Eph 1:3–14 — Every Spiritual Blessing in Christ, Part 1

Paul launches his epistle with a rapturous hymn of praise to the Father for this wonderful cosmic plan accomplished through Christ “Blessed be God” followed by the ground for giving praise. This is a Jewish style of praise commonly employed in the synagogue. However, Paul makes a very important theological change “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” Jewish liturgical forms of praise must be transformed to hold the new wine of the kingdom “Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” What spiritual blessings are in view?

The following verses explain:

Election unto holiness Adoption as sons through Jesus Christ resulting in being heirs of the eternal inheritance. The forgiveness of sins through Christ’s blood Knowledge of God’s eternal purpose in Christ. Being sealed with the Holy Spirit as pledge of our inheritance “Every Spiritual blessing” Spiritual means given by the Spirit Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered. Should be capitalized. It does not point to a contrast with that which is physical or material. Rather it points to an eschatological contrast. This passing age is of the flesh, full of corruption; it is temporary. The age to come is empowered by, characterized by the Spirit and hence it is incorruptible, and eternal. These blessings, then, are the blessings of the age to come which has already intruded into history in the death and resurrection of Christ “In the heavenly places” Reinforces the eschatological contrast but translates it into spatial terms: heaven vs. earth Heaven is the invisible realm that pervades all of creation. It is the spiritual realm of God’s dwelling place amid the holy angels. The blessings of salvation which believers have received from God are not simply to be viewed as future benefits. No, they are a present reality for us, since they have already been purchased for us by Christ who has already entered the heavenly realm by his resurrection and ascension as the forerunner of our future possession of heaven “In Christ” All these blessings are found and enjoyed in Christ. This is the first instance of this key prepositional phrase “In Christ” or “in Him” occurs 10x in this opening paragraph Christ is the sphere in whom these spiritual blessings are all found. We enjoy them only by means of union with Christ To be IN CHRIST is to be in the realm, the sphere where all these blessings are a reality.

These rich spiritual blessings …

(1) Have their eternal origin in the Father’s electing love (vv. 4-6) (2) Have been purchased in history by Christ’s blood (vv. 7-8) (3). Are now applied to believers by the Spirit’s work (vv. 9-14).

Notice that these 3 points correspond to a temporal progression from eternity to eternity Chosen from eternity past to receive inheritance Forgiven by Christ’s work on the cross Sealed with the Spirit who confirms us to inheritance in eternity future Note as well that this temporal progression that is Trinitarian. This morning we will look at the first point:

(1) These spiritual blessings have their eternal origin in the Father’s electing love (vv. 4-6)

Verse 4

Paul takes us back to God the Father’s eternal love for us in Christ before the foundation of the world in order to explain the origin of these rich spiritual blessings. This love is not God’s general love for fallen mankind known as common grace - God’s general kindness to unbelievers and believers alike. No, this is a particular love, shown to particular individuals that is, shown to those who have been chosen in Christ The Doctrine of Election God set his love on specific individuals before they were born before the world was created. He did so not for anything found in them but only because of his mere good pleasure in Christ Election is unconditional, meaning, it is not conditioned upon our good works. It is a result of God’s pure, unadulterated grace. He has mercy on whom he will have mercy. And the rest he passes by The utterly free and unconditional nature of election is stated clearly in our text:

“He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love” “Before the foundation of the world” To say that election took place before creation - before we even existed is a powerful statement that God’s choice was based on his own free decision and love totally independent of human merit or any other condition “that we should be holy and blameless before Him” Our holiness is not the basis of our being chosen but the result If God chose us in order that we should be holy and blameless then it follows that when he chose us (even though we did not yet exist) yet when he chose us, we were, in the mind of God, already part of the fallen human race - unholy and blameworthy in his sight In that utterly unloveable condition, he set his eternal love upon us in Christ. This choice was not even based on God’s foreknowledge of our faith as Arminianism teaches. This is indicated by the flow of the text:

It begins with election being chosen before the beginning of time in order to be adopted as sons and given the inheritance Then moves to the redemption accomplished by Christ for us removal of the obstacle preventing us from enjoying the inheritance Then to the gift of the Spirit who called us through the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation so that we might believe and be sealed to the inheritance If we were chosen on the basis of God’s foreknowledge of who would believe then our response of faith to the gospel becomes a work. And then how can we say, as Paul says in v. 6, that our eternal predestination in Christ is “to the praise of the glory of His grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved”?

“That we would be holy and blameless before Him” Paul here states the ultimate purpose of election. Is he referring here to our progressive sanctification as if we could become blameless at some point in our Christian life?

While progressive sanctification is certainly in view, Paul is looking at it from the eschatological endpoint when we stand before Christ at his coming rather than as a process Eph. 5:27. No matter how sanctified we become in this life it will take a supernatural work of God’s Spirit to transform us completely into the image of Christ. This will take place at the resurrection when Christ presents the Bride to himself without spot or wrinkle Progressive sanctification is thus eschatologically oriented looking toward the final sanctification event which will coincide with our being given resurrected bodies.

Verse 5

Notice that this election is not a bare selection but it also involves a predestination to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ God’s electing love is not the arbitrary exercise of sheer despotic power but it is a purposeful decision of his will that his chosen ones might be predestined to sonship. What is the relationship between election and predestination?

Election is the gracious pre-time love of God for his people Predestination is the goal of that love. We have a two-step process. He sets his love upon us - that is election. He then destines those he loves to be his sons - that is predestination. What is sonship?

It means that we are heirs. The son is the one who inherits the father’s patrimony. But observe that we are predestined to adoption through Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is the Father’s only begotten Son. He is the heir of all things. But we are heirs through Christ because we are begotten as God’s sons through the eternal Son. There is of course a gigantic ontological difference between Christ’s sonship and ours Christ is the eternal Son of God by nature. We are made sons of God by grace To make this difference clear Paul says we are predestined to adoption as sons Jesus Christ was never adopted for he was eternally the Father’s Son Adoption in the culture of ancient Rome was a legal act whereby the paterfamilias could make one of his servants the heir - someone who was not his physical seed. We who were not God’s sons are made sons of God by a legal act of adoption unlike Christ who was always God’s eternal Son by nature Consider that this is a legal act. We are not made sons by a transformation of nature as if we who were creatures could become divine. There is no change in ontological status. We remain creatures and sinful creatures at that Rather it is a legal act of divine grace through Jesus Christ. In other words, God adopts us by means of a legal transfer. Formerly we were sinners in his sight but by a legal transfer we have been taken into a new relationship as God looks upon us as in Christ.

Verse 6

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” All of these spiritual blessings come to us in Christ Christ is here described as “the Beloved,” for he is the eternal object of the Father’s love Paul refers again here (as he will so often in this opening paragraph) to the wonderful truth of union with Christ. We are chosen in Christ. We are recipients of the rich treasures of these heavenly blessings only because of our union with Christ. We too are the objects of the Father’s love and affection, eternally bestowed upon us in the Beloved.