II. The forwardness and yet the reasonableness of their faith.—They trusted in Christ after they heard the Word. They acted as honest and rational men: they did not trust before they heard it, nor refused to trust after they heard it. They did not take the Gospel on the credit of other men without examination; nor did they reject it when they had an opportunity to examine it for themselves. Their faith stood not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
III. The happy consequence of their faith.—They were “sealed with the Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.” They became partakers of such a Divine influence as sanctified them to a meetness for heaven, and thus evidenced their title to it.
1. The sealing of the Spirit.—Sealing literally signifies the impression of the image or likeness of one thing upon another. A seal impressed on wax leaves there its own image. Instruction is said to be sealed when it is so impressed on the heart as to have an abiding influence. So, the sealing of believers is their receiving on their hearts the Divine image and character by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. The Word of truth is here considered as the seal, the believing heart as the subject, the Holy Spirit as the agent or sealer, and the effect produced as a Divine likeness. By a like metaphor Christians are represented as cast in the mould of the Gospel. The same idea is conveyed by the metaphor of writing the Word on the heart.
2. The earnest of the Spirit.—The Spirit, having sealed believers or sanctified them after God’s image, becomes an earnest of their inheritance. The firstfruits were pledges of the ensuing harvest; earnest-money in a contract is a pledge of the fulfilment of it. So, the graces and comforts of religion are to Christians the anticipations and foretastes of the happiness which awaits them in heaven. (1) The virtues of the Christian temper, which are the fruits of the Spirit, are to believers an earnest of their inheritance because they are in part a fulfilment of the promise which conveys the inheritance. (2) They are an earnest as they are preparatives for it. (3) The sealing and sanctifying influence of the Spirit is especially called an earnest of the inheritance because it is a part of the inheritance given beforehand. It is the earnest till the redemption of the purchased possession. When we actually possess the inheritance the earnest will be no longer needed.
Lessons.—1. All the operations of the Spirit on the minds of men are of a holy nature and tendency. 2. We are strongly encouraged to apply to God for the needful influences of His grace. 3. We can have no conclusive evidence of a title to heaven without the experience of a holy temper. 4. Christians are under indispensable obligations to universal holiness.—Lathrop.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Verses 15–18.
Prayer for Higher Spiritual Knowledge—
I. Thankfully acknowledges the grace already possessed (vers. 15, 16).—The possession of some grace prompts the prayer for more. The apostle recognises the faith of the Ephesians in the person and work of Christ and the love they displayed towards the saints. Knowing the source of that grace and that the supply was unlimited, he thanks God and is encouraged to pray for its increase. How slow we are to see the good in others and to thank God for any good found in ourselves! Ingratitude dulls our sensibilities and chills the breath of prayer. If we were more thankful, we should be more prayerful. The way to excite gratitude is to interest ourselves in the highest welfare of others.
II. Invokes the impartation of additional spiritual insight (vers. 17, 18).—The apostle prays, not for temporal good or for prosperity in outward things, or even for the cessation of trouble or persecution, but for an accession of mental and spiritual blessings. He prays for the opening of the eye of the mind that the vision of spiritual realities may be more clear and reliable, and that the soul may be possessed with a fuller knowledge of Christ. The highest wisdom is gained by a more accurate conception of Him “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Sin enters the heart through the avenue of the senses and passions, grace through a spiritually enlightened understanding. Pride, prejudice, and error are expelled from the mind not so much by the repression of evil tendencies as by the entrance and maintenance of superior moral truths. The revelation of the Spirit in the Word will not suffice unless the light of the same Spirit shines through every faculty and power of the inquiring soul. “Man’s knowledge is not perfect within the domain of creation, still less can he know the things of the invisible world. Only by living in a sphere does he gather knowledge of what is found there: knowledge comes from experience of occurrences. Without a disposition of the heart the sense of the understanding is not enlarged and sharpened. Sensible, mental, spiritual knowledge refers to life spheres in which he who knows must move. Only the believing, loving, longing one knows and grows in knowledge unto knowledge.” We need, therefore, continually to pray for the Spirit of wisdom—a keener spiritual insight.
III. Unveils the grandeur of the Divine inheritance in believers.—“That ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (ver. 18). The increase of spiritual knowledge is an ever-widening revelation of the value and splendour of Divine blessings already possessed and in prospect of possession. Faith enjoys the inheritance now, and hope anticipates an ampler revelation and richer experience of its unspeakable blessedness. The phrase “the riches of the glory of His inheritance” indicates how utterly inadequate human language is to describe its boundless spiritual wealth. It is an inheritance implying union to Him who only hath immortality and is eternal. Rust cannot corrupt it, nor decay consume, nor death destroy. We have not only an inheritance in Christ, but He has also an inheritance in us. He finds more in us than we find ourselves, and we should never know it was there but for the revelation of Himself within us.