What Does 2 Corinthians 1:22 Mean in the King James?

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

2 Corinthians 1:22 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The pledge of what is coming is already placed within you: the breath in your heart is its first share.

THE MEANING

God’s seal marks you as his own, and the breath given within your heart is the pledge of what is still coming. The promised life is not entirely distant; its first share is present in you now.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that the promised life is wholly absent until some later day. This verse places its pledge within you now.

THE ROOT

ἀρραβῶνα

arrabōna

GROWS FROM

ἀρραβων-

A pledge or first installment placed down as assurance.

“earnest” in this verse is arrabōna. The Greek word names a first share that is given now as a pledge of what is still to come. The promise is not only future: something of it is already present within the heart.

ALSO GROWS

arrabōn: Pledge, earnest, or first installment.

ἀρραβών

This noun is the form behind “earnest,” naming the present pledge itself.

arrabōnizomai: To give or put down a pledge.

ἀρραβωνίζομαι

This verb shows the act of placing the pledge; here, the pledge is given within the heart.

σφραγισάμενος

sphragisamenos

GROWS FROM

σφραγ-

A seal or impression that marks and authenticates.

The word for being sealed belongs to the same family as the seal itself and the act of sealing. The mark is not an added explanation from outside the verse; it is the image the Greek word carries into the reader’s sense of belonging and assurance.

ALSO GROWS

sphragis: A seal or signet.

σφραγίς

The noun names the mark that stands behind the act of sealing.

sphragizō: To seal or mark with a seal.

σφραγίζω

This verb makes the shared image explicit: the reader is marked by the seal.

πνεύματος

pneumatos

GROWS FROM

πνευ-

Breath or blowing.

The Greek word rendered “Spirit” belongs to a word family for breath and blowing. The pledge is described as breath given within the heart, holding the inward presence and the body’s breathing in one word.

ALSO GROWS

pneō: To breathe or blow.

πνέω

This verb shares the breath-and-blowing family and makes the word’s bodily sense audible.

pneumatikos: Pertaining to breath or spirit.

πνευματικός

This related form keeps the same root family visible, linking what is inwardly present with breath.

THE PATTERN

The promised future becomes perceptible now through a present sign or first share.

I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Genesis 9:13 · KJVThe bow is a present sign that makes the covenant promise visible within the world now.

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:5 · KJVThe same pledge of the Spirit appears as assurance given before the promised completion.

Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:14 · KJVThe earnest is named as a present share that points toward the inheritance still to come.

THE THREAD

Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:5 · KJV

The same Greek word, ⁨ἀρραβών⁩ (arrabōn), appears again for the “earnest” given by God. Its repetition makes the pledge a shared image: what is promised ahead already has a present share within you.

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