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 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
(Ephesians 1:3-6)
This is a beautiful portion of Scripture recorded by the Apostle Paul, which was sent to the church at Ephesus. The main emphasis of this epistle is to show that the church is the earthly, spiritual Body of Christ. The book of Ephesians was written to Christians, but these Christians had not appropriated what was already theirs. This is the same for many Christians today who say they are hopeless and cannot conquer a certain issue in their lives.
The only way to build self worth is to realize your position in Christ. We’re so important to Him that He gave up His Son to die on our behalf. Not only that, but as verse 4 indicates, He did this before the foundation of the world.
In verse 3 the first word Paul says is, “blessed”. This comes from the Greek word eulogetos, from which we get the English word eulogy. This word means, “to speak well of someone”. In essence, Paul begins by saying God is good. In fact, God is good whether we perceive Him to be or not. Paul continues on by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. This part of the verse touches on the doctrine of the Trinity which people have a hard time explaining. God is our Father, but yet He is also Jesus’ Father, yet Jesus is 100 percent God, and 100 percent man at the same time.
I have had people try to explain this to me, but it really is something that no human can explain. However, difficult it is to explain, it is an essential doctrine that one must believe to be considered a Christian. Continuing on Paul says, “Who has blessed us”. Notice that Paul says this has happed, as he used blessed in the past tense. So for starters, the reason we bless God is because He has blessed us. How has he blessed us? He has justified us, He has sanctified us, and He will glorify us. In Ephesians 1:5 Paul says God has predestined us. Romans 8:30 says, “whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
From these passages we see salvation begins with justification and ends in glorification. Nowhere in this process are God’s plans thwarted. Glorification is the culmination of our salvation. Again, we notice in Romans 8 Paul's says, “whom He justified (past tense), these He also
Glorified”
(past tense). Our salvation is complete in God’s mind. A wise man once told me there has to come a point in my life where, if God never does anything else for me, the fact I am going to heaven is enough.
Paul continues on by saying that Christ has blessed us (Christians), with every spiritual blessing. Well, what is a spiritual blessing? The Greek word for spiritual is the word Pneumatikos. In the New Testament it refers to the work of the Holy Spirit. God has given us His Holy Spirit as our seal (V.13). The Holy Spirit is our pledge, which lets us know that we will go to heaven.
In light of all that we have seen from just this one verse, we see that to bless God is our reasonable response. He has blessed us by choosing us in Him before the foundation the world and He has shed His love in our hearts. This verse energizes us to bless God for all He has given us and reminds us not ask God for things He already has given us.
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Finite |
