Blessed
With All
Spiritual Blessings
3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
We come now to one of the most famous verses in all the Scripture. Many Christians learned this verse very early in their Christian lives. It is easily recognizable and easily quotable. Truly, it is indeed a wonderful verse. It is full of marvelous truths, as we will see. But as with any verse that is familiar to us we must take care to be sure that that familiarity is a help to us and not a hindrance. There is an old saying: "Familiarity breeds contempt". Now certainly no real believer would ever have contempt for the Scripture. But the idea applies. There is a tendency, when we come across such verses, to simply go with "what they’ve always meant" and not give attention to them in the context we are studying. Ephesians has many such verses and we will exercise care to be sure to treat those verses honestly and thoughtfully.
The first thing we want to note is that this verse indicates that, in Paul’s mind, the first two verses were far more than just a common greeting. They were, as we saw, far more than that. Paul finishes his opening statement and immediately launches into this great praise for the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is as if he could not be silent! The marvelous ideas he barely touched on in verses 1 and 2 our of sufficient exaltation as to force this further commentary from him.
This concept is interesting in and of itself. The idea of that some Biblical truth might be so enthralling, so exciting, that one has words of praise for God pulled, as it were, from his lips is something that, sadly, many Christians have never experienced. I can think of many times when, as a Pastor, I have stood and waited vainly when asking for testimonies or praise. It seems, that for many Christians, the embarrassment of speaking up in front of others is too much for them to bear. Perhaps they are insecure?; or, perhaps they think that what they have to say is of little or no value or interest? What ever the cause of their silence this verse stands as both a rebuke to them, and a great goal upon which to set their sites. We should be those who are ready to give testimony at any time. We ought to be people who, as Paul in this verse, have times when we cannot be silent.
The word "blessed" is from the Greek word "Euloghtos (yoo-log-ay-tos)", is a noun and not an adjective. "The God and Father..." is the subject of the sentence. "Blessed" is what is called a "verbal" or a "verbal noun", that is, a noun that is given, temporarily, the force of a verb. Officially this would be called a "Nominative of Appellation". As such, it gives us another name for the subject of the sentence, namely, God the Father. This word is used in the New Testament exclusively in reference to God Himself. Another form of the root is used when referencing man. Many Greek scholars believe this particular form of the word, instead of referring to an isolated act or acts, refers to intrinsic character. The only other place Paul uses this word in an opening is in 2 Corinthians 1: 3. He also makes use of it three times doxologies (Rom. 1: 25; 9: 5; 2 Cor. 11: 31).
This is not reference to anything that God has done. Rather, it is a reference to his Being. It is not so much that God is be blessed or praised for his accomplishments or deeds. The idea here is that God IS blessed. We are familiar with the concept taught in the Bible that God IS love. We understand that to mean that God defines what love is. In fact, the Bible teaches that no one really knows love until they know the love of God. God is the embodiment of love. Love is so closely associated with God that the word is occasionally used as a " name" for God.
The same concept is present in the use of "blessed". God is the ultimate example of one who is deserving of praise. No one is more deserving of praise, worship, and adoration than He. He is "blessed" in the fullest the highest sense of the word.