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 577
than just the berakah of Ephesians. The inheritance motif evokes
God’s promises with Israel and thus anticipates AE’s later comment
that “the Gentiles are co-heirs (sugklhronoma) and members-of-the-
,
same-body and sharers of the promise (summetoca th/j evpaggeli,aj)
,
in Christ Jesus through the gospel†(3,6, italics mine). All that the
Gentiles were assumed not to possess in 2,11-12 on account of their
“uncircumcision†they were said to receive in 1,14 on account of
their being sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.
In addition, “redemption†and “possession†are terms with rich
history in biblical literature and are also best understood within this
covenantal context. Redemption denotes liberation from hostile
powers, as in the Exodus from Egypt 65. Those “sealed†with the
Holy Spirit, and thus made “members of God’s house†(Eph 2,19),
are the ones guaranteed the “redemption†promised to Israel 66. The
enigmatic reference to “the possession†has been troublesome for
exegetes, but it most likely refers to the people of God as God’s
possession 67. Luther took the phrase as “zu unserer Erlösung, daß
TDNT III, 776-785. For non-Christian Jewish texts which discuss inheriting
“the world to comeâ€, see D.C. ALLISON JR., Constructing Jesus: Memory,
Imagination, and History (Grand Rapids, MI 2010) 191-192. Some who take
“inheritance†to refer to eternal life include Jerome in HEINE, The Commen-
taries of Origen and Jerome on St Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, 105;
CALVIN, Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul to the Galatians and Eph-
esians, 209; DIBELIUS, An die Kolosser, Epheser. An Philemon, 63 (“die
Aneignung des himmlischen Erbes durch die Christenâ€).
Cf. D. DAUBE, “Redemptionâ€, The New Testament and Rabbinic Ju-
65
daism (London 1956) 268-284.
One best understands avrrabw,n in the sense of “down payment†or “first
66
installment†because it is part of the coming inheritance, not something distinct
from it. See Irenaeus, Haer. 8.1-2 (ANF I, 533-534); T. Mopsuestia, Ad Eph.
133 in Theodore of Mopsuestia: The Commentaries on the Minor Epistles of
Paul (trans. R.A. GREER) (SBLWGRW 26; Atlanta, GA 2010) 133; J.B. LIGHT-
FOOT, Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul (Grand Rapids, MI 1957 [orig. 1895])
323-324. This is clearly the sense of 2 Cor 1,22. See also Acts 2,38-39; Gal
3,14b. The comments of F.F. Bruce on Galatians in Commentary on Galatians
(NIGC; Grand Rapids, MI 1982) 168, work for Ephesians as well: “The sub-
stance of the ‘promise’ is the gift of the Spiritâ€.
To read th/j peripoih,sewj as God’s possession corresponds to the com-
67
mon use of seals to indicate ownership or possession. As circumcision was
often understood to claim the people of Israel as God’s possession (cf. Jub.
15.26-28), it is perhaps one reason why the seal metaphor was used for cir-
cumcision in the first place.
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