In this message we will begin to consider the aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ unveiled in Ephesians. Although the New Testament reveals many aspects of Christ for our experience and enjoyment, the aspects of Christ in Ephesians are much deeper than those in other books of the New Testament. This is because the aspects of Christ revealed in Ephesians are for the producing of the church and the building up of the Body of Christ.
In Ephesians 1:3-14 we see that Christ is the sphere and the means of the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.” The expression in Christ, which is mentioned numerous times in this Epistle, indicates that Christ is the sphere and the means of all the divine, spiritual, and heavenly blessings (1:1, 10, 12, 20; 2:6-7, 10, 13; 3:6, 11, 21; 4:32). Christ is the virtue, the instrument, and the sphere in which God has blessed us. Outside of Christ, apart from Christ, God has nothing to do with us; but in Christ He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Moreover, Christ is the element of the divine blessing; that is, Christ Himself is the divine blessing.
All the blessings with which God has blessed us, being spiritual, are related to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is not only the channel but also the reality of God’s blessings. The Spirit is the nature and essence of the divine blessing we have received. In verse 3 God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are all related to the blessings bestowed on us; God’s blessing us is actually His dispensing Himself into us. The Father is the source of the divine blessing, Christ the Son is the element of the blessing, and the Spirit is the nature and essence of the blessing.
The blessings are not only spiritual but also in the heavenlies. The word heavenlies here indicates not only the heavenly place but also the heavenly nature, state, characteristic, and atmosphere of the spiritual blessings with which God has blessed us. These blessings are from the heavens, having a heavenly nature, heavenly state, heavenly characteristic, heavenly taste, and heavenly atmosphere. The believers in Christ are enjoying on earth these heavenly blessings, which are spiritual as well as heavenly. They are different from the blessings with which God blessed Israel. Those blessings were physical and earthly. The blessings bestowed on us are of God the Father, in God the Son, through God the Spirit, and in the heavenlies. They are the spiritual blessings bestowed by the Triune God on us, the believers in Christ. They are the blessings in the heavenlies, having a heavenly nature, state, character, and atmosphere.
The word blessing in 1:3 literally means “good speech, or, utterance, well speaking, or fair speech; implying bounty and benefit.” God has blessed us with His good, fine, and fair speakings. Every such speaking is a blessing to us. Verses 4 through 14 are an account of such speakings, such blessings. All these blessings are spiritual, in the heavenlies, and in Christ.
The first among all God’s blessings is His choosing us, His selecting us, in eternity past. In eternity past, He chose us; we were His choice. In 1:4 Paul says, “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love.” From among numberless people God, according to His infinite foresight, selected us, and this He did in Christ. Christ was the sphere in which we were selected by God. Outside of Christ we are not God’s choice.
Our being chosen does not depend on what we are or what we do. It depends on what Christ is, what He has done, and what He will do for us. None of us is worthy of God’s selection. However, God selected us, not in ourselves, in our situation, or in our sphere but in Christ as the means, the sphere, the condition, and the circumstance. Christ is everything for God’s selection of us.
God chose us that we should be holy. Here holy means not only sanctified, separated unto God, but also different, distinct, from everything that is common. Only God is different, distinct, from all things. Hence, He is holy; holiness is His nature. He chose us that we should be holy. He makes us holy by imparting Himself, the Holy One, into our being, that our whole being may be permeated and saturated with His holy nature. For us, God’s chosen ones, to be holy is to partake of God’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) and to have our whole being permeated with God Himself. This is different from mere sinless perfection or sinless purity. This makes our being holy in God’s nature and character, just like God Himself.
God chose us that we should be not only holy but also without blemish. A blemish is like a foreign particle in a precious gem. God’s chosen ones should be saturated with only God Himself, having no foreign particles, such as the fallen natural human element, the flesh, the self, or worldly things. This is to be without blemish, without any mixture, without any element other than God’s holy nature. The church, after being thoroughly washed by the water in the word, will be sanctified in such a way (Eph. 5:26-27).
In ourselves we are unholy and imperfect, but in Christ we are holy and perfect. We should not look at ourselves but at Him. Moreover, we all need to consider one another according to Christ, not according to ourselves; we need to regard all the believers as holy brothers and sisters in Christ. Because there is nothing unholy or imperfect in Christ, we are all holy and perfect in Him. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blemish.