Through regeneration in the resurrection of Christ we have become heirs to inherit the Triune God as our inheritance with the Holy Spirit as the pledge. The “Holy Spirit of the promise” is the “pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of the acquired possession” (Eph. 1:13b-14). God is our inheritance. We shall inherit all that God is and has. For such an inheritance the Holy Spirit is the pledge, the guarantee. The Greek word for “pledge” in verse 14 also means foretaste, guarantee, a partial payment in advance. God gives His Holy Spirit to us not only as a guarantee of our inheritance, securing our heritage, but also as a foretaste of what we shall inherit of God.
In ancient times the Greek word for pledge was used in the purchase of land. The seller gave the buyer a sample of the soil from the land being purchased. Hence, according to ancient Greek usage, a pledge was also a sample. As a pledge, the Holy Spirit is the sample of what we shall inherit of the Triune God.
We need to be impressed with the fact that our inheritance is the Triune God Himself, not a heavenly mansion in a city of golden streets and pearly gates. The pledge of our inheritance is the Holy Spirit. But God would not give the Spirit to us as a pledge for a heavenly mansion, for in such a case the pledge would not match the inheritance. A material mansion would not need the divine person of the Spirit as a pledge, sample, foretaste, and guarantee. Since the pledge of our inheritance is a divine person, the inheritance must also be a divine person-the Triune God Himself. The Triune God is the inheritance God intends to give to us, and the Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God reaching us is the pledge of this inheritance. As the pledge of our inheritance, the Spirit guarantees that the Triune God will be our portion for our enjoyment. This is the Triune God as our inheritance.
Furthermore, Ephesians 1:14 says that the Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance unto the redemption of the acquired possession. We, God’s redeemed ones, the church, are God’s possession acquired by His purchase with the precious blood of Christ (Acts 20:28). In God’s economy God becomes our inheritance, and we become God’s possession. As God’s possession, we still need the redemption of our body, for our body is still in the old creation. One day we, God’s possession, will be redeemed in our body. The Triune God has put His Spirit into us as a pledge of Himself as our inheritance unto, or with a view to, the day when, as God’s acquired possession, we shall be redeemed into His glory for Him to enjoy us. On the one hand, the Triune God is our inheritance; on the other hand, we are His possession. The crucial matter in Ephesians 1:14 is that the Spirit is pledged into us as a guarantee that God will be our inheritance in full. Eventually, we shall be redeemed to be God’s possession in glory. Then, in the glory, we shall enjoy God as our inheritance, and He will enjoy us as His possession.
Our inheritance is not anything material. The divine Trinity is our inheritance, and His consummated Spirit has been imparted into our being as a pledge. Now this pledge is working within us to redeem God’s possession until the day we enjoy Him as our portion and He enjoys us as His possession.
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