Basic HTML Version
(
$ &
, 4973) denotes (a) “a seal” or “signet,” Rev. 7:2, “the seal of the
living God,” an emblem of ownership and security, here combined with that of
destination (as in Ezek. 9:4), the persons to be “sealed” being secured from destruction
and marked for reward; (b) “the impression” of a “seal” or signet, (1) literal, a “seal” on a
book or roll, combining with the ideas of security and destination those of secrecy and
postponement of disclosures, Rev. 5:1, 2, 5, 9; 6:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12; 8:1; (2) metaphorical,
Rom. 4:11, said of “circumcision,” as an authentication of the righteousness of
Abraham’s faith, and an external attestation of the covenant made with him by God; the
rabbis called circumcision “the seal of Abraham”; in 1 Cor. 9:2, of converts as a “seal” or
authentication of Paul’s apostleship; in 2 Tim. 2:19, “the firm foundation of God
standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His,”
RV
, indicating
ownership, authentication, security and destination, “and, Let every one that nameth the
Name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness,” indicating a ratification on the part of
the believer of the determining counsel of God concerning him; Rev. 9:4 distinguishes
those who will be found without the “seal” of God on their foreheads [see (a) above and
B, No. 1].¶
B. Verbs.
1.
(
$ &
, 4972), “to seal” (akin to A), is used to indicate (a) security
and permanency (attempted but impossible), Matt. 27:66; on the contrary, of the doom of
Satan, fixed and certain, Rev. 20:3,
RV
, “sealed it over”; (b) in Rom. 15:28, “when … I
have … sealed to them this fruit,” the formal ratification of the ministry of the churches
of the Gentiles in Greece and Galatia to needy saints in Judea, by Paul’s faithful delivery
of the gifts to them; this material help was the fruit of his spiritual ministry to the
Gentiles, who on their part were bringing forth the fruit of their having shared with them
in spiritual things; the metaphor stresses the sacred formalities of the transaction
(Deissmann illustrates this from the papyri of Fayyum, in which the “sealing” of sacks
guarantees the full complement of the contents); (c) secrecy and security and the
postponement of disclosure, Rev. 10:4; in a negative command 22:10; (d) ownership and
security, together with destination, Rev. 7:3, 4, 5 (as with the noun in v. 2; see A); the
same three indications are conveyed in Eph. 1:13, in the metaphor of the “sealing” of
believers by the gift of the Holy Spirit, upon believing (i.e., at the time of their
regeneration, not after a lapse of time in their spiritual life, “having also believed”—not
as
KJV
, “after that ye believed”—;the aorist participle marks the definiteness and
completeness of the act of faith); the idea of destination is stressed by the phrase “the
Holy Spirit of promise” (see also v. 14); so 4:30, “ye were sealed unto the day of
redemption”; so in 2 Cor. 1:22, where the middle voice intimates the special interest of
the Sealer in His act; (e) authentication by the believer (by receiving the witness of the
Son) of the fact that “God is true,” John 3:33; authentication by God in sealing the Son as
the Giver of eternal life (with perhaps a figurative allusion to the impress of a mark upon
loaves), 6:27.¶
Note:
In Rev. 7, after the 5th verse (first part) the original does not repeat the mention
of the “sealing” except in v. 8 (last part) (hence the omission in the
RV
).
2.
(
$ &
, 2696), No. 1, strengthened by
, intensive, is
used of the “book” seen in the vision in Rev. 5:1,
RV
, “close sealed (with seven seals),”