Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ;
Ephesians does not open with instruction. It opens with praise. Paul looks at what God has already done for believers, before they had done anything at all. The verse raises three questions: who blesses, what is the blessing, and where is it held?
The Twofold Title
Paul does not simply say "God." He names Him by a relationship to Christ that has two sides. One writer points to the words Christ spoke before He returned to heaven.
Now Christ stands in two relationships with God, His Father. He is a perfect man before His God; He is a Son with His Father. We are to share both these relationships. He announced this to His disciples before He went back to heaven. His own words unfold it in full: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." This precious — this priceless truth is the foundation of the apostle's teaching here. He considered God in this double aspect: as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our blessings are connected with these two titles.
That title also sets the measure of the blessing.
Notice the language. It is God acting in this special manner of relationship. He means to bless the believer as He blesses Christ. That is, not as Christ is blessed as a divine person — that would be blasphemy. Here we have what is given to Him as man in heaven. "The glory that you have given me I have given to them" is a related truth. He means to have men in heaven along with Jesus. It is not enough for Him to have that blessed glorified man there alone. He gives Jesus companions.
Every Blessing, Already Given
The verb is past tense. Nothing here is pending, and nothing depends on how the believer performs.
It is not blessing conditional on obedience, as Israel's was in the land. It is blessing in Christ. God brings us into it, now that Christ has accomplished all that the Father gave Him to do... Who has blessed us! And with EVERY spiritual blessing! And in Christ! How complete! How certain! How secure!
What "Spiritual" Rules Out
Spiritual blessings are not vague feelings. The same writer names them, and sets them beside what God promised Israel.
God promised that if they obeyed, He would bless them in their basket and their store, in the fruit of their body, their cattle, and the ground. Their blessings were to be material... There are no such promises as these to the Church. The Church exists because of union with a risen and exalted Saviour, so its blessings are spiritual. God blesses the Church with redemption, forgiveness, acceptance, adoption, knowledge of His mind and will, joint heirship with Christ, and the guarantee of the Spirit — these, and blessings like them.
The Sphere Is Heaven
"In the heavenly places" is a location, not a mood. It separates the Christian's portion from Israel's earthly one.
The expression "heavenly places" is in contrast with the portion of the Jews, who were blessed in earthly places. If we look at Ezekiel 36, it may bring out more clearly the character of our blessing as distinct from theirs. "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean… You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God." So there are spiritual mercies mixed in with their blessings. But they will be in the land of their fathers. God is going to make that good to the generation to come.
Held in Christ
The last phrase explains why any of this belongs to us.
Our blessings are spiritual in character. Their sphere is heaven. And they are "in Christ" — ours only because we are identified with our great and glorious Representative and Head. They match a further truth. In an eternity past God marked us out for a place of infinite blessedness in an eternity to come, "holy and blameless before Him."
Received by Faith, Not Feeling
None of this can be seen or felt, so many dismiss it. One writer answers that faith, not feeling, takes hold of it.
Suppose you told most of God's children on earth, "You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." They would think it wild enthusiasm or mysticism... They have no idea that it is a present fact true of all Christians. Though we are not yet displayed in it, it is not a question of feeling. May we believe it! Feelings may deceive me, but faith never can.
Summary
- Source — God is both the God and the Father of the Lord Jesus, and the believer shares both relationships.
- Measure — He blesses the believer as He blesses Christ the risen man, never as Christ is blessed as a divine person.
- Extent — every spiritual blessing, already given, not one held back and not one hanging on obedience.
- Sphere — heavenly places, not earthly places; the contrast with Israel's promised land keeps the two hopes distinct.
- Response — believe it before you feel it, and the praise that opens the verse becomes your own.