Ephesians 1:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Behold, He is the God of Him who became incarnate, or, in another sense, the Father of God the Word.

"Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." The Apostle here alludes to the blessing of the Jews, for that too was a blessing, but not a spiritual one. What, then, was said to them? "God will bless you. He will bless the fruit of your womb" (Deut 7:13), and He will bless your coming in and your going out.

Here it is not so. How, then? "With every spiritual blessing." What else do you lack? You have become immortal, free, a son, righteous, a brother, a co-heir. You will reign with Him and be glorified with Him. Everything has been granted to you. "How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?" (Rom 8:32).

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Behold, He is both God and Father of one and the same Christ: God of Him as incarnate, and Father of Him as God the Word.

"Who has blessed us in Christ Jesus with every spiritual blessing."

In contrast to the Jewish blessing, he called this one spiritual. For that blessing was more bodily. It is said, "God will bless the fruit of your womb" (Deut 7:13), and He will bless your coming in and your going out.

Here, however, every blessing is spiritual, and we lack nothing. For we have become immortal, sons of God, and co-heirs of Christ. Our firstfruits receive worship from the powers above.

Therefore he rightly said, "with every blessing," because everything divine and spiritual has been granted to us.

Blessed is our Father, the Father of our Lord. He is called our Father because by grace He calls us to adoption by Him. He is the Father of our Lord according to essence, not by adoption, and by nature, not by grace. By the words "Father of our Lord," he indicates the distinction between the Son and the flesh. When he said "Father of our Lord," he indicated that he spoke of the Son. When he writes "God of our Lord," he shows that the discourse concerns His humanity. He says that He blessed us not with the earthly blessing of the Law, but with every blessing of the Spirit in the heavenly places in Christ.

These words can be read in two ways. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" may mean, "Blessed be God, who is the Creator of absolutely all things." Then the sentence is divided, and the thought is added: "who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Or the sentence may be read so that the words "God" and "Father" are both referred to our Lord: "Blessed be the God of Him who assumed the form of man, and the Father of Him who in the beginning was with God as God the Word."

This does not mean that the assumed man was one thing, and the Word who assumed him another. It means that one and the same Person is spoken of, according to circumstance, sometimes in an exalted sense and sometimes in a humble one.

"With every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places."

Paul speaks not of an earthly blessing, but of a heavenly one. It is not passing, but eternal, for the glory of Christians is not on earth but in heaven, and it is in Christ. Every gift of God's grace is in Christ.

Let everyone know this: if he rejects Christ and thinks that God blesses him, he is mistaken.

God is blessed in one way, and men are blessed in another. Though the blessing has one name, it must be understood according to what is fitting.

For it is said that God acts and that men act. But God acts by His will alone, while men act by hand, effort, labor, and sweat.

Thus God is blessed when He is magnified with worthy praises. But God blesses men by pouring upon them the gift of His mercy, not for their merits, but according to His compassion.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is evident that He is our God, but the Father of our Lord. We noted this also in the interpretation of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

"Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." For He has imparted to us the gifts of the divine Spirit. He has given the hope of resurrection, the promises of immortality, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the dignity of adoption.

These are what the Apostle called spiritual blessings. He added, "in the heavenly places," because all these are heavenly gifts.

Since the blessedness of God is manifested in spiritual and heavenly works, the perfect blessing of the saints should not be sought among earthly and bodily things.

"Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." In blessing or glorifying God, the Apostle also points to the reason for this in the blessing that He gives to men. But contrary to the opinion customary among the Jews, he notes that this blessing is spiritual. It is imparted by the Holy Spirit and corresponds to progress in spiritual life. It concerns not earthly things and goods, but the Kingdom of Heaven. Finally, it is given not through Moses, nor through the Law or circumcision, but through Christ, through whom blessing was promised to all nations (Gen 22:18).

After the inscription and greeting (Eph 1:1-2) comes the dogmatic part. First, the dogmatic part: a general survey of the divine economy of salvation (Eph 1:3-19). Having offered doxology to "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places," the holy Apostle Paul considers "our election in Him," that is, in Jesus Christ, "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4). This means our calling to Christianity.

After the greeting, the Apostle offers thanksgiving to God for the great and inexpressibly beneficent work of salvation for men. It was predestined from of old and accomplished by Jesus Christ.

In this the fullness of God's love was manifested, which is grasped through our perfection in love. That love must be holy and blameless.

Explaining the greatness of the gift of salvation, which the Apostle calls God's "every blessing," blessed Jerome writes: "God blessed us not with one blessing, but with every blessing. This does not mean that all received everything. Rather, when each has one or several of all, all of us possess everything in parts." The gifts of the Holy Spirit are meant.

Blessed be God! He begins with praise of God from the fullness of grateful feeling for the great work of salvation, whose power he felt and whose greatness he embraced in mental contemplation. The greatness of the benefits raised him to a sense of the greatness of God the Benefactor. This drew from his heart the cry of praise to God. He began with the blessing of God, and all the following discourse rests upon it, developing and defining it. The holy Apostle sees the great work of salvation already active in men through the preaching of the Gospel and the grace of the Holy Spirit. The vision of this lifts up his spirit. He outlines everything contemplated by the mind in inspired speech, briefly yet comprehensively. Is there in Scripture another passage so brief and so comprehensive? The eighteen verses of the Gospel of John the Theologian are somewhat similar to it. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God and Father is a majestic expression, found not only in Saint Paul but also in the other Apostles (Rom 15:6; 1 Cor 15:24; 2 Cor 1:3; Col 1:3; Jas 1:27; Jas 3:9; 1 Pet 1:3). But what is the thought? Some say: He is our God and the God of every creature, and the Father of our Lord. Thus Blessed Theodoret says: “It is clear that He is our God, but the Father of our Lord.” Others refer both God and Father to the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that He is His God according to humanity and His Father according to divinity. Thus Blessed Theophylact says: “Behold, He is both God and Father of one and the same Christ: God, since He became incarnate; Father, since He is God the Word.” Blessed Jerome says that both understandings of these words may be accepted. “It may be read in two ways: Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or thus: blessed be God, Who is the Creator of all things, with the addition: Who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Or thus, so that both God and Father are referred to our Lord. Blessed be the God of the man assumed in the Incarnation, and the Father of the incarnate God the Word, Who was in the beginning with God. This is not because the assumed man is one person and the Word Who assumed him is another. Rather, one and the same, according to the distinction of natures, is named now by exalted names and now by humble names.” Since it is not foreign to the dogmas of faith to confess God the Father as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His humanity. One need not insist on the first understanding of this passage or of all similar passages noted above. Below, in Eph 1:17, Saint Paul directs his prayer directly to the God of our Lord, the Father of glory. The Lord Himself, in His word to Mary Magdalene, confessed God the Father as His God, saying: “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God” (Jn 20:17). Only one caution must be observed here, following the guidance of Blessed Jerome: we must not divide the Persons, but confess one and the same Lord Jesus, for Whom alone God the Father is both God and Father. It was fitting for the holy Apostle, blessing God for the greatness and abundance of graces, to use such a turn of speech. For the real source of them all is this: God the Father was well pleased, and God the Son consented to be incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Ever-Virgin Mary. God is the Lord, and He has appeared to us. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord! Who has blessed us. The Apostle’s gaze rests upon what already truly is. He does not point to God’s general goodness, but to a definite great work of His goodness. In it God has blessed us by the work of our redemption, already completed in Jesus Christ the Lord. With Him He has already raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6). With every blessing. Here are meant abundance, greatness, and immutability of blessings. Everything given to us by the Incarnation of God the Word, by His death, Resurrection, and Ascension, and by the descent of the Holy Spirit, Who acts in those who believe, is included. These are forgiveness of sins, sanctification by grace, sonship to God, the eternal inheritance, and the summit of all, receiving and containing God within oneself. “What do you still lack?” Saint Chrysostom cries. “You have become immortal, free, a son, a brother, a coheir. You will reign with the Lord and be glorified with Him. Since He Himself has been given to you, all things have been given to you in Him. ‘How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?’ (Rom 8:32).” “He has communicated to us the gifts of the Divine Spirit, given the hope of Resurrection, the promise of immortality, promised the Kingdom of Heaven, and the dignity of adoption” (Blessed Theodoret). God has blessed us with every blessing, and thus we ourselves have become blessed. This is not an imputed blessing, but one received, just as by received goodness we are good, and by received holiness we are holy. Blessed Jerome writes: “By nature and essentially God alone is good, but through communion with Him He also makes us good. In the same way He makes us holy, and therefore says to Israel: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’ (Lev 20:7). So also, being Himself blessed, He makes us blessed. The Lawgiver gives blessing, and ‘the blessing of the Lord rests on the head of the righteous’ (Prov 10:6). He blessed us not with one blessing, but with every blessing. This does not mean that everyone received absolutely everything. Rather, when each has one or several from the whole, all of us together possess the whole in parts.” He has blessed us with a spiritual blessing. Having enumerated, as cited above, the benefits granted to us in the Lord, Saint Chrysostom concludes: “There is not a word here about bodily things. The Savior Himself said, ‘In the world you will have tribulation’ (Jn 16:33), in order to turn away every thought of bodily things and direct all our attention to spiritual things. Those attached to bodily things cannot even hear of spiritual things. And one who seeks spiritual things cannot receive them unless he first leaves bodily things.” It cannot be affirmed that Saint Paul had in mind here to oppose the Christian spiritual blessing to the Jewish fleshly blessing. Yet the expression may lead the reader to this thought. Saint Chrysostom says: “The Apostle here alludes to the blessing of the Jews, for they too received blessing, but not a spiritual one. What indeed was said to them? ‘God will bless you and bless the fruit of your womb’ (Deut 7:13), and He will bless your going in and your going out.” In the heavenly places. “As though explaining how our blessing is spiritual, he says: in the heavenly places. The blessing of the Jews was earthly, and therefore bodily” (Blessed Theophylact). He speaks thus to show that we are blessed “not with a worldly blessing, but with a heavenly one; not with a corruptible blessing, but with an eternal one. For the glory of Christians is not on earth but in heaven and in Christ, as the Lord says: ‘Where I am, there shall My servant be also’ (Jn 12:26)” (Ambrosiaster). “In the heavenly places,” says Saint Chrysostom, “means that the blessings given to us are not earthly, as they were for the Jews. They were promised that they would eat the good things of the land, inherit a land flowing with milk and honey, and that God would bless their land (Ps 127; Ex 33; Num 13; Num 14; Deut 11; Deut 27; Deut 31). Here nothing of the kind is promised. What, then, is promised? ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word... and My Father and I will come to him and make Our abode with him’ (Jn 14:23). Again: ‘Everyone who confesses Me before men, I also will confess before My Father Who is in heaven’ (Mt 10:32). Elsewhere: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven... Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God... Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ (Mt 5:3-10). Do you see? Everywhere there is heaven, and nowhere a word about the earth or earthly things. Therefore it is said: ‘Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we await our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Phil 3:20). And again: ‘Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth’ (Col 3:2).” Some interpreters give the words “in the heavenly places” this meaning: in the heavens, before there was earth or any creature, in the pre-eternal counsel of God. But, as was deliberately noted above, the Apostle here thanks God for what he saw already truly accomplished in Christ Jesus. He speaks of the pre-eternal decisions of God’s counsel in the following two or three verses. Our holy interpreters, as their words cited above show, see in this phrase only an explanation of spiritual blessing. According to their thought, “in the heavenly places” means the same as heavenly. The beginning of the blessing comes from heaven, and there it receives its final completion. Blessed Theodoret, having enumerated God’s blessings to us in the Lord, says: “These are what the Apostle called spiritual blessings, and he added ‘in the heavenly places,’ because all these are heavenly gifts.” Blessed Jerome writes: “We have been blessed not with earthly blessings, but with spiritual ones. There are also earthly blessings, such as having children, abounding in wealth, being held in honor, and enjoying health. Earthly blessing extends even to animals. Of them too it is said: ‘The Lord blessed them and said: increase and multiply’ (Gen 1:22). But spiritual blessings are in the heavenly places, because the earth is not capable of containing spiritual blessing. Even those blessings promised in the Law to those who keep the commandments (Lev 26; Deut 28) we do not see fulfilled in the prophets, who ‘went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, tormented... wandering in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth’ (Heb 11:37-38). Thus all must be understood spiritually, and the spiritual must be sought not in earthly places, but in the heavenly places. The question is asked: how, while we are still on earth, has He blessed us with a heavenly blessing? We are called blessed with a heavenly blessing either because our citizenship is in heaven, and we are not of this world, but, having put off the image of the earthly. We bear the image of the heavenly, and no longer live according to the flesh but according to the spirit, storing up treasure in heaven, where we also have our heart. Or it is because every heavenly blessing, though it takes place or is received on earth, is sent from heaven.” He has blessed us in Christ. This word shows that the grateful and doxological cry burst from the heart after beholding all that the Lord has accomplished and prepared for believers. But only in this is truth and life. Outside it there is delusion and destruction. Whatever descends from God to us descends through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our ascent to God is possible by no other way than through the same Lord. “Every gift of God’s grace is in Christ. Whoever despises Christ and thinks he is blessed by God should know that he is deceived” (Ambrosiaster). Saint Chrysostom here draws an inference concerning the superiority of the New Testament over the Old. “In Christ means through Christ Jesus, and not through Moses, is this blessing given. Therefore we surpass the Jews not only in the quality of the blessing, but also in its mediator. Moses is a servant; Christ is the Son (Heb 3:5-6).” Let everyone hold in mind and heart that Christ the Lord is the only mediator through Whom every blessing of God descends upon us. Every spiritual gift is given to us through Christ and for the sake of Christ. Conversely, Christ is the mediator through Whom all our thanksgiving and praise of God must ascend to God. As God blesses us through Him and in Him, and gives all spiritual gifts, so we through Him, in Him, and with Him will thank, glorify, and bless God, Who abundantly graces us. As God gives us nothing apart from Christ the Lord, so He accepts nothing from us if we offer it apart from Him.