1:3 {2} Blessed [be] the God {3} and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, {4} who hath blessed us with {b} all spiritual blessings in {c} heavenly [places] in {5} Christ:
(2) The first part of the epistle, in which he handles all the parts of our salvation, setting forth the example of the Ephesians. And he uses various exhortations, and begins after his manner with thanksgiving.
(3) The efficient cause of our salvation is God, not considered generally, but as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(4) The next final cause, and in respect of us, is our salvation, all things being bestowed upon us which are necessary to our salvation, which type of blessings is heavenly and proper to the elect.
(b) With every type of gracious and bountiful goodness which is heavenly indeed, and from God alone.
(c) Which God our Father gave us from his high throne from above: or because the saints have those gifts bestowed on them, which belong properly to the citizens of heaven.
(5) The matter of our salvation is Christ, in whom alone we are endued with spiritual blessing and that to salvation.
1:3 Blessed [be] the God. The word eulogetos rendered blessed is one from which our word eulogize is derived. It means, therefore, primarily, to praise. Praised be the God, etc. gives the idea.
Who hath blessed us. The blessed is here from the same root. The word means, as above, to praise, or to speak good things of one; then to speak good things to, or bestow blessings, as a secondary meaning. This is the meaning here.
With all spiritual blessings. All came from God, and he has withheld none from those in Christ.
In heavenly [places]. In the kingdom of heaven.
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us - God's blessing us is his bestowing all spiritual and heavenly blessings upon us. Our blessing God is the paying him our solemn and grateful acknowledgments, both on account of his own essential blessedness, and of the blessings which he bestows upon us. He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, as man and Mediator: he is his Father, primarily, with respect to his divine nature, as his only begotten Son; and, secondarily, with respect to his human nature, as that is personally united to the divine. With all spiritual blessings in heavenly things - With all manner of spiritual blessings, which are heavenly in their nature, original, and tendency, and shall be completed in heaven: far different from the external privileges of the Jews, and the earthly blessings they expected from the Messiah.
1:3-8 Spiritual and heavenly blessings are the best blessings; with which we cannot be miserable, and without which we cannot but be so. This was from the choice of them in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that they should be made holy by separation from sin, being set apart to God, and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, in consequence of their election in Christ. All who are chosen to happiness as the end, are chosen to holiness as the means. In love they were predestinated, or fore-ordained, to be adopted as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and to be openly admitted to the privileges of that high relation to himself. The reconciled and adopted believer, the pardoned sinner, gives all the praise of his salvation to his gracious Father. His love appointed this method of redemption, spared not his own Son, and brought believers to hear and embrace this salvation. It was rich grace to provide such a surety as his own Son, and freely to deliver him up. This method of grace gives no encouragement to evil, but shows sin in all its hatefulness, and how it deserves vengeance. The believer's actions, as well as his words, declare the praises of Divine mercy.
