Monday, June 30, 2008
Ephesians 1:3 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,
FULL OF GIFTS: FROM THE BLESSED
The Apostle Paul uses the root word "bless" three different times in this one verse and each time in a distinct manner. The first and most difficult manner in which he uses it is when he uses it to praise God the Father. It is relatively easy to understand the concept of a blessing when it pertains to us. For a man, to be blessed is to receive a good gift, usually one that is a long term thing. When we say that a man is blessed, we usually mean that his is a life full of good things that have been with him most of his life, or will be with him for most of his life. This concept becomes very difficult to apply to God who is, after all, the owner and source of all things. He can no more receive a gift from anyone than He can lie or cease being good.
If we start with the normal usage of the root word however, we might very well conclude that in general Paul is saying that God is full of all good things. This would certainly fit into the theme of Ephesians which stresses the fullness of Christ.
Beyond that, we can also recognize that whereas the word usually means good things, the original Greek word might also be translated "good words" or "praise." In this way, Paul is saying that God the Father deserves every good word to be spoken about Him and to Him.
In this way, Paul is acknowledging and admitting exactly what the Lord teaches us to pray in the second petition of His prayer: "Hallowed be Thy Name." This is explained by Luther as "God's name is certainly holy all by itself but we pray in this petition that we also keep it holy." Applied to the first words of Ephesians 1:3, we might say it thus: "God is certainly full of all good things and words all by Himself, but Paul is asking in this verse that we remember to give Him all good praise also among us."
