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The worship of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3-6)
Ephesians 1:3-6
“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 should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” (Eph. 1:3-6) ''
How did the apostle praise God?
In Semitic life the praise of God has primarily a pre- history. In the sin, thanksgiving and other temple offerings, the reigning priest, following the offering of the sacrifice, blessed the waiting and expectant people, for the reception of the blessing from the offering was one of the goals of its being offered. This blessing refreshed the hearts of the justified sinners, enlivened them and awakened in them the praise of God. This was verbally confessed when the justified sinners, following the reception of their blessing, continued to praise God. The Exalted Giver of blessing was honoured through their worship, and made great and glorious through their adoration.
In the worship of Paul, as recorded in the Greek text of the Letter to the Ephesians, the spiritual connection between the blessing and those being blessed, as well as the worship and adoration of the Giver of Blessing, is all reflected.
This leads to the question: What does your thanksgiving toward God look like – for the blessings that you have received from Him? Do praise and worship for His goodness and mercy arise from your thankful heart, or are your words just empty clichès in your mouth? Can it be that you entirely forget to offer thanksgiving and praise? The worship of God came first for Paul – right at the beginning of his letter!
For the sake of clarity, the apostle wrote that his praise was offered to “God”. In formulating it this way he did not use one of the names from the plethora of Greek gods, thereby emphasizing one special god in particular. Rather, he showed that his praise was only befitting the singular deity who had created, blessed and justified. The merciful Almighty alone was the goal of his thoughts and actions.
The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
Paul went on, however, to fill the word “God” (Theos) with the mystery of the New Testament, and testified to his readers who God is. This makes up the sensation of the gospel – the fact that we do not believe on any unknown god, worshipping him only out of fear. Much more, the Lord Jesus Himself revealed to us who God is. He correspondingly testified fifty-nine times: God is “My Father!”, and witnessed a further eighty times that the Almighty is “The Father”.
Christ also revealed that no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son reveals this mystery (Matt. 11:27). These words make clear to us that not all people can recognize God as “the Father” or the Lord Jesus as “His Son”, but only those who regret their sins and confess them to the Lord Jesus, die to their own pride, and live by the grace of the Son of God. On one occasion the Son of Mary spoke forth a very insightful prayer: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight” (Matt 11:25-26). Whoever considers these words, believing and understanding them, grasps that the recognition of the Father and the Son does not primarily have to do with an intellectual consideration. Rather, this understanding requires a direct revelation of the Holy Trinity, which shows to the meek and humble ones who God is.
The Lord Jesus speaks to every seeker and inquirer the breathtaking sentence: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9). Whoever wants to know what God looks like and what a radiance He possesses should look at the Lord Jesus and study His character (Matt. 11:29). Only then he can see and recognize God “the Father”.
Furthermore, the Son of Mary testified on numerous occasions that His heavenly Father dwellt and worked “in Him” and that He had His existence and power “in His Father” (John 14:10-11; 17:21-23, 26; 2 Cor. 5:19). These revelations explain to us the powerful miracles of the Son of God and illuminate the existence of the Holy Trinity.
The Father and His Son make up a unity that goes beyond our comprehension. The Lord Jesus assures all those that hear Him: “I and My Father are one” – not two! (John 10:30). The attributes of the Father become visible in His Son and have their outworking in His words and deeds (Matt. 11:27). Furthermore, Paul testifies to us that the Spirit of God searches all things, even the deep things of God, and makes them visible in His Son (1 Cor. 2:10-16). Yet the one who has not been born-again can neither recognize nor confess that “Jesus is Lord” and God “is His Father” (John 3:3; 1 Cor. 12:3b).
Even today there are, especially among Jews and Muslims, those who hold firmly to the unity and exclusiveness of Yahweh and Allah and who, with rage and hatred, reject Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus Himself was crucified nearly 2,000 years ago because of His being the Son of God. Paul, because of his confession and belief that Jesus Christ is our Lord, was slandered, accused, and presumably decapitated in Rome.
However, we read in the gospel: “The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:35-36). All religions that deny or reject the Son of God fall under this word of judgment. Whoever speaks of a convergence of religions or strives for a unity of the spirits, is both naïve and blind.
Following the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan, by John the Baptist, the Father in heaven spoke a sentence that outweighs even other words of the New Testament in their significance and import: “And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16-17). When the Lord Jesus took upon Himself the sin of the world and its punishment, following His substitutionary baptism in our stead, God the Father personally testified that the Son of the Virgin Mary was also His beloved and only Son. This Son became man so that, through His death and resurrection, the salvation of the world could be realized. Who was it that could hinder the Almighty from speaking forth this decisive word of world history? The one who rejects this unique revelation of God is spiritually deaf and unable to grasp the merciful redemption of God for mankind. There is an alternative, however – and that is, he repents and asks for the merciful enlightening of God, so that he will be able to understand what the Almighty has said.
The Father has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ
From the very start of his letter, Paul wanted to testify to and inculcate into the saints and bishops that the Almighty God, their heavenly Father, had given to them the entire fullness of His heavenly grace and blessing. This was given to them through Jesus Christ, without any working of their own. The depth of this “brimfull” sentence cannot be too quickly understood. Yet its substance makes up the theme of this letter and represents a summary of the worship of the apostle.
Numerous times in his letters, the ambassador of Christ gave indication of the unimaginably great measure of God´s love, His omnipotence and His blessing. Not only does the Lord possess these attributes and blessings Himself, but He shares them with the church of Jesus. Therefore, Paul could write to the church in Rome using the we-form: “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31-32)
He went on to assure the Corinthians: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) Later he testified to them: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19)
To the church in Colosse he wrote: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him” (Col. 2:9-10).
Human languages can only partially reflect the fullness of thought contained in these verses. Nevertheless, we can recognize that it is not individual believers being referred to here, but the entirety of the churches. It is only in the believer´s fellowship of communion that the gospel comes to its full manifestation of ripeness and maturity. Count Zinzendorf is reported to have said: “I see no Christianity without a communion of the saints!”
All of the blessings of heaven, as well as the entirety of spiritual fruit arising from the self-sacrifice of the Son of God, are not, however, for the self-appropriation of the individual believer. Rather, they come to us and remain with us only as we stay in a faith-connection with our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not we who have attained to the blessing; instead, we only keep it as long as we remain bound to Jesus. He Himself described this mystery: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:5-7).
If we should ask ourselves the question: What exactly are the inconceivably great blessings that previously were resting in heaven, but were only given to us with the coming of Jesus Christ? The answer would be: read the book of Ephesians slowly and carefully and underline every blessing that is named. Then memorize them and transform them into a prayer of thanksgiving. By so doing you will become rich in knowledge, joy and comfort. After you have tilled and harvested the letter to the Ephesians, you can begin to read the remaining letters of Paul and the Scriptures of the other apostles. When you pass from there to the gospel accounts and to the Revelation of Christ to John, you will find no end in the offering of thanksgiving and worship.
By this spiritual exercise you will recognize that all of God´s gifts have come to us from the Father of mercy through Christ Jesus. The unique blessings of the Father in heaven reach us only in His Son. Apart from the Lord Jesus there is no salvation and no blessing. In the end this means the Giver is more important than His gifts! We should praise the Father and His Son Jesus Christ even more than we should thank Him for His concrete blessings!
The expression of the apostle “our Lord Jesus Christ” shows the intimate relationship Paul had with his Savior and Lord. Since his time in Damascus, he had come to grasp that the grace and help of the Lord are, first of all, blessings given to His church. The Lord suffers more with His followers than even they themselves. Their persecution is His persecution (Acts 9:5). He cares for them and represents them before God as their High Priest. All the blessings of His Father in heaven reach His church through Him only. He longs for every single one of His followers. Therefore, they have the privilege to call Him “our Lord”.
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, we worship You for Your patience with us and ask for forgiveness when we have considered Your blessings to be more important than You Yourself. We thank You for Your love and faithfulness and especially for Your Son Jesus Christ, who suffered and did so immeasurably much for us. Help us, so that our lives can be filled with thanksgiving and worship for all of Your great mercy and love to us. Amen.
Questions:
- What is it that truly epitomizes the praise of God at the beginning of this letter to the churches?
- What does the concise formulation mean: “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”'?
- How can we understand the confession of Paul, which stated our heavenly Father has already blessed us with all of the blessings of heaven?
- Why do all of the blessings of our Father in heaven only come to us in the Lord Jesus?