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This past weekend family and friends celebrated my niece’s upcoming wedding with a bridal shower. She was blessed by sweet treats, bountiful gifts, love, and fellowship. I’m sure she will, as I do, treasure these memories and blessings for years to come. The gifts she received will bless her again and again each time she uses them. But the blessings showered on my niece are temporary. Over time, the memories will fade, and the gifts will wear out.
Last week, we looked at Paul’s opening greetings in his letter to the Ephesians (or churches in Asia Minor). This week, as we transition to the body of Paul’s letter, Paul opens with blessings that will never fade or wear out.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. [1]
Ephesians 1:3-14
Originally, I was going to cover verses 3-6 today, but verse 3 contained so many rich truths that provide a summary for the above section (vs 3-14) that I decided to focus on this one verse.
Before we examine verse 3, let’s consider some good overview points to keep in mind over the next few weeks. At the end of last week’s devotion, I encouraged you to look for the “In Him” (“with Him,” “through Him,” “in the Beloved,” etc.)[2] statements as we journey through Ephesians and write them down with the corresponding blessing. In verses 3-14, “in Him” is used eleven times. We will tackle more of what this means in a minute.
In the English translation, verses 3-14 are broken up into several sentences, but in the Greek, Paul wrote one long sentence with over two hundred words. That might cause English majors to wince, but it is good for us to recall as we take several weeks to work through these twelve verses. Paul is expressing one continuous thought which is why each week I will include all twelve verses.
One final note relating to structure: Verses 3-14 can be divided into three sections with three characteristics in each.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” – To bless God is to declare His goodness, to praise Him. “You are good and do good” (Psalm 119:68a). We bless God because He is the gracious Blesser. He does good to us, so we declare His goodness. We can do this through song, in prayer, and sharing with others.
“And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Revelation 5:13). God is worthy to be blessed.
“who has blessed us” – As we saw above, God is good, and He does good to us (blesses us). God is perfectly good. He is the only source of good. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17, see also Romans 8:28).
Us refers back to the saints, all those who trust in Jesus’ atoning work on the cross for salvation (vs 1).
Last week, Paul shared two blessings we receive from God: grace and peace. As we continue through verse 14, we will see several more ways God has blessed us, and we will count even more blessings as we journey through Ephesians.
“in Christ” – The blessings Paul writes about are for believers only, but what exactly does “in Christ” mean? We can’t cover it fully today, but we can reach a better understanding. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church: “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.” To be “in Christ” is to be unified with Christ, to be one with Him.
The Greek word literally means into. Several commentators I read used the same illustration of standing outside a building. When you open the door and walk into the building, things change. You are inside. To help me process this idea, I thought of what was inside. If I am inside my home, for instance, I now have access to the kitchen and food, the bathroom, my clothes, a bed to sleep in, heat and air conditioning, protection. If I am outside my house, I don’t have access to any of those things.
Saving faith moves us into a personal relationship with Jesus. R.C. Sproul captured our union with Christ in this way: “When we believe into Christ, Christ comes into our lives; He indwells us; He is in us and we are in Him. God sees us in Christ. Our identity as His church, as part of His body, is as people who are mystically united to Him. We are in Christ and Christ is in us.”[3]
Paul expounds “in Christ” with his next words: “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Everyspiritual blessing. We lack nothing. There is nothing more God can give because He has already given us every spiritual blessing. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). To be in Christ, means we have been given every spiritual blessing.
“Every spiritual blessing” encapsulates the detailed blessings related to life in the Spirit – “everything Christians receive through God’s work in his Son, including election, adoption, redemption, forgiveness, and the gift of the Spirit.”[4]
Blessed is past tense, so every spiritual blessing has already been granted. John MacArthur points out that we often ask for spiritual blessings such as love, but the love of God has already been poured out within our hearts (Romans 5:5). We ask for peace, but Jesus already gave us His peace (John 14:27). We ask for strength, but God has already promised that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13).
MacArthur further instructs: “Our heavenly Father lavishes us with every goodness, every good gift, every blessing. That is His nature, and that is our need…The believer’s need, therefore, is not to receive something more but to do something more with what he has.”[5]
“in the heavenly places” – This phrase is found only in Ephesians. It refers to God’s total domain. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the totality of His domain. Because God has already blessed us, these blessings are available to us now but will be fully realized when we are glorified in eternity.
This phrase also reminds us that our citizenship is not here on earth. Our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20-21). God may choose to bless us with physical blessings, but the promised, true, immeasurable, inexhaustible, eternal blessings are spiritual blessings, and they are found only in Christ.
Reflection
1. How have you blessed God today? Declared His goodness? How have you seen His goodness in your life this past week? Remember: God is good and does good. Circumstances can’t alter that truth. Even when you don’t see the good, God is still good and doing good.
2. How is your understanding of being in Christ growing? How does being in Christ encourage you? Challenge you? Be specific.
3. You have already been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing. How does knowing this truth change your perspective on current circumstances? Do you find yourself asking for more of God’s blessing instead of doing more with every blessing He has already given you? Explain.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 1:3–14.
[2] From this point forward, I will use “in Him” to refer to all the related variations.
[3] Sproul, R.C. Ephesians: An Expositional Commentary. (Ligonier Ministries, 2023), 11.
[4] Merkle, Benjamin L. ESV Expository Commentary, Vol. XI, Ephesians-Philemon. (Crossway, 2018), pg. 31.
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