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.....
Ephesians 1:3
Paul’s letter to the Saints in Ephesus begins with praise and acknowledgement of grace and peace (verse two) being some of the very spiritual blessings he mentions in verse three.
We should note here, we have nothing in our lives as believers that has not come to us by the goodness of God.
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
Paul writes ALL spiritual blessings come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The awareness that Paul makes mention of our Father as God demands we hold this reality of His nature and character. God, the one who is everlasting, eternal, without beginning and without end. When we say Almighty God, we recognize and acknowledge the power and ability of our God. The one who is the creator of all things. The one who declares nothing is impossible to Him. We hold Him in reverential awe.
When we consider grace comes from him, is it any wonder Paul wrote, our God is able to make HIS grace abound to us so that we having all sufficiency, in all things, at all times, are able to abound to every good work.
Paul then acknowledges, Almighty God is our Father! The one whom all family in heaven and on earth derives it’s name and nature. Paul is highlighting another perspective in our relationship. Family! Right Fatherhood! Our Father, who has freely given us all things because of His great love, while we were yet sinners, chose and adopted us, made us accepted, holy and without blame before him. We cry Abba Father, for His lovingkindness, His goodness, and watchful care over us.
I’ll remind you that this word grace: 5485/xáris ("grace, divine favor") is the basis of every blessing as the Lord ever extends Himself to us and comes unlimitedly to us through Christ.
It was interesting to note that verses three through fourteen in Ephesians one are just one long verse. While many translations offer sentences, the original Greek contains one continuous statement of Paul’s praise and acknowledgement.
When Paul begins with “Blessed” in verse three, I want you to see what he is actually saying ~
HELPS WORD STUDIES on BLESSED ~
eulogētós (the root of the English terms, "eulogize, eulogy," see 2127/eulogéō) – properly, "speak well of"; to celebrate by praising.
2128/eulogētos ("blessed") is only used of God the Father and Christ (God the Son), i.e. how the Godhead is worthy of all our commitment (worship). Only God is inherently praiseworthy, deserving every "good acknowledgment"!
"To bless" someone is different than praising them. A blesser gives something away (a part of themselves) to confer benefit through a personal commitment. In contrast, praise means to acknowledge (give recognition)
In sum, "blessing God" means consecrating ourselves to the Lord in true commitment, "offering ourselves up" because God is worthy of all our surrender ("sweet abandon") – i.e. "giving ourselves away."
The position we hold "IN Christ'' provides us with such a rich and vast treasure of spiritual realities this natural mind can not begin to comprehend, thus Paul’s prayer for “the spirit of wisdom and revelation” to understand and know Him who we have been divinely placed into.
“In Christ” is the position every believer must live from. It is in the first fourteen verses of chapter one, we find that IN CHRIST we have been
BLESSED
CHOSEN
SANCTIFIED
ADOPTED
ACCEPTED
REDEEMED
FORGIVEN
ENLIGHTENED
GIVEN AND INHERITANCE
SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT
No wonder Paul writes “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. The awareness of this treasure can’t help but cause us to fall upon our faces and yield to the glories of His grace that are seen in Christ.
My prayer is the one who holds all wisdom will impart to each of us a greater revelation of our place and provision in Christ for the purpose of righteous living here and fulfilling all His will.