1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love Eph 1:1-4 What are these spiritual blessings, and how does a physical man utilize a spiritual blessing? Because it is almost like the spiritual has no real connection with the physical.

2 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love Eph 1:1-4 When you read those words are you conscious of the power of the blessing of God? That is, as you go through your day, through the good and the difficult, do you walk with a smile on your face because you know that EVERYTHING IS God’s blessing, even though at times they seem difficult or painful?

3 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love Eph 1:1-4 What are God’s spiritual blessings to us? First of all let’s understand what it is to bless and by extension, what blessing is.

4 “The words ε ὐ λογε ῖ ν and ε ὐ λογία have a two-fold meaning, to bless and blessing, (בֵּרֵךְ) בָּרַךְ, to praise, to laud and to endow, all to be traced back to one sense, to speak or promise good.” Lange Lange goes on to say that human beings can only use words to say good things, as in compliments or praise. But when God “speaks good” over someone, it is creative. It would be the difference between me saying “Have a nice day” which sounds nice, but is absolutely useless in practicality because of my human limitations. But when God says “Have a good day” – what He says becomes that person’s reality. God’s words are creative and eternal. His words penetrate eternity and they never stop when He blesses.

5 “The words ε ὐ λογε ῖ ν and ε ὐ λογία have a two-fold meaning, to bless and blessing, (בֵּרֵךְ) בָּרַךְ, to praise, to laud and to endow, all to be traced back to one sense, to speak or promise good.” Lange Lange goes on to say that human beings can only use words to say good things, as in compliments or praise. But when God “speaks good” over someone, it is creative. It would be the difference between me saying “Have a nice day” which sounds nice, but is absolutely useless in practicality because of my human limitations. But when God says “Have a good day” – what He says becomes that person’s reality. God’s words are creative and eternal. His words penetrate eternity and they never stop when He blesses. It is that “ε ὐ λογία” that God spoke over each one of you, from the foundation of the world, that continues to control each moment of your life – and ONLY for His good in His sovereign plan for you!

6 “The words ε ὐ λογε ῖ ν and ε ὐ λογία have a two-fold meaning, to bless and blessing, (בֵּרֵךְ) בָּרַךְ, to praise, to laud and to endow, all to be traced back to one sense, to speak or promise good.” Lange Lange goes on to say that human beings can only use words to say good things, as in compliments or praise. But when God “speaks good” over someone, it is creative. It would be the difference between me saying “Have a nice day” which sounds nice, but is absolutely useless in practicality because of my human limitations. But when God says “Have a good day” – what He says becomes that person’s reality. God’s words are creative and eternal. His words penetrate eternity and they never stop when He blesses. Think about how Lange’s explanation of the difference between you, when you bless, and God when He blesses, relates to you with your memories of sin and failure, relative to your position and experience in life.

Lange goes on to say that human beings can only use words to say good things, as in compliments or praise. But when God “speaks good” over someone, it is creative. It would be the difference between me saying “Have a nice day” which sounds nice, but is absolutely useless in practicality because of my human limitations. But when God says “Have a good day” – what He says becomes that person’s reality. God’s words are creative and eternal. His words penetrate eternity and they never stop when He blesses. 7 “The words ε ὐ λογε ῖ ν and ε ὐ λογία have a two-fold meaning, to bless and blessing, (בֵּרֵךְ) בָּרַךְ, to praise, to laud and to endow, all to be traced back to one sense, to speak or promise good.” Lange By that I mean, when you see yourself and your history, how do you see yourself? We see our sin and we see ourselves as “sinners, saved by grace” but still as sinners, and at very best it is like a parent whose child just splattered a bunch of paint on a canvas. While the reality is that it is a mess, the parent lavishes praise on the child for artistic mastery. Why is this not even remotely possible according to what Lange has taught us? If God tells you that you are a great artist, or praises you for something you painted or are about to paint, all you have to do is to touch your brush to the canvas and the most amazing and beautiful things come out of your brush. God’s words are creative and eternal. What if God tells you that you are blameless, holy, or without blemish? Are you really going to try to dismiss the creative, eternal words of the Almighty with your failed memories? That would be like when God said, “Let there be light” the darkness would say, “What do you mean ‘let there be light’? I am darkness, the absolute absence of light and to say to me ‘Become light’ is impossible and ridiculous.” But when God spoke to the darkness and said, “Let there be light” their was no argument or discussion. There simply was light and God said that it was good. So why is there so much problem in us when God says that we are holy, blameless

8 “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” Eph 1:4 “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Eph 5:27

9 “And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach— if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” Col 1:21-23 Does anyone see a potential problem with this text? Let’s settle this right now!

10 “The word “if” here is not ἑ αν, an unfulfilled, hypothetical condition used with the subjunctive mode, presenting the possibility of a future realization, but ε ἰ with the indicative, having here the idea of “assuming that you continue in the faith.” That is, continuance in the gospel as it was preached by Paul would show that the person was saved and thus would be presented holy, without blemish, and unchargeable before God.” Wuest

11 "The great first-born of all creation (v. 15), the first- born from the dead (v. 18), is the God-man and accomplished the otherness in the Colossians by his bloody physical death. The all-sufficiency of his act is the point. That is why the infinitive of purpose is added: “to present you holy and blemishless and unreproved before him” (compare Eph. 5:27), i.e., made thus by the reconciling effect of his death.”

12 “This is put in so strong a way because the Judaizers claimed that such a state could be attained only when their scheme of purification and keeping pure is followed in addition to faith in Christ. Errorists always like to add at least something to faith in Christ’s death, often even the main saving thing.” Lenski

13 What are you going to do with the many things that God and His creative and eternal words have spoken into your reality of life? Will you accept the reality that you are blameless, or will you tell God that was a nice lie to say about you? Will you believe that you have value, or will you spend endless hours trying to please people in the world who can’t really change the quality of your life anyway?