Ephesians 1:3-3:21 WEB

Alexander MacLaren's Expositions of Holy Scripture - Ephesians 1:3

Ephesians ‘ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS’ Eph_1:3 It is very characteristic of Paul’s impetuous fervour and exuberant faith that he begins this letter with a doxology, and plunges at once into the very heart of his theme. Colder natures reach such heights by slow degrees. He gains them at a bound, or rather, he dwells there always. Put a pen into his hand, and it is like tapping a blast furnace; and out rushes a fiery stream at white heat. But there is a great deal more than fervour in the words.... read more

Frederick Brotherton Meyer

F.B. Meyer's 'Through the Bible' Commentary - Ephesians 1:1-14

Our Riches in Christ Ephesians 1:1-14 This has been called the “Epistle of In-ness, ”because it is so full of the preposition in. Saints are flesh and blood like ourselves, and we may be saints. The word means “set apart.” We are in Christ and He is in us, and any goodness we have is due to our giving room and scope to Him to realize His own ideals. To be in the heavenlies, Ephesians 1:3 , means to live a spiritual life and to draw our reinforcements from the unseen and eternal world,... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Ephesians 1:1-23

The theme of this letter is pre-eminently of the Church as the medium for the accomplishment of the divine purpose. Those addressed are described as "saints," and as "the faithful in Christ Jesus." These the apostle greets in the words, "Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Grace is the river flowing from the heart of God. Peace is the consciousness of the trusting soul. The letter itself begins with a great benediction in which the apostle speaks as a... read more

Robert Neighbour

Wells of Living Water Commentary - Ephesians 1:1-11

Christ the All in All Ephesians 1:1-11 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We cannot call Ephesians the Epistle of Paul. It was written by the Holy Ghost through Paul. The Holy Ghost came to take the things of Christ, and to show them unto us. In this Epistle there is nothing but Christ from start to finish. In the first chapter it is, "In Christ," "In Christ," "In Christ." Seven times it is "In Christ." In the second chapter of the Epistle, it is "With Christ," "With Christ," "With Christ." In the third... read more

James Nisbet

James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary - Ephesians 1:3

THE HEAVENLY PLACES‘In the heavenly places.’ Ephesians 1:3 (R. V.) The Epistle to the Ephesians is the Epistle of our union with the risen and ascended Christ, and of the blessing which that union brings. For its keynote we may write those words, which ring throughout its teaching, ‘In Christ Jesus’; and for its brief epitome the verse in which our text occurs, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 1:3

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... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3-2 Chronicles : . A Paragraph of Praise.— God, who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is thanked for the blessings— embracing every form of spiritual riches— bestowed through their mystical relationship to Christ in the heavenly sphere upon the writer and upon his readers. The fact of their Christianity is evidence of their vocation to be holy and blameless before Him in love— a vocation which runs back into the eternal counsels ( Ephesians 1:4): God has predetermined... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Ephesians 1:2-3

Blessed be; i.e. thanked, praised. We bless God when we praise him for, and acknowledge him in, his excellencies or benefits. Who hath blessed us; hath vouchsafed or communicated, all spiritual blessings to us. God blesseth us when he doeth good to us: and so the word blessed is taken in a different sense from what it was in the former clause. With all; of all sorts or kinds. Spiritual blessings; in opposition to temporal and worldly, which the carnal Jews principally expected, and the law... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Ephesians 1:3-14

CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTESEphesians 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father.—The Hebrew form for “hallowing the Name” was, “The Holy One, blessed be He.” The Prayer Book version of Psalm c. gives, “Speak good of His name.” Who blessed us.—When old Isaac pronounces the blessing uttered on Jacob unwittingly to be irreversible, he depends on God for the carrying out of his dying blessing: the divine blessing makes whilst pronouncing blest. In the heavenly places.—Lit. “in the heavenlies”—so, as... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - Ephesians 1:3

Ephesians 1:3 . I. Men, in the midst of the many conflicting manifestations of God, are trying to find the supreme revelation which will harmonise all the crossing rays in its own serene and fadeless light. This supreme revelation we find in Christ. The God whom Jesus obeyed, the Father whom Jesus loved, is the God and Father we today are striving to find that we may love Him too. Every Godlike man gives a new revelation of God to man. "The God of Abraham" was a new conception of God that made... read more