the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Seal (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or (σφραγίς, vb. σφραγίζω)
A seal is (1) the graven implement with which an impression is made on wax, clay, or other soft substance; and (2) the impression itself. The use of seals can be traced back almost to the dawn of civilization. The scarab seal was peculiar to Egypt and the cylinder to Babylonia. Having a distinctive character, requiring to be always at hand for use, and being a highly-prized and carefully-guarded possession, the seal naturally became a means of personal adornment. Seal and staff were the insignia of a man of rank among the Israelites as among the Babylonians (Herodotus, i. 195). A cord was passed through the seal, which was worn either as a necklace or as a bracelet (Genesis 38:18, Ca 8:6, Jeremiah 22:24). In later times the signet-ring came into use among the Jews. The ring displayed by the rich worshipper (χρυσοδακτύλιος) in the early Christian assembly (James 2:2) was probably of this description. Signet-rings were largely in use among the Greeks and Romans, and many of these have been preserved.
The seal was used at all times for the purpose of safeguarding valuable possessions: wine jars were stopped and sealed, letters written and sealed, rolls folded and sealed, doors closed and sealed. Horace associates locks and seals-claves et sigilla (Ep. I. xx. 3). Property, security, secrecy, finality are the ideas suggested by the act of solemnly attaching one’s seal to anything.
The figurative uses of the term are numerous. (a) Circumcision is regarded by St. Paul as the seal of a righteousness which existed before the rite was instituted (Romans 4:11). The same figure of speech was frequently used, though somewhat differently interpreted, by the Rabbis. ‘Ye shall not eat of the passover unless the seal of Abraham be in your flesh’ (Shemoth Rabba, 19). Many parallels are given by J. J. Wetstein, Novum Testamentum Graecum, 1752, ad loc. (b) Vindicating his apostleship, St. Paul points to his converts as the seal which Christ Himself has affixed to his work (1 Corinthians 9:2). Can his opponents dispute a claim so clearly and authoritatively attested? (c) Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13). They gave themselves to Christ at their conversion, and the Spirit marked them as Christ’s peculium, consecrated to His service and destined for His eternal Kingdom. Sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30), they receive in time an earnest of what they are to be in eternity (2 Corinthians 1:22). On all such believers, who are God’s firm foundation, there is impressed the seal, ‘The Lord knoweth them that are his’ (2 Timothy 2:19). It is often said that the Scriptural seal with which Christians are sealed is baptism, a natural enough interpretation, seeing that baptism early took the place of circumcision, which was expressly called a seal. J. H. Bernard (Expositor’s Greek Testament , ‘2 Corinthians,’ 1903) argues that the aorists in 2 Corinthians 1:22 (σφραγισάμενος, δούς) ‘point to acts completed at a definite moment in the past; and this can only mean the moment of baptism.’ But why not the hour of conscious regeneration or personal consecration? Lightfoot, Hatch, and Harnack question whether any apostle ever transferred the metaphor of the seal to baptism (see Sanday-Headlam, International Critical Commentary , ‘Romans’5, 1902, p. 107) (d) When St. Paul speaks of sealing the contribution (κοινωνία) of the Gentiles (Romans 15:26; Romans 15:28) to the poor saints at Jerusalem, he means, not that he needs, as a good steward, literally to seal and secure the collection which has been made for them, but that he figuratively sets his seal (cf. John 3:33) to the offering of material things which is the ‘fruit’ of their spiritual gifts to the Gentile world. He uses language of great dignity and solemnity, for he knows that money, which is sometimes mere filthy lucre (Titus 1:11), comes to have almost a sacramental value when it is the outward and visible sign or seal of an inward and spiritual love. (e) The apocalyptic roll of destiny, containing the Divine counsel regarding the order of events which is to usher in the end, is sealed with seven seals. No angel is able to open them, but they are opened one after the other by Christ (Revelation 5, 6). Roman wills required to be attested with seven seals, and T. Zahn (Introduction to the NT, 3 vols., 1909, iii. 394, following E. Huschke, Das Buch, mit sieben Siegeln, 1860; cf. E. Hicks, Traces of Greek Philosophy and Roman Law in the NT, 1896, pp. 157, 158) holds that the roll (βιβλίον) is here a testamentum. As he confesses, omne simile claudicat; but this one would halt too badly, since God the Testator cannot die, and the βιβλίον is a book of doom rather than a will bequeathing a heritage. And the Roman parallel is unnecessary, for the use of seals was as familiar to the Jews as to the Romans, and seven was the Jewish sacred number. (f) According to the writer of the Revelation, the servants of God are sealed on their foreheads with the seal of the living God; 12,000 of every tribe of Israel are sealed. Those who have not the seal are exposed to great danger (Revelation 7:3-8; Revelation 9:4). (g) Satan is to be cast into the abyss, which will be shut and sealed upon him (Revelation 20:3). (h) The roll of the apocalypse is not to be sealed (Revelation 22:10), because its contents-unlike those of Daniel (Daniel 12:4; Daniel 12:9)-are not intended for a distant age, but are for use at the present juncture and in the immediate future.
Literature.-Article ‘Gem’ in Encyclopaedia Britannica 11; article ‘Seal, Sealing,’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ; C. W. King, Antique Gems and Rings, 2 vols., 1872.
James Strahan.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Seal (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/seal-2.html. 1906-1918.
