The holy spirit deposit

THE HOLY SPIRIT DEPOSIT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Corinthians1:22 22sethis seal of ownershipon us,
and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit,
guaranteeingwhat is to come.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Spirit In The Heart
2 Corinthians 1:21, 22
J.R. Thomson
The signs of an apostle were abundantly manifested in the case ofSt. Paul.
Some of these signs were outward and visible; the wonders which he wrought
and the labours which he fulfilled were evidences to many of his high calling.
There were other signs which were rather internal, revealedin his own
spiritual nature and life. These were precious to himself, whether they were
recognizedor not by others.
I. THE ANOINTING OF THE SPIRIT.
1. This rite receiveda significance from its employment under the old
covenantin the designationof the prophet, the priest, and the king.

2. This significance is enhancedby the application to the Son of God of the
official appellation, the Christ, i.e. the anointed One, the Being consecrated
and commissionedby the Eternal.
3. The anointing claimed by the apostle is the qualification, by a supernatural
and spiritual power, for holy and responsible office.
II. THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT.
1. By this sealing the apostle was stamped with the mark which was the sign of
Divine property in him.
2. And he was thus inwardly and graciouslyauthenticatedas the Lord's
messengerto men. By the sealwe understand the mark set upon the moral
nature, the character, indicating Divine possessionandDivine authority.
III. THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. The other operations of the Holy
Ghostrelate to this presentstate; this refers to the future.
1. The Spirit within the heart is the earnestof a fuller indwelling; they who
receive the Spirit are assured that they shall he "filled with the Spirit."
2. The earnestof a clearerrevelation. The light shall brighten until the dawn
shall be succeededby the splendour of noonday.
3. The earnestof a richer, purer joy. The measure in which gladness is
experiencedin the present is a foretaste ofthe joy which is unspeakable and
full of glory.
4. The earnestof an eternal inheritance. They who are possessedby the Spirit
and pervaded by his gracious influences have within them both an
anticipation of heaven and a preparation for heaven. To whom the Lord gives
the pledge, he will give the redemption; to whom he gives the promise, he will
give the glorious fulfilment and the eternal possession. -T.

Biblical Illustrator
Who hath also sealedus, and given the earnestof the Spirit in our hearts.
2 Corinthians 1:22
Sealing of the Spirit
O. Winslow, D. D.
What are we to understand by the sealing ofthe Spirit? It is that actof the
Holy Spirit by which the work of grace is deepened in the heart of the
believer, so that he has an increasing convictionof his acceptancein Jesus and
his adoption into the family of God.
1. It is sometimes a sudden work of the Spirit. A soul may be so deeply sealed
in conversion, may receive sucha vivid impression of Divine grace, as it never
afterwards loses.
2. But in most casesthe sealing of the Spirit is a more gradual work. It is a
work of time. There are, then, degrees, orprogressive stages,ofthe Spirit's
sealing.(1)The first impression is made in regeneration. This is often faint,
and in numerous casesscarcelyperceptible. The first impression is as much
the work of the Spirit as any deeperone in after years. Let not the weak
believer undervalue what God has done for him.(2) But a yet deeper
impression of the sealis made when the believeris led more fully into the

realisationof his sonship, when he attains to the blessedsense ofthe "adoption
of children." Oh, what an impression is then left upon his heart, when all his
legalfears are calmed, when all his slavish meanings are hushed ((3) In the
process ofsanctifiedaffliction the soul often receives a fresh and a deep
impress of the sealof the Spirit. The furnace works wonders for a believer.
The hour of affliction is the hour of softening. Job bore this testimony: "He
maketh my heart soft." Let it not, then, be forgotten that an afflicting time is
often a sealing time. We would remark, in this connectionof the subject, that
the sealing ofthe Spirit does not always imply a rejoicing frame. It is not
necessarilyaccompaniedby greatspiritual joy.
I. IT IS THE DUTY AND PRIVILEGE OF EVERY BELIEVER
DILIGENTLY AND PRAYERFULLY TO SEEKTHE SEALING OF THE
SPIRIT. He rests short of his greatprivilege if he slights or undervalues this
blessing. Be not satisfiedwith the faint impression which you receive in
conversion. In other words, rest not contented with a past experience.
II. Again, I remark, THIS BLESSING IS ONLY FOUND IS THE WAY OR
GOD'S APPOINTMENT. He has ordained that prayer should be the great
channel through which His covenantblessings should flow into the soul.
(O. Winslow, D. D.)
The sealing of the Spirit
R. Sibbes, D. D.
Christ is the first sealed(John 6:27). God hath distinguished Him, and set a
stamp upon Him to be the Messiahby the gracesofthe Spirit. Christ being
sealedHimself, He sealedall that He did for our redemption with His blood,
and hath added for the strengthening of our faith outward seals — the
sacraments — to secure His love more firmly to us. But in this place another
manner of sealing is to be understood.
I. WHAT IS THE MANNER OF OUR SEALING BY THE SPIRIT? Sealing,
we know, hath divers uses.

1. It imprints a likeness ofhim that seals. Whenthe king's image is stamped
upon the wax, everything in the wax answers to that in the seal. So the Spirit
sets the stamp of Christ upon every true convert. There is no grace in Christ
but there is the like in every Christian in some measure.
2. It distinguishes. Sealing is a stamp upon one thing among many. It
distinguisheth Christians from others.
3. It serves for appropriation. Men sealthose things that are their own. So
God appropriates His own to show that He hath chosenthem for Himself to
delight in.
4. It serves to make things authentic, to give authority and excellency. The seal
of the prince is the authority of the prince. This gives validity to things,
answerable to the dignity and esteemof him that seals.
II. WHAT IS THE STAMP THAT THE SPIRIT SEALS US WITHAL?
III. HOW SHALL WE KNOW THAT THERE IS SUCH A SPIRITUAL
SEALING IN US?
(R. Sibbes, D. D.)
The sealand earnestof the Spirit
W. M. Taylor, D. D.
I. GOD HATH SEALED US BY HIS SPIRIT. Seals are employed —
1. To authenticate a document or confirm it as genuine (1 Kings 21:8; Esther
3:12). So by the Spirit the believer has the assurance that he is a genuine
disciple of Christ (Romans 8:16). The Christian knows that the Holy Ghost
has been exerting His agencywithin him when he perceives that the fruit of
the Spirit has begun to make its appearance in him.
2. As a mark to distinguish property. We have something like it in the trade
marks of the manufacturer, and in the broad arrow, which indicates that the
thing so stamped is the property of the Government. In ancienttimes the

servants, cattle, and goods of a rich man were distinguished by his seal. In like
manner believers are recognisedas the property of God by the sealof the
Spirit. And, as sometimes a seal has an obverse and reverse side, so is it in the
case ofbelievers. On the hidden side, visible only to Jehovah, is — "The Lord
knoweththem that are His"; on the other side, where all men may read it,
there is — "Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
When the coinage ofa country has worn thin and light, so that no one can See
the image or superscription, it is calledin, reminted, and sent forth anew, with
a distinct impression from the original die. And so, when our Christian
characters are rubbed down by the abrasionof the world to such an extent
that the image of the Lord in us has been well-nigh effaced, there is need to
submit to the reminting of the Holy Spirit, that we may come forth anew and
bear unmistakable witness to Christ's property in us.
3. As a means of security. Thus the stone laid at the mouth of the den into
which Daniel was thrust was sealedwith the king's signet, etc.; and when
Jesus was laid in the grave the Jews made the sepulchre sure, "sealing the
stone and setting a watch." In like manner believers are kept secure in the
world by the sealof the Spirit. The reference here is not to God's almighty
protection, nor to the ordering of His all-wise providence, but to the
characteristicsand habits which are acquired by the believer through the
grace ofthe Holy Ghost. The Christian's graces are his armour also. Our
security is perfect, and yet it is not without our own exertions, for" it is
effectedby the constantmanifestation by us of the qualities which are formed
and fosteredin us by the Holy Ghost.
II. GOD HATH GIVEN US THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT. The term is
borrowedfrom a customin connectionwith the transfer of property, when the
buyer receiveda small instalment at once as a sample of it, and as a pledge of
full delivery. So, when the Spirit in our hearts is styled an earnest, we have
implied —
1. That the fruit of the Spirit which we here enjoy is the same in kind with the
blessednessofheaven.

2. That the fruit of the Spirit is a pledge that the full inheritance of heaven
shall yet be ours. "He who hath begun a goodwork in us will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ." This is not quite the same as the security suggested
by the seal. Thatwas the pledge that we should be kept for heaven; this is an
assurance thatheaven shall be ours. Conclusion:I come to-day as the spies
came to Kadesh-barnea, with the Eshcolclusterof grapes as a sample of the
products of the goodly land which they had been to see. Bewarehow ye
receive our report. Remember what happened to the tribes when they refused
to go up and possessthe land, and "take heedlestye fall after the same
example of unbelief."
(W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The sealing Spirit
T. G. Selby.
I. St. Paul reminds us of our peculiar obligationto the Spirit by pointing to
ONE OF THE PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICSOF HIS WORK. "Sealed"
by His indwelling witness, and that not for a favoured moment only, but "unto
the day of redemption." This custom, on which the Bible metaphor rests, of
sealing letter, decree, edict, or title of possession, came from the East, and is of
obvious significance. It gives validity, assurance, legaleffectto contract,
declaration, or title-deed, and affirms proprietorship over the things upon
which it is carriedout. With the spread of education the personalsignature
comes to take the place of the old-fashioned seal. Some years ago a bundle of
unsigned Bank of England notes was stolen. A note without that signature at
the bottom, familiar to most of us, would be valueless. Religious life,
endeavour, relationship, anticipation, borrow force and validity from the
sealing of the Spirit. The intermediate position in the religious history of
God's saved people into which Paul puts this act of sealing clearlyindicates its
nature and purport. Whilst a solitarybeliever slumbers in the sepulchre,
Christ looks upon His inheritance as but incompletely redeemed. It is till
Christ's powerhas wrought through its lastredemptive cycle and undone the

remotestdisasterof sin that the Spirit seals us. "Sealedunto the day of
redemption."
II. This sealing by the Spirit implies THAT THE RECONCILIATION IN
WHICH WE ARE SO DEEPLYINTERESTEDIS MORE OR LESS
SECRET AND UNSEEN. After long and anxious debate, the terms of peace
betweentwo belligerentpowers are fixed. But, pending the formal ratification
of the treaty, and possibly for some time after, the contending parties occupy
the same positions on the field. You can scarcelypredicate the cessationof
hostilities from what meets the eye. But to the commanders on either side the
messagehas passedalong the wires, and the genuineness of the message is
vouched for by the cypher in which it is sent. When the children begin to play
about the homesteads, the peasants to till the hillsides, the nightingales to sing
in the myrtle bush, the goldencrops to swayin the warm winds, and the
church bells to chime again through the valleys, there will be no need to prove
the reality of the peace by the sealor official announcement of the fact. It will
be then proved by every sight and sound and movement within the horizon.
For the present our personalreconciliationto God is an unseen fact, and is
only attestedby the indwelling Spirit which seals us. The heritage has not
been fully and finally releasedand redeemed. The law yet seems to rumble
with ominous curses. Nature often seems hostile in the lastdegree. We are left
under conditions that sometimes suggestthat awful and hopeless waris still
going on, and yet the peace has been secretlysealedand its conditions ratified.
One day the last thunder will have rolled itself into silence, the lastbolt have
hurtled through the air, the last hostile footstepbe gone, and the stormless
peace ofeternity hide us in its sacredwings. The sealwill then be needless.
III. This sealing DECLARES THE RELATIONSHIP OF DIGNITYAND
PRIVILEGE WE SUSTAIN BEFORE GOD. In Oriental life the sealis
necessaryto accredita man to the office his master may have bestowedupon
him. The messengerofthe throne is recognisedby the imperial seal he bears.
When he has fulfilled his term of office, let him go back to the palace, stand
amidst its fabulous splendours, and move to and fro beneath the eye of his
imperial master, and there, at the centre of government once more, he will no
longerneed the seal, as a personalcredentialat least. His dignity is recognised
and promptly acknowledgedonall sides. The sealis indispensable when he

has to cross the mountains or sailup unknown rivers, and go into districts
where he must deal with semi-aliens. And it is whilst we pass as strangers and
pilgrims through the earth that we need the sealwhich attests our true
standing before God. Our majesty is obscured, our bodies are inglorious and
subject to decay, and our garments torn and stained with travel. The world
knows us not, as it knew not God's greatestSon.
IV. This sealing marks out the believer as THE SUBJECT OF A SPECIFIC
PROVIDENTIALCARE. In this sense was it that circumcisionstood to the
Jews both for a signarid a seal. The rite proclaimed God's special
proprietorship over the nation, and singled out its separate members for such
defence, tender oversight, strenuous protectionas a father exercisesoverthe
little ones of his family.
V. THE SEAL IS A TOKEN OF PROPRIETORSHIP. You watcha ship as it
is being loaded for a voyage, and amongstother cargo notice a number of
boxes bearing a significant seal. These are not stowedawayin the hold, like
consignments of common goods, but are takento some place where they will
be constantly watchedby the responsible officers of the ship. The chests are
chests of sealedtreasure. Shouldthe ship spring a leak and be endangered,
after the safetyof of the passengershas beenprovided for, these sealedchests
will be the first things to be put into the lifeboats. The sealmarks them out for
specialcare and defence, and whateverhuman vigilance, foresight, and valour
can do will be done to deliver them to the consignees. And so with that sealing
of the Spirit affixed to sincere believers in Jesus Christ. They are subject to
the same risks, vicissitudes, and temptations as other men; but all that God's
powercan do to help and deliver them shall be done. This specialsealing
marks out body and soul alike for God's specialpossessionand guardianship.
VI. This sealing goes onto mark out those who receive it as THE TYPES OF
A PURE AND INCORRUPTIBLE LIFE. Godseals us for our humbler
vocationno less infallibly than He sealedthe only-begotten Son. He is
incapable of the folly of sending into a disloyal, suspicious, and sense-ridden
world an unsealedservant and message-bearer. And by the holy fruit which
appears in our lives, the world, if it be not altogetherthoughtless and
unteachable, will be compelledsooneror later to see that we are of God. The

Holy Spirit is everworking a continuous transformation and ennoblement
within us which is the distinctive mark of the children of the kingdom. When
we shall have come to bear in our transfigured flesh the powerand potency of
all Divine qualities, this sealing will be needless. Till that day of perfect
redemption dawns we cannot afford to despise this high signature. "Sealed
unto the day of redemption" — sealedfor our Own assurance,and also for a
witness to the world.
(T. G. Selby.)
The sealand earnest
A. Maclaren, D. D.
The three metaphors in this and ver. 21 — "anointing," "sealing," and
"giving the earnest" —
1. All refer to the same subject — the Divine Spirit.
2. All refer to one and the same act. They are three aspects ofone thing, just
as a sunbeam might be regarded either as the source ofwarmth, or of light, or
of chemicalaction.
3. All declare a universal prerogative of Christians. Every man that loves
Christ has the Spirit in the measure of his faith. Note: —
I. THE "SEAL" OF THE SPIRIT. A sealis impressed upon a recipient
material, made soft by warmth, in order to leave there a copy of itself.
1. The effect of the Divine indwelling is to mould the recipient into the image
of the Divine inhabitant. There is in the human spirit a capacityof receiving
the image of God. His Spirit, entering into a heart, will there make that heart
wise with its own wisdom, strong with its own strength, gentle with its own
gentleness, holywith some purity of its own.
2. There are, however, characteristicswhichare not so much copies as
correspondences — i.e., just as what is convex in the sealis concave in the
impression, and vice versa, so, when that Spirit comes into our spirits, its

promises will excite faith, its gifts will breed desire; yearning love will
correspondto the love that longs to dispense, emptiness to abundance, prayers
to promises; the cry, "Abba! Father!" to the word, "Thou art My Son,"
3. Then, mark, the material is made capable of receiving the stamp, because it
is warmed and softened— i.e., my faith must prepare my heart for the
sanctifying indwelling of that Divine Spirit. God does not do with man as the
coinerdoes with his blanks — put them coldinto a press, and by violence
from without stamp an image upon them; but He does as men do with a seal
— warms the waxfirst, and then, with a gentle, firm touch, leaves the likeness
there.
4. This aggregateofChristian characteris the true sign that we belong to
God, as the sealis the mark of ownership. I believe that Christian people
ought to have a consciousness thatthey are God's children, for their own
peace and rest and joy. But you cannot use that in demonstrationto other
people. The two things must go together. Be very sure that your happy
consciousnessthatyou are Christ's is verified to yourself and to others by a
plain outward life of righteousness like the Lord's. Have you got that seal
stamped upon your lives like the hall-mark that says, "This is genuine silver,
and no plated Brummagem stuff"? And is it woveninto the whole length of
your being like the scarletthread that is spun into every Admiralty cable as a
sign that it is Crown property?
5. This sealing, whichis thus the tokenof God's ownership, is also the pledge
of security. A sealis stamped in order that there may be no tampering with
what it seals — that it may be kept safe from thieves and violence. And our
true guarantee that we shall come at last to heaven is present likeness to the
indwelling Spirit. The sealis the pledge of security just because it is the mark
of ownership. When, by God's Spirit dwelling in us, we are led to love the
things that be fair, and to long after more, that is like God's hoisting His flag
upon a newly-annexed territory. And is He going to be so carelessin the
preservationof His property as that He will allow it to slip awayfrom Him?
But no man has a right to rest on the assurance ofGod's saving him into the
heavenly kingdom unless He is saving him at this moment from the devil and
his ownevil heart.

II. THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT.
1. It is the guarantee ofthe inheritance.(1)The experiences ofthe Christian
life here are plainly immortal. The resurrectionof Christ is the external
proof; the facts of the Christian life are the inward proofs of a future life.
Howsoevermuch we may say we believe in a future life and in a heaven, we
really grasp it in the proportion in which here we are living in direct contact
with God. What have faith, love, fellowship with God, to do with death? They
cannot be cut through with the stroke that destroys physical life, any more
than you candivide a sunbeam with a sword.(2)All the results of the Divine
Spirit's sealing of the soul manifestly tend towards completeness. The engine
is clearly working only half-speed. Those powers in the Christian man can
plainly do a greatdeal more than they ever have done here, and are meant to
do a great dealmore. The road evidently leads upwards, and round that sharp
corner, where the black rocks come so near eachother and our eyesight
cannot travel, we may be sure it goes steadilyup still to the top of the pass,
until it reaches "the shining tablelands whereofour God Himself is Sun and
Moon," and brings us all to the city seton a hill.
2. It is part of the whole. The truest and loftiestconceptionthat we can form
of heaven is the perfecting of the religious experience of earth. The shilling or
two given to the servant of old when he was hired is of the same currency as
the balance that he is to getwhen the year's work is done. You have but to
take from the faith, love, obedience, communion of the highest of moments of
the Christian life all their imperfections, multiply them to their superlative
possibility, and stretch them out to absolute eternity, and you getheaven. So
here is a gift offeredfor us all, a gift which our feebleness sorelyneeds, the
offer of a reinforcement as real and as sure to bring victory as when, at
Waterloo, the Prussianbugles blew, and the English commander knew that
victory was sure.
(A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Spirit as an earnest

A. Douglas McMillan.
I. WE ARE THE HEIRS OF A SPIRITUAL INHERITANCE. It is quite
consistentwith the present economyof mercy that we should enjoy some of
this whilst on earth, and before we are put in full possession. Manythings in
the Divine purpose, and in the history of the world, precededChrist's
personalmediation, prepared the way for it, and passedover, through His
work, in blessings upon our souls. We were originally members of a
disinherited race. The inheritance under considerationwas the rightful
possessionofour Lord as the Only-begottenof the Father. As to our interest
in it, it lay under a forfeiture, and we were treated as aliens. It is also)a
merciful part of the plan that it should, at leastfor a time, be vestedin Christ
as trustee for us. In Eden, the inheritance of life was vestedin the first man,
who lost it to himself and all his posterity. God is our inheritance, and heaven
is the place where most perfectly we shall enter upon its full and undisputed
enjoyment. This is our estate;not ours for years merely, but for eternity, It
will then be subject neither to corruption nor violence. Heaven, with its
freedom from sin, sickness,pain, the curse, and death, is ours in reversion.
II. THE SPIRIT IS GIVEN TO US AS AN EARNEST OF THIS SPLENDID
INHERITANCE.
1. It is supposedthat the word and its use came to the Greeks fromthe Syrian
and Phoenicianmerchants, just as the words "tariff " and "cargo" came to
England from Spanish merchants. The technical sense ofthe word signifies
the depositpaid by the purchaser on entering into an agreementfor the
purchase of anything. The identity of the deposit with the full payment is a
very essentialconsiderationin the force and use of the word. In many of the
rural districts of Scotland, and possibly in other places, a shilling, or small
sum of money, is put into the hand of a servant when hired for a certainwork
as handsel-money, and as a pledge that when the whole work is done the
whole wages shallbe paid. Two things, therefore, seemto be included in the
meaning of the word used: first, that it should be the same in kind as the
fulness of which it is a part; and, secondly, representing our present state as
Christians, it affirms the certainty of our privileges in this world and the next.
As God Himself is said to be our inheritance — as we are said to have the

inheritance in Christ — so the Holy Ghostis Himself the earnestof it in our
hearts. It is not a work which He delegates to another; nor would it suffice to
say that any one blessing, such as pardon, life, or peace, is the earnestof
heaven it is the Spirit Himself only. He is the earnestof heaven.
2. The earnestis thus part ofour future inheritance, and identical in kind
with it. An infant has a title to an inheritance which has descendedfrom his
deceasedfather; and though not legally, or in fact, in possession, exceptas
under tutors and governors, certainadvances are made from it to conduct his
education, and in this way foretastesofit are given to him. As he passes
through the family mansion, forests, and fields, and meets with the servants of
the estate, he has in this walk, and in the loving respectof faithful dependents,
an earnestof what he is speedily coming to; and we can imagine how his
breast, as heir, would heave with excitementon the eve of possessing the
inheritance. This experience ofthe earthly heir may help us, as an illustration,
to understand our present enjoyment of "the firstfruits of the Spirit," which,
upon the testimony of the apostle, we now have. To take the blessing, eternal
life, it is obvious, from both our Lord's teaching and that of His apostles, that
in all the essentialelements of eternallife we are equal to "the spirits of just
men made perfect" (Hebrews 12:23). We form part of the same family. Life in
heaven is just our spiritual life here, excepting the amplification and elevation
which death, as a freedom from the body and from the fretting powerof sin,
will conferupon us. Again, how vivid is the writer's conceptionof the likeness,
and indeed identity, of the earnestto the whole in his view of the nearness of
the believers on earth to heaven. "But ye are come unto Mount Sion"
(Hebrews 12:22, 23). Portions of this inheritance are ministered to us in
advance. True, it is but twilight yet with us. But as the sun is seenfrom the
lofty Swiss mountains to throw forward on the distant peaks his rays, as
skirmishers before an army, to announce his coming, so our present foretastes
of heaven — the earnestof our inheritance, calm, intelligent faith in the Lord,
love to Him and to His people, and our luminous hope castas an anchor
within the veil — testify that the day in which there shall be no night is at
hand. All these experiences are pledges of our immediate admission into
heaven when we die.

3. The earnestof the Spirit, which is thus a real part of the inheritance of
heaven, is only a part of it. There is no principle or fixed rule by which we
could define the proportion which it bears as a part to the whole. A handful of
wheatoffered by the farmer in the marketas a sample to the purchaser of the
entire crop, though identically the same, bears a very small proportion to the
whole. We may safelyinfer that the earnestis less than the whole. The Spirit
who Himself is the earnest, with all the grace and love which He is pleasedto
bestow upon our souls, is but a part. All the blessings ofwhich God kindly
thought and devised for us in eternity, which costthe RedeemerHis life to
secure and bestow as the efficient cause ofoar salvation, and which the Holy
Ghostcame down from heaven to reveal, are undoubtedly involved in this
earnest. How stupendous a thought that something greater — and how much
greater!— awaits us when we shall see God!It may be said that even here we
have God, and what more canwe have inheaven? But there He will be our
God without any of the deductions made for our presentimperfections and
actualtransgressions (1 Corinthians 13:12;1 John 3:2).
(A. Douglas McMillan.)
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary
Who hath also sealedus - Notonly deeply impressedHis truth and image
upon our hearts; but, by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit, attestedthe
truth of our extraordinary unction or calling to the ministry.
And given the earnestof the Spirit - Τον αρραβωνα του Πνευματος . From this
unction and sealing we have a cleartestimony in our souls, the Divine Spirit
dwelling constantly in us, of our acceptancewith God, and that our ways
please him. The αρῥαβωνof the apostle is the same as the ‫ןברע‬ erabonof
Moses,Genesis38:17, Genesis38:18, Genesis 38:20, whichwe there translate

pledge. The word properly signifies an earnestof something promised; a part
of the price agreedfor betweena buyer and seller, by giving and receiving of
which the bargain was ratified; or a deposit, which was to be restoredwhen
the thing promised was given. From the use of the term in Genesis, whichthe
apostle puts here in Greek letters, we may at once see his meaning above, and
in Ephesians 1:14; the Holy Spirit being an earnestin the heart, and an
earnestof the promised inheritance means a security given in hand for the
fulfillment of all God's promises relative to grace and eternal life. We may
learn from this, that eternal life will be given in the greatday to all who can
produce the arrhabon, or pledge. He who is found then with the earnestof
God's Spirit in his heart, shall not only be saved from death, but have that
eternal life of which it is the pledge, the earnest, and the evidence. Without
this arrhabon there can be no glory. See the whole case ofJudah and Tamar,
Genesis 38:15;(note), etc., and the notes there.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/2-
corinthians-1.html. 1832.
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Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
Who hath also sealedus - The word used here (from σφραγίζω sphragizō)
means to sealup; to close and make fast with a seal, or signet;as, e. g., books,
letters, etc. that they may not be read. It is also used in the sense of setting a
mark on anything, or a seal, to denote that it is genuine, authentic, confirmed,
or approved, as when a deed, compact, or agreementis sealed. it is thus made
sure; and is confirmed or established. Hence, it is applied to persons, as
denoting that they are approved, as in Revelation7:3; “Hurt not the earth,

neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealedthe servants of our God in
their foreheads;” compare Ezekiel9:4; see the note, John 6:27, were it is said
of the Saviour, “for him hath God the Fathersealed;” compare John 3:33. In
a similar manner Christians are said to be sealed;to be sealedby the Holy
Spirit Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30; that is, the Holy Spirit is given to them
to confirm them as belonging to God. He grants them His Spirit. He renews
and sanctifies them. He produces in their hearts those feelings, hopes, and
desires which are an evidence that they are approved by God; that they are
regardedas his adopted children; that their hope is genuine, and that their
redemption and salvationare sure - in the same way as a sealmakes a will or
an agreementsure. God grants to them His Holy Spirit as the certain pledge
that they are His, and shall be approved and savedin the last day. In this
there is nothing miraculous, or in the nature of direct revelation. It consists of
the ordinary operations of the Spirit on the heart, producing repentance,
faith, hope, joy, conformity to God, the love of prayer and praise, and the
Christian virtues generally; and these things are the evidences that the Holy
Spirit has renewedthe heart, and that the Christian is sealedfor the day of
redemption.
And given the earnestof the Spirit - The word used here ( ἀῤῥαβών
arrabōnfrom the Hebrew ‫ןוברצ‬ ‛arabownmeans properly a pledge given to
ratify a contract; a part of the price, or purchase money; a first payment; that
which confirms the bargain, and which is regardedas a pledge that all the
price will be paid. The word occurs in the Septuagint and Hebrew, in Genesis
38:17-18;Genesis 38:20. In the New Testamentit occurs only in this place,
and in 2 Corinthians 5:5, and Ephesians 1:14, in eachplace in the same
connectionas applied to the Holy Spirit, and his influences on the heart. It
refers to those influences as a pledge of the future glories which await
Christians in heaven. In regardto the “earnest,”orthe part of a price which
was paid in a contract, it may be remarked:
(1)That it was of the same nature as the full price, being regardedas a part of
it;
(2)It was regardedas a pledge or assurance thatthe full price would be paid.
So the “earnestofthe Spirit,” denotes that God gives to his people the

influences of his Spirit: his operation on the heart as a part or pledge that all
the blessings ofthe covenantof redemption shall be given to them.
And it implies:
(1) That the comforts of the Christian here are of the same nature as they will
be in heaven. Heaven will consistoflike comforts;of love, and peace, and joy,
and purity begun here, and simply expanded there to complete and eternal
perfection. The joys of heaven differ only in degree, not in kind, from those of
the Christian on earth. That which is begun here is perfected there; and the
feelings and views which the Christian has here, if expanded and carried out,
would constitute heaven.
(2) these comforts, these influences of the Spirit, are a pledge of heaven. They
are the security which God gives us that we shall be saved. If we are brought
under the renewing influences of the Spirit here; if we are made meek, and
humble, and prayerful by his agency;if we are made to partake of the joys
which result from pardoned sin; if we are filled with the hope of heaven, it is
all produced by the Holy Spirit, and is a pledge, or earnestof our future
inheritance; as the first sheaves ofa harvest are a pledge of a harvest; or the
first payment under a contracta pledge that all will be payed. God thus gives
to his people the assurance thatthey shall be saved; and by this “pledge”
makes their title to eternallife sure.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Barnes'Notes onthe
New Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/2-

The Biblical Illustrator
2 Corinthians 1:22
Sealing of the Spirit
What are we to understand by the sealing ofthe Spirit? It is that actof the
Holy Spirit by which the work of grace is deepened in the heart of the
believer, so that he has an increasing convictionof his acceptancein Jesus and
his adoption into the family of God.
1. It is sometimes a sudden work of the Spirit. A soul may be so deeply sealed
in conversion, may receive sucha vivid impression of Divine grace, as it never
afterwards loses.
2. But in most casesthe sealing of the Spirit is a more gradual work. It is a
work of time. There are, then, degrees, orprogressive stages,ofthe Spirit’s
sealing.
I. It is the duty and privilege of every believer diligently and prayerfully to
seek the sealing of the spirit. He rests short of his greatprivilege if he slights
or undervalues this blessing. Be not satisfiedwith the faint impression which
you receive in conversion. In other words, restnot contented with a past
experience.
II. Again, I remark, this blessing is only found is the way or god’s
appointment. He has ordained that prayer should be the great channel
through which His covenantblessings should flow into the soul. (O. Winslow,
D. D.)
The sealing of the Spirit
Christ is the first sealed(John 6:27). God hath distinguished Him, and set a
stamp upon Him to be the Messiahby the gracesofthe Spirit. Christ being

sealedHimself, He sealedall that He did for our redemption with His blood,
and hath added for the strengthening of our faith outward seals--the
sacraments--to secure His love more firmly to us. But in this place another
manner of sealing is to be understood.
I. What is the manner of our sealing by the spirit? Sealing, we know, hath
divers uses.
1. It imprints a likeness ofhim that seals. Whenthe king’s image is stamped
upon the wax, everything in the wax answers to that in the seal. So the Spirit
sets the stamp of Christ upon every true convert. There is no grace in Christ
but there is the like in every Christian in some measure.
2. It distinguishes. Sealing is a stamp upon one thing among many. It
distinguisheth Christians from others.
3. It serves for appropriation. Men sealthose things that are their own. So
God appropriates His own to show that He hath chosenthem for Himself to
delight in.
4. It serves to make things authentic, to give authority and excellency. The seal
of the prince is the authority of the prince. This gives validity to things,
answerable to the dignity and esteemof him that seals.
II. What is the stamp that the spirit seals us withal?
III. How shall we know that there is such a spiritual sealing in us? (R. Sibbes,
D. D.)
The sealand earnestof the Spirit
I. God hath sealedus by His spirit. Seals are employed--

1. To authenticate a document or confirm it as genuine (1 Kings 21:8; Esther
3:12). So by the Spirit the believer has the assurance that he is a genuine
disciple of Christ (Romans 8:16). The Christian knows that the Holy Ghost
has been exerting His agencywithin him when he perceives that the fruit of
the Spirit has begun to make its appearance in him.
2. As a mark to distinguish property. We have something like it in the trade
marks of the manufacturer, and in the broad arrow, which indicates that the
thing so stamped is the property of the Government. In ancienttimes the
servants, cattle, and goods of a rich man were distinguished by his seal. In like
manner believers are recognisedas the property of God by the sealof the
Spirit. And, as sometimes a sealhas an obverse and reverse side, so is it in the
case ofbelievers. On the hidden side, visible only to Jehovah, is--“The Lord
knoweththem that are His”; on the other side, where all men may read it,
there is--“Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
When the coinage ofa country has worn thin and light, so that no one can See
the image or superscription, it is calledin, reminted, and sent forth anew, with
a distinct impression from the original die. And so, when our Christian
characters are rubbed down by the abrasionof the world to such an extent
that the image of the Lord in us has been well-nigh effaced, there is need to
submit to the reminting of the Holy Spirit, that we may come forth anew and
bear unmistakable witness to Christ’s property in us.
3. As a means of security. Thus the stone laid at the mouth of the den into
which Daniel was thrust was sealedwith the king’s signet, etc.; and when
Jesus was laid in the grave the Jews made the sepulchre sure, “sealing the
stone and setting a watch.” In like manner believers are kept secure in the
world by the sealof the Spirit. The reference here is not to God’s almighty
protection, nor to the ordering of His all-wise providence, but to the
characteristicsand habits which are acquired by the believer through the
grace ofthe Holy Ghost. The Christian’s graces are his armour also. Our
security is perfect, and yet it is not without our own exertions, for” it is
effectedby the constantmanifestation by us of the qualities which are formed
and fosteredin us by the Holy Ghost.

II. God hath given us the earnestof the spirit. The term is borrowed from a
custom in connectionwith the transfer of property, when the buyer received a
small instalment at once as a sample of it, and as a pledge of full delivery. So,
when the Spirit in our hearts is styled an earnest, we have implied--
1. That the fruit of the Spirit which we here enjoy is the same in kind with the
blessednessofheaven.
2. That the fruit of the Spirit is a pledge that the full inheritance of heaven
shall yet be ours. “He who hath begun a goodwork in us will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ.” This is not quite the same as the security suggested
by the seal. Thatwas the pledge that we should be kept for heaven; this is an
assurance thatheaven shall be ours. Conclusion: I come to-day as the spies
came to Kadesh-barnea, with the Eshcolclusterof grapes as a sample of the
products of the goodly land which they had been to see. Bewarehow ye
receive our report. Remember what happened to the tribes when they refused
to go up and possessthe land, and “take heedlestye fall after the same
example of unbelief.” (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
The sealing Spirit
I. St. Paul reminds us of our peculiar obligationto the Spirit by pointing to
one of the primary characteristics ofhis work. “Sealed”by His indwelling
witness, and that not for a favoured moment only, but “unto the day of
redemption.” This custom, on which the Bible metaphor rests, of sealing
letter, decree, edict, or title of possession, came from the East, and is of
obvious significance. It gives validity, assurance, legaleffectto contract,
declaration, or title-deed, and affirms proprietorship over the things upon
which it is carriedout. With the spread of education the personalsignature
comes to take the place of the old-fashioned seal. Some years ago a bundle of
unsigned Bank of England notes was stolen. A note without that signature at
the bottom, familiar to most of us, would be valueless. Religious life,
endeavour, relationship, anticipation, borrow force and validity from the
sealing of the Spirit. The intermediate position in the religious history of
God’s saved people into which Paul puts this act of sealing clearlyindicates its

nature and purport. Whilst a solitarybeliever slumbers in the sepulchre,
Christ looks upon His inheritance as but incompletely redeemed. It is till
Christ’s powerhas wrought through its lastredemptive cycle and undone the
remotestdisasterof sin that the Spirit seals us. “Sealedunto the day of
redemption.”
II. This sealing by the Spirit implies that the reconciliationin which we are so
deeply interestedis more or less secretandunseen. After long and anxious
debate, the terms of peace betweentwo belligerent powers are fixed. But,
pending the formal ratification of the treaty, and possibly for some time after,
the contending parties occupy the same positions on the field. You can
scarcelypredicate the cessationofhostilities from what meets the eye. But to
the commanders on either side the messagehas passedalong the wires, and
the genuineness ofthe message is vouched for by the cypher in which it is sent.
When the children begin to play about the homesteads, the peasants to till the
hillsides, the nightingales to sing in the myrtle bush, the golden crops to sway
in the warm winds, and the church bells to chime againthrough the valleys,
there will be no need to prove the reality of the peace by the sealor official
announcement of the fact. It will be then proved by every sight and sound and
movement within the horizon. For the presentour personalreconciliationto
God is an unseen fact, and is only attestedby the indwelling Spirit which seals
us. The heritage has not been fully and finally releasedand redeemed. The law
yet seems to rumble with ominous curses. Nature often seems hostile in the
last degree. We are left under conditions that sometimes suggestthat awful
and hopeless waris still going on, and yet the peace has been secretlysealed
and its conditions ratified. One day the last thunder will have rolled itself into
silence, the lastbolt have hurtled through the air, the last hostile footstepbe
gone, and the stormless peace ofeternity hide us in its sacredwings. The seal
will then be needless.
III. This sealing declares the relationship of dignity and privilege we sustain
before God. In Oriental life the sealis necessaryto accredita man to the office

his mastermay have bestowedupon him. The messengerofthe throne is
recognisedby the imperial sealhe bears. When he has fulfilled his term of
office, let him go back to the palace, stand amidst its fabulous splendours, and
move to and fro beneath the eye of his imperial master, and there, at the
centre of government once more, he will no longerneed the seal, as a personal
credential at least. His dignity is recognisedandpromptly acknowledgedon
all sides. The sealis indispensable when he has to cross the mountains or sail
up unknown rivers, and go into districts where he must deal with semi-aliens.
And it is whilst we pass as strangers and pilgrims through the earth that we
need the sealwhich attests our true standing before God. Our majesty is
obscured, our bodies are inglorious and subject to decay, and our garments
torn and stainedwith travel. The world knows us not, as it knew not God’s
greatestSon.
IV. This sealing marks out the believer as the subject of a specific providential
care. In this sense was it that circumcision stoodto the Jews both for a sign
arid a seal. The rite proclaimed God’s specialproprietorship over the nation,
and singledout its separate members for such defence, tender oversight,
strenuous protection as a father exercisesoverthe little ones of his family.
V. The sealis a tokenof proprietorship. You watch a ship as it is being loaded
for a voyage, and amongstother cargo notice a number of boxes bearing a
significant seal. These are not stowedawayin the hold, like consignments of
common goods, but are taken to some place where they will be constantly
watchedby the responsible officers of the ship. The chests are chests ofsealed
treasure. Should the ship spring a leak and be endangered, after the safetyof
of the passengers has beenprovided for, these sealedchests willbe the first
things to be put into the lifeboats. The sealmarks them out for specialcare
and defence, and whateverhuman vigilance, foresight, and valour can do will
be done to deliver them to the consignees. And so with that sealing ofthe
Spirit affixed to sincere believers in Jesus Christ. They are subject to the same
risks, vicissitudes, and temptations as other men; but all that God’s power can

do to help and deliver them shall be done. This specialsealing marks out body
and soul alike for God’s specialpossessionand guardianship.
VI. This sealing goes onto mark out those who receive it as the types of a pure
and incorruptible life. God seals us for our humbler vocationno less infallibly
than He sealedthe only-begotten Son. He is incapable of the folly of sending
into a disloyal, suspicious, and sense-ridden world an unsealedservant and
message-bearer. And by the holy fruit which appears in our lives, the world, if
it be not altogetherthoughtless and unteachable, will be compelled sooneror
later to see that we are of God. The Holy Spirit is ever working a continuous
transformation and ennoblement within us which is the distinctive mark of
the children of the kingdom. When we shall have come to bear in our
transfigured flesh the powerand potency of all Divine qualities, this sealing
will be needless. Tillthat day of perfect redemption dawns we cannot afford to
despise this high signature. “Sealedunto the day of redemption”--sealedfor
our Own assurance,and also for a witness to the world. (T. G. Selby.)
The sealand earnest
The three metaphors in this and verse 21--“anointing,” “sealing,” and“giving
the earnest”--
1. All refer to the same subject--the Divine Spirit.
2. All refer to one and the same act. They are three aspects ofone thing, just
as a sunbeam might be regarded either as the source ofwarmth, or of light, or
of chemicalaction.
3. All declare a universal prerogative of Christians. Every man that loves
Christ has the Spirit in the measure of his faith. Note:--
I. The “seal” ofthe spirit. A sealis impressedupon a recipient material, made
soft by warmth, in order to leave there a copy of itself.

1. The effect of the Divine indwelling is to mould the recipient into the image
of the Divine inhabitant. There is in the human spirit a capacityof receiving
the image of God. His Spirit, entering into a heart, will there make that heart
wise with its own wisdom, strong with its own strength, gentle with its own
gentleness, holywith some purity of its own.
2. There are, however, characteristicswhichare not so much copies as
correspondences--i.e., justas what is convexin the sealis concave in the
impression, and vice versa, so, when that Spirit comes into our spirits, its
promises will excite faith, its gifts will breed desire; yearning love will
correspondto the love that longs to dispense, emptiness to abundance, prayers
to promises; the cry, “Abba! Father!” to the word, “Thou art My Son,”
3. Then, mark, the material is made capable of receiving the stamp, because it
is warmed and softened--i.e., my faith must prepare my heart for the
sanctifying indwelling of that Divine Spirit. God does not do with man as the
coinerdoes with his blanks--put them cold into a press, and by violence from
without stamp an image upon them; but He does as men do with a seal--
warms the wax first, and then, with a gentle, firm touch, leaves the likeness
there.
4. This aggregateofChristian characteris the true sign that we belong to
God, as the sealis the mark of ownership. I believe that Christian people
ought to have a consciousness thatthey are God’s children, for their own
peace and rest and joy. But you cannot use that in demonstrationto other
people. The two things must go together. Be very sure that your happy
consciousness thatyou are Christ’s is verified to yourself and to others by a
plain outward life of righteousness like the Lord’s. Have you got that seal
stamped upon your lives like the hall-mark that says, “This is genuine silver,
and no plated Brummagem stuff”? And is it woveninto the whole length of
your being like the scarletthread that is spun into every Admiralty cable as a
sign that it is Crown property?
5. This sealing, whichis thus the tokenof God’s ownership, is also the pledge
of security. A sealis stamped in order that there may be no tampering with
what it seals--thatit may be kept safe from thieves and violence. And our true

guarantee that we shall come at last to heaven is present likeness to the
indwelling Spirit. The sealis the pledge of security just because it is the mark
of ownership. When, by God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we are led to love the
things that be fair, and to long after more, that is like God’s hoisting His flag
upon a newly-annexed territory. And is He going to be so carelessin the
preservationof His property as that He will allow it to slip awayfrom Him?
But no man has a right to rest on the assurance ofGod’s saving him into the
heavenly kingdom unless He is saving him at this moment from the devil and
his ownevil heart.
II. The earnestof the spirit.
1. It is the guarantee ofthe inheritance.
2. It is part of the whole. The truest and loftiestconceptionthat we can form
of heaven is the perfecting of the religious experience of earth. The shilling or
two given to the servant of old when he was hired is of the same currency as
the balance that he is to getwhen the year’s work is done. You have but to
take from the faith, love, obedience, communion of the highest of moments of
the Christian life all their imperfections, multiply them to their superlative
possibility, and stretch them out to absolute eternity, and you getheaven. So
here is a gift offeredfor us all, a gift which our feebleness sorelyneeds, the
offer of a reinforcement as real and as sure to bring victory as when, at
Waterloo, the Prussianbugles blew, and the English commander knew that
victory was sure. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Spirit as an earnest
I. We are the heirs of a spiritual inheritance. It is quite consistentwith the
present economyof mercy that we should enjoy some of this whilst on earth,
and before we are put in full possession. Many things in the Divine purpose,
and in the history of the world, precededChrist’s personal mediation,
prepared the way for it, and passedover, through His work, in blessings upon
our souls. We were originally members of a disinherited race. The inheritance

under considerationwas the rightful possessionofour Lord as the Only-
begottenof the Father. As to our interestin it, it lay under a forfeiture, and we
were treated as aliens. It is also)a merciful part of the plan that it should, at
leastfor a time, be vested in Christ as trustee for us. In Eden, the inheritance
of life was vestedin the first man, who lost it to himself and all his posterity.
God is our inheritance, and heaven is the place where most perfectly we shall
enter upon its full and undisputed enjoyment. This is our estate;not ours for
years merely, but for eternity, It will then be subject neither to corruption nor
violence. Heaven, with its freedom from sin, sickness, pain, the curse, and
death, is ours in reversion.
II. The spirit is given to us as an earnestof this splendid inheritance.
1. It is supposedthat the word and its use came to the Greeks fromthe Syrian
and Phoenicianmerchants, just as the words “tariff “ and “cargo” came to
England from Spanish merchants. The technical sense ofthe word signifies
the depositpaid by the purchaser on entering into an agreementfor the
purchase of anything. The identity of the deposit with the full payment is a
very essentialconsiderationin the force and use of the word. In many of the
rural districts of Scotland, and possibly in other places, a shilling, or small
sum of money, is put into the hand of a servant when hired for a certainwork
as handsel-money, and as a pledge that when the whole work is done the
whole wages shallbe paid. Two things, therefore, seemto be included in the
meaning of the word used: first, that it should be the same in kind as the
fulness of which it is a part; and, secondly, representing our present state as
Christians, it affirms the certainty of our privileges in this world and the next.
As God Himself is said to be our inheritance--as we are said to have the
inheritance in Christ--so the Holy Ghost is Himself the earnestof it in our
hearts. It is not a work which He delegates to another; nor would it suffice to
say that any one blessing, such as pardon, life, or peace, is the earnestof
heaven it is the Spirit Himself only. He is the earnestof heaven.
2. The earnestis thus part ofour future inheritance, and identical in kind
with it. An infant has a title to an inheritance which has descendedfrom his

deceasedfather; and though not legally, or in fact, in possession, exceptas
under tutors and governors, certainadvances are made from it to conduct his
education, and in this way foretastesofit are given to him. As he passes
through the family mansion, forests, and fields, and meets with the servants of
the estate, he has in this walk, and in the loving respectof faithful dependents,
an earnestof what he is speedily coming to; and we can imagine how his
breast, as heir, would heave with excitementon the eve of possessing the
inheritance. This experience ofthe earthly heir may help us, as an illustration,
to understand our present enjoyment of “the firstfruits of the Spirit,” which,
upon the testimony of the apostle, we now have. To take the blessing, eternal
life, it is obvious, from both our Lord’s teaching and that of His apostles, that
in all the essentialelements of eternallife we are equal to “the spirits of just
men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23). We form part of the same family. Life in
heaven is just our spiritual life here, excepting the amplification and elevation
which death, as a freedom from the body and from the fretting powerof sin,
will conferupon us. Again, how vivid is the writer’s conceptionof the likeness,
and indeed identity, of the earnestto the whole in his view of the nearness of
the believers on earth to heaven. “But ye are come unto Mount Sion”
(Hebrews 12:22-23). Portions of this inheritance are ministered to us in
advance. True, it is but twilight yet with us. But as the sun is seenfrom the
lofty Swiss mountains to throw forward on the distant peaks his rays, as
skirmishers before an army, to announce his coming, so our present foretastes
of heaven--the earnestof our inheritance, calm, intelligent faith in the Lord,
love to Him and to His people, and our luminous hope castas an anchor
within the veil--testify that the day in which there shall be no night is at hand.
All these experiences are pledges ofour immediate admissioninto heaven
when we die.
3. The earnestof the Spirit, which is thus a real part of the inheritance of
heaven, is only a part of it. There is no principle or fixed rule by which we
could define the proportion which it bears as a part to the whole. A handful of
wheatoffered by the farmer in the marketas a sample to the purchaser of the
entire crop, though identically the same, bears a very small proportion to the
whole. We may safelyinfer that the earnestis less than the whole. The Spirit
who Himself is the earnest, with all the grace and love which He is pleasedto

bestow upon our souls, is but a part. All the blessings ofwhich God kindly
thought and devised for us in eternity, which costthe RedeemerHis life to
secure and bestow as the efficient cause ofoar salvation, and which the Holy
Ghostcame down from heaven to reveal, are undoubtedly involved in this
earnest. How stupendous a thought that something greater--andhow much
greater!--awaits us when we shall see God! It may be said that even here we
have God, and what more canwe have inheaven? But there He will be our
God without any of the deductions made for our presentimperfections and
actualtransgressions (1 Corinthians 13:12;1 John 3:2). (A. Douglas
McMillan.)
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, JosephS. "Commentary on "2 Corinthians 1:22". The Biblical
Illustrator. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/2-corinthians-
1.html. 1905-1909.New York.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Who hath also sealedus,.... "Two"things more are here attributed to God;
"first", the sealing of his people. The use of seals is various, as to denote
property in things, to distinguish one thing from another, to show esteemand
affectionfor persons or things, and for security and protection, and to hide
and conceal;all which might be applied to sealing, as expressive of the grace
of God to his people, in claiming a property in them, distinguishing them from
the restof the world, setting his affections on them, securing and protecting

their persons, and hiding them under the shadow of his wings:but sometimes
a sealis used to certify, make sure, or assure the truth of a thing; see John
3:33 in which sense the word "sealing" is used here, and intends that
assurance whichGod gives his people of their interest in his love, and the
covenantof grace;of their electionof God, and redemption by Christ; of their
interest in Christ, and union with him; of their justification by him, and
adoption through him; of the truth of grace in their hearts, their perseverance
in it, and sure and certain enjoyment of eternal glory. The persons thus sealed
are not carnal and unconverted persons, only believers in Christ, and these,
after they commence such; the sealby which they are sealed, is not any of the
ordinances, as circumcisionunder the Old Testament, orbaptism, or the
Lord's supper under the New;for these are no seals, norare they ever so
called; but the Spirit of God himself, as the Holy Spirit of promise; for the
same who, in the next clause, is calledthe earnest, is the seal; see Ephesians
1:13. "Secondly", the giving of the earnestof the Spirit:
and given the earnestof the Spirit in our hearts: by "the Spirit" is meant, not
the gifts and graces ofthe Spirit merely, but the Spirit of God and Christ
himself; who was concernedin the creationof the world, in inditing the
Scriptures, in forming and filling the human nature of Christ, and in his
resurrectionfrom the dead; he himself is given as an "earnest":the word
αρραβων, here used, and in 2 Corinthians 5:5 is the Hebrew word ‫,ןוברע‬ and
comes from ‫,ברע‬ which signifies "to become a surety, to give a pledge";and is
used for a pledge in covenants and bargains, both in Scripture, see Genesis
38:17, and in JewishwritingsF4;which is given as an earnest, and in part of
what it is a pledge of, and is never returned: the Spirit of God is an earnestor
pledge of the heavenly inheritance, which is not only prepared for us, and
promised to us, and Christ is in the possessionof in our nature, in our room
and stead, and as our representative;but the Spirit of God also is sent down
"into our hearts" as a pledge of it; where he dwells as in his temple, supplies
us with all grace, witnessesto us our sonship, and assures us of the heavenly
glory: and as such he is "given";and an unmerited free grace gift he is; for
him to be given in this manner, and for such a purpose, is a wonderful display
of the love of the Father, and of the Son, and is a surprising instance of his

grace and condescensionofthe Spirit, and for which we should be abundantly
thankful.
Copyright Statement
The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible Modernisedand adapted
for the computer by Larry Pierce of Online Bible. All Rightes Reserved,
Larry Pierce, Winterbourne, Ontario.
A printed copy of this work can be ordered from: The Baptist Standard
Bearer, 1 Iron Oaks Dr, Paris, AR, 72855
Bibliography
Gill, John. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "The New John Gill
Exposition of the Entire Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/geb/2-corinthians-1.html.
1999.
Geneva Study Bible
Who hath also sealedus, and given the y earnestof the Spirit in our hearts.
(y) An earnestis whateveris given to confirm a promise.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography

Beza, Theodore. "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 1:22". "The 1599 Geneva
Study Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/gsb/2-
corinthians-1.html. 1599-1645.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
sealed— A sealis a tokenassuring the possessionof property to one; “sealed”
here answers to “stablishethus” (2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 9:2).
the earnestof the Spirit — that is, the Spirit as the earnest(that is, money
given by a purchaseras a pledge for the full payment of the sum promised).
The Holy Spirit is given to the believer now as a first installment to assure him
his full inheritance as a son of God shall be his hereafter(Ephesians 1:13,
Ephesians 1:14). “Sealedwith that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession”(Romans
8:23). The Spirit is the pledge of the fulfillment of “all the promises” (2
Corinthians 1:20).
Copyright Statement
These files are a derivative of an electronic edition prepared from text
scannedby Woodside Bible Fellowship.
This expanded edition of the Jameison-Faussett-BrownCommentary is in the
public domain and may be freely used and distributed.
Bibliography
Jamieson, Robert, D.D.;Fausset,A. R.; Brown, David. "Commentary on 2
Corinthians 1:22". "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole
Bible". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jfb/2-corinthians-
1.html. 1871-8.

Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Sealedus (σπραγισαμενος ημας — sphragisamenos hēmas). Fromσπραγιζω
— sphragizō old verb, common in lxx and papyri for setting a sealto prevent
opening (Daniel 6:17), in place of signature (1 Kings 21:18). Papyri examples
show a wide legaluse to give validity to documents, to guarantee genuineness
of articles as sealing sacksand chests, etc. (Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 238;
Moulton and Milligan‘s Vocabulary).
The earnestof the Spirit (τον αρραβωνα του πνευματος — ton arrabōna tou
pneumatos). A word of Semitic origin (possibly Phoenician)and spelledboth
αραβων— arabōnand αρραβων — arrabōn It is common in the papyri as
earnestmoney in a purchase for a cow or for a wife (a dowry). In N.T. only
here; 2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 1:14. It is part payment on the total
obligation and we use the very expressiontoday, “earnestmoney.” It is God,
says Paul, who has done all this for us and God is Paul‘s pledge that he is
sincere. He will come to Corinth in due time. This earnestof the Spirit in our
hearts is the witness of the Spirit that we are God‘s.
Copyright Statement
The Robertson's WordPictures of the New Testament. Copyright �
Broadman Press 1932,33,Renewal1960. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Broadman Press (Southern BaptistSunday SchoolBoard)
Bibliography
Robertson, A.T. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Robertson'sWord
Pictures of the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/rwp/2-corinthians-1.html.
Broadman Press 1932,33.Renewal1960.
Vincent's Word Studies

Sealed( σφραγισάμενος )
See on John 3:33; see on Revelation22:10.
Earnest( ἀῥῤαβῶνα )
Only here, 2 Corinthians 5:5, and Ephesians 1:14. It means caution-money,
depositedby a purchaserin pledge of full payment.
Of the Spirit
Not the foretaste or pledge of the Spirit, but the Spirit Himself in pledge of the
fulfillment of the promises. By a common Greek usage the words are in
apposition: the earnestwhich is the Spirit.
Copyright Statement
The text of this work is public domain.
Bibliography
Vincent, Marvin R. DD. "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Vincent's
Word Studies in the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/vnt/2-corinthians-1.html.
Charles Schribner's Sons. New York, USA. 1887.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
Who also hath sealedus — Stamping his image on our hearts, thus marking
and sealing us as his ownproperty.
And given us the earnestof his Spirit — There is a difference betweenan
earnestand a pledge. A pledge is to be restoredwhen the debt is paid; but an
earnestis not taken away, but completed. Such an earnestis the Spirit. The
first fruits of it we have Romans 8:23; and we wait for all the fulness.

Copyright Statement
These files are public domain and are a derivative of an electronic edition that
is available on the Christian ClassicsEtherealLibrary Website.
Bibliography
Wesley, John. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "JohnWesley's
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/wen/2-corinthians-1.html.
1765.
Abbott's Illustrated New Testament
The earnestof the Spirit; the influences of the Spirit, as the earnestand pledge
of the faithful fulfilment of the divine covenant.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Abbott, John S. C. & Abbott, Jacob. "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 1:22".
"Abbott's Illustrated New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ain/2-corinthians-1.html.
1878.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
22 Who hath also sealedus, and given the earnestof the Spirit in our hearts.

Ver. 22. Sealedus] As the merchant sets his sealupon his goods.
The earnestof the Spirit] WhereofGod should undergo the loss, if he should
not give the inheritance, as Chrysostomnoteth. The Greeks boughtusually
repraesentata pecunia, for ready money; and this was to buy Graeca fide;
Greek trust, howbeit sometimes they gave earnest:and this αρραβων, or
earnest, was (usually) the hundredth part of the whole bargain. {See Trapp on
"Ephesians 1:14"}
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Trapp, John. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". John Trapp Complete
Commentary. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jtc/2-
corinthians-1.html. 1865-1868.
Sermon Bible Commentary
2 Corinthians 1:22
The Sealof Earnest.
I. The first metaphor in the text, the "seal"ofthe Spirit. A sealis impressed
upon a recipient material made softby warmth, in order to leave there a copy
of itself. The Spirit of God comes into our spirits, and by gentle contact
impresses upon material, which was intractable until it was melted by the
genialwarmth of faith and love, the likeness of itself; but yet so as that

prominences correspondto the hollows, and what is in relief in the one is sunk
in the other.
II. Note the "earnest" whichconsists in like manner "of the Spirit." The
"earnest,"ofcourse, is a small portion of purchase-money, or wages, or
contract-money, which is given at the completion of the bargain as an
assurance thatthe whole amount will be paid in due time. "And," says the
Apostle, "this sealis also an earnest." It not only makes certainGod's
ownership and guarantees the security of those on whom it is impressed, but it
also points onwards to the future, and at once guarantees that and to a certain
extent reveals the nature of it. You have but to take the faith, the love, the
obedience, the communion, of the highest moments of the Christian life on
earth, and take from them all their limitations, subtract all their
imperfections, and stretch them out to absolute eternity, and you getheaven.
The earnestis of a piece with the inheritance.
A. Maclaren, The Unchanging Christ, p. 104.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Nicoll, William R. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "SermonBible
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/sbc/2-
corinthians-1.html.
Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible
2 Corinthians 1:22. Who hath also sealedus, &c.— Who, answerable to
various uses of a sealamong men, has likewise printed his holy image upon us,

and assuredus of our interest in the Bloodof the Covenant:and he has freely
given us his Spirit, who dwells in our hearts, and sheds abroadhis influences,
and a sense ofhis love there, as a pledge and earnestof the eternal
inheritance. See Ephesians 1:13-14. All there are arguments to satisfythe
Corinthians, that St. Paul was not, nor could be, a man who minded not what
he said, but as it servedhis turn. His reasoning, 2 Corinthians 1:18-22,
wherebyhe would convince the Corinthians that he was neither fickle nor
unsteady, being a little difficult to be understood by reasonof the brevity of
his style, the following summary will set it in a clearlight: "God hath setme
apart to the ministry of the Gospelby an extraordinary call, has attestedmy
mission by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost, has sealedme with the Holy
Spirit of promise, has given me the earnestof eternal life in my heart by his
Spirit, and has confirmed me among you in preaching the Gospel, which is all
uniform and of a piece;—as I have preachedit to you, without varying in the
least;and there, to the glory of God, have shewnthat all the promises concur,
and are in Christ, and are certain to every faithful soul. Having therefore
never faultered in any thing which I have said to you, and having all these
attestationsofbeingunderthe specialdirection and guidance of God himself,
the greatFountain of truth, I cannot be suspectedof dealing doubly with you
in any thing relating to my ministry."
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Coke, Thomas. "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 1:22". Thomas Coke
Commentary on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tcc/2-corinthians-1.html.
1801-1803.

Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
22.]σφραγ. againcannotrefer to the Apostles alone, nor is ref. John any
ground for such a reference,—butas in the other N. T. reff., to all,—sealedby
the Holy Spirit to the day of redemption.
καὶ δοὺς.…]‘And assuredus of the fact of that sealing:’ see Romans 8:16.
τ. ἀῤῥ. τ. πν.] the pledge or tokenof the Spirit: genitive of apposition: the
Spirit is the token. ἀῤῥ., πρόδομα, Hesych(3):— ἡ ἐπὶ ταῖς ὠναῖς παρὰ τῶν
ὠνουμένων διδομένη προκαταβολὴ ὑπὲρἀσφαλείας, Etymol. in Wetst., where
see examples. “It is remarkable that the same word ‫בֵן‬ ָ‫ר‬‫,ןֹו‬ is used in the same
sense in Genesis 38:17-18,from ‫ב‬ ָ‫ר‬ָ‫,ן‬ to ‘mix’ or ‘exchange,’and thence to
‘pledge,’ as Jeremiah30:21 ; Nehemiah 5:3. It was therefore probably derived
by the Greeks from the language of Phœnician traders, as ‘tariff,’ ‘cargo,’are
derived, in English and other modern languages, from Spanish traders.”
Stanley.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Alford, Henry. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". Greek Testament
Critical ExegeticalCommentary.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/hac/2-corinthians-1.html.
1863-1878.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
2 Corinthians 1:22. ἀῤῥαβῶνα, earnest)ch. 2 Corinthians 5:5. ἀῤῥαβὼν,
Genesis 38:17-18, is used for a pledge, which is given up at the payment of a
debt; but elsewhere forearnestmoney, which is given beforehand, that an

assurance maybe afforded as to the subsequent full performance of the
bargain. Hesychius, ἀῤῥαβὼν, πεόδομα. Forthe earnest, says Isid. Hispal., is
to be completed[by paying the balance in full] not to be takenaway: whence
he who has an earnestdoes not restore it as a pledge, but requires the
completion of the payment. Such an earnestis the Spirit Himself, Ephesians
1:14 : whence also we are said to have the first fruits of the Spirit, Romans
8:23. See Rittershusii, lib. 7, sacr. lect. c. 19.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Bengel, JohannAlbrecht. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". Johann
Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/jab/2-corinthians-1.html.
1897.
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
The use of a sealis for confirmation of the thing to which it is affixed; the
effectof it is the making the impressionof itself upon the wax: so as sealing us,
both in this and other texts, signifies both the confirmation of the love of God
to our souls, and also the renewing and sanctificationof our natures,
imprinting the image of God upon our souls, making us (as the apostle Peter
saith, 2 Peter1:4) partakers ofthe Divine nature; but the first seemeth
probably to be most intended here.
And given the earnestof the Spirit in our hearts: we have the same expression,
2 Corinthians 5:5 Ephesians 1:14. We read of the first-fruits of the Spirit,
Romans 8:23. The giving unto believers the Holy Spirit, and those saving
spiritual habits which are his effects in the soul, are both the first-fruits and

an earnest;for as the first-fruits assuredthe harvest, and the earnestis a sure
pledge of the bargain, when those who give it are honestand faithful; so the
sanctifying habits, wrought in the soul by the Spirit of holiness, are a certain
pledge of that glory which shall be the portion of believers.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Poole, Matthew, "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 1:22". Matthew Poole's
English Annotations on the Holy Bible.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mpc/2-corinthians-1.html.
1685.
Alexander MacLaren's Expositions ofHoly Scripture
2 Corinthians
SEAL AND EARNEST
2 Corinthians 1:22.
There are three strong metaphors in this and the preceding verse-’anointing,’
‘sealing,’and ‘giving the earnest’-allof which find their reality in the same
divine act. These three metaphors all refer to the same subject, and what that
subject is is sufficiently explained in the last of them. The ‘earnest’consists of
‘the Spirit in our hearts,’and the same explanation might have been
appended to both the preceding clauses, forthe ‘anointing’ is the anointing of
the Spirit, and the ‘seal’is the sealof the Spirit. Further, these three
metaphors all refer to one and the same act. They are not three things, but
three aspects ofone thing, just as a sunbeam might be regardedeither as the

source of warmth, or of light, or of chemicalaction. So the one gift of the one
Spirit, ‘anoints,’ ‘seals,’and is the ‘earnest.’Further, these three metaphors
all declare a universal prerogative of Christians. Every man that loves Jesus
Christ has the Spirit in the measure of his faith,’ and if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ he is none of His.’
I. Note the first metaphor in the text-the ‘seal’of the Spirit.
A sealis impressed upon a recipient material made soft by warmth, in order
to leave there a copy of itself. Now it is not fanciful, nor riding a metaphor to
death, when I dwell upon these features of the emblem in order to suggest
their analogies in Christian life. The Spirit of God comes into our spirits, and
by gentle contactimpresses upon the material, which was intractable until it
was melted by the genial warmth of faith and love, the likeness ofHimself, but
yet so as that prominences correspondto the hollows, and what is in relief in
the one is sunk in the other. Expand that generalstatementfor a moment or
two.
The effectof all the divine indwelling, which is the characteristic giftof Christ
to every Christian soul, is to mould the recipient into the image of the divine
inhabitant. There is in the human spirit-such are its dignity amidst its ruins,
and its nobility shining through its degradation-a capacityof receiving that
image of God which consists notonly in voluntary and intelligent action and
the consciousness ofpersonalbeing, but in the love of the things that are fair,
and in righteousness, andtrue holiness. His Spirit, entering into a heart, will
make that heart wise with its own wisdom, strong with some infusion of its
own strength, gracious with some drops of its own grace, gentle with some
softening from its own gentleness,holy with some purity reflectedfrom its
own transcendentwhiteness. The Spirit, which is life, moulds the heart into
which it enters to a kindred, and, therefore, similar life.
There are, however, characteristics inthis ‘seal’of the Spirit which are not so
much copies as correspondences.Thatis to say, just as what is convex in the
sealis concave in the impression, and vice versb, so, when that Divine Spirit
comes into our spirits, its promises will excite faith, its gifts will breed desire;
to every bestowment there will answeran opening receptivity. Recipientlove

will correspondto the love that longs to dispense, the sense ofneed to the
divine fulness and sufficiency, emptiness to abundance, prayers to promises;
the cry ‘Abba! Father’ ! the yearning consciousnessofsonship, to the word
‘Thou art My Son’; and the upward eye of aspiration and petition, and
necessity, and waiting, to the downward glance oflove bestowing itself. The
open heart answers to the extended hand, and the sealwhich God’s Spirit
impresses upon the heart that is submitted to it, has the two-fold characterof
resemblance in moral nature and righteousness, andof correspondence as
regards the mysteries of the converse betweenthe recipient man and the
giving God.
Then, mark that the material is made capable of receiving the stamp, because
it is warmed and softened. That is to say, faith must prepare the heart for the
sanctifying indwelling of that Divine Spirit. The hard wax may be struck with
the seal, but it leaves no trace. God does not do with man as the coinerdoes
with his blanks, put them coldinto a press, and by violence from without
stamp an image upon them, but He does as men do with a seal, warms the wax
first, and then, with a gentle, firm touch, leaves the likeness there. So, brother!
learn this lesson:if you wish to be good, lie under the contactof the Spirit of
righteousness, andsee that your heart is warm.
Still further, note that this aggregateofChristian character, in likeness and
correspondence,is the true sign that we belong to God. The sealis the mark of
ownership, is it not? Where the broad arrow has been impressed, everybody
knows that that is royal property. And so this sealof God’s Divine Spirit, in its
effects upon my character, is the one tokento myself and to other people that
I belong to God, and that He belongs to me. Or, to put it into plain English,
the bestreasonfor any man’s being regardedas a Christian is his possession
of the likeness and correspondenceto God which that Divine Spirit gives.
Likeness and correspondence, I say, for the one class ofresults is the more
open for the observationof the world, and the other class is of the more value
for ourselves. Ibelieve that Christian people ought to have, and are meant by
that Divine Spirit dwelling in them to have, a consciousnessthat they are
Christians and God’s children, for their own peace and rest and joy. But you
cannot use that in demonstration to other people;you may be as sure of it as
you will, in your inmost hearts, but it is no sign to anybody else. And, on the

other hand, there may be much of outward virtue and beauty of character
which may lead other people to say about a man: ‘That is a goodChristian
man, at any rate,’and yet there may be in the heart an all but absolute
absence ofany joyful assurance that we are Christ’s, and that He belongs to
us. So the two facts must go together. Correspondence,the spirit of sonship
which meets His taking us as sons, the faith which clasps the promise, the
receptionwhich welcomesbestowment, must be stamped upon the inward life.
For the outward life there must be the manifest impress of righteousness upon
my actions, if there is to be any realsealand tokenthat I belong to Him. God
writes His own name upon the men that are His. All their goodness,their
gentleness, patience,hatred of evil, energy and strenuousness inservice,
submission in suffering, with whatsoeverother radiance of human virtue may
belong to them, are really ‘His mark!’
There is no other worth talking about, and to you Christian men I come and
say, Be very sure that your professions of inward communion and happy
consciousnessthatyou are Christ’s are verified to yourself and to others by a
plain outward life of righteousness like the Lord’s. Have you got that seal
stamped upon your lives, like the hall-mark that says, ‘This is genuine silver,
and no plated Brummagem stuff’ ? Have you got that sealof a visible
righteousness andevery-day purity to confirm your assertionthat you belong
to Christ? Is it woven into the whole length of your being, like the scarlet
thread that is spun into every Admiralty cable as a sign that it is Crown
property? God’s seal, visible to me and to nobody else, is my consciousness
that I am His; but that consciousness is vindicated and delivered from the
possibility of illusion or hypocrisy, only when it is checkedand fortified by the
outward evidence of the holy life which the Spirit of God has wrought.
Further, this sealing, which is thus the tokenof God’s ownership, is also the
pledge of security. A sealis stamped in order that there may be no tampering
with what it seals;that it may be keptsafe from all assaults, thieves, and
violence. And in the metaphor of our text there is included this thought, too,
which is also of an intensely practicalnature. Forit just comes to this-our true
guarantee that we shall come at last into the sweetsecurityand safety of the
perfect state is present likeness to the indwelling Spirit and present reception
of divine grace. The sealis the pledge of security, just because it is the mark of

ownership. When, by God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we are led to love the things
that are fair, and to long after more possessionof whateverthings are of good
report, that is like God’s hoisting His flag upon a newly-annexed territory.
And is He going to be so carelessin the preservation of His property as that
He will allow that which is thus acquired to slip awayfrom Him? Does He
accountus as of so small value as to hold us with so slack a hand? But no man
has a right to rest on the assurance ofGod’s saving him into the heavenly
kingdom, unless He is saving him at this moment from the devil and his own
evil heart. And, therefore, I say the Christian character, in its outward
manifestations and in its sweetinward secrets ofcommunion, is the guarantee
that we shall not fall. Restupon Him, and He will hold you up. We are ‘kept
by the powerof God unto salvation,’and that power keeps us and that final
salvationbecomes ours, ‘through faith.’
II. Now, secondly, turn to the other emblem, that ‘earnest’which consists in
like manner ‘of the Spirit.’
The ‘earnest,’of course, is a small portion of purchase-money, or wages,or
contract-money, which is given at the making of a bargain, as an assurance
that the whole amount will be paid in due time. And, says the Apostle, this seal
is also an earnest. It not only makes certain God’s ownership and guarantees
the security of those on whom it is impressed, but it also points onwards to the
future, and at once guarantees that, and to a large extent reveals the nature of
it. So, then, we have here two thoughts on which I touch.
The Christian characterand experience are the earnestof the inheritance, in
the sense ofbeing its guarantee, inasmuchas the experiences ofthe Christian
life here are plainly immortal. The ResurrectionofJesus Christ from the dead
is the objective and external proof of a future life. The facts of the Christian
life, its aspirations, its communion, its claspof God as its very own, are the
subjective and inward proofs of a future life. As a matter of fact, if you will
take the Old Testament, you will see that the highest summits in it, to which
the hope of immortality soared, spring directly from the experience of deep
and blessedcommunion with the living God. When the Psalmistsaid ‘Thou
wilt not leave my soul in Sheol; neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see
corruption,’ he was speaking a conviction that had been floated into his mind

on the crestof a greatwave of religious enjoyment and communion. And, in
like manner, when the other Psalmistsaid, ‘Thou art the strength of my heart,
and my portion for ever,’he was speaking ofthe glimpse that he had got of
the land that was very far off, from the height which he had climbed on the
Mount of fellowshipwith God. And for us, I suppose that the same experience
holds good. Howsoevermuch we may say that we believe in a future life and
in a heaven, we really grasp them as facts that will be true about ourselves, in
the proportion in which we are living here in direct contactand communion
with God. The conviction of immortality is the distinct and direct result of the
present enjoyment of communion with Him, and it is a reasonable result. No
man who has known what it is to turn himself to God with a glow of humble
love, and to feel that he is not turning his face to vacuity, but to a Face that
looks on him with love, can believe that anything can ever come to destroy
that communion. What have faith, love, aspiration, resignation, fellowship
with God, to do with death? They cannot be cut through with the stroke that
destroys physical life, any more than you can divide a sunbeam with a sword.
It unites again, and the impotent edge passes through and has effected
nothing. Deathcan shearasunder many bonds, but that invisible bond that
unites the soul to God is of adamant, againstwhich his scythe is in vain. Death
is the grim porter that opens the door of a dark hole and herds us into it as
sheepare driven into a slaughter-house. But to those who have learned what it
is to lay a trusting hand in God’s hand, the grim porter is turned into the
gentle damsel, who keeps the door, and opens it for light and warmth and
safetyto the hunted prisoner that has escapedfrom the dungeon of life. Death
cannot touch communion, and the consciousnessofcommunion with God is
the earnestof the inheritance.
It is so for another reasonalso. All the results of the Divine Spirit’s sealing of
the soulare manifestly incomplete, and as manifestly tend towards
completeness.The engine is clearlyworking now at half-speed. It is obviously
capable of much higher pressure than it is going at now. Those powers in the
Christian man can plainly do a greatdeal more than they ever have done
here, and are meant to do a greatdeal more. Is this imperfect Christianity of
ours, our little faith so soonshattered, our little love so quickly disproved, our
faltering resolutions, our lame performances, our earthward cleavings-are

these things all that Jesus Christ’s bitter agony was for, and all that a Divine
Spirit is able to make of us? Manifestly, here is but a segmentof the circle, in
heaven is the perfect round; and the imperfections, so far as life is concerned,
in the work of so obviously divine an Agent, cry aloud for a region where
tendency shall become result, and all that it was possible for Him to make us
we shall become. The road evidently leads upwards, and round that sharp
corner where the black rocks come so neareachother and our eyesightcannot
travel, we may be sure it goes steadilyup still to the top of the pass, until it
reaches ‘the shining table-lands whereofour God Himself is Sun and Moon,’
and brings us all to the city seton a hill.
And, further, that divine sealis the earnest, inasmuch as itself is part of the
whole. The truest and the loftiestconceptionthat we can form of heaven is as
being the perfecting of the religious experience of earth. The shilling or two,
given to the servant in old-fashioned days, when he was hired, is of the same
currency as the balance that he is to get when the year’s work is done. The
small payment to-day comes out of the same purse, and is coinedout of the
same specie, and is part of the same currency of the same kingdom, as what
we get when we go yonder and count the endless riches to which we have
fallen heirs at last. You have but to take the faith, the love, the obedience, the
communion of the highest moments of the Christian life on earth, and free
them from all their limitations, subtract from them all their imperfections,
multiply them to their superlative possibility, and endow them with a
continual power of growth, and stretch them out to absolute eternity, and you
get heaven. The earnestis of a piece with the inheritance.
So, dear brethren, here is a gift offeredfor us all, a gift which our feebleness
sorelyneeds, a gift for every timid nature, for every weak will, for every man,
woman, and child besetwith snares and fighting with heavy tasks, the offer of
a reinforcement as real and as sure to bring victory as when, on that day when
the fate of Europe was determined, after long hours of conflict, the Prussian
bugles blew, and the Englishcommander knew that {with the fresh troops
that came on the field} victory was made certain. So you and I may have in
our hearts the Spirit of God, the spirit of strength, the spirit of love and of a
sound mind, the spirit of adoption, the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in
the knowledge ofHim, to enlighten our darkness, to bind our hearts to Him,

to quicken and energise our souls, to make the weakestamong us strong, and
the strong as an angelof God. And the condition on which we may getit is this
simple one which the Apostle lays down; ‘After that ye believed, ye were
sealedwith that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnestof our
inheritance.’ The Christ, who is the Lord and Giver of the Spirit, has shown
us how its blessedinfluences may be ours when, on the great day of the feast,
He stood and cried with a voice that echoes acrossthe centuries, and is meant
for eachof us, ‘If any man thirsts, let him come unto Me and drink. He that
believeth in Me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake He
of the Spirit which they that believe or Him should receive.’
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
MacLaren, Alexander. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". Alexander
MacLaren's Expositions ofHoly Scripture.
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mac/2-corinthians-1.html.
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
Sealedus; marked as his own. The agentof this sealing is the Holy Spirit, as
immediately stated.
The earnestof the Spirit in our hearts;the Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts,
and giving us a foretaste ofthe joys of heaven, which is the pledge of our full
introduction to them. The possessionand exercise ofthe graces ofthe Spirit
are sure evidences of regeneration, and pledges of eternal life.
Copyright Statement

Bibliography
Edwards, Justin. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Family Bible New
Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/fam/2-
corinthians-1.html. American TractSociety. 1851.
Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
22. ὁ καὶ σφραγισάμενος ἡμᾶς. The ὁ is omitted in ‫א‬ 1Acts 1 KP and some
versions. The sealing is not a mere change of metaphor; it continues and
extends what has just been stated. Seals have had an enormous use in the
East, and without a sealno document was valid. This may be part of the
meaning here; ‘God stamped us as a guarantee of genuineness, especiallyby
the signs of His powerwhich we manifested’ (2 Corinthians 12:12; Romans
15:18-19;Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30 : comp. 1 Corinthians 9:2). The
middle voice introduces another idea; ‘He stamped us as His ownproperty,
sealedus for Himself. And the proximity of βεβαιῶν and ἀρραβῶνα suggests
the further thought of the confirmation of a bargain: He confirms us along
with you unto Christ, in as much as He put His sealupon us. Comp. John 6:27
and esp. Revelation7:3. See Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 108, 109.
τὸν ἀρραβῶνα τοῦ πνεύματος. The expressionoccurs again2 Corinthians 1:5,
and the remarkable word ἀρραβών, Lat. arrhabo and arrha, Scotch‘arles,’is
found Ephesians 1:14, ἀρραβὼντῆς κληρονομίας ἡμῶν, where see Ellicott’s
and Lightfoot’s notes. It is said to be of Phoenicianorigin. It is more than a
pledge (pignus); it is a part of what is to be handed over, which is delivered at
once, as a guarantee that the main portion will follow. It is an instalment paid
in advance, e.g. a coinfrom a large sum, a turf from an estate, a tile from a
house. See on 2 Corinthians 2:6. The genitive is one of apposition, the Spirit
being the earnestof the eternal life, which is hereafter to be given in full.
Comp. Romans 8:23. God confirms His ministers, and with them those to
whom they minister, unto Christ; and as a security that they will become

Christ’s fully and for ever, He gave the Spirit. Or, the reference may be to the
bestowalof the Spirit at the beginning of the Christian life; Acts 2:38; Acts
19:6; Titus 3:5.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
"Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Cambridge Greek Testamentfor
Schools and Colleges". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cgt/2-
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
22. Earnest—The wordαρραβωνmeans that small part of the price paid
down “to bind the bargain,” as a pawn or pledge left as security that the full
price will be paid. See Genesis 38:17-18.The Spirit of God given in our hearts
is a small advance gift, and a pledge of the eternalgift of the heavenly life.
Stanley says: “The word was probably derived by the Greeks and Romans
from the language ofthe Pheniciantraders, as ‘tariff,’ ‘cargo,’etc., are
derived in English and other modern languages,from Spanish traders.”
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Whedon, Daniel. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Whedon's
Commentary on the Bible".

https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/whe/2-corinthians-1.html.
1874-1909.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
2 Corinthians 1:22. who also sealedus, and gave us the earnestof the spirit
(meaning the Spirit as the earnestof future glory) in our hearts. There is a
noble climax here:—‘Our whole stability in the faith is of God; of God also it
is that we “have an anointing from the Holy One” (1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27);
it is He too who “sealedus unto the day of redemption”(Ephesians 4:30); and
put the earnestof that redemption into our hearts, in the indwelling of the
Holy Ghost: so all is of God.’ Prolonging his argument againstthe charge of
fickleness,it is as if he had said: ‘We and ye yourselves, if so be ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, are so bound up with God in Christ and with the
Spirit, who is the living bond of this union, that the thought of any wilful
instability of purpose in our dealings one with the other is abhorrent to me,
and ought to be so felt by you.’ Still, they might wish to know the cause of the
change, suchas it was;and they shall now have it.
Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Schaff, Philip. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 1:22". "Schaff's Popular
Commentary on the New Testament".
https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/scn/2-corinthians-1.html.
1879-90.
The Expositor's Greek Testament

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