1:3
Praise be [NLT: all praise] – speak well of, brag on, give credit to
to the God & Father – change from v. 2: God our Father becomes God and Father of ….
of our Lord Jesus Christ – He is both, God our Father as well as God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again: the mystery of the Trinity
What did God do? Why should I give Him “all praise”?
The answer is to follow…
who – refers back to God
has blessed… with … blessing – repetition gives emphasis
blessed us – declare good to come on another. When God declares blessing, that word of God becomes fact. God has blessed me. God blesses me. God will bless me.
in the heavenly realms – God has given incredible physical good to everyone in my daily life. But if I were with my brothers in India or Sudan, how would I view this? Their testimonies convict me as too materialistic, because I forget the heavenly realms aspect of God’s blessing.
with spiritual blessing – What are the spiritual blessings? Salvation, sanctification, purpose, clear conscience, peace with God, access to God, privilege of influencing God (!); Holy Spirit to comfort, counsel, guide, inspire, reveal
every – Certainly, the above list is incomplete. What else can be added? ALL OF THESE GOD HAS DECLARED MINE.
in Christ [NLT = because we are united with Christ] – no merit on my part. All because I am “in Christ.”
1:4
For – what follows shows the reason/purpose of the preceding spiritual blessings
he chose us – whether Calvinist or Arminian or other, I have been chosen. Just as Paul was chosen, I have been chosen. Will I accept His choice?
in him – responding to His call by coming into Christ makes me part of His chosen.
before the creation of the world – God’s eternal plan included me/us.
to be – here comes the purpose of the choosing and the spiritual blessings
holy – pure, set apart for his purpose, later in the letter he expands this to identify no immorality, impurity, or greed. How do I live in this society but live a set-apart life? At one level, I confess that only Christ has done this or can do this. At this level, my being in Christ gives an aspect of holy. But Paul’s later applications make it clear that I have responsibility to live this holy lifestyle by His grace.
and – the 2 go together
blameless – this is not perfection; intentional failings contradict blamelessness. But unintentional ones leave room for blamelessness. It is too easy to excuse my failings as beyond my control, when in fact I have not done my part in applying and appealing for His grace
In love – motivation, source, reason, for what follows
me with my beautiful, wonderful (bw)
Bibles Unbound
About Me
- Glenn
- Oregon
- Currently, I am posting my "musings on Ephesians." This was a 6 1/2 month process of allowing Paul's letter to Ephesus to speak to me about my situations. Some of it gets rather personal. But hopefully it can help you too.
2 comments:
Hi Cuz, I like the scripture highlighted in BOLD today. If there was a way to post the verses on the left hand side of the page, that would be helpful. I opened up another browser and read along in several different versions to try and capture the whole meaning of what Paul is saying. My favorite translation is The Message, and that adds another slant to the NIV and the NLT that you use. I'm going to read the entire book of Ephesians every day as well during this study. Thank you for your prodding and explainations! Love you, Tricia
We ARE soooo blessed with EVERY spiritual blessing! When we sing the old hymn "Count Your Blessings" and try to name them one by one, we usually list our temporal, earthly blessings, i.e. good health, job, family, home, etc. But none of these are eternal and in the heavenly realms.
When we truly believe that we ARE in Christ, we recognize our spiritual heritage as adopted sons (and daughters) of God, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus who is the first of many "brothers", me included! What a privilege!
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