Every Spiritual Blessing: Ephesians 1:3

“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” (Eph. 1:3 ESV).

Before Paul begins to narrate descriptively the spiritual blessings of God, he first points us to the God of particularity in Jesus Christ. Before we know that God is the Father of all, we need to first know that he is the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is through his beloved Son we have been adopted into his family.  The Christian God is not a Greek god who is transcendent to a point where he does not get involved with human affair; He is not a divine force above our heads. Rather, “He is the God who made the world, and who has now made himself known in and through Jesus. As far as Paul is concerned, any picture of God which doesn’t now have Jesus in the middle of it is a distortion or a downright fabrication.”[1]

The word euvloghto,j can be understood as “blessed” or “praised.” “Praised be to the God…” is preferable. God does not need to be blessed; we need to be blessed. Rather, we don’t need to be praised, but God is worthy of our praise. God is the object of our praise; we are the object of his blessing. We praise for God’s blessings in Christ.

Paul introduces two of his letters with an introductory blessing (Eph. 1:3-14; 2 Cor. 1:3-7).[2] Ephesians 1:3-14 is considered as a “declarative praise” that is formed in one long, single sentence (in Greek) in which God’s blessings, such as election, adoption, forgiveness of sin, etc… are vividly described by Paul. This eulogy is Paul’s doxological introduction to the entire letter. At the end of the so-called “doctrinal section” (Ephesians 1-3), Paul concludes with another doxology: “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Eph. 3:20-21).

As John Piper says, “God gets the glory; we get the mercy.”

The term “spiritual” (pneumatiko,j) is an adjective for the Spirit, that is, “pertaining to or belonging to the Spirit.”[3] In this vein, spiritual blessings mean blessings that pertain to the Spirit. God has blessed us in Jesus Christ with every spiritual blessing. The role of the Spirit is not out of the picture. The rest of the sentence shows that this whole business of praising God for his blessings toward us is trinitarian through and through (God the Father, 1:4-6; God the Son, 1:7-12; God the Spirit, 1:13-14). Gordon Fee points out that “the use of this adjective…indicates that the emphasis is on the nature of the blessings, rather than their source.”[4] Either these blessings are spiritual or the Spirit is the source of them, the Spirit is at work. As Fee rightly puts, “The Spirit is the present means whereby God appropriates to the believing community the ‘blessings’ that flow from the redemptive work of Christ.”[5]

This eulogy is formed as an inclusio and bracketed by the Spirit.[6] At the end of the section, God the Spirit is the Spirit of the promise, who is “a deposit on our inheritance.” He serves as the guarantee of our future salvation (1:13-14). Our receiving of God’s blessings in Jesus Christ can only become a reality through the Spirit. The Spirit actualizes the blessings of God in us. J. I. Packer writes:

The Christian life in all its aspects—intellectual and ethical, devotional and relational, upsurging in worship and outgoing in witness—is supernatural; only the Spirit can initiate and sustain it. So apart from him, not only will there be no lively believers and no lively congregations, there will be no believers and no congregations at all. But in fact the church continues to live and grow, for the Spirit’s ministry has not failed, nor ever will, with the passage of time.[7]

We keep in step with the Spirit in ministry. We listen to him, worship him, and obey him.

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[1] N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), p. 5.

[2] Peter T. O’Brien points out the difference between an introductory thanksgiving and an introductory blessing or eulogy. He writes, “While his [Paul] introductory thanksgivings focus on God’s work in the lives of others, his eulogies praise god for blessings in which he himself participates.” “Benediction, Blessing, Doxology, Thanksgiving,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, edited by Gerald F. Hawthorne, et. al. (Leicester: InterVarsity Press; Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 68.

[3] Gordon D. Fee, God’s Empowering Presence: The Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994), p. 666.

[4] Ibid., p. 666.

[5] Ibid., p. 667.

[6] Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), p. 78.

[7] J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in our Walk with God (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005), p. 15.

The Work of Memory: Ephesians 2:11

The focal point of Eph. 2:1-10 is not “by grace you have been saved through faith…” (2:8-9). 2:8-9 is incomplete without 2:10: we who are God’s workmanship are called to do good works. Being justified by grace through faith is the foundation of any good works; the work of sanctification is the natural fruit of Christ’s justifying work in Christian living. Divine good work always precedes human good works. Because of God’s good work in Christ, we are saved through faith by grace. Such a gift of God eliminates any possibility of human boasting. The i[na clause (2:9b: in order that no one can boast) rules out any human endeavor in terms of working for salvation. As Peter O’Brien writes, “The divine intention in providing salvation apart from any human effort or achievement is to exclude all human boasting…As Paul attacks the doctrine of justification by works, so he opposes all boating based on self-trust.”[1]

I am often aware of the conjunction Dio. (therefore) in the beginning of 2:11, meaning that 2:11-22 is connected to 2:1-10. But I usually separate the two sections and interpret them separately. Today, I received a book that I ordered a few days ago in my mailbox: Stephen E. Fowl, Ephesians: A Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012). I read the section on Eph. 2:11-22. Fowl writes:

 

Believers are participants in God’s new creation and that such participation enjoins walking in good works (cf. 2:10). Verse 11 would thus indicate that the immediate good work in view is the work of memory. The Ephesians are challenged here to remember their past. Indeed, the call here may be to remember their past in a new way. In this respect one can think of “remembering” as an example of being “transformed by the renewing of your minds,” as advocated in Rom. 12:2. Whatever else might be involved, the renewal of one’s mind must include a repair or restoration of one’s memory (p. 85).

I find the sentence, “the immediate good work in view is the work of memory,” intriguing. I often understand good works in terms of doing works. I never look at it from the angle of remembering. The first good work that the Ephesians are called to do is to remember: once you were Gentiles in the flesh…but now in Christ… (2:11-13). Our good work, first and foremost, is to remember the surprising work of God in Christ in our past. Our unchristian past indicates nothing but human flaws and divine grace. The first task of our Christian present is to remember our weaknesses and his gracious sufficiency.

To remember what God has done for us in Christ is a good work itself.   

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[1] Peter T. O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Leicester: Apollos; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), p. 177.