The Panorama of the Gospel (1:3-14)
‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.'
As Paul considers the words he is about to say, the blessings he is about to reveal, he can only call down blessing on the name of the One from Whom they will all come.
‘Blessed.' Worshipped, honoured, held in esteem, given the glory due.
‘Be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Paul is about to inform us of the blessings that are ours in Jesus Christ, bought with His blood and supplied to us in ‘grace', that is through God's infinite, active, undeserved favour. And he wants us to know of its source in His God and Father, Who planned, and through the ages brought into reality, the glorious fulfilment of what the Gospel is all about. That He is God and Father of such a One as our Lord Jesus Christ exalts Him beyond measure.
The title ‘the Lord Jesus Christ' contains three elements. Firstly He is ‘the Lord' (kurios), the One Whose Name is above every name, Yahweh the God of Creation and history, God Himself (Philippians 2:9). To the Jew and to Paul the Name above every name was Yahweh, the God of Israel, and in the Greek Old Testament Yahweh is represented by kurios. He is also elsewhere the great ‘I am' (John 8:58, compare Exodus 3:14), another name for Yahweh, and thus ‘the Word', Who existed in the beginning, through Whom God created the worlds (John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9), the Lord of all.
Secondly He is ‘Jesus'. He became flesh and dwelt among us (Ephesians 1:14). He was truly man and yet in His manhood epitomised all that man was meant to be. He hungered as a man (Matthew 4:2). He grew thirsty as a man (John 4:7; John 19:28). He suffered as a man. And His death was the death of a man, and yet it was of more than a man, for He was ‘the Lord'. He was ‘the Christ (Messiah)'. And the name Jesus means ‘Yahweh is salvation'. He is called Jesus because He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
Thirdly He is ‘the Christ.' By His death and resurrection He is declared to be ‘both Lord and Christ' (Acts 2:36). He is the expected King Messiah, the One appointed to eternal Rule (2 Peter 1:11; compare Psalms 145:13; Daniel 4:3; Daniel 4:34; Daniel 7:14), the One Who both sits on His own throne and also uniquely shares His Father's throne (Revelation 3:21), the One before Whom every knee shall bow (Philippians 2:10).
But because of this He is the powerful One (Romans 1:4). He is the One worthy of worship and honour (Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:11; Revelation 5:13). He is the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8; James 2:1).
‘Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.' How great and good is God the Father. He has blessed us by providing for us in Christ every possible spiritual blessing, and these will now be outlined in depth. He has chosen us to be holy and without blemish before Him, foreordained us to be adopted as sons, redeemed us through the blood of His Son, forgiven us all our trespasses, and granted us a glorious future inheritance when all things are summed up in Christ. We are blessed from start to finish.
‘Spiritual blessing.' That which is not of this mundane world, that which is dispensed by His Spirit, that which works within our spirits making us one with Him (1 Corinthians 12:13) and true children of God (Romans 8:15-16; Galatians 4:5-6), that which makes the truth known within us (1 Corinthians 2:12-15) that which is ‘of the Spirit', resulting in the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-25), that which lifts us into another plane of existence (Colossians 3:1-3), that which is our final inheritance when we shall be with Him on His throne (Revelation 3:21), and will be like Him and see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). This is the inheritance of the saints in light (Colossians 1:12).
‘In the heavenlies.' This is a theme of the epistle. In Christ we have been ‘raised' into the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6), into a spiritual realm where we know Him, and walk with Him, and draw continually on His life and power. And even as we live out our lives on this earth we do so as those whose citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20), as those whose spirits are continually in communion with Him there (Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 10:19), as those whose potential is heavenly and who are watched over by Heaven.
Modern man can have some faint conception of this in that it is now possible for a man in some far off place to enter into his computer room and there soon ‘see' and be in close touch with family, friends and neighbours, sharing in the benefits of the home country, and be almost for a time as though he was at home. Furthermore even when he leaves his computer he can carry his mobile phone around for instant communication. Thus can the Christian live His life in this world, seemingly far off from his real home in Heaven and yet be in full communion and contact with Heaven, enjoying something of the blessing of Heaven, and bring Heaven with him to earth, and take Heaven with him wherever he goes. He can live in heavenly places.