II. CORINTHIANS 1, 22. 25

The Holy Spirit, wliicli in one view is an unction, in another view is a seal. He marks those in whom he dwells as belong- ing to God. They bear the seal of God upon them. Rev. 7, 2. 2 Tim. 2, 19. Act. Thoin. § 26, 6 ^eos Ota t>}5 a.vrov atfypayl- 8o? l-myivdio-Ku to. tSia TrpojSara, God Jcnoics by his seal his own sheep. He also bears witness in the hearts of believers that they are the children of God. He authenticates them to themselves and others as genuine believers. And he effectu- ally secures them from apostasy and perdition. Eph. 1,3. 4, 30. This last idea is amplified in the next clause ; and hath given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit is itself the earliest^ i. e. at once the foretaste and pledge of redemption. The word dppa^ojv, p)ledge^ is a Hebrew word, which passed as a mercantile term, probably from the Pheni- cian, into the Greek and Latin. It is properly that part of the purchase money paid in advance, as a security for the re- mainder. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of his people, is that part of the blessings of redemption, which God gives them as a pledge of their full and final salvation. So certain, therefore, as the Spirit dwells in us, so certain is our final salvation. " If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. . . But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you," Rom.* 8, 9-11. The indwelling of the Spirit is therefore called the first-fruits of redeniiDtion. Rom. 8, 23. Comp. Eph. 1, 14. 2 Cor. 5, 5. There is but one thing stated in these verses, and that is that God establishes or renders his people firm and secure in their union with Christ, and in their participation of the benefits of redemption. How he does this, and the evidence that he does it, is ex- pressed or presented by saying he hath anointed, sealed, and given us the earnest of the Spirit. The indwelling of the Spirit, therefore, renders the believer secure and steadfast ; it is his anointing ; it is the seal of God impressed upon the soul, and therefore the pledge of redemption. The fruits of the Spirit are the only evidence of his presence ; so that while those who experience and manifest those fruits may rejoice in the certainty of salvation, those vrho are destitute of them have no right to appropriate to themselves the consolation of this and similar declarations of the word of God. The perse- verance of the saints is a perseverance in holiness.