How beautiful and natural is this word of the apostle: "Blessed be the God who has blessed us"! You have an identity and that identity has been given to you by God. I am pained with wondering at new opened treasures in Christ. L. Cuyler, D. D.)Spiritual blessings in ChristJohn Pulsford.There is a blessing from God in the health of our bodies and in the comforts of our homes, in the bounty of the seasons and the variety of our pleasures; but believers in Christ tenderly and adoringly acknowledge far other blessings than these. We are justified, sanctified, glorified, soul, body, and spirit. Sermon on Ephesians 1:3-14 — Sermon outline by Tom Moore on the blessings that God has for us spiritually speaking. It has no existence in the original, and, as the margin suggests, we may read either "heavenly places" or "heavenly things"; and "heavenly things" seems to be, upon the whole, the better rendering here. You obtain an inheritance in Christ.7. One calamity after another fell upon them — ill-health, loss of eyesight, the death of a child, poverty. You obtain an inheritance in Christ.7. Foster, M. Jones. PEACE IS THE FIFTH BLESSING IN THIS CASKET OF JEWELS. SO DIVINE A THING IS THIS LIFE OF HOLINESS IN ITS ORIGIN, THAT IT IS DESCRIBED AS A NEW CREATION. It is the office of the Father to devise the plan.2. It leads our minds to that blessed Divine agent as the author of a gracious work in the soul of each redeemed sinner, when He comes and takes up His abode there, and produces all the peaceable fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of God. "(John Pulsford. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." This is indeed true. Alves, M. A.The expression "with all spiritual blessings" would be better translated "with all spiritual blessing" — this word being in the singular in the original. Jones. He is God's Christ. By faith and through the Holy Spirit, we are partaking of the body and blood of the Lord. THE ORIGIN of the great system, and all the blessings of the economy of redemption.1. Our condition as fallen creatures is cursed; the vengeance of a violated law is suspended over us; and the original malady, spreading like a poison through all the members of our race, and through all the fountains of our being, hath laid us under the law of the curse; so that death must feed upon us, and sin and Satan have triumphed over us, because we are cursed. A FOURTH BLESSING IS "ACCEPTANCE IN THE BELOVED." Graham, D. D.)Spiritual blessingsH. A very high and a very holy life. (1)To Christ, then, we must give praise for all we have received. Foster, M. Alves, M. VITAL. Cities, empires, the solid earth itself, sun and stars, had for him no enduring reality. (3)There the consummation of them is reserved. )LinksEphesians 1:3 NIVEphesians 1:3 NLTEphesians 1:3 ESVEphesians 1:3 NASBEphesians 1:3 KJVEphesians 1:3 Bible AppsEphesians 1:3 ParallelEphesians 1:3 Biblia ParalelaEphesians 1:3 Chinese BibleEphesians 1:3 French BibleEphesians 1:3 German BibleEphesians 1:3 CommentariesBible Hub, II. Alves, M. Consider your position with reference to the other spiritual intelligences who take an interest in you and in your experience. It belongs to Him to determine the benefits to be conferred, their nature and extent, and the degree in which every one, who is a saved object of the Redeemer's work; shall enjoy the blessing of that work.5. )In ChristJames Stalker, M. A.The union of believers and Christ is —I. "The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given them" The kingdom of the Incarnation is a universality. We are justified, sanctified, glorified, soul, body, and spirit. And so God gives them all, and with a right royally liberal hand.(H. So He does not bless us with all temporal blessings; but when it comes to the spiritual blessings there is no need of His dealing scantily and carefully here — no need of His withholding any one of them; and He does not withhold any one of them, but He has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings. Satan sought and found an entrance into the heavenlies; disguised probably as an angel of light. Be not unduly afraid of them. Alves, M. God quickens you together with Christ.2. Be not unduly afraid of them. In this view, which is the true meaning of the passage, we are not called on to make any distinction between our souls and bodies, as if the blessings of salvation affected the former only, and not at all the latter. These blessings were ordained for the elect before the creation of the universe. Paradise was once "the heavenlies." He has predestinated or appointed you unto the adoption of children to Himself.3. He does not intend simply to distinguish them from material, physical, or intellectual blessings; he means to attribute them to the Spirit of God. It is "the blessing" of the covenant of grace in all its parts — salvation from its origin to its consummation, for which Paul here blesses God, in the name of each true believer. MORAL. Your home with Him in God.2. If we are received into favour, it is solely for Christ's sake.V. A THEATRE, OR PLACE OF EXHIBITION (See Ephesians 3:10). 1. In the former of these senses the blessings of salvation would be extolled on the ground that they do not principally or mainly refer to the body and its necessities and wants, which are of a lower and more earthly character, but to the soul or spirit, which is the nobler pair of us, and whose wants and necessities are of a vastly higher order. )Origin and nature of redemptionW. Paul addresses the Church at Rome as "alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord." Such an one is no longer under the law to be eternally punished, but under grace he is a forgiven man.II. It also will at last become a spiritual body — adapted to, and fitted for, the exercises of a perfected soul. this and that that we do not possess, and more of this and that that we do possess. Be not unduly afraid of them. It is "the blessing" of the covenant of grace in all its parts — salvation from its origin to its consummation, for which Paul here blesses God, in the name of each true believer. )Seven blessings of being "in ChristT. It may either be taken as referring to that department of our being which is undoubtedly chiefly affected by the blessings of salvation, namely, our spirit or soul; or it may be taken as referring to the source or origin of these blessings, namely, that Holy Spirit of God, who takes of the things that are Christ's, and bestows them on us. Amazingly, Ephesians 1:3-14 is all one sentence in Greek. Paul uses the word “blessed” in two senses in this verse. We believe only because God first chose us. Christ, Christ is that which our love and desires can sleep sweetly and rest safely upon. THE DESIGN of this part of the heavenly economy.1. They had the title deeds of it, though for a while the Canaanites held it as tenants upon lease. Foster, M. What can this movement mean, but the history of the Church? VITAL. So He does not bless us with all temporal blessings; but when it comes to the spiritual blessings there is no need of His dealing scantily and carefully here — no need of His withholding any one of them; and He does not withhold any one of them, but He has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings. this and that that we do not possess, and more of this and that that we do possess. This relation is also indissoluble. By the time Jesus wrote His letter, in Revelation 2, the church of Ephesus had left their first love, and were just going on with the motions of Christianity, but lacking the vital emotion. (1)Good things conferred;(2)evil things warded off;(3)election, predestination, etc.9. We are brought body as well as soul under the blessing. In the former of these senses the blessings of salvation would be extolled on the ground that they do not principally or mainly refer to the body and its necessities and wants, which are of a lower and more earthly character, but to the soul or spirit, which is the nobler pair of us, and whose wants and necessities are of a vastly higher order. Found nowhere else in Scripture. That this is not a mere idea, or one that has no practical significance, might be shown from the most familiar experiences in life. We are not called on to deal with God, in the first instance, as the absolute Jehovah, or to approach to Him in any case in our own right or name. SO DIVINE A THING IS THIS LIFE OF HOLINESS IN ITS ORIGIN, THAT IT IS DESCRIBED AS A NEW CREATION. The sentence of eternal death is removed from every one who accepts Christ, in faith, as an atoning Saviour. BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. They had been very wonderful years. Ephesians 1:15-23. The eyes of the pure angels were riveted on that spot. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature." There are two senses in which the term "spiritual" may be understood, as descriptive of the nature of the blessing. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." )LinksEphesians 1:3 NIVEphesians 1:3 NLTEphesians 1:3 ESVEphesians 1:3 NASBEphesians 1:3 KJVEphesians 1:3 Bible AppsEphesians 1:3 ParallelEphesians 1:3 Biblia ParalelaEphesians 1:3 Chinese BibleEphesians 1:3 French BibleEphesians 1:3 German BibleEphesians 1:3 CommentariesBible Hub, (2)evil things warded off;(3)election, predestination, etc.9. And so God gives them all, and with a right royally liberal hand.(H. All our glories are concentrated there.(W. A. But the heavenlies now are not, any more than the heavenlies before the Fall, secure from the invasion of the spoiler and the foe.APPLICATION: 1. It is the part of the Father to receive the highest and ultimate glory of the plan.II. LEGAL. )Spiritual blessings from the FatherW. It is His prerogative to provide the means.3. Whatever perfection of righteousness, whatever depth of peace, whatever intensity of joy, whatever fulness of Divine knowledge reveal the power of the Spirit of God in the spiritual life of man, "every spiritual blessing" has been made ours in Christ.3. A. But God above is the God and Father of Jesus Christ. In that family, and in a somewhat wider circle, it has become a maxim repeated in trying times, "Let's count our blessings. It may either be taken as referring to that department of our being which is undoubtedly chiefly affected by the blessings of salvation, namely, our spirit or soul; or it may be taken as referring to the source or origin of these blessings, namely, that Holy Spirit of God, who takes of the things that are Christ's, and bestows them on us. And so God gives them all, and with a right royally liberal hand.(H. With interest wound up to the highest pitch, they watched the experiment of the garden. You are accepted in the Beloved.4. Alves, M. A.The expression "with all spiritual blessings" would be better translated "with all spiritual blessing" — this word being in the singular in the original. The elect are those who are "in Christ"; being in Him they enter into the possession of those eternal blessings which before the foundation of the world it was God's purpose to confer upon all Christians. Our Heavenly Father's blessings in Christ Jesus will never wither, nor leave us. Has Christ a "glorious body"? As little do I take away of my great sea, the boundless love of Christ. Our earthly blessings are but the shadows of blessings. This is the pleroma, the inexhaustible reservoir which no giving doth impoverish. The Divine mind in eternity made the destiny one.II. Paul writes to his Colossian brethren, "Ye are complete in Him. We come to be blessed in and through Christ our Lord. He impress on us the fact, that the blessings of this great redemption cannot be enjoyed as the reward of human merit.3.