29 Mar 2007 - Ephesians 1:3

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Scripture for today: Ephesians 1:3

*Let’s pray*: /Gracious God, you have blessed us in every way possible,
especially through the gift of your Son Jesus. Open our eyes, hearts and
minds to see your blessings in our lives Amen./

*What do you see?* What is God’s perspective on our lives from the
vantage point of heaven? How is God’s blessing upon us “/in Christ/”?

This passage begins the famous twelve verse long complex sentence with
which Paul begins his encyclical letter to the Christians in Asia Minor.
This is pure stream-of-consciousness writing as Paul pours out his heart
about the vision God has given him of what the Church can be and do
(theme of Ephesians).

Commentators have called these opening verses: an operatic overture, a
snowball, an express train, the flight of an eagle, and a kaleidoscope.
Whatever the metaphor, Paul wants us to see all the spiritual blessings
– which he carefully enumerates – which we have “/in Christ/.” These
heavenly, spiritual blessings empower all of us who are God’s sons and
daughters as we live our daily lives on planet earth.

Paul blesses God for blessing us with “/every spiritual blessing/.” The
God Paul blesses is the Triune God. “/The God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ/” is “/our Father/” (verse 2). All these “/spiritual
blessings/” we have come from our union with Christ. And these
“/spiritual blessings/” are not merely pertaining to the soul, “but
…derived from the Holy Spirit, whose presence and influence are the
great blessing purchased by Christ” (Hodge). God the Father is the giver
of the Gift. Jesus is the one in whom the Gift is conferred. There is no
greater spiritual blessing than the Person and work of the Holy Spirit
in our lives. Alleluia!

In order to punctuate this idea even further, Paul adds the phrase “in
the heavenly places.” But Paul is not talking about heaven as a place.
He uses a curious word “in the heavenlies” (/epouraniois/), which he
uses five times in Ephesians and no where else. Different from how Paul
uses the word “heaven” – the sky, eternal life, and the final place of
the redeemed – the “heavenlies” is where “principalities and powers”
operate (3:10; 6:12), where Christ reigns supreme and his followers
reign with him (1:20; 2:6), and the place where God blesses us with
every spiritual blessing (1:3).

Dr. R. Kevin Murphy, Saint Matthew’s Lutheran Church