Meaning
Earnest (Noun) <1,,728, arrabon>
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, 2Co 1:22, 2Co 5:5; in Eph 1:14, particularly of their eternal inheritance. In the Sept., Gen 1:38-18, Gen 38:20. In modern Greek arrabona is an "engagement ring."
