Tucker S. Ferda, ««Sealed» with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1,13-14) and Circumcision», Vol. 93 (2012) 557-579
Most studies of Eph 1’s «sealed with the promised Holy Spirit» have tried to articulate the Christian ritual or experience that the sealing metaphor describes, such as baptism, confirmation, charismatic gifts, etc. This article, however, refocuses on the theological logic of vv. 13-14 to argue that, regardless of the Christian rite described, the author here explicates that rite by referring to circumcision with the use of the verb «sealed». The argument includes the insight that the description of «sealed» in Eph 1,13-14 corresponds to other texts that describe circumcision as a final step in Jewish proselytism.
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“Sealed†with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1,13-14) and Circumcision *
In whom you also, after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, in whom also after believing you were sealed with
the promised Holy Spirit, which is an earnest of our inheritance
unto the redemption of the possession, for the praise of his glory
(Eph 1,13-14) 1.
What does it mean to be “sealed with the promised Holy Spiritâ€
in Eph 1,13-14? Chrysostom and Erasmus suggested the following:
The Israelites also were sealed, but that was by circumcision, like
the brutes and reasonless creatures. We too are sealed, but it is as
sons, ‘with the Spirit’ 2.
A little bit of cut-off foreskin is a sign by which you may distin-
guish a Jew from a Gentile. But the Gospel’s sign extends further
and is impressed not upon the body but on the spirit. By it in equal
degree are sealed all the people of any nation who embrace the
Gospel teaching and believe the Gospel’s promises 3.
These statements, though clouded by later anti-Jewish sentiment,
serve as a helpful entry point to the exegesis of Eph 1,13-14. For both
Chrysostom and Erasmus, “sealed†is a parody of circumcision that
declares the Christian experience of receiving the Holy Spirit superior.
Both writers reach this conclusion because, aside from other intellec-
tual and social factors, the rabbinic literature makes clear that “sealâ€
was a common metaphoric description of circumcision by Jews them-
selves. Thus, Chrysostom and Erasmus interpret Eph 1,13’s “sealedâ€
according to the way Jews in their own time used “sealedâ€.
Many thanks to Dale Allison, Edith Humphrey, and my wife, Liberty
*
Ferda, for their feedback on an earlier version of this article.
Translations from the New Testament, Septuagint, and Hebrew Bible
1
are my own unless otherwise indicated.
J. CHRYSOSTOM, Hom. Eph. 2.1.11-14 (NPNF1 13,56).
2
D. ERASMUS, Paraphrase on the Epistle to the Ephesians (ed. R.D.
3
SIDER, trans. M. O’MARA – E.A. PHILLIPS) (Collected Works of Erasmus 43;
Toronto – Buffalo, NY – London 2009) 309.
BIBLICA 93.4 (2012) 557-579
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