13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Here the “ye” refers to the Ephesians, hence the “we who first trusted” in verse twelve refers to Paul and others.
The divine order for salvation is established here: hear the word (specifically “the gospel of your salvation” which must be dispensational as there are several messages referred to as a “gospel” in the New Testament – see Romans 12:10, Romans 16:25, and I Corinthians 15:1-4 for a clear understanding of what is entailed in the gospel of our salvation which we must hear), then trust (believe) what you hear (see John 1:12), then be sealed with the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30 and II Corinthians 1:22). The sentence structure here implies a domino effect with the commas, prepositions, and colon – the ideas are not only related, but also interdependent. This also provides the assurance that sealing of the Holy Spirit is “the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption” of that which Christ bought with His blood. We are the purchased possession; we belong to Him. The inheritance had been previously mentioned in verse eleven. So then the sealing of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of the predestined inheritance. According to Romans 8:23, that inheritance includes the redemption of our bodies at a future time. As we saw in verse twelve, this idea concludes with the focus on the Lord, and it is all “unto the praise of his glory.”
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