Ephesians Week 2 - Spiritual Blessings

Week 2

Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV

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.

Following the greeting in Vs. 1-2, Paul gives us a lengthy description of how we are blessed through Christ

How God gave every believer blessings which flow from God’s grace, wisdom, and eternal purpose.

In the original Greek these twelve verses form one long sentence

Breakdown of 3-14

Vs. 3

He tells us that we should bless God

That we should bless God or praise God - the Greek word means to speak well of

Why bless God? – He has blessed us in Christ

Why should we praise God? Because he has blessed us

Blessed means to benefit or prosper

This is significant because, in classic Greek literature of the day, it was never said that you were blessed by a deity. They said Zeus would bestow good luck on you, never bless yet.

Yet God just in the Old Testament is said to have blessed people over 400 times.

Luke 1:42 - Mary was blessed

Vs. 4-6

The first reason we should praise God is because He chose us!

Paul answers the question of what spiritual blessings God has given us

He gave us salvation through Jesus

He says that we were chosen before the world was created. Predestined means “marked out beforehand.”

That we were chosen and marked out before the world was created

This all happened so that we may be called sons and daughters of God through Jesus

God did that all according to “his glorious grace” or undeserved favor, so that we would worship and bless God

Vs. 7-10

The second reason Paul lays out for us to praise God is because He Redeems us

Redemption: the practice of reclaiming some property by purchase

The way we are redeemed is through the forgiveness of our sins, which only comes from the blood of Christ

This is by grace and nothing else

Paul also points out that the “mystery of God” that was taught in the OT was really just the plan for Christ to come with salvation from the beginning of time

His plan was to send Jesus to bring all of Creation back to Himself

Vs. 11-12

The Third reason we are to praise God is because He gives us an inheritance

Paul tells us that the inheritance we will be receiving is because God is giving it to us, and we put our trust in God

Vs. 13-14

Paul then lays out the last reason we should be praising God, He seals us with the Holy Spirit

He says that since we heard the truth and been saved, the Holy Spirit seals us

Paul uses the word guarantee when talking about the Spirit

Guarantee is only used 3 times in NT - all by Paul

It functioned as a down payment given to someone with the expectation of a full payment coming later

Thus Paul is saying we have the Spirit now, but will have greater glory later

Questions