Ephesians Series: Ephesians 1:3b-The Father Blessed the Church Age Believer By Means of Every Kind of Spirit Appropriated Blessing

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 we noted, the second declarative statement in Ephesians 1:3 is epexegetical, which means that it identifies specifically for the reader why the Father is worthy of praise.

It 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.

In the second declarative statement, the referent of the accusative first person plural form of the personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “each and every one of us” in this second declarative statement is Paul and the recipients of this epistle.

The latter we noted were not only members of the Christian community in Ephesus but also members of the various Christian communities in the Roman province of Asia.

This word not only speaks of Paul and the members of the Christian community as a corporate unit but is also used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

The latter therefore is expressing the idea that God the Father has blessed “each and every one of” the recipients of this epistle and the apostle Paul “with no exceptions, whatsoever.”

In this second declarative statement, the verb eulogeō (εὐλογέω), “specifically, who has blessed” is expressing the idea of imparting to Paul and the recipients of this epistle non-meritorious benefits in Christ in eternity past before the foundation of the world.

They are received based upon the merits of the object of their faith, Jesus Christ, as well as based upon the merits of their union and identification with Him.

These blessings were received by them through the work of the Holy Spirit at their justification.

Now, the aorist tense of this verb eulogeōis a consummative aorist is important theologically because it is emphasizing the cessation of the act of the Father imparting non-meritorious blessings to Paul and each of the recipients of this epistle in eternity past and not at the moment of justification.

This is indicated by the contents of Ephesians 1:4, which gives the reason for the two statements in Ephesians 1:3.

The former asserts that the Father elected each of them in Christ before the foundation of the world.

In other words, the Father blessing them is related to His elected them in eternity past in Christ before the foundation of the world.

However, these blessings were appropriated by them at the moment of their justification when they were declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The participle conjugation of this verbeulogeō is extremely important to understand since it is functioning as a causal participle which means that it indicates the cause or reason or ground of the action of the finite verb.

The participle conjugation of this verbeulogeō is following its controlling verb, which is omitted but implied due to Paul’s use of the figure of ellipsis.

It is the third person singular present active indicative conjugation of the verb eimi (εἰμί) which means “to possess certain inherent characteristics or attributes, which exist in a particular state.”

Therefore, this causal participle use of this verb eulogeō is expressing the idea that the Father is worthy of praise “because” He has blessed Paul and each one of the recipients of this epistle by means of every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.

Here in Ephesians 1:3, the main verb eimi we noted is in the present tense and so therefore, the aorist participle conjugation of the eulogeō is antecedent in time.

Consequently, this is expressing the idea that the Father is worthy of praise because “before” in eternity past, He blessed each and every church age believer by means of every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.

In this second declarative statement the dative feminine singular form of the noun eulogia(εὐλογία), “blessing” pertains to the non-meritorious blessings that the Father imparted to each and every church age believer in eternity past when He elected in Christ before the foundation of the world.

These blessings were appropriated by the church age believer the moment the Father declared them justified because of their faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

In other words, it speaks of the non-meritorious benefits that each and every church age believer receives at the moment of their justification and describes the immaterial nature of these blessings and supernatural aspect of their reality.

This noun eulogia(εὐλογία), “blessing” is modified by the dative feminine singular form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “each and every kind of” which pertains to the totality of non-meritorious blessings Paul and the recipients of this epistle received from the Father in eternity past in Christ when He elected them in Christ with emphasis upon their individual components.

The noun eulogia(εὐλογία), “blessing” is also modified by the adjective pneumatikos (πνευματικός), which means “Spirit appropriated” since it pertains to the spiritual nature of the non-meritorious blessings each and every church age believer.

Specifically, it describes these blessings as having been appropriated by the Holy Spirit on behalf of the church age believer when the latter was declared justified by the Father through faith in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

It also describes these blessings as being appropriated by the Holy Spirit on behalf of the church age believer when the latter exercises faith in the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles, which now appears in the Greek New Testament.

This faith produces obedience to the various Spirit inspired requests, prohibitions and commands, which appear in this Spirit inspired teaching.

Therefore, this adjective is used by Paul here in Ephesians 1:3 for the Spirit because these blessings are appropriated by the Spirit at the church age believer’s justification.

The noun dative feminine singular form of the noun eulogia (εὐλογία), “blessing” is the object of the preposition en (ἐν), which indicates Paul and each one of the recipients of this epistle have been blessed by God the Father “by means of” each and every kind of Spirit appropriated blessing.

So therefore, adjective pneumatikos (πνευματικός), “Spirit appropriated” is identifying that each and every kind of blessing is the direct result of the work of the Holy Spirit at the moment of the church age believer’s justification through faith in the Father’s one and only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Father blessed them with every kind of blessing, which are received through the work of the Spirit, which took place the moment the Father declared them justified through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.

They are experienced after their justification when they exercise faith in the Spirit inspired teaching of the apostles, which is now found in the Greek New Testament.

This post-justification faith produces obedience to the various Spirit inspired requests, prohibitions and commands, which are found in this Spirit inspired teaching.