Spiritual Blessings in our Lord Jesus Christ – Part 1
1 Paul,
an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints
who are in Ephesus,
and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Comment: The writer of Ephesians identifies himself as Paul, not just any Paul but, Paul who was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. This gives us a clear indication of who the writer is. Paul then identified the targeted readers of this letter as the saints who are in Ephesus, hence the letter is named Ephesians. Paul is not writing to just any saints but, he is writing to the saints in Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus. Paul send them a greeting and said grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Typical Paul’s greeting style.
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,
Word Study: Three words in the above verse 1) Blessed at the beginning of the verse in greek is the word “eulogetos” which means amongst others, “worthy to be praised”. 2) Second blessed in the middle of the verse in greek is the word “eulogeo” which means to graciously benefit, to confer favor, to act kindly towards 3) Blessing in greek is the word “eulogia” which means gracious benefits from God.
Comment: Paul says God, not just any God, but God who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy to be praised. This is because He has blessed us or He has graciously conferred favor upon us, and He has acted kindly towards us by graciously giving us every spiritual blessings or benefits in the heavenly places. Who is this “us”?, this “us” are all the saints who are faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ as Paul indicated in verse 1. The other point to note here is that Paul says “every” spiritual blessing. We are short of nothing and God did not hold any blessing back. The most important thing to also note here is that these blessing are in Christ. This means that it is through faith in Christ that we receive these blessings. These blessings cannot be accessed or received apart from faith in Jesus Christ.