05_Biblica_1_A_Ferda_Layout 1 30/01/13 13:17 Pagina 568 568 TUCKER S. FERDA 1,5, where Paul reminds his hearers of their initial reception of the Spirit, and as in Acts 15,8.12, where Peter and Paul recount the ex- perience of the Spirit in Gentile communities, so too in Eph 1,13- 14, AE tells his Gentile hearers that they were “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” and therefore guaranteed the inheritance and redemption promised to members of God’s house 36. It is clear, then, that when AE says “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit”, regard- less of the rite or experience here described, the theological import is that God has brought the Ephesians into the community of God and guaranteed to them the blessings of the covenant 37. Now, if it is true as suggested to this point that Eph 1,13-14 makes the Holy Spirit the identity marker for Gentiles who were once “far off” but have now been “brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph 2,13), then God’s Spirit functions as circumcision in some Jewish circles: “You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (Gen 17,11) 38. Is this just coincidence? Or could AE be deliberately evoking circumcision at this point? One can make a good case for an affirmative answer to that ques- tion given the probability that “seal” was used for circumcision as early as the first century CE. Most see Paul himself in Romans 4 as the earliest datable witness (which is an important text, to be sure, and will be discussed below), but two prior observations can be made. First, an argument from common sense. It was noted above that as early as the second century CE Christians were using “seal” to refer to baptism, and maybe they were doing it even earlier 39. Why? Probably On the Holy Spirit as an eschatological sign and an identity marker, see 36 R. BULTMANN, Theology of the New Testament (trans. K. GROBEL) (New York, NY 1951) I, 41; F.F. BRUCE, Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (Grand Rapids, MI 1977) 140; R.G. DEASLY, “The Holy Spirit in the Dead Sea Scrolls”, WTJ 21 (1986) 45-73; P.R. THORSELL, “The Spirit in the Present Age: Preliminary Fulfillment of the Predicted New Covenant According to Paul”, JETS 41 (1998) 398; R.J. MORALES, “The Words of the Luminaries, the Curse of the Law, and the Outpouring of the Spirit in Gal 3,10-14”, ZNW 100 (2009) 269-277. See N.T. WRIGHT, Paul for Everyone. The Prison Epistles (London 37 2004) 13. 2 For discussion of the diverse views on circumcision, as reflected in the 38 apparatus for Gen 17,14, see M. THIESSEN, “The Text of Genesis 17,14”, JBL 128 (2009) 625-642. Cf. J.C. LAMBERT, The Sacraments of the New Testament. Being the 39 Kerr Lectures for 1903 (Edinburgh – New York 1903); D.G. DIX, “Confir- mation or Laying on of Hands?” (London 1936). Lambert and Dix contrast © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati