Ephesians 1:14 - Pledge of our inheritance?
Does Ephesians 1:14 have conditions?
Ephesians 1:13: "in Whom also we — having-heard the word (of) truth, the good-news (of) your salvation, in Whom also having-believed — you-were-sealed (in) the Holy Spirit (of) promise,"
Ephesians 1:14: "Which is (the) PLEDGE (of) our INHERITANCE for (the) [final] redemption (of His) possession for (the) praise (of) His glory."
Conditions:
The "PLEDGE" can be the Holy Spirit, as it is written: "the Holy Spirit (of) promise, which is (the) PLEDGE" (Ephesians 1:13-14), "the PLEDGE (of) the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 1:22), "God, the (One) having-given us (His) PLEDGE: the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 5:5).
What is a PLEDGE?
The only other example in the entire Bible using the Greek word for "PLEDGE" can be found in Genesis 38. It is written that "Judah" (Genesis 38:15) went to "Tamar" (Genesis 38:13) to have an intimate intercourse with her. He wanted to give her a payment for this, saying: "I will send you a young goat" (Genesis 38:17). Because the payment could not yet be sent, Tamar said: "give [me] a PLEDGE, until you send [it]" (Genesis 38:17). Judah gave her a PLEDGE, which was his ring, his necklace and the staff in his hand. They then had intimate intercourse. Later, Judah sent the payment to receive back his PLEDGE: "Then Judah sent the young goat of the goats by [the] hand of his shepherd the Odollamite, to receive the PLEDGE from the woman" (Genesis 38:20).
As we learn from this story, the "PLEDGE" was a guarantee that the payment would be sent later, under the condition also that Tamar would have an intimate intercourse with Judah after receiving the "PLEDGE".
In a similar way, God gave us "(His) PLEDGE: the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 5:5) so as to have a guarantee of our INHERITANCE, as the Holy Spirit is "(the) PLEDGE (of) our INHERITANCE" (Ephesians 1:14), under the condition also of loving God for example after receiving the "PLEDGE", as it is written about the "inheritors (of) the kingdom which He-promised (to) the (ones) loving Him" (James 2:5).
It would also be possible for someone to fall from meeting the condition of loving God after first meeting this condition, as for example to the same "church in Ephesus" (Revelation 2:1) it was written: "I-have against you that you-left your first love" (Revelation 2:4).
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