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● 2 Cor 1:22 . . God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the
Spirit in our hearts.
● 2 Cor 5:5 . . God; who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
● Eph 1:13-14 . . Christ; 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.
The Greek word translated "earnest" basically pertains to a pledge in the
form of a security deposit, for example:
Real estate transactions usually involve a sum called the earnest money
which serves a specific purpose in the real estate business. In some quarters;
this is also called good-faith money.
When the contract, and all the other necessary documents are submitted to
Escrow, the buyer is required to also submit a token amount of the purchase
price. It's usually a relatively small number of dollars compared to the full
price of the property. I think ours was just $1,000 back in 1988 on a
$74,000 home. When the buyer follows through on their intent to purchase
the property, the good-faith money (minus some Escrow fees of course)
goes towards the purchase.
However, if the buyer decides to renege, then they forfeit the good faith
money. No doubt that's done to discourage vacillating buyers from fiddling
around with other people's time and money.
So then, since God's Spirit is a security deposit; then, according to the
principles underlying pledges, should God betray a believer's trust by
reneging on His promise to spare people who hear and believe the gospel,
then He forfeits; and the believer gets to keep the Spirit regardless of their
afterlife destiny. (cf. Gen 38:16-23)
But of course God won't renege because doing so would not only embarrass
Himself, but embarrass His son too as Jesus has given his word that
believers have nothing to fear.
"I assure you, those who heed my message, and believe in God who sent
me, have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they
have already passed from death into life." (John 5:24)
There are people who actually believe God can get away with reneging on His
promises. A belief of that nature of course insinuates that God is a person of
marginal integrity who's capable of dishonesty and can't be trusted to make
good on anything He says.
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