Albert Barnes Commentary Ephesians 1:3

"Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly [places] in Christ:" — Ephesians 1:3 (ASV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This begins a sentence that continues to the end of Verse 12. The length of the sentences in Paul's writings is one reason his style can be obscure, making explanation often difficult.

The meaning of this phrase is that God has laid a foundation for gratitude for what He has done. The reason for the praise referred to here is what is stated in the following verses. The main thing on which the apostle focuses is God’s eternal purpose—His everlasting counsel regarding the salvation of humanity.

Paul exclaims that God is worthy of praise for such a plan, and that His eternal purposes, now revealed to people, provide lofty views of God's character and glory. Most people suppose the contrary. They feel that God’s plans are dark, stern, and forbidding, and such as to render His character anything but amiable.

They speak of Him, when He is referred to as a sovereign, as if He were tyrannical and unjust; and they never connect the idea of what is amiable and lovely with the doctrine of eternal purposes. There is no doctrine that is usually so unpopular; none that is so much reproached; none that is so much abused.

There is none that people desire so much to disbelieve or avoid; none that they are so unwilling to have preached; and none that they are so reluctant to find in the Scriptures. Even many Christians turn away from it with dread; or if they tolerate it, they still feel that there is something about it that is peculiarly dark and forbidding.

Paul did not feel this way. He felt that it laid the foundation for eternal praise; that it presented glorious views of God; that it was the basis of confidence and hope; and that it was desirable that Christians should reflect on it, and praise God for it. Let us feel, therefore, as we begin the exposition of this chapter, that God is to be praised for ALL His plans, and that it is possible for Christians to have such views of the doctrine of eternal predestination as to give them the most elevated conceptions of the glory of the Divine character.

And let us also be willing to know the truth. Let us approach word after word, phrase after phrase, and verse after verse in this chapter, willing to know all that God teaches, to believe all that He has revealed, and ready to say, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for all that He has done."

Who has blessed us. Who does Paul mean here by "us?" Does he mean all the world? This cannot be, for all the world are not blessed in this way with all spiritual blessings. Does he mean nations? For the same reason, this cannot be. Does he mean the Gentiles, as distinct from the Jews?

Why, then, does he use the word us, including himself, who was a Jew? Does he mean to say that they were blessed with external privileges, and that this was the only object of God’s eternal purposes? This cannot be, for he speaks of "spiritual blessings;" he speaks of the persons referred to as having "redemption," and "the forgiveness of sins;" as having "obtained an inheritance," and as being sealed with the "Holy Spirit of promise." These do not pertain to nations, or to external privileges, or the mere offers of the gospel, but to true Christians; to persons who have been redeemed.

The persons referred to by the word "us," are those who are mentioned in Ephesians 1:1 as "saints"—agioiv; "holy" and "faithful"—pistoiv—believing, or believers. This observation is important because it shows that the plan or decree of God referred to individuals, and not merely to nations. Many have supposed (see Whitby, Dr. A. Clarke, Bloomfield, and others) that the apostle here refers to the Gentiles, and that his object is to show that they were now admitted to the same privileges as the Jews of earlier times, and that the whole doctrine of predestination here referred to relates to that fact. But, I would ask, were there no Jews in the church at Ephesus? (See Acts 18:20, 24; 19:1-8).

The fact seems to have been that Paul was uncommonly successful there among his own countrymen, and that his chief difficulty there arose, not from the Jews, but from the influence of the heathen (Acts 19:24). Besides, what evidence is there that the apostle speaks in this chapter specifically of the Gentiles, or that he was writing to that portion of the church at Ephesus which was of Gentile origin? And if he was, why did he name himself among them as one on whom this blessing had been bestowed? The fact is, that this is a mere supposition, adopted without evidence, and contrary to every fair principle of interpretation, to avoid an unpleasant doctrine. Nothing can be clearer than that Paul meant to write to Christians as such; to speak of privileges which they enjoyed as peculiar to themselves; and that he had no particular reference to nations, and did not design merely to refer to external privileges.

With all spiritual blessings. Pardon, peace, redemption, adoption, the earnest of the Spirit, and so on, referred to in the following verses—blessings which individual Christians enjoy, and not external privileges conferred on nations.

In heavenly places in Christ. The word places is here implied, and is not in the original. It may mean heavenly places, or heavenly things. The word places does not express the best sense. The idea seems to be that God has blessed us in Christ regarding heavenly subjects or matters.

In Ephesians 1:20, the word "places" seems to be inserted more appropriately. The same phrase occurs again in Ephesians 2:6 and Ephesians 3:10; and it is remarkable that it should occur in the same elliptical form four times in this one epistle, and, I believe, in no other part of Paul’s writings.

Our translators have, in each instance, supplied the word "places," as indicating the rank or station of Christians, of the angels, and of the Savior, to each of whom it is applied. The phrase probably means, in things pertaining to heaven; fitted to prepare us for heaven; and tending toward heaven.

It probably refers here to everything that was heavenly in its nature, or that related to heaven, whether gifts or graces. As the apostle is speaking, however, of most Christians on whom these things had been bestowed, I am inclined to think that he refers to what are called Christian graces, rather than to the extraordinary endowments bestowed on the few. The sense is, that in Christ, that is, through Christ, or by means of Him, God had bestowed all spiritual blessings that were fitted to prepare for heaven—such as pardon, adoption, the illumination of the Spirit, and so on.