PRAISE FOR SPIRITUAL RICHES
EPHESIANS 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
Introduction to Verses 3-14
Before we deal in depth with verse 3, we should first look at this enthralling passage as a whole. To do so, let us notice three amazing features about verses 3-14.
First, the most amazing feature of this passage is that in the Greek it is one sentence. How marvelous this is! This passage is not so much a “deliberate statement” as it is a “song of praise,” or what is called a “doxology.” Many Epistles (such as Philippians and I Corinthians) begin with thanksgiving. This one, however, as well as II Corinthians and I Peter, begin with a doxology, and this one is the greatest of all.
It seems that Paul just could not stop once he began praising God for all He has given; he just goes on and on. One writer puts it this way: this passage was written in “a state of controlled ecstasy.”1 And rightly so! After some thirty years of knowing and serving Christ, Paul was truly carried away with these thoughts. Even while under house arrest for the cause of Christ, he just could not stop praising God. Paul pours out his heart in true adoration of God. Commentator William Hendrickson writes:
The sentence . . . rolls on like a snowball tumbling down a hill, picking up volume as it descends. Its . . . words, and the many modifiers which they form, arranged like shingles on a roof or like steps on a stairway, are like prancing steeds pouring forward with impetuous speed.2
To use an Old Testament title, we might observe that if anything could be called “The Psalm of Paul,” it is this passage.
I think it important to interject here that the NIV translation (like most contemporary translations) tries to “fix” the Greek text but succeeds only in butchering it. As we’ll see, Ephesians 1:3-14 is one of the most beautiful passages in the Word of God. I can seldom read it with a dry eye. But frankly, the NIV kills the flow of the passage. In one sentence and with a minimum of words, Paul expresses several of the most profound truths in the Scriptures. The NIV committee, however, thought it would be better to use eight sentences. Two modern translations actually use eighteen sentences.3 In his very important book, Accuracy of Translation, Robert Martin points out the significance of this by writing:
Paul’s primary concern is contained in the words, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ;” everything else in the passage is subordinate to and supportive of this affirmation . . .4
In other words, the passage is purposefully one sentence because the entire sentence presents one main thought, which is first stated in verse 3 and then supported in the rest of the passage. The writer goes on to point out the results of deviating from the Greek:
[But] to the degree that translations move away from treating such complex passages as single grammatical entities (i.e., by breaking them up into separate sentences, thus rendering as coordinate that which is subordinate in the original), to that degree they misrepresent the original and mislead the reader.5
In other words, no longer are the words Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the main point, which is then supported by the rest of the passage. It is simply one thought among many others and is equal to the others. As we’ll see in our next installment, the point of verse 3 is worship, and everything flows from that.
Even worse, the NIV translators left out several words and added several others. As one Greek authority points out, all you have to do is compare the NIV to the Greek Text.6 When you do, you find that out that of the 205 Greek words in this passage, 36 Greek words are ignored and not translated at all. Additionally, 87 of the English words have no true backing from the Greek, nor are they warranted by the context for the sake of clarity. In other words, they are just inserted arbitrarily.7 Can we honestly conclude that all these words are God-breathed? And this passage is only one example of hundreds in the NIV. I have been studying the textual issue for many years, and contrary to its incredible (and unbelievable) popularity, the NIV is just a bad translation.8
We should appreciate these words by R. C. H. Lenski:
Even in our far less flexible English we are not compelled to break [Paul’s sentence] up into several sentences. A spacious and lofty palace is naturally larger than a common dwelling.9
Indeed, there is no compelling reason to break up this sentence. To do so, in fact, is to diminish its point and power greatly. Again, in one beautifully flowing sentence, Paul exalts God for what He has done for man in Christ. As John Calvin writes:
The lofty terms in which he extols the grace of God toward the Ephesians, are intended to rouse their hearts to gratitude, to set them all on flame, to fill them even to overflowing with this thought.10
Indeed, may this be the case as we study this great passage. May it set our hearts aflame with glory to God.
Second, this “song of praise” divides itself into three distinct parts. One writer makes this comment about this passage:
Paul’s mind goes on and on, not because he is thinking in logical stages, but because gift after gift and wonder after wonder from God pass before his eyes.11
While that is true, it should not imply that this passage is just a jumble of words that has no plan. On the contrary, we see in this great doxology three “stanzas:”
• First Stanza (vs. 4?6) – Focuses on God the Father and speaks of past ELECTION.
• Second Stanza (vs. 7?12) – Focuses on God the Son and speaks of present REDEMPTION.
• Third Stanza (vs. 13?14) ? Focuses on God the Holy Spirit and speaks of future INHERITANCE.
As we progress, we will see that each of these stanzas can be separated into specific statements that express Paul’s thoughts.
Third, we also see that each “stanza” demonstrates that specific riches come from each specific member of the Godhead: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It is this truth that we shall examine in chapters that follow.
This prepares us to examine verse 3. This is truly the opening “doxology” of Paul’s “song of praise,” Paul’s “psalm.” It is the first few notes of praise to God for the riches He has given. Let us examine five truths in this verse.
I. The Source Of Riches (“God and Father”)
When we examine this passage, we discover what real riches are, not the pseudo-riches of the world, but the true spiritual riches that God has given. We need to observe two thoughts here.
We Are to Praise God
This is first and foremost. Paul’s opening words are, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As mentioned earlier, this is Paul’s primary concern in this passage (vs. 3-14). Everything else in the passage flows from that premise and supports it. Paul just goes on and on of why God is to be blessed, praised, and worshipped.
The first and most important thought this should impress upon us is that everything begins with God. As mentioned in the “Introduction,” Ephesians presents doctrine for doctrine’s sake; it expresses the basic doctrines of Christianity in language unequalled anywhere else. So where, then, does Paul start? He starts with God.
We cannot emphasize this strongly enough, for it is the very opposite of what we see in the vast majority of the Church today, where everything begins and ends with man. We are totally man centered in our theology, worship, and evangelism. We want to talk about our experience, and our needs instead of who God is and what He alone has done in Christ. But the only way we will ever discover, view, and understand truth is to begin with God. Why is truth relative in our day? Why can men not find answers to life’s questions? Because men do not begin with God. If you start with a subjective premise, you can only arrive at a subjective conclusion. We must start with the absolutes of God and His Word.
To say this in another way, while it’s quite true that Paul lists the riches and blessings that God gives us in Christ, this is only secondary to the fact that he first insists that we begin with God.
We can easily illustrate this by thinking what if we tried to barge into the oval office at the White House insisting that the President hear us and give us what we demand. “After all,” we would argue, “I’m an American; I pay my taxes; I have a right to talk to my president.” Well, assuming we made it past the Secret Service, such an approach would be utterly disrespectful and unconscionable. Yet, that is exactly what we do with God. We barge into His Throne Room and demand blessing. How blasphemous this is! Paul, therefore, insists that we first approach in Him for Who He is.
This leads us to a second thought that should be impressed upon us, namely the importance of doctrine. As Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes:
The most foolish of all Christians are those who dislike and decry the importance of Theology and teaching. Does not that explain why they fail in practice? 12
Why are many Christians weak and shallow? Why do many fall to any new trend that comes along? Why do many fail to discern false teaching? Why do many fail to be consistent and faithful? Why do many fall to temptation? Why do many collapse when someone challenges their faith? Because they do not know doctrine—they are not being taught doctrine by their pastors; they are not being taught that God’s Word alone is Truth. People are being taught that truth is relative and can be found in many other places. And that is why they fail.
As we saw in the “Introduction,” the first half of this Epistle (as most of Paul’s Epistles) deals with doctrine and the second half deals with practice. Why?—because without right doctrine we will not have right practice. No matter what the issue, the question, or the problem, there is a doctrinal principle in God’s Word to answer it. This fact is at the very heart of the doctrine of the Authority and Sufficiency of Scripture. To deny it is to deny it is to deny Scripture Itself.
So Paul begins his doctrinal thesis by extolling God with the words, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He starts with God. There are two words commonly translated blessed in the Greek New Testament.
One such word is makarios, which our Lord used in the Beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-11). Many preachers and teachers come to this word, say it means “happy,” and then just move on, but the word means much more. First, it also speaks of “contentedness.” The idea is an inward contentedness that is not affected by circumstances. This is indeed the kind of happiness and contentedness that God desires for His children—a state of joy and well–being that does not depend upon physical, temporary circumstances (cf. Phil. 4:11–13). Second, it goes still deeper, as Greek scholar Spiros Zodhiates points out, to refer to “possessing the favor of God, that state of being marked by fullness from God.” Third, further still, one who is “blessed” is “one who becomes partaker of God’s nature through faith in Christ (II Pet. 1:4).” Zodhiates really cuts to the heart of it when he writes: Makarios differs from the word “happy” in that the person is happy who has good luck . . . To be makarios, blessed, is equivalent to having God’s Kingdom within one’s heart.” Finally he writes, “Makarios is the one who is in the world yet independent of the world. His satisfaction comes from God and not from favorable circumstances.”13 Understanding this wonderful word will allow us to read the Beatitudes with a whole new understanding. Oh, how all this transcends mere happiness!
In contrast to makarios, however, the word used here is eulogetos, which literally means “to speak well of, worthy of praise.” It is from this word that our English word “eulogize” derives. This is, of course, the common practice of speaking good words about a person at their funeral (whether or not the words are true). But this word, as it is used in the New Testament, is used only of God (Lk. 1:68; Rom. 1:25; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3). Why? Because only God can be “spoken well of, worthy of praise.” There is no reason to eulogize man, for he has nothing good of which to speak. Yes, a man or woman may have been a Christian, lived a holy life, and raised a Godly family, but ultimately the glory, the “eulogy,” belongs to God.
So, in view of Paul’s words, we see that the first priority of the believer is to worship. Oh, may we see this! As the Book of Acts and other references make crystal clear, it is vitally important that we attend God’s house, the local church, but the question arises, “Why do we go?”
In our day, most people go to church for what they can get. This is, in fact, what most so-called church ministry is built on. The very idea of church programs is built on the idea of “giving people a blessing,” “meeting their needs,” and “keeping them entertained.” And the cardinal “sin” in such an approach is preaching doctrine or presenting absolutes. As mentioned in the “Introduction,” many people go to church like they’re looking for a movie—they check out the church page in their newspaper to see what’s playing and go to the church whose program appeals to them. The trend today is to shop for a church to join based on what that church can offer the churchgoer. But if you go to church for what you can get out of the music, or what you can get out of the sermon, or just to “get blessed,” you’ve missed the point. The primary reason for our church attendance is to praise and adore our God. The music and the sermon are not ends in themselves. They are means of worshipping God.
Biblically, we are to go to church to worship God, and that’s done by giving, not getting. We go to offer something to Him, not to receive from Him. Granted, if we offer to Him the praise due His name, we will receive at His hand. There is blessing in giving, for the Lord is quoted as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35b). But our primary motive is to give, not get.
It’s vitally important in our day to reemphasize that Scripture is dominated by the principle of worship, both in the Old Testament and the New.
First, in the Old Testament we see that the First Commandment commands us to worship God and God alone (Ex. 20:2-6). The establishment of the Tabernacle (Ex. 25) was for worship. The encampment around the Tabernacle (Num. 1:52-2:2) was designed to facilitate worship. The example of the Seraphim (Is. 6:1-2) is one of the most beautiful and powerful pictures of worship in Scripture. The many exhortations of the Psalmist make worship the central function of God’s people. Just one example is Ps. 95:6-7a: “Oh, come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our maker. For He is our God.” This is not the attitude in most contemporary worship services. With hands raised high, the catch phrase of most “worship leaders” is, “I’m going to lead you into God’s presence.” Such attitudes should frighten us, for even if such words are said with the purest of motives, the concept is still flawed. Many have the wrong method of worship because they don’t know who God is.
Second, the New Testament is just as strong in its emphasis on worship. The Magi came for the express purpose to worship (Matthew 2:2). Satan’s ultimate attack on our Lord was a matter of the object of worship, to whom our Lord answered, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve” (Matthew 4:8-10). John 4:20-24 is perhaps the most important New Testament passage on worship, where the word “worship” is mentioned 10 times showing its priority and proper manner. Additionally, there are many other challenges to proper worship (Acts 17:23; Phil. 3:3; Heb. 1:6; I Peter 2:5; Rev. 4:10-11).
I am reminded often of A. W. Tozer, who in his day, over 40 years ago, wrote much about worship and its demise. In words that could have been penned today, he wrote, for example:
Within the last quarter of a century we have actually seen a major shift in the beliefs and practices of the evangelical wing of the church so radical as to amount to a complete sellout; and all this behind the cloak of fervent orthodoxy. With Bibles under their arms and bundles of tracts in their pockets, religious persons now meet to carry on “services” so carnal, so pagan, that they can hardly be distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher or a writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every quarter.14
Indeed, with today’s emphasis on drama, comedy, and other entertainment, “old vaudeville shows” is an accurate summary. People today want entertainment instead of truth. Elsewhere Tozer writes:
I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven.15
You know, the church started out with a Bible, then it got a hymnbook, and for years that was it—a Bible and a hymnbook. The average church now certainly wouldn’t be able to operate on just a hymnbook and the Bible. Now we have to have all kinds of truck. A lot of people couldn’t serve God at all without at least a vanload of equipment to keep them happy.16
Yes, today we need multimedia presentations, slideshows, live bands, and much more to “minister to people’s needs.” But may we ask ourselves, What is heaven going to be like? Well, not one of the Biblical descriptions implies that we are going to be entertained throughout eternity. Heaven will be a place of worship—and many today are not preparing.
Each of us needs to ask ourselves, Do I worship when I go to church? Is that what’s in my mind? Do I prepare my heart for worship? Am I eager to worship God?
God Is The Source Of All We Possess
After stating how we are to bless God, Paul then declares that God is He who hath blessed us.
As we pointed out earlier, God is the only one who is to be blessed. The previous usage of the Greek word is in the adjective form. Here, however, the same basic word is used but in the verbal form; that is, God is doing the action of blessing. The contrast is this: Our blessing is in word; His blessing is in deed. All we can do is say the words, but look at the ways he has blessed us. As one expositor puts it: “In word and thought we bless God because in deed and positive effect He blesses us.”17 Not only do we praise God, but the reason we praise Him is because He blesses us; He benefits us; He heaps upon us spiritual blessing. This leads us to the second truth of verse 3.
II. The Recipients Of Riches (“Us”)
Who does Paul mean here by saying us? Does he mean the whole world? No, because not all the world is spiritually blessed. Does he mean the nations of the world? No, this can’t be for the same reason. Does he mean the Gentiles, in contrast to the Jews? No, because the word us would also include him, who was a Jew.
The answer is obvious by the context. Us refers back to the true believers in verse 1, “the saints . . . in Christ Jesus.” All true believers are, indeed, the recipients of all God has given. Us pictures all believers everywhere: Paul himself, those in Ephesus, those in all Asia Minor, and those in every corner of the Earth.
Also notice that Paul says that God hath blessed us. This is actually in the Aorist Tense in the Greek, that is, a past action. Paul is not speaking of something that is possible or something that is future. Rather he speaks of what has already happened. Harry Ironside, who came out of the holiness movement with its teaching about a so-called “second-blessing” and the eradication of the sin nature, recounts this:
People often ask me if I have obtained the second blessing yet, and I generally say, “Second blessing? Why, I am somewhere up in the hundreds of thousands as far as that goes, if you refer to experience; but actually I obtained every blessing that God has for a redeemed sinner when I put my trust in Jesus Christ.” He does not give us a little now and a little later, but gives us everything in Christ. It is all yours. Enter into it and enjoy it.18
What a truth! We have all God’s spiritual blessings right now!
Meditate a moment on that marvelous verse in James: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (1:17). Here again is the truth that God is the source of all we possess. But going deeper into that verse we find that the first phrase literally reads “every good giving”, that is, every act of giving. Therefore, not only is every gift good, but the way God gives it is equally good. Is it not true that the value and meaning of a gift can be increased or lessened by the way it is given? For example, does it not mean more to you when someone gives you a gift spontaneously than if they give you a gift out of obligation?
This is exactly the picture of God’s giving to us. God did not have to give us anything; He was not under any obligation to redeem us or show any mercy toward us. Think again of the prevalence of “grace” in Ephesians. Not only are God’s gifts good, but the way He gives them is equally good for they are given through grace.
III. The Content Of Riches (“Spiritual”)
Think a moment what the world considers to be riches: oil wells, real estate, diamonds, gold, silver, stocks, bonds, and the like. Now, there is certainly nothing wrong with these in themselves, but when they become our priority, our source of riches, then we have a problem. Why? Because these are not real riches; they are “artificial” riches or substitute riches. Man is in need of riches, but he rejects true riches and substitutes these false riches.
How tragic it is that many Christians today have gotten caught up in this philosophy. Many have gotten caught up in all sorts of “prosperity teaching,” the latest version of which is, as one author calls it in the title of his book, “The Cult of Jabez.” In very strong but no less true words, that author exposes the popular book, The Prayer of Jabez, as “the most mesmerizing deception to be launched on American Christianity in the modern era.”19 Why? Because, as the author of another exposé writes, the basic, underlying error of the book is “that the repetition of a prayer, any prayer, even a Biblical prayer, unlocks the power of God in our lives.”20 The whole thrust of the book is that by repeating this obscure Old Testament prayer (a clear violation of the prohibition of “vain repletion” in Matt. 6:8), the Christian can unlock blessing and miracles. All it boils down to be is old prosperity teaching in a new wrapper, and to be blunt once more, it’s heresy plain and simple. This is, indeed, the philosophy of the day: God is at our disposal, at our beckoning call, to give us whatever we want.
On the contrary, in all their efforts to “get blessed,” such people ignore the declaration of our text that true riches are spiritual. The word spiritual is pneumatikos, which is the word used to describe the work of the Holy Spirit. This word is used in speaking of “spiritual gifts,” that is, gifts which come from the Spirit (Rom. 1:11; I Cor. 12:1; etc.). This is also used in reference to “spiritual men”, that is, men who are controlled by the Spirit (I Cor. 2:13—literal translation of “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” is “explaining spiritual things to spiritual men”—and 15). Therefore, since these blessings are connected with the Holy Spirit, they are spiritual in nature and content.
How many spiritual blessings are there? When we look at verse 3, we might be inclined to think that it merely introduces the set number of blessings listed in verses 4-14. But it goes far deeper than this. The word blessings is actually singular in the Greek (“with every spiritual blessing”). So, it’s not so much that God gives many riches (though this is how it appears to us); rather, He gives true wealth, one continuous flow of blessing and wealth. We all know the hymn that admonishes us to, ”Count your many blessings; name them one by one.” While we certainly do that, may we also see the greater picture; may we not only see the individual blessings, but may we recognize the one continuous flow of wealth that comes from God.
As we look at the individual riches in verses 4-14, may we think of them as this continuous flow. While we will deal with them in much more detail as we continue, it would be of value to look at them now as a group. What is our spiritual [wealth]? Let’s look briefly at eight aspects our wealth in verses 4-14.
First, our wealth is in God’s Election. Verse 4 declares:
According as [God the Father] hath chosen us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
Here is a doctrine that causes all kinds of troubles, but that’s the last thing it should do. It is actually one of the most soothing doctrines of the Bible. The Greek for “chosen” is a wonderful word, indeed; it is eklego, which means “to pick or choose out for one’s self.” It is also in the Aorist (past) Tense, yielding the idea “once for all.” The full meaning in this verse is that we have been chosen once-for-all out of the world to be God’s own as His special treasure. And why has He chosen us? So we can be holy. It is God’s election of us that is the beginning of our salvation. As the prophet Jonah declares, “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). From beginning to end, salvation is the work of God, and that work begins with Him electing us in Christ before He even created the building blocks of the universe.
Second, our wealth is in God’s Predestination. Flowing from verse 4, verses 5 declares: “Having predestinated us.” This word has probably caused more trouble than the word election. But the word is actually a very simple one. The Greek proorizo, which simply means “to designate before.” The real depth of it in the fact that it’s a compound word. Pro, of course, means “beforehand,” but horizo speaks of a “boundary or limit,” and is actually where our English word “horizon” comes from. So, just as the horizon marks a limit between what we can and can’t see, God has placed us within a certain limit, a certain “horizon.” He has put us in a place where we can see and comprehend many things but where many other things are hidden from our sight and comprehension, many things that are beyond our horizon. Further, even if we walk closer to the horizon, discovering new things as we go, a new horizon appears before us. This word graphically demonstrates that God has marked out something for each of His elect; He has marked out a destiny. Much of this destiny is hidden from us; it is beyond the horizon. But, praise be to God, he reveals more of it with each new step we take towards it, but the horizon is still ahead. What a wonderful God we worship!
This thought leads directly to a third aspect of our wealth.
Third, our wealth is in God’s Adoption. Verses 5 and 6 declare:
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
What is one aspect of our destiny? Adoption. Adoption in our Western culture means that we take an orphaned child and make him or her our own. In Eastern culture, however, it went much deeper. It literally meant “son-placing.” There was a public ceremony during the teenage years that declared a child to be an official member of the family. After this “son-placing,” he had full privileges and responsibilities. With this ceremony came a change in position; he was no longer a child, he was a son. Therefore, as adopted children, all believers have blessings, privileges, and responsibilities that only come by sonship. As we’ll see, the philosophy today that says, “All people are God’s children,” is a lie. Only those who are “in Christ” are God’s adopted children.
Fourth, our wealth is in God’s Redemption. Verse 7 tells us: “In whom we have redemption through his blood.” What a word this is! It is in this word our salvation lies. The Greek here is apolutrosis. The root lutroo means “to release on receipt of a ransom.” The prefix apo means “from,” which intensifies lutroo. One Greek authority tells us that this expresses the completeness of our redemption and is one that keeps us from further bondage in the future.21
In our day we don’t readily understand the full force of the word redemption as did Paul’s readers. When he uttered this word, they knew exactly what he was talking about, for this word was rooted in Greek and Roman culture. In New Testament times, there were approximately six million slaves. Slave-trading was a major business and was an accepted part of society. It was very common, in fact, for a person to have a relative or friend that had been sold into slavery. A slave could be freed only if someone paid the purchase price and then declared them free. There was no way the slave could redeem himself. In the watered down “Gospel” of our day, we have blurred the idea of redemption because we do not view sin properly. Sin is slavery and we cannot redeem ourselves by works; God must intervene and pay the ransom price. Our dear Savior did not merely “rescue” us as liberal theology says, that is, rescue us from ignorance, superstition, social backwardness, or a low self-esteem. Rather He redeemed us. He bought us. We belong to Him.
Fifth, our wealth is in God’s Forgivenss. Verse 7 also tells us that we have “the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” The Greek word Paul uses here (aphesis) literally means “release, pardon, or cancellation.” While redemption means to be free from sin’s power and dominion, forgiveness means that God has pardoned us and wiped the slate clean. The past is now of no consequence. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12). And all this He has done by grace alone. What great wealth this is, indeed!
Sixth, our wealth is in God’s Revelation. Verses 8-10 declare:
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.
We will fully develop these verses, but in short, part of our wealth is in the fact that God will reveal to us what He is doing in the world, what He will ultimately do in history. How valuable that is!
Seventh, our wealth is in God’s Inheritance. Verses 11-12 proclaim:
In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
We on earth are often so concerned about an earthly inheritance or getting our share of an estate that we forget that our real inheritance comes in Christ. As Romans 8:17 tells us, we are “joint-heirs with Christ.” He is the heir of the whole universe, and we are predestined to be joint-heirs with Him, all by God’s sovereign will and for His infinite glory.
Eighth, and finally, our wealth is in God’s Sealing. Verses 13-14 close Paul’s doxology:
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
As we will examine, the imagery of the ancient custom of sealing, that is, “marking with a seal,” as with a signet ring, for example, pictured four things: Acquisition, Absolute Ownership, Authenticity, and Assurance. The significance is that Christ acquired us, He owns us, He has put His unmistakable mark upon us, and we are safe in Him.
Oh, what wealth we have in Christ!
IV. The Location of Riches (“In the heavenlies”)
Here is the first of five occurrences of the term in the heavenlies (literal translation). We discussed this in our “Introduction And Overview,” and what a beautiful term it is. Harry Ironside was so struck by it that he titled his exposition of Ephesians, In the Heavenlies.
The meaning of this term is obvious. Many Greek authorities agree that this term here refers to “the abode of God.”22 So, then, where are these spiritual blessings? They come from heaven. Why? Because they come from God Who is the source and Who dwells in heaven.
But what is the significance of all this right now? There are at least two present applications.
First, many spiritual riches that are found in heaven, have been given to us here and now.
One example is that we have been adopted into God’s family (v. 6). God is the Father, He is in heaven, and our family membership is, therefore, in heaven. But also notice 2:6: “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together [in the heavenlies] in Christ Jesus.” So, the truth is that even though we are physically situated on earth, we are still spiritually seated in heaven.
Another example is that we presently have redemption through Christ’s blood (v. 7). But where did that redemption originate? From the plan of God in eternity past.
One other example is that God predetermined our future inheritance, but much of that has been given in the present: the peace of God (Phil. 4:7); strength and power for successful living (Phil. 4:13); daily provision for physical needs (Phil. 4:19); and many others.
Second, we are to live for that which is heavenly, not earthly. Since God has heaped upon us “spiritual blessings in the heavenlies,” we should now live according to these. There is nothing wrong with possessions, but we must not “live to have things;” we must not be shackled by debt; we must not be “married to a job.”
Peter exhorts in I Peter 2:11: “Dearly beloved, I beseech you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” Tragically, many Christians today act like earth is their home. But Peter declares that we are pilgrims who are just passing through this world on our way to heaven. We see this vividly in the nation of Israel. God promised them a land, and they, therefore, were (and are today) strangers anywhere else. Likewise, the believer belongs nowhere else but heaven. Our true citizenship is in heaven. All that we do on earth is to prepare us for heaven. May the words of Paul in Colossians 3:2 ever ring in our ears: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”
V. The Means Of Bestowing Riches (“In Christ”)
Up to this point we have seen that God gives riches and wealth, which are found in the heavenlies, to believers right now through the Holy Spirit. But all this is still not enough, for without Christ as the means of bestowing, these riches cannot possibly be ours. The riches of verses 4?14 are not to be found in the Old Testament. Why? Because only in Christ can riches be found. It’s true that all men enjoy God’s blessings to a limited extent, what theologians call “common grace.” For example, God “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). But only to the believer does He bestow His special grace and spiritual riches.
Oh, how hard men try to be rich, but the best they will ever do is produce “counterfeit riches.” And, to take the analogy one step further, as one who produces counterfeit currency will get caught and go to jail, those who are not in Christ will end up in hell; their counterfeit riches will lead them to destruction.
As I share this truth, I am reminded of the terrorists who, on September 11, 2001, flew airplanes into The World Trade Center and the Pentagon. They were told a lie that by doing so they would receive 72 virgins and unimaginable spiritual blessings. Without doubt they soon realized the error. Many others in the world believe and teach that there are “many ways to God” and many ways to “be spiritual.” A common phrase is, “I’m not really religious, but I feel like I’m spiritual.” What a tragic deception! The Biblical truth is that that spiritual riches, and spirituality itself, are found and bestowed only in Christ.
As we close this study, may we point out one other truth. No other book in the Word of God is as permeated by the doctrine of the Trinity as is Ephesians. As we mentioned earlier, we see this clearly illustrated in verses 4?14. But the Trinity of God is also clearly in view in verse 3 alone: Riches are bestowed by the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit, on the merits of Jesus Christ. Oh, what riches, what wealth, we have in Christ!
NOTES
1 J. C. Kirby, Ephesians, Baptism and Pentecost (London: SPCK, 1968), p. 128. Cited in Wood, p, 23.
2 Hendrickson, p. 72.
3 Tragically, only four English translations retain the one sentence structure of the Greek (American Standard Version [1901], Darby’s translation, Wuest’s Expanded Translation, and Young’s Literal Translation). The number of sentences in other translations is as follows: King James Version and New King James (3); New American Standard Bible (4); Revised Standard Version and NRSV (6); Contemporary English Version (14); J. B. Phillips Translation (9); Good News Bible and New Living Translation (15); New Century Version and God’s Word Translation (18).
4 Robert Martin, Accuracy of Translation (Carlisle: PA, Banner of Truth, 1989), p. 19.
5 Ibid.
6 Even the Nestle text, which is based on the Critical Text, and which is the foundation of almost all modern translations.
7 Unholy Hands on the Bible, Vol. II (Lafayette: IN, Sovereign Grace Trust Fund, 1992), p. 224. May we also interject that the 205-word count is what appears in Scrivener’s 1894 NT. 203 words appear in the Byzantine Majority Text and 201 appear in the Westcott and Hort Critical Text.
8 We are aware of the controversy on Bible translations and the textual issue, but any honest reviewer has no alternative but to recognize that the NIV’s use of “dynamic equivalency” is simply bad translation technique. The reader is urged to consider Robert Martin’s excellent book Accuracy of Translation (Carlisle: PA, Banner of Truth, 1989). It’s very important to point out that the author is not of the so-called “King James Only” position; rather he does an objective analysis of the inferior method used by the NIV translators.
9 Lenski, p. 365.
10 Commentaries.
11 Barkley.
12 Lloyd-Jones, Vol. VI, Life in the Spirit, pp. 142-143.
13 Word Study Dictionary, p. 937
14 Of God and Men, pp. 17-18.
15 Whatever Happened to Worship?, p. 13.
16 The Tozer Pulpit, I.2.40.
17 Expositor’s Greek New Testament.
18 Ironside, p. 20.
19 Steve Hopkins, The Cult of Jabez (Bethal Press, 2002).
20 Gary E. Gilley, “I Just Wanted More Land” —Jabez (Xulon Press, 2001).
21 Richard Trench, Synonymns of Greek New Testament, p. 290.
22 Thayer (p. 247). See also Vine (vol. II, p..209); Kittle (p. 743); Brown (vol. II, p. 196); Wuest (p. 28); etc.