to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, 2 Cor. 1, 22. 5, 5; and in the passage before us. In the same sense the Scriptures speak of “the first fruits of the Spirit,” Rom. 8, 23. Those influences of the Spirit which be- lievers now enjoy are at once a prelibation or antepast of future blessedness, the same in kind though immea- surably less in degree; and a pledge of the certain enjoyment of that blessedness. Just as the first fruits were a part of the harvest, and an earnest of its in- gathering. It is because the Spirit is an earnest of our inheritance, that his indwelling is a seal. It assures those in whom he dwells of their salvation, and renders that salvation certain. Hence it is a most precious gift to be most religiously cherished.
Until the redemption of the purchased possession, εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῆς περιποιήσεως. It is doubtful whe- ther these words should be connected with the preced- ing clause or with the words were sealed in the 18th verse. Our translators have adopted the former me- thod. ‘The Spirit is an earnest until the redemption,’ &c. The latter, however, is perhaps on the whole preferable. ‘Ye were sealed until, or in reference to, the redemption,’ &c. This view is sustained by a com- parison with 4, 30, where it is said: ‘ Ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.’
The word redemption, in its Christian sense, some- times means that deliverance from the curse of the law and restoration to the favour of God, of which believers are in this life the subjects. Sometimes it refers to that final deliverance from all evil, which is
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