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3. ἄχρι σφραγίσωμεν. The object of the sealing is twofold: (1) to mark them as God’s own, beyond the risk of loss; we may almost certainly infer, from this chapter compared with Rev 14:1, that the inscription of the seal is the Name of God and of the Lamb; and (2) to mark them as to be saved from the judgements that the other angels are to execute upon the world. Hence we are to compare this sealing, on the one hand with the mark (a less careful and indelible one than here—a cross marked with ink, not a name stamped with a seal) set on the protesting remnant in Eze 9:4; Eze 9:6 (R. V[280]): on the other hand, with 2Ti 2:19; Eph 1:13; Eph 4:30. It is scarcely likely indeed that St John refers consciously to these passages in St Paul, but it is likely that the image of the seal was the common property of the Apostolic Church; ἡ σφραγὶς was certainly an early name for Baptism, e.g. Hermas Sim. ix. 16 ἡ σφραγὶς οὖν τὸ ὕδωρ ἐστίν, and passim; later it was applied especially to that part of the rite, which, when detached from Baptism, was known in the West as Confirmation.
[280] Revised Version.