God Should Be Blessed - 07/28/2024

We often think of the word “blessed” in the context of God doing something for an individual. However, in Paul’s opening comments to the “saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus,” he says God should be blessed for all the things He has done (Ephesians 1:1, 3).

In his opening remarks, Paul is saying these people, collectively known as the church, should be thanking God for all the “spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ.” Paul enumerates several things God has done for this church, which was purchased with the blood of Jesus. As one thinks about all these different things, every person, and especially Christians, should give thanks to God for what He did for the body of Christ, the church.

Paul is talking about a group of people who receive these blessings from God. While this group is made up of individuals, the blessings are upon the group. So in order for an individual to receive these blessing, they must first of all be a member of the group.

Paul goes on to describe what God has done for the members of this church. Christians should be ever thankful that God was willing to grant these “spiritual blessings.” Again, these blessings come as a result of being a member of the church planned by God “before the foundation of the world.”

When Paul talks about choosing “us,” he is talking about the church, and not an individual. When he talks about predestinating “us,” he is talking about the church, and not an individual. In this context, the group who has been redeemed through the blood of Jesus is the church and not an individual. The plural pronoun “us” is referring to the church and not to an individual. The “us” is identifying the collectivity of the members of the church which Jesus purchased with His blood.

Paul, in these opening comments, is describing what God has done for this group of people known as the church, and not an individual. To make the application to an individual is to misapply the intent of Paul when he was writing this letter. He wants Christians everywhere to hear and to know what God has done for this group of people from all over the world, beginning on the day of Pentecost and lasting until the world is no more.

Everyone in the world, and especially Christians, should be thanking God because of what He has done for mankind when He brought the church into existence. Christians should bless God for revealing this information about the church and how, as a member of this church, one can be living God’s way. - cgm

Scriptural quotations from the NASB1995.