Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:13c-The Church Age Believer Was Sealed By the Spirit Because They Trusted in Jesus Christ

Ephesians 1:3 The God, namely the Father of the Lord ruling over us, who is Jesus Christ, is worthy of praise. Namely, because He is the one who has blessed each and every one of us by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. 4 For He chose each and every one of us for His own purpose because of Him alone before creation in order that each and every one of us would be holy as well as uncensurable in His judgment. 5 He did this by predestinating each and every one of us for the purpose of adoption as sons because of His love through Jesus Christ for Himself according to the pleasure of His will. 6 This was for the purpose of praising His glorious grace, which He freely bestowed on each and every one of us because of the one who is divinely loved. 7 Because of whom, each one of us are experiencing that which is the redemption through His blood, namely the forgiveness of our transgressions according to His infinite grace. 8 This He provided in abundance for the benefit of each and every one of us because of the exercise of a wisdom, which is absolute and divine in nature resulting in the manifestation of an insight, which is absolute and divine in nature. 9 He did this by revealing the mystery of His will for the benefit of each and every one of us according to His pleasure, which He planned beforehand because of our faith in and resultant union and identification with Himself. 10 This was for the dispensation which brings to completion the various periods of history. Namely, to unite for the benefit of Himself each and every animate and inanimate object in the sphere of the sovereign authority of the person of the one and only Christ. Specifically, to unite for the benefit of Himself those things in the heavens as well as those things on the earth in the sphere of the sovereign authority of Himself. 11 Because of whom, each and every one of us has been claimed as a possession because of having been predestinated according to the predetermined plan. Namely, the one who is causing each and every animate and inanimate object to function according to His purpose, that is, His sovereign will 12 in order that each and every one of us would belong to a particular group of people. Namely, those who are certain of possessing a confident expectation of blessing because of their faith in and union and identification with the one and only Christ for the purpose of praising His glory. 13 Correspondingly, because of whom, each and every one of you were sealed by means of the omnipotence of the one and only promised Spirit, who is holy because each and every one of you obeyed the one and only message, which is truth, namely, the proclamation of the one and only gospel, which produced your salvation. Specifically, because each one of you believed in Him. (Lecturer’s translation)

The second prepositional phrase en hō pisteusantes (ἐν ᾧ πιστεύσαντες), “specifically, because of having believed in Him” in Ephesians 1:13 is epexegetical.

This means that it is explaining what Paul means by the previous assertion kai hymeis akousantes ton logon tēs alētheias, to euangelion tēs sōtērias hymōn (καὶ ὑμεῖς ἀκούσαντες τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς σωτηρίας ὑμῶν), “because each and every one of you obeyed the one and only message, which is truth, namely, the proclamation of the one and only gospel, which produced your salvation.”

Therefore, the second prepositional phrase in Ephesians 1:13 is indicating that when Paul asserts that each one of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle obeyed the message, which is truth, namely, the proclamation of the one and only gospel, which produced their salvation, he means that they trusted or believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the subject of this message.

The prepositional phrase En hō (Ἐν ᾧ) appears for a second time here in Ephesians 1:13.

However, this time it is marking Jesus Christ as the object of faith at the moment of the church age believer’s justification.

This is indicated by the fact that it is modifying the nominative masculine plural aorist active participle conjugation of the verb pisteuō (πιστεύω), “specifically, because of having believed in Him.”

It is also indicated by the fact that the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) refers to Jesus Christ and is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which is marking Him as the object of the church age believer’s faith at the moment of justification.

The verb pisteuō (πιστεύω), “specifically, because of having believed” pertains to believing to the extent of complete trust and reliance.

Here it refers to those sinners who have been declared justified by the Father by faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Specifically, this verb speaks of a sinner who “totally and completely trusted in” the person of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross to deliver them from eternal condemnation, condemnation from the Law, personal sins, the sin nature, the devil and his cosmic system as well as spiritual and physical death.

Most of the modern translations interpret the participle conjugation of this verb pisteuō(πιστεύω) here in Ephesians 1:13 as a temporal participle (TNIV, NET, ESV).

Therefore, if we interpret the participle conjugation of this verb pisteuō (πιστεύω) here in Ephesians 1:13 as a temporal participle, it would be expressing the idea that each one of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit “when” they believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

However, as we noted with the participle conjugation of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), though a participle might have a temporal force, one must determine if a more specific semantic value is intended by the writer before interpreting the participle as being temporal.

This is the case here where pisteuō (πιστεύω) has a more specific semantic value, namely means.

Therefore, I interpret the participle conjugation of this verb pisteuō (πιστεύω) as a causal participle, which means that it indicates the cause or reason or ground of the action of the finite verb.

Normally, but not always, this type of participle usually precedes the main verb, which we noted in our context is the second person plural aorist passive indicative conjugation of the verb sphragizō (σφραγίζω), “each and every one of you were sealed.”

As was the case with the participle conjugation of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), the participle conjugation of the verb pisteuō (πιστεύω) is following the controlling or main verb and not preceding it.

Therefore, this would indicate that the participle conjugation of this verb pisteuō (πιστεύω) is expressing the idea that each one of the recipients of the Ephesian epistle were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit “because” they trusted in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Like the action of the aorist participle conjugation of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), the aorist participle conjugation of the verb pisteuō (πιστεύω) indicates that it takes place simultaneously with the action of the aorist indicative conjugation of the verb sphragizō (σφραγίζω).

Thus, the aorist tenses of both verbs indicate that the Father sealing each and every church age believer with the promised Holy Spirit and the church age believer trusting in Jesus Christ when they obeyed the gospel message took place at the same time.

Namely, they both took place at the moment of justification.