Ephesians 1:3

3. Blessed First emphatic word and keynote to the rich and joyous tone of the whole paragraph. As the Greek word in both the New Testament and Septuagint is applied to God alone, so it signifies blessed, as God alone is blessed, divinely blessed. This eucharistic word the apostle uses to indicate, with holy gratitude, that the election for which he gives thanks is based in the eternal nature of God. For God does eternally, by his very nature and affinity, prefer and elect that which is holy, or freely consents to become so. See our note on “the true doctrine of the Church” touching election, vol. iii, p. 349.

God… of… Christ Ellicott decides that most probably Father is only applied to Christ, and not God… God and the Father of, etc.

Blessed us Alford well says, that “God’s blessing is in facts, ours only in words.”

Heavenly places Places is not in the original, but is supplied by the translators, as is shown by the italics. The Greek adjective επουρανιοις , signifying pertaining to the heavenly regions, may imply either places or things: in Ephesians 1:20; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 6:12, places is required. The same Greek adjective in Matthew 18:35 (which in the Lord’s prayer, Matthew 6:9, is rendered “who art in heaven”) includes the entire comprehension of God’s omnipresence. In Philippians 2:10, it implies the heavenly inhabitants, the angels. In 1 Corinthians 15:48 it twice designates those from heaven who are heavenly in nature. In 2 Timothy 4:18, it denotes the heavenly kingdom, and in Hebrews 3:1, heavenly calling. So in Hebrews 6:4; Hebrews 8:5; Hebrews 9:23, the adjective presupposes things heavenly in nature, origin, or relation, yet earthly in place.

The adjective may, therefore, imply place, that is, the heavenly region; or it may mean things on earth that are redolent of that place. As place, the word as variously used by St. Paul is very generic in its applications, embracing, if we collect all its uses, the entire spirit-world, all that is super-mundane or superhuman. So Ephesians 1:20, it implies the highest heavens, the right hand of God. In Ephesians 3:10, the angelic abodes. In Ephesians 6:12, it takes in the aerial battlefield with demoniac powers: that is, the air of Ephesians 2:2, where see note. In this verse it means clearly things on earth which are heavenly in quality. Hence, differing from Alford, Ellicott, and others, we think that here the phrase should be rendered heavenly things. For surely it was not in supermundane localities that the Ephesians enjoyed their spiritual blessings. They lived and enjoyed on earth.