Expositors Greek
and it followed on their πίστις.—ἐσφραγίσθητε: ye were sealed. The verb σφραγίζειν (= חָתַס) in the NT expresses several distinct ideas, e.g., confirming or authenticating (
John 3:32;
John 6:27; cf.σφραγίς in
Romans 4:11;
1 Corinthians 9:2); securing (
Matthew 27:66;
Revelation 20:3); keeping secret (
Revelation 10:4;
Revelation 22:10; cf. σφραγίς in
Revelation 5:1-2;
Revelation 5:5;
Revelation 5:9;
Revelation 6:1;
Revelation 8:1, etc.); marking as one’s possession or as destined for something (
Revelation 8:3-8; cf. σφραγίς in
2 Timothy 3:4;
Revelation 9:4). Here and in
Ephesians 4:30 the idea seems to be either that of authenticating or certifying them to be of God’s heritage, or that of marking them as such. The two ideas are near akin. The latter will be more applicable, if (with Theophyl., Chrys., Cornel. a Lap., Alf., etc.) we take the attestation to be the objective attestation to others, the evidence to our fellows that we are the chosen of God; the former, if (with Mey., Ell., etc.) we take it to be the attestation to our own consciousness. This hope or assurance which is given to ourselves seems rather in view here (cf.
Romans 8:16). There is no reason to suppose that there is any allusion here to any peculiar use of the seal whether in Jewish custom or in heathen religious service. Nor is the rite of Baptism specially referred to. In ecclesiastical Greek, indeed, baptism came to be denoted by the term σφραγίς; but there is no instance of that in the NT. The terms σφραγίς, σφραγίζειν, are used in the Pauline Epistles of circumcision (
Romans 4:11), of the contribution from Macedonia and Achaia (
Romans 15:28), of the Corinthians as the witnesses to Paul’s apostleship (
1 Corinthians 9:2), of the inward certificationof believers (
2 Corinthians 1:22;
Ephesians 1:13;
Ephesians 4:30), and of the destination or ownership of the Church or congregation of believers (
2 Timothy 2:19).—τῶ Πνεύματι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας τῷ ἁγίῳ: with the Holy Spirit of promise. The Spirit is that by which (instrumentaldative) the sealing is effected; and that Spirit is called the Spirit of promise, not in the active sense of bringing or confirmingthe promise (Calv., Bez., etc.), but in the passive sense of having been announced by the promise, or being the object or content of the promise in the OT. The τῷ ἁγίῳ, thrown emphatically to the end of the clause, designates the Spirit solemnly in respect of the essential personal quality of holiness. Taken together with the general tenor of the paragraph and with the fact that in the ὑμεῖς Gentile Christians as a whole are addressed, and not any select number or class, it is clear that what is in view here is not the extraordinary or miraculous gifts of the Spirit, but that bestowal of the Spirit in which all believers shared, which was the subject of the great OT prophecies (
Joel 3:1-5;
Isaiah 32:15;
Isaiah 44:3;
Ezekiel 36:26;
Ezekiel 39:29;
Zechariah 12:10), and of which a new heart, a new spirit, was to be the result.
