Our (un)Common Salvation

Ephesians 1:13-14

13 in whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the [1] gospel of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,

14 which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory. (ASV)

εν ω και υμεις ακουσαντες τον λογον της αληθειας το ευαγγελιον της σωτηριας υμων εν ω και πιστευσαντες εσφραγισθητε τω πνευματι της επαγγελιας τω αγιω, ο εστιν αρραβων της κληρονομιας ημων εις απολυτρωσιν της περιποιησεως εις επαινον της δοξης αυτου

In these last two verses of Paul's opening herald, he brings the believers back to the one thing that binds us together -- our salvation; a salvation without which all words are merely words and offer no hope, only platitudes.

"In whom" refers back to the prepositional phrase which concluded verse 12: "to the end that we should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ", therefore referencing Christ. In actuality, that which is translated in the ASV "in whom" twice in verse 13 could also be translated "in which", as the Greek for both "in whom" and "in which" are exactly the same: "εν ω". If the opening preposition in verse 13 is "in which", then it is referencing "the end" of verse 12. Both interpretations work effectively in transitioning from 12 to 13, in my humble opinion. The second "εν ω" of verse 13, however, I think is more accurately translated "in which", as it points to "the word of truth" (τον λογον της αληθειας), which is neutral in gender per the English language. The translators of this passage may have interpreted this phrase as a reference to Jesus, and thus the "in whom", but as the object of a participial phrase linked to the believers in Ephesus, I think "in which" is more appropriate. While Jesus calls Himself "The Truth", the title "word of truth" is never applied to Him. I have found many places in the NT where the phrase "the word of God" (ο λογος του θεου, τον λογον του θεου) is used, and one could very easily replace that phrase with "Jesus" or "Christ" and the verse would still work, but I do not think this is the case here.

Moving on, we find two participles referencing the activities of the recipients of this letter (and us, as well). "having heard/after hearing" (ακουσαντες), and "having believed/after believing" (πιστευσαντες). Paul wrote in Romans 10:17 "So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ". The believer becomes so because the message is heard, and then believed. This is God's chosen process, and we as believers must grasp it and be responsible for it. Peter says we (all of us) are a nation of priests -- those who stand between God and man. We have Him in our hearts, His message for all men on our tongues, and we must declare with our lips. Paul writes that we are ambassadors for Christ, His representatives to all men, and we are therefore the communicators of His will and intent, that people everywhere repent and believe the Gospel. It is not the job of some overworked, highly schooled, professional clergyman -- such a thing did not exist in the first 200 years of the Body's presence -- the proclamation of the Gospel, God's chosen plan whereby people everywhere might be saved, is the responsibility of those who have been born-again -- redeemed persons.

After hearing and believing, Paul declares "(you) have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise". The pronoun is implied in the verb construction (εσφραγισθητε), and Paul has made it sufficiently clear who the implied "you" is by context. Besides, adding the pronoun directly would have brought inappropriate emphasis to something that is clearly the work of someone else, that "someone" being the Holy Spirit. You see, we are not partners with God in achieving this seal -- it is something He has done for us through the agency of the Holy Spirit, the One which had been promised from the days of old. This sealing happens after hearing, after believing, but not after testing and evaluation. It is an act of grace, unmerited in any way. It is God's chosen way, His selected means.

Paul then describes the significance of this sealing, drawing himself and his band back into the company of the believers in Ephesus:

which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his glory

ο εστιν αρραβων της κληρονομιας ημων εις απολυτρωσιν της περιποιησεως εις επαινον της δοξης αυτου

The word αρραβων can be translated as "earnest, guarantee, pledge", and all three meanings are co-joined in its use in verse 14. The Holy Spirit's presence in us is the earnest, the down payment of something greater to come; it is our guarantee, for the Holy Spirit's work cannot be undone, which includes our being sealed in salvation; it is our pledge from God, that we are His own and He will be ever present with us.

Paul states the purpose of these amazing acts of grace: "unto the redemption of God's own possession..." That we might be found fully redeemed. The Greek word translated "God's own possession", περιποιησεως, is an interesting one. The verb root is ποιεω, or "I make/do", so in the noun form used here means "a making, a doing, a performance", but not "that which is made", which would have the form ποιημα. In the feminine gender it refers to the process. The beauty of Koine Greek is its compounding of words to bring stronger, more explicit meanings to root words. Whether it is compounding nouns, or of greater importance in the Greek NT, the combining of prepositions with nouns to bring emphasis: "out-rigger" is descriptive of the substantive phrase "rigged on the outside", and when we want to strengthen the noun further, we might precede it with the same preposition which forms the word itself, "in the inside", as an example. The Koine Greek introduced such tools to the Greek language, and one of the reasons the Koine is the most expressive of all forms of the Greek language. In the word under discussion, περιποιησεως, it is the combination of περι and ποιησεως (in this case I am maintaining the genitive form for the reader's sake). The preposition περι means "about, around, concerning, etc." depending on the voice of the noun with which it is being used, and in composition, such as we have here, it means "all around, round about, surround, beyond, through". So how do we go from a word referencing the "process of making" to "God's own possession"? We first visit the verb companion, περιποιεω, and see its meaning as "I make to reserve/to keep safe (the around about or surrounding meaning of the preposition)/to lay by". The general idea of the verb is to make a surrounding/a protection/a reservation for something or someone. It is not unlike the idea of οριζω, which means "I draw a border around/apply a limit in extent", a verb which, when combined with the Greek preposition προ (before, in time or space), we get προοριζω, which is translated in Romans 8:29 as "predestined, foreordained".

The noun form we have in verse 14, περιποιησεως, therefore is rightly interpreted as "the possession, with the ASV adding implication. Literally, "the redemption of the possession". "The possession" reference to the Body of Christ, all those who were bought with His blood, the elect of God. The Possession, The Body, The Elect all refer to all believers at once, transcendent of time. The redemption of the possession, once again as we have already seen, brings praise and glory to God and our Lord Jesus. Everything God has done for our salvation and in saving us individually brings Him and Him alone glory and praise. May it ever be, Amen.