About Seals in the NT

Last updated on: March 5, 2026 at 1:21 am by Ben Witherington

About Seals in the NT 2026-02-22T08:24:40-05:00 Ben Witherington

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No not Easter seals, no not the kind you see at the Embarcadero in San Fran, no not ‘sealed with a kiss’ I’m referring to the kind mentioned in the NT. Any hearer of the NT would be well familiar with the term σφραγίς meant literally. It referred to a seal on an amphora or on a document, indicating the owner or creator of the contents of the amphora or document. Here’s one from the handle of the amphora.

The word is never used semi-literally either as a noun or a verb in the NT, except in Rev. 5-9 where it refers to a seal on a document. Elsewhere Paul says in 1 Cor. 9.2 that his converts are the seal (in this case the proof or evidence) of his apostleship. My concern in this post however is with the term as applied to the Holy Spirit in its verbal form in Ephes. 1.13 and 4.30. Paul says the Holy Spirit is the ἀρραβὼν. This word does not mean ‘guarantee’, despite some modern translations. To the contrary, the KJV has it right– it means an ‘earnest’ or as we would say ‘a pledge’ of things to come.

Today, interestingly enough, in Greece an ἀρραβὼν is an engagement ring! In each of these cases it refers to something like a promissory note of something to be given later, all being well. NASB rightly renders the term a pledge. It foreshadows something big yet to come. The ring is not the consummation of the relationship, it is a preview of coming attractions. The same applies to Ephes. 1.13 and 4.3o and also 2 Cor. 1.22, and 5.5. It means pledge. The fact that Paul is prepared to say the Spirit is the seal, by which he means the pledge says a great deal. Just as a literal seal can be broken on a document or an amphora, so also the Holy Spirit can be grieved, blasphemed and indeed the work of the Spirit in a person’s life, as Heb. 6 makes clear, can be rejected or quenched by means of apostasy from the faith.

That a person has the Holy Spirit in their lives does not guarantee them future salvation. This is precisely why in Gal. 5, after listing the fruit of the Spirit, and addressing his converts in the province of Galatia Paul adds that if they choose to behave like the list of ‘works of the flesh’ or as my Dad would say ‘like a shiftless skunk’, people will get wind of it! Paul says if Christians behave like that having had the work of the Spirit already in their lives, they will not enter the Kingdom of God in the future. In short, the Christians is not eternally secure until they are securely in eternity. Let’s be clear, I’m not talking about someone losing their salvation like you could lose your glasses or car keys. I am talking about a willful, conscious rejection of the work God has already done in a person’s life, hence apostasy This does not happen by accident or when you are not looking. It is intentional. Yes indeed Rom. 8.28ff. promises that no outside force, or power or person or event can rip you out of the hands of God. The one think not listed in the ‘neither…nors’ in that passage is yourself.

More on all this in my new book Rethinking Biblical and Systematic Theology.

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