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TL;DR:
Paul describes the Holy Spirit as God's down payment guaranteeing our inheritance. This article explores that image from a Wesleyan holiness perspective: the Spirit's infilling calls believers to holy living and offers a foretaste of Heaven through freedom from sin's domination, victory, and perfect love. Entire sanctification brings present spiritual fullness while believers still await glorification.
The infilling of the Spirit is a down payment on Heaven.
I had never thought of it in exactly that way before reading Ephesians 1:13-14 in the Italian Bible.
In the classic King James Version, that passage speaks of the Holy Spirit as the "earnest" of what is to come. That never made much impression on me. I was familiar with "earnest" as an adjective, as in the sentence "He was earnest in his efforts." However, "earnest" as a noun was not something I had often heard, and I don't think I had ever used it as a noun. To be sure, the NIV speaks of "deposit," but that wasn't very vivid for me either. So I didn't pay much attention to that passage, or to 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 5:5, where the same wording occurs.
Barbara and I spent ten years as missionaries in Italy. So, we have a certain degree of fluency in Italian. One day, I was reading Ephesians 1 in my Italian Bible. Suddenly, verses 13-14 came alive. There was "pegno," a familiar Italian word meaning a pledge or guarantee. In this passage, it helped me understand the Holy Spirit as God's down payment on what is to come. The Greek word in Ephesians 1:14, arrabon, refers to a down payment or first installment that guarantees completion of the payment.
Though used only three times in the New Testament (once in Ephesians and twice in 2 Corinthians), this word offers us a meaningful viewpoint on the Spirit-filled life.
Ephesians 1:13 connects receiving the promised Holy Spirit with believing. From a Wesleyan holiness perspective, the image of a down payment also helps us reflect on the infilling of the Spirit in entire sanctification. A down payment is received at an identifiable time; similarly, this tradition understands entire sanctification as an instantaneous "crisis" experience. The analogy illustrates that understanding, though it does not by itself establish a subsequent work of grace.
An understanding of this down payment or deposit idea helps explain what is meant by the statement "without holiness no one will see the Lord" in Hebrews 12:14. Clearly, we cannot expect to receive full payment -- "seeing the Lord" -- if we reject the Holy Spirit's offered down payment.
To understand this concept better, let's look at how the word was used outside the New Testament. Some ancient papyrus documents from New Testament times record an advance payment to a troupe of dancing girls who performed with castanets for their appearance at a village festival. The advance payment serves as a guarantee that they will be paid in full after they perform at the festival. In another instance, a mouse catcher is being paid a deposit to get him to start the job immediately.
In each of these cases, the down payment binds both the giver and the receiver. By paying the deposit, the giver guarantees full payment, while the receiver, by his acceptance, guarantees a certain course of action. The infilling of the Holy Spirit is God's down payment on Heaven. Our acceptance of that down payment indicates our willingness to live out God's will for us as perfectly as we can.
In what sense is the infilling of the Spirit, or the experience called entire sanctification, an advance payment of Heaven? Well, when people go to make a down payment, they do not take enough cash to pay the full purchase price and then tear off small parts of each bill to give to the seller, leaving the seller with an unspendable "promise" or "pledge." A down payment is genuine, usable money. It is a complete payment in itself, though only part of the total purchase price.
Sanctification means freedom from enslaving domination by the carnal nature. Isn't that a taste of Heaven? Sanctification means victory. Isn't that a taste of Heaven? Sanctification means perfect love. Isn't that a taste of Heaven?
What does "perfect love" mean?
So, while it can be called "full salvation," it is not glorification. In translating the phrase in Ephesians, Weymouth used "foretaste" in addition to "pledge." H. Orton Wiley, in writing of this down-payment concept, spoke of the "sample" of Heaven that God gives us now.
The kingdom of God is an important theme in Christian thought. Understood in kingdom terminology, this down payment would illustrate the paradox of the kingdom, which has already come (i.e., as a down payment) but which is yet to come (i.e., incomplete payment).
After having saved us from our sinful past, the Eternal God now offers us a down payment on the future. In Wesleyan holiness teaching, this experience is described as entire sanctification and associated with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Here, Paul refers to it as the first installment that guarantees full payment of all God has promised us.
Why hesitate? Why not accept this down payment, agreeing joyfully to fulfill the conditions He has laid down so we can receive full payment one day?
This article was written and published in what is now called Holiness Today while Barbara and I were missionaries in Italy.
The "deposit" or "guarantee" mentioned in 2 Corinthians and Ephesians refers to the Holy Spirit who is given to believers. The Spirit's presence is like a pledge or down payment. It guarantees or makes certain the fulfillment of God's promises that culminate in the ultimate redemption of believers. In both Ephesians and 2 Corinthians, the idea is that the Holy Spirit's presence is a foretaste and assurance of the blessings and inheritance we will receive in God's kingdom. The Holy Spirit's sanctifying presence daily testifies to God's faithfulness to His people.
Jesus gave His followers some daunting instructions. They included statements like:
In commissioning His followers, Jesus said, "Whoever does not take up their cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:38).
Discipleship does have a high cost. In 1945, a German pastor and theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer was put to death by the Nazis. In a 1937 book titled The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer wrote, "When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." (More on Bonhoeffer and The Cost of Discipleship)
To be sure, during the short years of Jesus' earthly ministry, He did more than give commands. He also made some promises. Big promises. And those promises speak not only of life in Heaven someday but also of life here and now.
Jesus talked of giving abundant life. Referring primarily to the work He would leave His followers to do, Jesus said, "You may ask Me for anything in My name, and I will do it" (John 14:14). His last words spoken just before His ascension to heaven were words of promise: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you" (Acts 1:8).
Perhaps as this year has been coming to a close, we have looked back over some crumpled shells of hopes and dreams we held for the past twelve months. It may be that we didn't experience or use all the resources Christ promised us.
In looking ahead to this new year, we should accept the assurance of God's inexhaustible power and welcome the strength He makes available to us. Christ offers everything we need to obey His commands and to live holy, Spirit-filled, world-changing lives. That kind of life must be lived by the power of His Spirit -- or it cannot be lived at all.
Christ promises to fill all who are a part of His Church with His presence and power. However, too often, we have failed to make ourselves available to Him. Sadly, instead of becoming mountain movers and instruments of God at work, we have been content to kick pebbles into the gutter.
Paul points to two very different lifestyles with his dual charge, "Do not get drunk on wine ... Instead, be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). One question that comes to mind from that passage is: What will control you: alcohol or the Holy Spirit?
Materialism would say, "Gorge yourself on the things of this world. Grab all you can." In contrast to that, God's challenge is clear: to live the great adventure for which we were created.
And that should be Project Number One this coming year for all Christians -- allowing the power of the living Lord to control us and to work through us for His glory.
If, during the next twelve months, we live with the Spirit as a dimly realized fact -- our souls bleached and anemic -- it is because we are content to live this way. The beginning of a new year is a good time to yield fully and unrestrainedly to the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
-- Howard Culbertson, hculbert@snu.edu
This article was written and published in what is now called Holiness Today while Barbara and I were missionaries in Italy.