The Spiritual Blessings of God’s Glorious Grace Towards His People: Part 1

Intro:

Johan Sebastian Bach is one of the most well-known musical composers of all time. Bach who was a Lutheran and according to Historian Stephen Nichols, Bach grew up “in the shadow of Martin Luther” and the Reformation. What Nichols means is that Bach grew up in the German town Eisenach which is in the valley below the elevated Castle (V)Wartburg. This castle is where Martin Luther escaped after his excommunication by the Pope resulting from his stand to not “recant” from his works of the reformation.

Although Bach was born 200 years after Luther, Bach was greatly influenced by the faith of Luther and ultimately his Lord Jesus Christ. This led Bach to compose these great musical works with Jesus on his brain.

As a matter of fact, when you look at compositions of Bach, you will notice two inscriptions. JJ and SDG. At the beginning of his compositions, Bach was inscribe JJ which stood for JESU JUVA which is latin for “Jesus help.” This is Bach looking to Christ to guide his efforts to use music as a way of worship and to inspire praise to Christ. At the end of his compositions, SDG was also inscribed to means SOLI DEO GLORIA. This of course is the Latin phrase of the reformation which means Glory to God alone. Bach was ending his works with SDG just to remind himseld and everyone else that all that has been made or will be made is for the sole purpose of God’s glory.

The story of God is about His glory. What God does throughout history is for the sole purpose of magnifying his name and extolling his fame among all nations. We can discern every act of God then with the simple phrase: God is for God alone. The reformers captured it with the phrase Soli Deo Gloria. He does not act to win the favor or applause of his people. He does not act to compete in some tug of war with false gods. He alone is worthy of all worship and honor from all creation through all history.

Therefore when we read the Scriptures which reveal his glorious attributes and works, then our response should always be praise and veneration of our God. The spiritual act of illumination of the Scriptures leads the reader to the veneration and celebration of the God of the Bible.

This is exactly how Paul begins our study in chapter 1 of Ephesians. He starts with a celebratory praise session for the churches. He wants them and us to begin this reading and study with a reflection on the spiritual blessings of God that he gives graciously to his people. In response to that reflection of what God graciously gives, Paul wants us to praise Him and innumerable gifts to underserving sinners like ourselves. Looking then at Chapter 1, vv. 3-14 is the introductory praise of God for his spiritual blessings for the church and vv. 15-23 is his personal thanksgiving and prayers for the believers in Ephesus.

As we initially look at verses 3-14, we will focus on 6 spiritual blessings that God’s graciously gives to his people. These 6 blessings are not blessings that we can take credit for. These are acts of grace from a merciful God who chooses to show love to undeserving enemies of His great name. Instead of sending his wrath upon us, he placed it on His Son on our behalf so that we will benefit from the work while He gets the glory and praise from the church.

Just to give you those 6 blessings that we will look at, they are:

Election, Adoption, Redemption, Wisdom, Inheritance, and Preservation. All of these doctrines are listed out for us by Paul with a few key components attached to them all. In order to not redundantly mention these under each point, let me start off by summarizing them for us. These items are the primer to appreciating out spiritual blessings.

1. A Primer to Acknowledging our Spiritual Blessings

When we study passages in Scripture, I try and highlight for us the need to practice good hermeneutical practices. There are many to talk about but one is repetitive words and phrases. The repetitive words and phrases in this passage help us see the components of this primer. Let’s look at a few:

A. The Source of our Blessings

When Paul writes his letters to the churches, he always identifies himself as the author and the audience to whom he is writing. After that, he includes a phrase in v 2

Ephesians 1:2 NASB95

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now this phrase, in some varied configurations, are found in every letter in the NT that Paul wrote. It was affixed to his letters and became a widely uses introduction for other NT writers as well such as Peter, John and Jude. But in its familiarity, let us not gloss over it like we might gloss over the copyright page of any book we read. What Paul says here in context to following doctrine sets up the source of all spiritual blessings.

GRACE and PEACE come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that while the Spirit is not made mention of in Paul’s introduction, he is no lesser part of the trinity and no less a contributor to the Grace and peace we receive as people loved by God. All of Scripture is about the God who distributes grace to sinners and who accomplishes peace by His power in a world of conflict and war.

Grace we comes from the GK word CHARIS (kar-ise) which means a gift of kindness or favor given to someone. In the divine context, God gives his gift of kindness and favor to his creation and to His people. His grace is general and specific. His general grace is the gift of life, prosperity, relationships, joy, marriage, family, provision that God generally gives to all peoples across the world. This common grace which it is called is icumulative across the world in differing degrees and mankind is has not manufactured that kindness or earned that gift from God.

Jesus said,

Matthew 5:45 (NASB95)

45 … for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

James 1:17 NASB95

17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

Psalm 145:9 NASB95

9 The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works.

But is the special grace of God that Paul is speaking of in this chapter. His special or specific grace is his saving grace. It is the act of kindness towards sinners to save them from the wrath of God which they have acquired through the nature of sin and instead of punishing his people, he saves them through placing their punishment on Jesus Christ, the Son of God and substitute for sin. This special grace is taught throughout Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:7 NASB95

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

With that grace, comes peace. We can read peace from God our Father and we can think of simply, peace of mind, or peace instead of conflict with an evil world. Those are part of the peace we can receive from God but it starts with a peace with HIM. Peace from God is the spiritual reversal of spiritual conflict that we are identified with in our nature of sin. We are hostile to God before a relationship with Christ. Through Jesus, we are brought from hostility with God to peace with Him.

Romans 5:1–2 NASB95

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.

Ephesians 2:14 NASB95

14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

Therefore, the source of our blessings of grace and peace. All six of these blessings that we will study in verses 3-14 are attributed to God and God alone. Notice that God is the subject of all these verbs.

He chose us

He predestined us

In Him we have redemption

He made known …to us

In Him we obtained an inheritance

In Him… you were sealed

Let us not allow our human faculties to hijack the glory of God that belongs to the one who gifts us with these spiritual blessings. What it means is that throughout the history of the church, mankind has attempted to make these spiritual blessings of salvation some measure of our earthly efforts and hard work. We cannot truthfully make man’s salvation a result of the efforts of mankind any more than we can make creation itself as a result of man’s efforts.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Friend, we must acknowledge the lure of our flesh to take credit where credit is not due. This comes from a sinful self-glorifying energy that we crave. God alone is the source of our spiritual blessings.

B. The Signatures on our Blessings

56 men signed the declaration of independence that was adopted on July 4th, 1776. Each of those men signed with pride for their country and with great risk of their lives. Each one wrote their name as delegates of the Continental Congress representing the will of the people of this land To be free from oppression.

When we think of the plan of redemption, the signatures affixed to such a plan, are those of the Father, Son and Spirit, the Triune Godhead. Paul makes the case in these verses of the nature of the work of the Father, Son, and Spirit in redemption.

Phillip Graham Ryken writes,

“Salvation is administered by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Spirit. The mystery at the epicenter of the universe—namely, the triune being of God—is also the heart of our salvation. Our redemption is Trinitarian in its structure.”

Ryken, Philip Graham; LeFebvre, Michael. Our Triune God: Living in the Love of the Three-in-One (p. 20). Crossway. Kindle Edition.

First, we see the name “God” is used wholly and completely for Father, Son and Spirit in these verses because they are equally and eternally responsible for the work of redemption in this world and yet in the distinct personhood of the 3 member trinity, they play out their roles in that redemption.

The Father is emphasized as the one who seemed to plan and organize the work of redemption in this world. When Jesus was on the earth, he stated

John 10:18 NASB95

18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

Acts 2:23 NASB95

this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

Paul identifies God the Father as the one who sent Jesus into the world, so that in v 3, we can attribute the blessings to God in his fullness and yet know specifically the role of the Father. V 4-6 states , “He chose us in Him” and “He predestined us to adoption as sons” which is the Father as the author of salvation through election, predestination and adoption, with the Son being the one to carry out that redemption.

In v. 3, the phrase “in Christ” which emphasizes that the Lord Jesus Christ was the vehicle by which all these spiritual blessings were accomplished. He lived the perfect life, was the atoning sacrifice for sin in His death, and was raised victoriously to new life. Additionally, we stand to receive these blessings because when we put our trust in Him, our salvation affords us a union with Him in His body. That mystical union is the way in which our spiritual blessings come to us and to all the church.

Specifically v 7, seems to focus in on the Son as “In Him we have redemption through His blood.” The Father did not shed his blood, nor did the Spirit. It is the Son as the agent by which redemption was accomplished. 6 times in these verses “in Him” is used to depict the work of Jesus Christ in salvation.

Finally, in v 13-14, the emphasis is on the 3rd person of the Trinity as the communicator, the seal and promise of salvation. He is the application of redemption as He indwells genuine believers in Christ and thus applies the effects of salvation to each individual.

As Paul masterfully includes all three persons of the godhead in the work of redemtpion, this allows the believer in Christ to value and revere all three persons of the Godhead equally for their role in bringing us salvation.

C. The Significance of our Blessings

We come now to the final aspect of this primer to spiritual blessings and that is to consider the word blessing. More importantly, Blessed and blessing are used in v 3. First, the phrase “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” is a familiar structure in the HB writings. It signifies something similiar to a hymn of praise called a barakhah. Let us look at 2 examples

Psalm 41:13 NASB95

13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen.

Psalm 66:20 NASB95

20 Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

This structure forms a praise often sung in Jewish forms of worship where God is the subject, often with his titles listed afterwards and the works called to be remember. All of this would lead the worshiper to recall and recount God’s nature and good action and therefore respond with praise. So then, we don’t need to see the words “blessed be” when they are assigned to God and think that the worshipper is providing a blessing to God. Instead, in this form, the term “blessed be God” means the worshippper is praising God for his blessing of his people. This is Paul point in writing this in Eph 1, in a similiar style to the barakhah.

Also the GK word used for blessed in v 3 is eulogeo. It is a compound word in the greek whcih means to speak good of someone or recall their good deeds. This is why in English, the eulogy at a funeral is a time to recount the good things of a person’s life.

But as we continue, we must see the deeper meaning of God bestowing on us “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.” When we read “blessings” our minds are so Christianized by western culture that we immediately just think of general goodwill from God. God blesses us means God does good things for us.

If you get a gift from someone, you might say” that is such a blessing.”

But the OT context in which Paul starts from draws the reader back to the blessings from Father to son and heir of the inheritance. Again, to bless God is to praise him but for God to bless us harkens back to the Father blessing the son with the promise of inheritance and prosperity.

For example, In Gen 27, we recall the story of Jacob and Esau for Jacob deceived his blind father into thinking he was blessing Esua, but it was actually Jacob.

Genesis 27:26–29 NASB95

26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” 27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; 28 Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; 29 May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.”

Now what the OT provides us in way of a glimpse into the earthly blessings of God’s people, it points forward heavenly or spiritual blessings passed down from God the Father to his children.

We could even look to the promise of Abraham that his descendants would bless the nations. This of course was realized in the way the people of Israel would represent and proclaim the Lord in this world as His representatives. But ulimately, it would be in the Lord Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham, who would bring true spiritual blessings to the nations of the earth.

Therefore, we consider then that our spiritual blessings are granted from the Father but they are given to the Son, Jesus. The blessings belong to the church as God blesses or brings benefits for us but those benefits come by way of the Son Jesus Christ. Those spiritual blessings therefore are not lands, riches and glory that belongs to this world. Instead, it is spiritual blessings, those pertaining to the heavenly places or the unseen spiritual realm. They are benefits that pertain to our spirtual lives and they are both for the future and for the present lives we live.

Harold Hoehner

Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary 1. The Provision of Spiritual Blessings (1:3)

the believers reside on earth having been enriched with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies necessary for their spiritual well-being

It is these spiritual blessings that we will study in the next few weeks, looking at 6 of them listed here for us by Paul.

But if you belong to Christ and you have trusted him alone for slavation, then you to read these words from Paul and you praise God for all he has done to bless you.

But consider friend that if you do not belong to Christ, then you face teh opposite of blessing. You will being cursed by God and the curse of God leads to an etenity of suffering and punishment from his anger and wrath against sin. Let me plead with you to turn from your sin and put your trust in Christ today. It is not too late for you to escape that wrath from God and put your trust in Him. If you do, God will bless you as well.