God's Word For You is a free Bible Study site committed to bringing you studies firmly grounded in the Bible – the Word of God. Holding a reformed, conservative, evangelical perspective this site affirms that God has provided in Jesus Christ his eternal Son, a way of salvation in which we can live in his presence guilt free, acquitted and at peace.

 
 

THOUGHTS FROM EPHESIANS

4 EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING

A meditation on Ephesians 1:3

 

Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:3 that God has, in Christ, already blessed us with every spiritual blessing.

When a person receives Jesus Christ they also receive, as sheer gift from God, every spiritual blessing. Whether we know it or understand it or not, we have in Christ all of the riches of the salvation God planned and implemented in and through Christ. 

To have Christ is to have eternal life [John 5:24; 1 John 1:12].

To have Christ is to have already crossed over from death to life [John 5:24].

To have Christ is to escape all condemnation [John 3:18; 5:24; Romans 8:1].

To have Christ is to have forgiveness [Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14].

To have Christ is to have redemption [Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14].

To have Christ is to be reconciled with God [2 Corinthians 5:19].

To have Christ is to be acquitted from all guilt [Romans 3:19-31].

To have Christ is to have peace with God [Romans 5:1; Colossians 1:20].

To have Christ is to be adopted as God's children [Ephesians 1:5].

To have Christ is to have the Spirit of God [Ephesians 1:13,14].

To have Christ is to be counted holy in God's sight, without blemish and free from accusation [Colossians 1:22].

Every spiritual blessing is the present and permanent possession of every person who genuinely believes in Christ. God has lavished upon us the immeasurable and incomparable riches of his grace, providing for us in Christ a salvation that is both abundant and guaranteed. It is neither measured by nor dependent on us and our attempts to be holy. Rather it is grounded and secured totally in and by Jesus Christ. We do not have to perform to a certain standard, or achieve a certain level of spirituality, to achieve or merit any of it. It is ours, completely and permanently in Christ.

Sadly, many Christians today are not taught this complete salvation. At best a watered-down, powerless salvation is taught; at worst, a performance-based salvation is taught, in which people are given the impression that there are some spiritual blessings that are not 'in Christ' but are additional to Christ, and which believers have to acquire by their own spiritual efforts. In such a perception of salvation the death of Christ is rendered meaningless and redundant, and one's claim to believe in Christ nothing but empty words [2 Corinthians 6:1; Galatians 2:21; 5:2-4].

 

Copyright Rosemary Bardsley 2006, 2010