ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” Ephesians 1:3
This passage makes a clear distinction between carnal or material blessings and “spiritual blessings.” What kind of blessing is greater or more valuable? Obviously, the “spiritual blessings” are to be the most treasured. We could all cite blessings that we enjoy that are not necessarily spiritual. I consider it a great blessing to be a citizen of this country. Because of this, we enjoy great freedom, but that is not the greatest blessing we have. I am thankful that I spent much of my youth in a very rural setting, living a significant amount of time with my grandparents on a farm. It was a blessing to learn the value of hard work and gain an appreciation for outdoor life. My life has benefited from these treasured and valued experiences, but these are not necessarily “spiritual blessings.” The unsaved might experience and even appreciate these benefits, but they are not “spiritual blessings.”
What is the source of our “spiritual blessings”? Our text tells us that they are the result of our position “in Christ.” That is the greatest of all blessings, to be “in Christ.” “All spiritual blessings” are ours because of our Savior and our relationship to Him. The greatest blessing we will ever have is the gift of our salvation through Jesus Christ. Because of who we are in Him, because of our membership in the family of God, we are the recipients of “all spiritual blessings” in Christ Jesus.
We could never know or name all the “spiritual blessings” that are promised to us. Some of them would include such things as forgiveness of our sins, redemption through His blood, adoption, justification, peace, joy unspeakable, victory, access to the Father, power, cleansing, reconciliation, acceptance, purpose, security, and abundant and everlasting life. Our greatest riches are found in Jesus Christ.
When we think of the blessed man, we should always think initially and primarily of our “spiritual blessings.” There is nothing wrong with these other kinds of blessings, but they do not deserve to be compared with the “spiritual blessings” we have in Jesus Christ. A man with little or nothing in the way of material things is a wealthy individual if he has Christ.