The earnest is the seal, and something more. It is an instalment, a _token in kind_, a foretaste of the feast to come. In the parallel passage, Romans viii. 23, the same earnest is called “the firstfruit of the Spirit.” What the earliest sheaf is to the harvest, that the entrance of the Spirit of God into a human soul is to the glory of its ultimate salvation. The sanctity, the joy, the sense of recovered life is the same in kind then and now, differing only in degree and expression. Of the “earnest of the Spirit” St Paul has spoken twice already, in 2 Corinthians i. 22 and v. 5, where he cites this inner witness to assure us, in the first instance, that God will fulfil to us His promises, “how many soever they be”; and in the second, that our mortal nature shall be “swallowed up of life”--assimilated to the living spirit to which it belongs--and that “God has wrought us for this very thing.” These earlier sayings explain the apostle’s meaning here. God has made us His sons, in accordance with His purpose formed in the depths of eternity (ver. 5). As sons, we are His heirs in fellowship with Christ, and already have received rich blessings out of this heritage (ver. 11). But the richest part of it, including that which concerns the bodily form of our life, is still unredeemed, notwithstanding that the price of its redemption is paid. For this we wait till the time appointed of the Father,--the time when He will reclaim His heritage in us, and give us full possession of our heritage in Christ. We do not wait, as did the saints of former ages, ignorant of the Father’s purpose for our future lot. “Life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel.” We see beyond the chasm of death. We enjoy in the testimony of the Holy Spirit the foretaste of an eternal and glorious life for all the children of God--nay, the pledge that the reign of evil and death shall end throughout the universe. With this hope swelling their hearts, the apostle’s readers once more triumphantly join in the refrain: TO THE PRAISE OF HIS GLORY. FOOTNOTES: [47] Exod. xix. 3-6; Deut. iv. 20, 21; 1 Kings viii. 51, 53; Ps. lxxviii. 71, etc. With the above comp. Gen. xv. 8; Numb. xviii. 20; Jos. xiii. 33; Ps. xvi. 5. [48] Ch. iv. 30. The “seal” of 2 Tim. ii. 19 has both the first and third of these meanings. [49] Rom. iv. 11; 1 Cor. ix. 2; John iii. 33, vi. 27. [50] Matt. xxvii. 66; Rev. v. 1, etc. [51] Ch. ii. 11; comp. Rom. i. 28, 29; Gal. v, 5, 6; Phil. iii. 2, 3. [52] Comp. Rom. viii. 9-11; 2 Cor. v. 1-5. [53] Acts i. 4, ii. 33, 39, xiii. 32, xxvi. 6; Rom. iv. 13-20; Gal. iii. 14-29. [54] See Rom. x. 14-18; Gal. iii. 2, 5; Col. i. 6, 23; 1 Thess. ii. 13; 2 Tim. i. 13. [55] 1 Tim. ii. 1-7, iv. 10; Tit. ii. 11. [56] 1 Thess. v. 9; 2 Thess. ii. 14; Heb. x. 39. [57] Comp. Chapter VIII.