Ephesians 1:3-6

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Ephesians 1:3-6

Verse 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” "Praise be to God" means "Blessed God."

It means "blessed is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
This means we are blessed children.
This blessing comes to us through Jesus Christ.
Ephesians begins with a blessing. Curses, destruction, and judgment are nowhere to be found.

"Blessed be the God " (eurogetos) means God who gives blessings.
To whom? To the saints and the faithful in Christ, that is, to those of faith.
If we blessed be a god who has nothing to do with us, it becomes idolatry.
Christianity is the only religion that calls God "Father."
Because Christ, the Son, is our Lord, by receiving his life, God becomes our Father.
The Father is the giver of life.
He gives physical life, He is the father of our flesh. But since He gives spiritual life through Christ, God is the Father of our spirits.
Therefore, we praise this blessed God.

If we are not careful, we can take God's name in vain, adding all sorts of adjectives.
Therefore, it is best to call God "Father."
We are permitted to call God  "Father."
This is an amazing blessing.
Acts 17:29 says, we are the offspring of God,
and James 1:18 says, He begat us  with the word of truth.
And 1 John 3:9 says, Jesus Christ is the seed of God.
Just as the seed of a man named Mr.Kim becomes Mr. Kim, so the seed of God comes within us, allowing us to call God "Abba, Father."
Therefore, the faith itself of calling God "Father" is a blessing.

In the Bible, seemingly insignificant words should be seen as significant.
We can call Jehovah, who sounded so difficult and burdensome to the Hebrews, "Father" (pater).
Isn't God the One who graciously gave the bread of life to the Cannaan woman, who was like a dog lying under the table in Matthew 15?
He is our Father.
Believing in and confessing the blessed God (Euroketos ho Theos) is itself praise.
He is the God who blesses us (ho eurogesas hemas) and makes us a blessing.

Ephesians is a book about the church, and the church has already been blessed.
It is a spiritual blessing that belongs to heaven (en logia pneumatike). In other words, it is a heavenly blessing.
It is a blessing of the spiritual world, a blessing for those who belong to heaven.
If, like some people, you say you want to be blessed and live well, you are already subtly alluding to the blessings under the sun.
Some people repeat what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, "Vanity and vanity," yet they say they are blessed and happy. They say they are blessed and happy and live well not with the blessings of Proverbs, but with things under the sun.
The concept of blessing is ambiguous, leading listeners to distort the meaning of the blessings described in the Bible.

In the Bible, heaven is not a concept of space, but of dimension. Heaven is the antithesis of the earth (the secular world).
So, the Lord Jesus Christ is said to come from heaven.
The Earth is round, so which sky will He come to? Will it be the sky on the Korean side, or the sky on the other side, in South America? He also says He will come at night, but while one side of the Earth is night, the other is day.
Therefore, it's a question of spirit or flesh, not the physical world.

The path to blessing comes through the Word, and this Word is not merely letters or sounds, but the very being of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word (ho logos).
Heaven comes to us through the Holy Spirit according to the Word.
He comes to us as heaven.
The Holy Spirit is one, yet He comes to each person as a spiritual blessing, a rich blessing.
The Spirit of God is "one and two alike", and "one and a hundred million."
Whether He comes in small or large ways, He is always the infinite God.

Verse 4 “According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”

Now, let's explain what spiritual blessings are.
Before the foundation of the world (pro katabores kosmu) does not mean before the Garden of Eden.
The term "before the foundation of the world" is found in Genesis 1.
"Chosen in Christ" means called out and has the same root as "ekklesia" (church).
Verse 4 is the core of predestination.
He has chosen us in Christ.
It means called out.
God first chose Christ, and then chose us in Christ.

People wonder whether their names are in the book of life.
We are saints sanctified by Christ, people of faith in Christ.
Therefore, our individual names are unnecessary.
Jesus Christ alone is sufficient.
We only need to participate in him.
Christ, the collective body of all Christians, is all we need.
Christ himself is the book of life.

The unities of all things refers to us in Christ.
The plural saints in the singular Christ are the heavens, the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, God did not call us out individually,, but He called out all of us who are included in Christ.
Romans 8:1 speaks of this very state.
He chose us in Christ and then created us—before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, one life is more precious than the whole world, because He chose us before the whole world.

"that we should be holy and without blame" means that God does so.
Spiritual blessings are always given through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.
The Holy Spirit is holy and blameless. Salvation is always a present, passitive, ongoing process.
He chose us in Christ to make us from imperfection to perfection.
Ultimate salvation is the Lord's responsibility and the will of God. (Philippians 1:6)

These words, “before him, in love", are our possibilities.
The saints and people of faith in Ephesus are beings judged objectively.
Just as we are commonly called saints in the church.
For example, Noah was blameless in his time. This is the assessment of others.

However, being holy and blameless is a word about the perfect dimension.
God's guarantee for this is before him, in love.
Before him, before his very eyes, he accomplishes his will as Jehovah Jireh.
Therefore, the devil cannot dare to touch it.
God's divine blessing is not, as some Christians claim, "Here it is, take it and eat it as you see fit."
Rather, God creates us in His image.
It is a change of being.
If someone without this blessing possesses a lot of possessions and then uses them all, they become a complete beggar. It is truly vain and in vain.
However, those who are blessed prosper everywhere, like Jacob and Joseph.
Jacob blessed Pharaoh even though he was a beggar, and Joseph prospered even in the Egyptian palace prison.

Verse 5: “Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.”

Predestination means limitation.
It is the predestination to become adopted sons with the privilege of becoming heirs.
In today's Christianity, the idea of inheriting God may seem unrealistic, but it is a remarkable thing.
Look closely at Romans 8.
Through Jesus Christ, we are included in his sons.
This means that the salvation path of Jesus Christ and his inheritance become mine.
Therefore, simply saying we believe in Jesus cannot fully express our faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith in Jesus Christ means believing that in him, we become one with God and inherit Him.
This means that we become one with God in the Holy Spirit and reach His level.

Therefore, we must simply accept this word about Christ (Romans 10:17).
If we are separated from him, we are subject to judgment (John 15).
The fact that our body is one means that even if our body cells, numbering over 60 trillion, were shattered by a bomb, a biopsy would reveal that they are all one.
He predestined us, according to his good pleasure and best will, to become His sons in Christ and inherit him.

Verse 6: "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved."

Praise (eis epainon) is offered to God as a result of salvation.
Therefore, praise is not something we squeeze out, but rather a result of salvation.
Praise be to God for His grace and glory, which He freely bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ, the “beloved,” that is, the one who was loved.
If we think of our fathers as people who only make money, they will always seem worthless.
If we do it wrong, Christianity ends up making God like this.
God the Father should be thankful and grateful not for what we receive from Him, but for the very fact that He is within us.
Therefore, those in Christ cannot help but praise Him.
Therefore, the evidence of salvation is revealed through praise (Revelation 7, 14).
In Revelation 7, 14, and 21, we are not trying to enter, but rather, as new creations born again in Christ through hearing the Word and believing, becoming one with Christ through the Holy Spirit and praising God the Father, we see ourselves within.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.
Translated by  Nancy Chung

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