Spiritual Blessings
Ephesians 1:1–14
[God] has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Ephesians 1:3
Ephesians 1:4–14 is a listing of the spiritual blessings we have in Christ.
1. Election (v. 4). Paul says that “he [that is, God] chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Election is what gives us a capacity for choosing that we did not possess previously as unregenerate persons. It guarantees that we are being sanctified for holiness. It teaches that “salvation belongs to the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).
2. Adoption (v. 5). The second spiritual blessing in Christ is adoption. Adoption means becoming God’s sons and daughters with all the privileges implied. On this basis we are said to be “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17) and have the privilege of bringing all things to God in prayer and of being heard by him.
3. Redemption (v. 7). Redemption means being delivered from the slavery of sin by the death of Christ on the cross. Before, we were held captive and could not break free to do God’s bidding. We did not even want to. Now we are freed by Jesus’s death to serve God.
4. Forgiveness of sins (v. 7). Paul links forgiveness of sins to redemption in verse 7. They differ in that redemption means being freed from sin’s power, so that it no longer rules over us. Forgiveness means having God wipe the slate clean.
5. The revelation of God’s purpose in history (vv. 9–10). The disharmony of the world is not to go on forever, for the same God who has predestined us to salvation in Jesus Christ has also predestined all things to be brought together in submission to him.
6. Sealing by the Holy Spirit (v. 13). Seals authenticate documents and declare that the promises contained in them are good. This is what the Holy Spirit does for Christians. God’s gift of the Holy Spirit is an authentication that believers are truly God’s and that none of the promises God has made to them will fail.
7. An inheritance (v. 14). Paul terms the Holy Spirit “a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession” (NIV). This is a nice turn of phrase. According to this verse, Christians are God’s inheritance. But the Holy Spirit, who is God, has been given to us as a down payment on the fullness of the inheritance, which is already ours in Jesus Christ.
What is the situation when we are “in” him? We have “every spiritual blessing” and so praise God the Father, as Paul himself does, exuberantly. We will ask for our daily bread here and other things besides. But if we suffer want here, in the final analysis it will be all right, because we still possess every spiritual blessing “in the heavenly places.”
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.