Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:3a-The Father is Worthy of Praise

Ephesians 1:3 The God, namely the Father of the Lord ruling over us, who is Jesus Christ, possesses certain inherent attributes which are worthy of praise. Specifically, He is the one who has blessed each and every one of us by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. (Lecturer’s translation)

Ephesians 1:3 contains two declarative statements.

The first is elliptical and the second is epexegetical.

The first asserts that God the Father is worthy of praise in the sense that He possesses attributes which are worthy of praise.

The second identifies specifically for the reader why the Father is worthy of praise and asserts that He is the one who has blessed Paul and the recipients of this epistle by means of each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.

As was the case in Ephesians 1:2, the noun theos, “God” here in Ephesians 1:3 refers to the Father which is indicated in both passages by the fact that it is modified by the noun patēr, “Father.”

This title emphasizes the absolute authority that the First Person of the Trinity has over all creation and the church (1 Cor. 8:6; Ephesians 4:6).

As was the case in Ephesians 1:1-2, the noun kurios (κύριος), “Lord” in Ephesians 1:3 is applied to Jesus Christ and indicates the following:

(1) His equality with the Father and the Spirit.

(2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos.

(3) His highest-ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government.

(4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature.

(5) His victory over the sin nature and Satan and His kingdom through His crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father.

In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42).

However, in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).

The noun kurios, “Lord” emphasizes the victory that Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, accomplished for the believer through His spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.

His spiritual death solved the problem of personal sins, which are produced by the sin nature through the function of human volition.

His physical death solved the problem of the sin nature, which resides in the genetic structure of the human body.

His resurrection guarantees the believer that he or she will receive a resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which will be immortal and minus the sin nature.

The articular construction of the noun kuriosis used with the plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “our” to denote possession is expressing the intimate relationship between Paul and the recipients of this epistle and the Lord Jesus Christ.

As was the case in Ephesians 1:1-2, the proper name Christos (Χριστός), “Christ” here in Ephesians 1:3 emphasizes that Jesus of Nazareth, the incarnate Son of God delivered the believer from the sin nature, personal sins, the devil and his cosmic system, spiritual and physical death and eternal condemnation through His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths and resurrection.

Therefore, the word Christos denotes the Messiahship of Jesus of Nazareth, thus He is the Deliverer of the human race in three areas through His death, resurrection, ascension and session: (1) Satan (2) Cosmic System (3) Old Sin Nature.

The Lord’s Messiahship has a four-fold significance: (1) Separation unto God. (2) Authorization from God. (3) Divine enablement. (4) The coming Deliverer.

It also signifies the uniqueness of Jesus of Nazareth who is the God-Man.

Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth served God the Father exclusively and this was manifested by His execution of the Father’s salvation plan which was accomplished by His voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.

The word signifies that Jesus of Nazareth has been given authority by God the Father to forgive sins, give eternal life, and authority over all creation and every creature as a result of His execution of the Father’s salvation plan.

It denotes that Jesus of Nazareth was perpetually guided and empowered by God the Holy Spirit during His First Advent.

Lastly, Christos signifies that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised deliverer of the human race from the bondage of Satan, his cosmic system and the old Adamic sin nature.

Now, here in Ephesians 1:3, the adjective eulogētos (εὐλογητός), “worthy of praise” is making the assertion that the Father is worthy of praise because of having blessed the church age believer in eternity past with each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies and specifically in the person of His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who sits at the Father’s right hand.

The clear implication is that the recipients of the Ephesian epistle, and this is true for of all church age believers, are obligated to worship the Father because of the Spirit appropriated blessings He has imparted to each of them in eternity past when He elected them.

These blessings are appropriated by the church age believer’s faith in Jesus Christ at the moment of justification.

They are also appropriated after justification through faith in the Spirit inspired Scriptures.

When Paul asserts that the Father is worthy of praise, he is alluding to worshipping the Father.

One of the essential parts of productive prayer life for the church age believer is worship and reverence of God the Father (Phi 4:6).

Prayer is a means by which the believer can worship, adore, and revere God.

To worship is to adore God, as the Holy Spirit reveals Him in the Scriptures and through the person of Christ.

It is the act of paying honor and reverence to God, and it derives from love.

Where there is little love, there is little worship.

Worship is the loving ascription of praise to God for whom and what He is.

It is the bowing of the soul and spirit in deep humility and admiration before Him (Psalm 2:11-12).

The believer is to worship the Father spiritually by means of truth, i.e. the Word of God (John 4:23-24).

The church ’s destiny is to worship the Lord, as revealed in Revelation 4-5.

The Lord Jesus Christ taught His disciples that the second part of a prayer is the worship, reverence, honor, and respect for the Father.

Luke 11:1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 And He said to them, “When you pray [proseuchomai], say ‘Father, hallowed be Your name [onoma: the person and character of God]. Your kingdom come.’” (NASB95)

“Hallowed” is the verb hagiazo and literally means, “may your person be revered, honored, and respected.”

To revere God entails opening up our lives so that the Holy Spirit may work in making us more like His Son.

Surely, this is to be a prayer of surrender and commitment, for God’s name is never hallowed, at least not by us, as long as we are walking in rebellion and self-dependence.

Psalm 145 is a perfect example of how we should worship God in prayer.

There are four English words, “reverence,” “respect,” “awe,” and “wonder,” which express the concept of worshipping God.

Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “reverence”: “A feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.”

Therefore, paraphrasing this definition and applying it to the Father, we would say that the Christian’s response to a study of the Father is to possess an attitude of deep respect and awe for Him.

Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “respect”: “esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or trait, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or trait.”

Thus, the Christian should esteem the excellence of each member of the Father as manifested through His personal qualities or attributes such as love, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, justice, righteousness, truth, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and sovereignty.

Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “awe”: “an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc. produced by that which is grand, sublime, extremely powerful or the like.”

Thus, the Christian should possess an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration for the Father.

Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary defines the noun “wonder”: “to be filled with admiration, amazement or awe; marvel.”

The Christian’s should be filled with admiration, amazement and awe in response to the Father.