SCRIPTURE Ephesians 1:13–14 “Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” and “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”  

COMMENTARY In Ephesians 1:13-14, after believing in Christ, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. “Earnest” has the same meaning in the passage as “earnest money” has today in a real estate purchase contract.  It is a deposit, or pledge, put up to assure the seller that the buyer will fulfill his promise (to purchase the property pursuant to the terms of the contract) as explained in an earlier chapter.  But the contract also lists obligations to be performed by the seller.  The buyer’s obligation to purchase is conditioned on the seller completing his obligations (pay outstanding taxes and liens, execute a deed conveying clear title, etc.). The actual purchase takes place sometime after the contract is signed, giving the seller the time to fulfill his obligations.  In the same way, we have obligations to fulfill in order for God’s promise of salvation to be consummated in the future. 

Contrary to what those advocating eternal security say, the passage indicates that salvation is not a done deal at the moment of first belief, but that the deposit of the Holy Spirit as earnest is just the beginning of an agreement to be fulfilled by both parties in the future.  The deposit guarantees God will be faithful, not that the transaction is already done for if it was there would be no reason to put down a deposit on something already achieved.  For the believer, the narrow road lies ahead.   Furthermore, there is no place in Scripture where it explicitly says the seal of the Holy Spirit, which is for (not until) the day of redemption, cannot be broken no matter what we do. In fact, the warnings to Christians strongly suggest just the opposite. However, God will be faithful if we are faithful. Finally, there are those of God’s people who have driven the Holy Spirit off (ex. Saul) and David knew that God could remove the Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11). We see a similar idea to Ephesians 1:13-14 in 2 Corinthians 1:22.