and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.
Parallel translations
- WEB who also sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
- KJV Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
- BSB placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come.
- NKJV who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
- NASB who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God has sealed believers as His own and given the Holy Spirit as a down payment guaranteeing their future inheritance. The Spirit is God's pledge of salvation to come.
Overview
The 'seal' marks believers as belonging to God and secured by Him, while the Spirit is the 'down payment' (a first installment) of the full inheritance awaiting them. This assures Christians that their salvation is guaranteed, not by their own strength but by God's deposit of His Spirit. It points forward to the consummation of redemption that the Spirit secures.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eph 4:30Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- 2 Cor 5:5Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.
- Eph 1:13–14in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation — in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
- John 6:27Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has sealed him.”
- Rev 9:4They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads.
- Rom 8:14–16For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
- Rom 8:23Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
- Rom 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
- Rev 7:3saying, “Don’t harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!”
- 2 Tim 2:19However God’s firm foundation stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”
- Rom 4:11He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they might be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them.
- Rev 2:17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.
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In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.
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Original language
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