A Pilates EVERLAST exercise ballThis is an exercise ball. They sell for about $10.00 at Meijer. I told you that I joined an exercise class that meets at Calvary Church Wednesday mornings, and that my good friend from Germany, Angela, is one of the instructors. Well, I attended my first exercise class yesterday morning! These exercise balls were used to help give us a “total body” workout.
When I told Angela after class on Sunday morning that I intended to come and visit her exercise class, she was so pleased! Her husband, Nigel, informed me that I would “probably ache” the next day. Oh my! He wasn’t kidding! And it wasn’t the NEXT day either! The “aching” started about 15 minutes after our 90-minute workout! By the time I got home, I was GROANING with each movement I made. I’m not kidding! Even my toe joints hurt! We had stretched every muscle and joint in our bodies, and had worked up a significant sweat! I’ll be honest here. I HATE to exercise. I HATE to sweat! We were especially targeting our gluteus minimus, medius, and maximus yesterday (and believe me! – mine is a maximus!).
But all of that is connected, believe it or not, to a word-study I have been working on from Scripture. The word is deposit. I was provoked with this word Sunday evening as Pastor Jim was teaching us about the use of comparative language in Scripture. He’s doing a four-week series on how to study the Bible. We were briefly looking at this passage:
EPHESIANS 1:11-14
[11] In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. [13] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.
The American Heritage Dictionary definition of the noun deposit:
1. Something entrusted for safekeeping, as money in a bank
2. The condition of being deposited: funds on deposit with a broker
3. A partial or initial payment of a cost or debt
4. Something deposited, esp. by natural process: rich deposits of natural gas
“A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance …” I agree that definition #3 is closest to the context used in Ephesians. The Holy Spirit is a down-payment that guarantees the future inheritance of those WHO ARE GOD’S POSSESSION!
When I told Angela after class on Sunday morning that I intended to come and visit her exercise class, she was so pleased! Her husband, Nigel, informed me that I would “probably ache” the next day. Oh my! He wasn’t kidding! And it wasn’t the NEXT day either! The “aching” started about 15 minutes after our 90-minute workout! By the time I got home, I was GROANING with each movement I made. I’m not kidding! Even my toe joints hurt! We had stretched every muscle and joint in our bodies, and had worked up a significant sweat! I’ll be honest here. I HATE to exercise. I HATE to sweat! We were especially targeting our gluteus minimus, medius, and maximus yesterday (and believe me! – mine is a maximus!).
But all of that is connected, believe it or not, to a word-study I have been working on from Scripture. The word is deposit. I was provoked with this word Sunday evening as Pastor Jim was teaching us about the use of comparative language in Scripture. He’s doing a four-week series on how to study the Bible. We were briefly looking at this passage:
EPHESIANS 1:11-14
[11] In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, [12] in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. [13] And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.
The American Heritage Dictionary definition of the noun deposit:
1. Something entrusted for safekeeping, as money in a bank
2. The condition of being deposited: funds on deposit with a broker
3. A partial or initial payment of a cost or debt
4. Something deposited, esp. by natural process: rich deposits of natural gas
“A deposit guaranteeing our inheritance …” I agree that definition #3 is closest to the context used in Ephesians. The Holy Spirit is a down-payment that guarantees the future inheritance of those WHO ARE GOD’S POSSESSION!
Isn’t that cool? But there is more! In order to do a word-study on “deposit”, with my limited language skills and available reference and resource materials at home, I had to go back to how the King James Version translates this word.
The KJV translates it like this: “Which is the earnest of our inheritance …”
When I then go to my concordance (Young’s) which corresponds with the KJV and look up the word earnest I can find the original Greek word, arrabon, – which is defined, “surety or pledge.”
This particular Greek word is used only three times in the New Testament. The one in Ephesians, and then twice in 2 Corinthians. Here it is in 1:22 “the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts …” as well as 2 Corinthians 5:5 “given to us the earnest of the Spirit …”
So how can I find out more about this Greek word, arrabon? Well, I have an expository dictionary of NT words (Vine), and so I looked up the word earnest and found the one that is from the Greek word arrabon. And this is how that Greek word is defined:
“Originally, earnest-money deposited by the purchaser and forfeited if the purchase was not completed, was probably a Phoenician word, introduced into Greece.
The KJV translates it like this: “Which is the earnest of our inheritance …”
When I then go to my concordance (Young’s) which corresponds with the KJV and look up the word earnest I can find the original Greek word, arrabon, – which is defined, “surety or pledge.”
This particular Greek word is used only three times in the New Testament. The one in Ephesians, and then twice in 2 Corinthians. Here it is in 1:22 “the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts …” as well as 2 Corinthians 5:5 “given to us the earnest of the Spirit …”
So how can I find out more about this Greek word, arrabon? Well, I have an expository dictionary of NT words (Vine), and so I looked up the word earnest and found the one that is from the Greek word arrabon. And this is how that Greek word is defined:
“Originally, earnest-money deposited by the purchaser and forfeited if the purchase was not completed, was probably a Phoenician word, introduced into Greece.
In general usage it came to denote a pledge or earnest of any sort; in the NT it is used only of that which is assured by God to believers; it is said of the Holy Spirit as the Divine pledge of all their future blessedness, particularly of their eternal inheritance.
In the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] the word is used in Gen. 38:17,18, 20 [the pledge demanded from Judah by Tamar].
In modern Greek arrabona is an engagement ring.”
In the Septuagint [the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible] the word is used in Gen. 38:17,18, 20 [the pledge demanded from Judah by Tamar].
In modern Greek arrabona is an engagement ring.”
This word “earnest” can also mean “down payment.” And the dictionary definition of down payment: “A partial payment made at the time of purchase.” In other words … THERE IS MORE TO COME! More what?
If I look at the two other NT passages that contain this Greek word they read as follows [and I am using the New Living Translation]: 2 Corinthians 1:22: “… and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment of everything he will give us.” The translators have used “first installment” for the Greek word arrabon.
If I look at the two other NT passages that contain this Greek word they read as follows [and I am using the New Living Translation]: 2 Corinthians 1:22: “… and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment of everything he will give us.” The translators have used “first installment” for the Greek word arrabon.
And then when you look at the context of the passage in chapter 5, it is the discussion of our earthly bodies and our new heavenly bodies. Listen to the two verses that precede verse five: “For we will not be spirits without bodies, but we will put on new heavenly bodies. Our dying bodies make us groan and sigh [especially after a 90-minute workout!], but it’s not that we want to die and have no bodies at all! We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by everlasting life.”
And then verse five: “God himself has prepared us for this, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.”
This word guarantee is the Greek word arrabona. Ah – a new body! Great! I’d gladly trade mine in for that new body today! But there’s more!
When I came to faith in Christ, God gave to me an “engagement ring,” a “pledge,” "a first installment" of the Holy Spirit in my heart – I belong to God. I am promised to Him and He to me! I remember being engaged … all of the anticipation of sharing my life with the one I love … the wedding plans … not having to say good-bye at the end of the night …
AND – you know those times when God has spoken to you? Those quiet moments when you have heard His voice … His Spirit directing you in a conversation, or His prodding you to NOT participate in sin – those times when you heard from God and you realized it? And you were amazed that God and you had “connected”? That’s just a tiny foretaste of our future! We are going to see Him face to face! The Holy Spirit is our down-payment of that truth!
So I get excited when I read in I Corinthians 13:12: “Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.”
And I John 3:2 and 3: “Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.”
So I get excited when I read in I Corinthians 13:12: “Now we see things imperfectly as in a poor mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me now.”
And I John 3:2 and 3: “Yes, dear friends, we are already God’s children, and we can’t even imagine what we will be like when Christ returns. But we do know that when he comes we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who believe this will keep themselves pure, just as Christ is pure.”
I have always loved words and their meanings – hence, I was a medical transcriptionist for almost 19 years – this Greek word arrabon is very rich, isn’t it? I’m going to think more about it and all of the implications of that word for my future as a believer.
Right now, I’m groaning with a very sore body – perhaps I can use all of these aches and pains to remind me, prod me, to think about my future inheritance – a NEW body, a NEW heart, a NEW mind – a NEW heaven and a NEW earth -- the face of Jesus to see ... awesome! And I think I will drive over to Meijers to purchase one of these aerobic exercise balls!
Right now, I’m groaning with a very sore body – perhaps I can use all of these aches and pains to remind me, prod me, to think about my future inheritance – a NEW body, a NEW heart, a NEW mind – a NEW heaven and a NEW earth -- the face of Jesus to see ... awesome! And I think I will drive over to Meijers to purchase one of these aerobic exercise balls!
1 comment:
I like the after-exercise ache, because I always feel as though I've accomplished something. I don't feel I've been truly productive, exercise-wise, unless there has been some pain.
It's so much easier to exercise with an accountability partner...the whole "two are better than one," I guess. Jeremiah used to drag me to TaeKwon-Do, but I almost always enjoyed it. It's often just getting to the exercising that's the roughest bit for me.
Pain is an inevitable part of a fallen world, but thanks to the God who redeems, pain is so often the precursor to good things, too.
And SOMEDAY, as you remind us here, we will reach the place and the person that's more than worth whatever pain we have here!
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