05_Biblica_1_A_Ferda_Layout 1 30/01/13 13:17 Pagina 562 562 TUCKER S. FERDA cerning when and how the Holy Spirit came upon the believer show that Christian experience complexified rather than clar- ified the issue 21. (ii) We know little to nothing of confirmatory activities in the New Testament period; all the summoned evidence is late and has to be read back into the New Testament. (iii) Nowhere in early Christian literature is moral transformation or growing in faith described with the sense of finality one finds in Eph 1,13-14, and nowhere is the exercise of spiritual gifts called a “seal”. (iv) Without creating a false dichotomy between Judaism and Hellenism, we can see that the literary context of Ephesians (vv. 3-14) is rife with language from the Jewish scriptures (e.g., election, the beloved, redemption, forgiveness of sins, inheritance) and not from the pagan mysteries. This brief survey suffices to show that, if indeed “sealed” brought to mind a particular Christian ritual or experience for the first hearers of Ephesians, the evidence no longer allows us open access to it. There is still a way forward, however: such reconstructions should not dis- tract from the theological point being made in vv. 13-14 regardless of whether “sealed” speaks of baptism, confirmation, character renewal, or magical protection. The thrust of the text, rather, is to highlight the role of the Holy Spirit in becoming an earnest for the future. The ex- egesis of this passage is best refocused, therefore, on the way in which AE encourages his hearers to understand their encounter with the Holy Spirit, rather than to decide what that ritual or experience actually was. The following explores the logic and origin of the assumption that Spirit-sealing (v. 13) is the basis of and evidence for future inheritance and redemption (v. 14), beginning with syntax and context. Commentary on Ephesians, 150; N. DAHL, “The Concept of Baptism in Eph- esians”, Studies in Ephesians (WUNT 131; Tübingen 2000) 425. Some claim that reception of the Spirit is synonymous with baptism. See 21 the views of Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria and others in A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs (ed. D.W. BERCOT) 50-59. Others claim that the Spirit is given either before (Acts Thom. 27) or after baptism and distinct from it. For example, Tertullian, Bapt. 6 (ANF 3,672) says explicitly, “It is not that in the waters we obtain the Holy Spirit. Rather, in the water, under the angel, we are cleansed and prepared for the Holy Spirit”. See also anonym., Rebapt. 10 (ANF 5,672-73); Origen, Hom. Lev. 6.5.2 (FC 83,125-126); Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. 3.3 (NPNF2 7,14-15); Hilary of Poitiers, Comm. Ps. 64.15 (PL 9,421). © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati