The Ohio Independent Baptist, March 1968

Glin1pse s of Truth from the Greek New Testament By Dr. Geo . Lawlor ''EARNEST'' ln 11 r. 1· --· the po tle Paul 111ak.c r ~rerence t the fact that God hl1 .. ealed ll "'and gi n the car11e t of the pirit in our heart ." The ,, ord "earne t', i a reek arrabo11 , and i n f the n1 t intere ting and .. ignificant , rd in the ew T e ta- 111ent. de pite the fact that it i u ed nly three time - all by the Apo tle P aul. alway in the ame connection. T he other two u e are II Cor . 5.5 , \\rhere P aul again refer to the fact ~hat God has given to u " the earn~ est of the pirit:" and Eph . 1: 14, in wh ich pas age the Apo tle tates that believer h ave been ea1ed by the H oly pirit who is "the ear,iest of ou r inheritance un t il the redempt ion of the purch ased po se ion . . ." Wh ile the K ing J ames Ver io n re– tain the r ender ing ''earnest" in all three pas ages, the American Re– vi ed tandard Ve rsion tran l ates arrabon with the word ''guarantee," and the Weymou th New Te tament h as ''gi1arantee'' in the two II Cor– inth ians passages and ' 'pledge'' in Eph. 1 : 14. As a Down-Payment In classical G reek the word ar– rabon de ignated "cau tion-money." or "earnest-money ' deposited by an individual who made a purch ase . The purchaser gave this sum of money a a pledge th at the full amoun t would be ubsequently paid. It is im ilar to the old E ngli h ' 'earles– penny' ' and the German "k au fschill– ing, ' or "haftpfenning." When the purchase was made, the amount of the "caution""\money' ' was paid as the pledge, or guarantee, th at the rest would also be paid in due t ime. J n our present-day terminology it re– ferred to the time-payment pl an whereby the purchaser made his (her) down-payment on a pu rch ase as the initial deposit, and promised to remit the balance as it came due. Or of cour e, it might refer to the fir t payment on a note, the first installment whioh was the pledge th at the rest would be paid off in due time. If the purch ase was not carried out or if the note was not paid, the ' 'earnest-money' ' was forfeited. MARCH, 1968 PAGE 6 'he \\ <.'I ti a11 cars f r cqttcntly in tl1c J)n11, t I Ill lJll \lOCS d Cllt11Cnt , l~()ntract"· ag1 cc1 1cnt"· etc. Fo r e - ~t111r Ir. there i tl1c rec rd of a wo- 111nn \\ ho t1lcl a c w and received f ro111 tl1c pt1rcha e r an arrt, !>0 11 o f t)nc th t1t1 an i c.lrachn1ac ( a little over I00) a the down-payment . man r cciv d a recei pt for 160 d rachmae ( appro in1atc ly 20) wh ich was the re .. idue of the earn t-money ( arra– l1c)11) (200 d rachmae, or about $30 ) wh ich h e h ad to pay for a piece of la nd. A group of d ancing girl was engaged fo r a village f e t ival , and provi io n wa made for the girl t o be pa id o m any drachmae in ad– vance a an arrabon , with the agre,e– ment that the um p aid in advance wouId be tak en into account after the performance was over , when the f inal payment was n1ade to them. In a r ather humorous in tance, a man wro te to another : "Re garding Lam– pon the mousecatcher, I paid him far you as earne t-money - arrabon -:– eigh t drachmae ( about $1.20 ) in order that he may catch the mice while they are with young." The ad– vance payment w as made as a guar– antee of full payment, so that Lam– pon would get to work at catching the mice as Barclay r emarks, "whi le the going is good." It is also interesting to note that arrabon was used to describe an " engagement r ing." So in common Greek, con– temporary with the N ew Testament, the word arrabon is regularly used to d enote a p ar tial payment on some– thing which i an as ured guarantee th at full payment will follow in due ti me . I t i an installment p aid down in advance as a pledge or as the promi e, th at the whole sum - all th at r emains - w ill be forthcoming in due cou rs,e . Promises More to Come Thi i the word which P aul u e in the three N ew T estament p assages to describe the H oly Spirit. So from wh at i aid in these Scr iptures, we may under tand that the H oly Spirit is the personal divine guarantee that there is more to come: the H oly Spirit's presence in u s now is the pledge and promi e , and an advance foret aste of the li fe that is ahead of u s in glory. In two of the three passages ( II Cor . 1 :22 ; E ph. 1: 14) the arrabon of the H oly pirit is re– la ted to our being "sealed," so th at the presence of the H oly Spirit in u s is actually G od's own direct and per onal pledge th a t our position as beli evers in Chri t for salvation is ab olutely permanent and secure . The l lo ly . pirit has c rne OLtt from Go in,l o each tr11e be li eve r to lead us int all trLtth conce rning the on , and tc enable us to recogni7e the trut when we hear it a nd read it . He i( here wi thin lt 5 to i11t1min a te ot1r mind~ to the unde r tanding of the Hol ) cr iptL1re . The kno wl edge we no~ h ave o f God and Christ and Hie Wo rd i partial, and imperfect, an incomplete - because of our owr imperfe ction and limitations. But i i the fir t in .ta llment of that full blessed knowledge we will one da) pos e s. What the Holy Spirit teache< u now is the pledge and guarantet: that there i much more, that the da1 i coming when there will be a per· feet understanding of the will , way and wonders of the Lord. Yet thert is more: the Holy Spirit's presence in u i the arrabon that the be· liever will never be lost, but he wiP most certainly come to the day of meeting with the Lord and the realit) of eeing Him as He is and being like Him forever and ever. The HolJ Soirit is the absolute guarantee o1 G od ,that though now we see througr a glas darkly, we shall one day se€ face to face: and while it is true tha1 now we know only in part, some da1 we hall know even as ,we are knowc ( I Cor . 13 : 12) . Public Invited To Shepherds, Inc. Wo rkshop - R;)lly The Shepherds Ho,me and Schoo 1 • will be sponsoring an afternoor 1 Workshop and Eveninq R ally on be· half of mentally retarded children ir the Cleveland area April 20. Thi~ i to be held at the First Baptis.1 Church Twinsburg, Ohio. The pro· gram will begin at 2: 30 p.m. with a de,nonstration - workshop sessior for those interested in Sunday Schoo'• programming for the men,tally re· tarded. This will be followed by ar open rally that evening at 7: 30 p.m featuring boys and girls f rom Shep– herds H ome and School along witb several members of the taff. The workshop - rally is for a twc fold purpo e . . . one, to promote the mini try of Shepherds and two t<1 alert people of the Ohio area in way~ and means of reaching mentally re– tarded children for the Lord Jesu~ Chri t. It is hoped that there will be a o-ood attendance at these meetings 0 Plan on being tF1e1"e ! THE OHIO INDEPENDENT BAPTIST