{"id":2663,"date":"2011-07-26T22:06:57","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T03:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.com\/blog\/?p=2663"},"modified":"2011-07-26T22:06:57","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T03:06:57","slug":"ephesians-13-spiritual-blessings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/ephesians-13-spiritual-blessings\/","title":{"rendered":"Ephesians 1:3 – Spiritual Blessings"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ephesians 1:3 <\/strong>– Spiritual Blessings<\/span><\/h2>\n

Blessed be<\/em> <\/span>the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places<\/em> <\/span>in Christ,<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

God has blessed us with spiritual blessings.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

There are two Greek words translated \u201cblessed<\/span>\u201d in the New Testament. The first is makarios<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cfortunate, well off, or happy.\u201d The other one is eulog\u0113tos<\/em><\/span>, from which we get our English word eulogy. It is made up of eu<\/span>,<\/em> meaning \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cwell\u201d and a form of logos<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201ca word.\u201d Hence, eulog\u0113tos<\/em> <\/span>means \u201cgood words\u201d or \u201cwell spoken of.\u201d When used as God blessing a person, eulog\u0113tos<\/em> <\/span>means \u201cto look on with favor, to act in a person\u2019s life and accomplish His purposes instead of allowing the person to have his or her own way.\u201d In the current verse, both words translated \u201cblessed<\/span>\u201d and the word translated \u201cblessing<\/span>\u201d are all forms of eulog\u0113tos<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpiritual<\/span>\u201d is translated from pneumatikos<\/em><\/span>, which is derived from pneuma<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cspirit.\u201d Thus, pneumatikos <\/em><\/span>means \u201cthat which pertains to the spiritual realm as opposed to the earthly physical realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The words \u201cheavenly <\/span>places<\/em><\/span>\u201d are translated from epouranios<\/em><\/span>, which is made up of epi<\/em><\/span>, meaning \u201cabove, over, or on\u201d and a form of ouranos<\/em> <\/span>which refers to \u201cheaven.\u201d Epouranios<\/em> <\/span>means \u201cthat which pertains to heaven\u201d or \u201cthe heavenly realm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Paul starts out this verse by giving praise to God the Father. He states very clearly here that, although Jesus Christ is God and part of the trinity, He is subservient to the Father since he refers to Him as \u201cthe God and Father<\/span>\u201d of Jesus Christ. Since all Christians are \u201cin Christ\u201d (Romans 12:3, 2Corinthians 5:17<\/span><\/strong>), then He is also our God and Father.<\/p>\n

There is some discussion among Biblical scholars as to the exact meaning of Paul\u2019s expression \u201cspiritual blessing.\u201d Some claim that he is referring to \u201cevery blessing of the Holy Spirit,\u201d especially since that would make mention of all three persons of the Godhead in this verse. Others (with whom I would agree) see this as an expression of spiritual blessing as opposed to worldly or material blessing. This makes more sense since the realm of the blessing is \u201cin the heavenlies.<\/span>\u201d Notice that in the Old Testament, from Abraham onward, God\u2019s promise of blessing was focused on material, earthly things. Not so, in the New Testament. The blessings He promises us are not fame and fortune; they are spiritual riches like eternal life, adoption as sons by God, and reigning with Him. Keep in mind that our citizenship is in heaven, not this world (Philippians 3:20<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n

Finally, Paul tells us that these spiritual blessings, which we have already been blessed with, are in Christ. Our blessings are not in religion, good works, or obedience, they are in Christ Jesus our Lord and are acquired by faith.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We live in a physical world and we are surrounded by the world system, characterized by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. But we are commanded not to love the things of this world (1John 2:15<\/strong><\/span>). Instead, Paul will describe a number of those spiritual blessings because he wants us to focus on our spiritual blessings, not the material ones.<\/p>\n

Where are you looking for your blessings, my Christian friend, in the things of this world or in the things of God?<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2011 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 –<\/p>\n

If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, send an e-mail to:\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ephesians 1:3 – Spiritual Blessings Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Truth to Learn God has blessed us with spiritual blessings. Behind the Words There are two Greek words translated \u201cblessed\u201d in the New Testament. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[73,1891,1892,1893,831,833],"class_list":["post-2663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blessed","tag-epouranios","tag-eulogetos","tag-heavenly-places","tag-pneumatikos","tag-spiritual"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-GX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}