Albert Barnes Commentary Ephesians 1:14

"which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of [God`s] own possession, unto the praise of his glory." — Ephesians 1:14 (ASV)

Which is the earnest of our inheritance. On the meaning of the word 'earnest,' see Barnes on 2 Corinthians 1:22.

Until the redemption. See Barnes on Romans 8:23.

The meaning here is, we have the Holy Spirit as the pledge that it shall be ours, and the Holy Spirit will be imparted to us until we enter on that inheritance.

Of the purchased possession: this refers to heaven, purchased for us by the death of the Redeemer.

The word here used—peripoiesis—occurs in the following places in the New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 5:9, rendered "to obtain salvation"; 2 Thessalonians 2:14, to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord; Hebrews 10:39, "to the saving of the soul"; 1 Peter 2:9, "a peculiar people"; literally, a people of acquirement to himself; and in the passage before us.

It properly means an acquisition, an obtaining, a laying up. Here it means the complete deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation acquired for us by Christ.

The influence of the Holy Spirit, renewing and sanctifying us, comforting us in trials, and sustaining us in afflictions, is the pledge that the redemption is yet to be wholly ours.

Unto the praise of his glory. See Ephesians 1:6.