Earnest (728) arrabon by Greek Word Studies

Pledge (728) (arrabon) is the payment of part of a purchase price in advance. Literally was a legal and commercial technical term, representing an advance transaction that guarantees the validity of a contract or a full purchase price. The corresponding modern term is "earnest money", "down payment", installment or deposit that guarantees full amount will be paid. Marvin Vincent refers to arrabon as "caution-money, deposited by a purchaser in pledge of full payment." NET Bible notes... The Greek word arrabon denotes the first payment or first installment of money or goods which serves as a guarantee or pledge for the completion of the transaction. In the NT the term is used only figuratively of the Holy Spirit as the down payment of the blessings promised by God.... In the "already - not yet" scheme of the NT the possession of the Spirit now by believers ("already") can be viewed as a guarantee that God will give them the balance of the promised blessings in the future ("not yet"). THE BELIEVER'S "DIVINE ENGAGEMENT RING" One form of arrabon was used for an engagement ring! God's bestowal of His Spirit is the church's irrevocable pledge, her "divine engagement ring" giving her firm assurance that she is immutably betrothed to Christ's. In the NT arrabon is used only in a figurative sense and is used to describe the Holy Spirit Who the Father has given to believers in this present life to assure them of their future and eternal inheritance Cole writes that... God gives us the Holy Spirit as the down payment or earnest of the full blessing of our future redemption. In one sense, we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7-note). But, in another sense, our redemption is not complete until we get to heaven. Right now we can begin to enjoy the inheritance that is ours in Christ. But it’s just a foretaste of future glory. We don’t get the complete inheritance until we go to heaven. (Ref) Arrabon - 3x in the NT 2Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14 - these are all the NT uses of arrabon. Now He Who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, Who also sealed (sphragizo) us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge (earnest money - see pledge). (2Cor 1:21-22) Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. (2Cor 5:5) Arrabon - 3 uses in the Septuagint (LXX) - Gen 38:17-18, 20 Genesis 38:17 He said, therefore, "I will send you a kid from the flock." She said, moreover, "Will you give a pledge until you send it?" 18 And he said, "What pledge shall I give you?" And she said, "Your seal and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and departed, and removed her veil and put on her widow's garments. 20 When Judah sent the kid by his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. The Analytical Lexicon notes that arrabon is... transliterated from the Hebrew; literally, as a legal and commercial technical term, an advance transaction that guarantees the validity of a contract or a full purchase price. down payment, first installment, pledge (Friberg, T., Friberg, B., & Miller, N. F. Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. Baker's Greek New Testament library. Baker Academic) NIDNTT writes that in classical Greek and the Septuagint (LXX)... The Gk. word arrabon (borrowed from the Semitic, cf. Heb. 'erabôn) is a legal concept from the language of business and trade. It is found only rarely (Isaeus, Aristotle and later grammarians such as Suidas) and means: (1) an installment, with which a man secures a legal claim upon a thing as yet unpaid for; (2) an earnest, an advance payment, by which a contract becomes valid in law; (3) in one passage (Gen. 38:17ff.) a pledge. In each case it is a matter of payment by which the person concerned undertakes to give further payment to the recipient. (Brown, Colin, Editor. New International Dictionary of NT Theology. 1986. Zondervan or Computer version) Barclay says arrabon was well known in the ancient Greek business world noting that.... It was a part of the purchase price of anything, paid in advance as a guarantee that the rest would in due time be paid. There are many Greek commercial documents still extant in which the word occurs....It is a common word in Greek legal documents. A woman selling a cow receives 1,000 drachmae as arrabon that the rest of the purchase price will be paid. Some dancing girls being engaged for a village festival receive so much as arrabon, which will be included in the final payment, but which is a present guarantee that the contract will be honored and the full money paid. A certain man writes to his master that he has paid Lampon, the mouse-catcher, an arrabon of 8 drachmae so that he will start work and catch the mice while they are still with young. Arrabon was the first installment and the guarantee that the rest would be paid. Everyone knew this word. It is the same idea as is in the Scots word arles which was a token payment made when a man was employed or a house bought, and a guarantee that the full contract would be honored. What Paul is saying in Ephesians 1:14 is that the experience of the Holy Spirit which we have in this world is a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven; and it is the guarantee that some day we will enter into full possession of the blessedness of God. (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press)

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Earnest (728) arrabon

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