the redemption of God’s own possession”­—us—to Himself as His glorified people.

2 Corinthians 5:5 echoes this thought. For four verses, Paul explains that we groan in our earthly bodies for our immortal, glorified body (2 Cor 5:1–4). With “this very purpose” in mind, not only has God “prepared us for this purpose,” but He has also given “to us the Spirit as a pledge” of this future blessing.

So, whereas Ephesians 1:14 looks more broadly at our inheritance as a whole and our full redemption, 2 Corinthians 5:5 looks more narrowly at our glorification to come. Either way, the indwelling Spirit in us is the earnest and promise that all these things will be ours.

As we are filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18), walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16, 25), put sin to death by the Spirit (Rom 8:13), and show the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22–23), we can be assured by God that the Spirit lives savingly within us now and is our seal and pledge of greater things to come. What encouraging truths these are!

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David Huffstutler is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Troy, MI. He blogs here, where this article also appeared. It is published here by permission.

Image by Felix Lichtenfeld from Pixabay