Ver. 12. +That we should be to the praise.+--R.V. _"to the end that we should be."_ "_Causa finalis_ of the predestination to the Messianic lot" (_Meyer_). "We" in antithesis to "you" in ver. 13--We Jewish--you Gentile Christians.
Ver. 13. +In whom ye also, etc.+--The word "trusted," supplied by A.V., is dropped by R.V. It seems best to regard the words after "ye also" as one of the frequent breaks in the flow of the apostle's language, the second "ye" taking up the first. "In whom ye were sealed." "The order of conversion was: hearing, faith, baptism, reception of the Spirit" (_Meyer_). +Ye were sealed.+--"This sealing is the indubitable guarantee of the future Messianic salvation received in one's own consciousness" (_Meyer_).
Ver. 14. +Who is the earnest.+--The guarantee. The word represented by "earnest" was derived from the Phœnician merchants, and meant money which in purchases is given as a pledge that the full amount will be subsequently paid (_Grimm_). The word is found in the Hebrew of Gen. xxxviii. 17, 18, and means "pledge." F. W. Robertson makes a distinction between "pledge" and "earnest"--the grapes of Eshcol were an "earnest" of Canaan. He who receives the Holy Spirit partakes the powers of the age to come (Heb. vi. 4, 5). +Until the redemption.+--The final consummation of the redemption effected by the atonement of Christ. The "until" is faulty, the "earnest" being "something towards" the redemption. +Of the purchased possession.+--R.V. "of God's own possession." "The whole body of Christians, the true people of God acquired by God as His property by means of the redeeming work of Christ" (_Meyer_).
Vers. 15, 16.--St. Paul is always ready to give a prompt acknowledgment of all that is best in his readers and to pray for something better. +Cease not to give thanks.+--My thanksgiving knows no end.
Ver. 17. +That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.+--The connection or unity of the Father and the Son is the basis of the plea for those who are in the Son. Christ said, "I ascend unto My Father and your Father, to My God and your God" (John xx. 17). +The Father of glory.+--Compare the phrases, "the Father of mercies" (2 Cor. i. 3), "the Father of lights" (Jas. i. 17), "our Lord Jesus Christ, the glory" (Jas. ii. 1). +The spirit of wisdom and revelation.+--The wisdom which is from above is the heritage of all the redeemed in Christ (1 John iv. 20); but this day-spring, which gladdens the eyes of the heart, grows to mid-day splendour by successive apocalypses. +In the knowledge.+--The word means a complete knowledge. It is a word characteristic of the four epistles of the first Roman captivity.