Ephesians 1:1-14
There is an unusual structure in this
passage of scripture. From Verse 3 through Verse 14 in the Greek text (not in
the English) it is written in one complete, unbroken sentence filled with many
descriptive phrases brought in to amplify and enrich it. It's almost as though
Paul is taking a walk through a treasure chamber, like those of the Pharaohs of
Egypt, describing what he sees. He starts out with the most immediate and
evident fact and tells us what that is. Then something else comes into view and
he puts that in. And glory flashes upon glory here until he has this
tremendously complicated sentence which includes vast and almost indescribable
riches.
This is the way God builds truth. One truth
leads into the next and all truth is interrelated somehow, and all truth is
based or centered around God. There is a
rather simplifying division of this passage, however, and that is, that these
blessings gather about the Persons of the Trinity. There is the work of the
Father, the work of the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit: In Verses 3-6 you have the work of the Father: (Ephesians 1:3-6 ) Then, in Verses 7-12, you have that which relates to the Son: (Ephesians 1:7-12 ) Finally, in Verses 13 and 14, you have the work of the Holy Spirit: (Ephesians 1:13-14 )
Remember that these are all available to us in the “heavenly realms” That is not heaven; it does not mean they are only available in heaven when you die. No, "in the heavenly realms" is a reference to the invisible realities of our life now. It reaches on into eternity, yes, but it is something to be experienced now, in the inner life. He is talking about our thought-life, our attitudes, our emotions, our inner life where we live, where we feel conflict and pressure, struggle and disaster. He calls them “spiritual blessings in Christ”…What does that mean?
It is in these areas of our inner life that we are exposed to the attack of the principalities and powers which are mentioned in Chapter 6, those dark spirits in high places who get to us, and depress us, and frighten us, and make us anxious or hostile or angry. It is the realm of conflict, but it is also the realm where God can release us and deliver us, and where the Spirit of God reaches us at the seat of our intellect, our emotions and our will. It is the realm of those deep, surging urges which rise within us and can create either a restlessness or a sense of peace, depending on the source from which they come. So don't read this as though it were something out in heaven somewhere, someday. These blessings that Paul gives us and which we will be looking more closely at, are ours in our inner experience, now, if we are in Jesus Christ…This is the “package” that it all comes in – “Christ”.
If you are not a Christian you cannot possibly claim these benefits. They are not yours, they don't belong to you. You cannot buy them, you cannot discover them. There is no way you can claim them unless you are in Christ. But, if you are "in Christ" there is nothing to keep you from having all of them, every moment of every day. That is why it is so important that we discover what they are.
You see, these are much more than mere doctrinal or mere theological ideas. They are facts, they are foundational truths. And, unless we understand those facts, we can't utilize them, we can't benefit from them. I would even say that these great facts are so revolutionary, so radical, that we hesitate to believe them! And even more-so, we hesitate to apply them to ourselves despite the fact that they are true. The reason we hesitate is that we have such distorted ideas of what these words mean. We think of words like “holy and blameless” and we think that holiness is all about being absolutely sinless and pure…and we don't want to claim that for ourselves. But it is not that at all. Holiness means "wholeness," and wholeness means "to be restored to the originally intended function; to be put to the proper use, that's all. Physical wholeness prevails when the body works the way it was supposed to. When your whole being functions the way it was intended to function, you are holy.
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