A Survey of the Economy of Salvation: Blessed Be God (Ephesians 1:3–4)

The subject of this part is the economy of our salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ. St Damascene writes: “The chief subject (in this part) of the epistle is to set before the Ephesians the teaching concerning the grace of Christ. This grace is our restoration and sanctification in Him, inasmuch as we have become His body and have received Him as our head. The source of such grace is the goodness of God, praised with hymns throughout the ages. The way to it is redemption by the blood of Christ.”

The aim the Apostle had in setting forth this economy was to draw the Ephesians into contemplation of it, and thereby to give them—and in their person all Christians from among the Gentiles—reason to bear in mind the great benefaction of God shown to them through the calling of them also to participate in salvation. In order to achieve this more effectively, he first:

A.—gives a general survey of the economy of salvation, — Eph. 1:3–14, and then

B.—draws the Ephesians into contemplation of it, — Eph. 1:15–3:21.

A. Survey of the Economy of Salvation (Eph. 1:3–14)

In this survey the foundation is laid not only for the following section of the doctrinal part, but also for the moral part.

St Paul opens it with the exclamation: “Blessed be God” etc. This thanksgiving and doxology burst from the Apostle’s heart after his mind had surveyed the whole economy of our salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. In the mystery of the Godhead it had been ordained from eternity that the ordering of our salvation should come to pass; when the time came, the Son of God became incarnate, suffered, died, rose again, ascended into the heavens and sat at the right hand of God the Father; and to the earth He sent the Holy Spirit, who through the Apostles established upon it the Holy Church, the guardian of truth and grace; those who enter within its bounds partake of grace, are cleansed and sanctified, labouring in good works, until they pass through the gates of death from here and enter the heavenly dwellings “where Christ sits at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). This is the new and living way! Having surveyed it, the Apostle could not refrain from crying out: Blessed be God! That this exclamation was indeed a consequence of this survey is shown by the verses that follow, in which is set forth a) how from eternity in God the plan of our salvation was drawn up, vv. 3–6; b) how it was fulfilled by the Lord Jesus, vv. 7–10; and c) how we all become partakers of this salvation by the grace of the Holy Spirit and await the inheritance of eternal blessedness, vv. 11–14.

Eph. 1:3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

“Blessed be God!” — He begins with a doxology to God, arising from the fullness of grateful feeling for the great work of salvation, whose power he felt and whose greatness he encompassed in the contemplation of his mind. The greatness of these blessings raised him to a sense of the greatness of God who bestows them, which drew from his heart this doxological exclamation. Begun with the blessing of God, all the subsequent discourse rests upon it, developing and defining it. The holy Apostle sees the great work of salvation already at work in people through the preaching of the Gospel and the grace of the Holy Spirit. The sight of this enraptures his spirit, and he sketches all that he mentally contemplates in an inspired utterance—brief, yet all-encompassing. Is there another passage in Scripture equally brief yet all-encompassing? Somewhat akin to it are the eighteen verses of the Gospel of John the Theologian.

“The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“God and Father”—a majestic expression found not only in St Paul but also in other Apostles (Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 15:24; 2 Cor. 1:3, 11:31; Col. 1:3; Jas. 1:27, 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:3). — But what is the meaning? Some say: He is our God and the God of every creature, and the Father of our Lord. So blessed Theodoret: “He is clearly our God, and the Father of our Lord.” — Others refer both “God” and “Father” to the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that He is God to Him according to His humanity and Father according to His divinity. So blessed Theophylact: “Thus He is both God and Father of one and the same Christ—God, as of the One who became incarnate; Father, as of the divine Word.”

Blessed Jerome says that either understanding of these words is admissible. “One may read it in two ways: ‘Blessed be the God and Father’—our Lord Jesus Christ. Either thus: blessed be God, who is the Creator of all things, with the addition: ‘who is also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’. Or thus, that both ‘God’ and ‘Father’ are referred to our Lord: Blessed be the God of the humanity assumed in the incarnation, and the Father of the incarnate God the Word, who was in the beginning with God—not as though the assumed humanity were one person and the Word that assumed it another, but inasmuch as one and the same, by reason of the distinction of natures, is called now by exalted names and now by lowly ones.”

In view of the fact that it is not contrary to the dogmas of the faith to confess God the Father as the God of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His humanity, there is no need to insist on the first interpretation, either of this passage or of all similar passages noted above. Further on, in v. 17, St Paul directs his prayer explicitly to “the God ‘of our Lord, the Father of Glory’ (Eph. 1:17). And the Lord Himself, in His words to Mary Magdalene, confessed God the Father as His God, saying: ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God’ (Jn. 20:17). One caution only is necessary in this regard: not to divide the Persons, following the guidance of blessed Jerome, but to confess one and the same Lord Jesus, for whom alone God the Father is both God and Father. It was fitting for the holy Apostle, as he blessed God for the greatness and abundance of His graces, to use such a turn of phrase. For the source of all of them is in fact this: that God the Father was pleased, and God the Son consented, to become incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Ever-Virgin Mary. — God is the Lord, and He has appeared to us. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Who has blessed us.” The Apostle’s gaze rests on what actually already is. He does not point to God’s general goodness, but to a specific great act of His goodness—the one in which God has blessed us through the already-accomplished work of our redemption in Jesus Christ the Lord. Together with Him He has also raised us up and made us sit in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

“With every” “blessing.” This includes both the abundance and the greatness and the unfailingness of the blessings—everything that has been granted to us through the incarnation of God the Word, His death, resurrection and ascension, and the descent of the Holy Spirit who acts in those who believe: the forgiveness of sins, sanctification by grace, sonship to God, the eternal inheritance, and the crown of all—the reception and indwelling of God Himself. “What more do you lack?” exclaims St Chrysostom. “You have become immortal, free, a son, a brother, a co-heir; you will reign together with the Lord and will be glorified together with Him. When He Himself is given to you, everything is given to you in Him. ‘How shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?’ (Rom. 8:32). ‘He has imparted to us the gifts of the divine Spirit, given us the hope of the Resurrection, the promise of immortality, the pledge of the Kingdom of Heaven, the dignity of adoption’” (blessed Theodoret).

God has blessed us with every blessing—and so we ourselves have become blessed as well, not with a notional blessing but with one that is truly received: just as by receiving goodness we become good, and by receiving holiness we become holy. Blessed Jerome writes: “By nature and essentially, God alone is good; but by communion with Him He makes us good as well. In the same way He makes us holy, which is why He says to Israel: ‘Be holy,’ for ‘I am holy’ (Lev. 20:7). Likewise, being Himself blessed, He makes us blessed as well. The Lawgiver gives the blessing, and ‘the blessing of the Lord is upon the head of the righteous’ (Prov. 10:6). Moreover He blessed us not with one blessing but with every blessing—not so that each received every single one, but so that when each person has one or several from the whole, all of us together, in our parts, possess the whole (meaning the gifts of the Holy Spirit).”

“With every spiritual blessing.” Having enumerated, as quoted above, the blessings granted to us in the Lord, St Chrysostom notes: “Not a word here about bodily things. The Saviour Himself said: ‘In the world you will have tribulation’ (Jn. 16:33), so as to turn away every thought from the bodily and direct all our attention to the spiritual. Those who cling to the bodily cannot even hear about the spiritual; and one who seeks the spiritual cannot receive it unless he first forsakes the bodily.”

Whether St Paul had in mind here to contrast the Christian blessing—spiritual—with the Jewish blessing—carnal—cannot be asserted with certainty. But this expression may lead the reader to such a thought. St Chrysostom says: “The Apostle here alludes to the blessing of the Jews, for they too received a blessing, but not a spiritual one. What in fact was said to them? — ‘God shall bless you and shall bless the fruit of your womb’ (Deut. 7:13), and shall bless your going out and your coming in.”

“In the heavenly places.” “As if explaining how our blessing is spiritual, he says: ‘in the heavenly places.’ The blessing of the Jews was earthly, and for that reason bodily (blessed Theophylact). He speaks thus to show that we are blessed not with a worldly blessing but with a heavenly one—not with a perishable one but with an eternal one; for the glory of Christians is not on earth but in heaven and in Christ, as the Lord says: ‘Where I am, there My servant will be also’ (Jn. 12:26) (Ambrosiaster). — In the heavenly places,‘says St Chrysostom,’means the same as: not earthly blessings have been given to us, as to the Jews, who were promised that they would eat the good things of the land, that they would inherit a land flowing with milk and honey, and that God would bless their land (Ps. 127; Ex. 33; Num. 13, 14; Deut. 11:27, 31). — Here nothing of the kind is promised. What then is promised? — ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word… and My Father and I will come to him and make Our abode with him’ (Jn. 14:23). Also: ‘Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven’ (Matt. 10:32). Elsewhere: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven… Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God… Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matt. 5:3, 8, 10). Do you see? Everywhere it is heaven, and not a word anywhere about earth or earthly things. This is why it is said: ‘Our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Phil. 3:20). And again: ‘Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth’ (Col. 3:2).”

Some commentators give to the words “in the heavenly places” this meaning: in the heavens—before the earth or any creature existed—in the eternal counsel of God. But as was intentionally noted above, the Apostle here gives thanks to God for what he beholds as already truly accomplished in Christ Jesus, whereas of the pre-eternal decrees of God’s counsel he speaks in the next two or three verses. Our holy commentators, as their words cited above show, see in this phrase only an explanation of the “spiritual” blessing. In their understanding, “in the heavenly places” is equivalent to “heavenly.” The beginning of the blessing comes down from heaven, and there it receives its final completion.

Blessed Theodoret, having enumerated God’s blessings to us in the Lord, says: “This is what the Apostle called spiritual blessings, and he added: ‘in the heavenly places’—because all of these are heavenly gifts.” Blessed Jerome writes: “We are blessed not with earthly but with spiritual blessings. There are also earthly blessings—for example, to have children, to abound in wealth, to be held in honour, to enjoy good health. Earthly blessing extends even to animals; of them also it is said: God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply (Gen. 1:22). — But spiritual blessings are in the heavenly places, because the earth is not capable of containing a spiritual blessing. Even those blessings that are promised in the Law to those who keep the commandments (Lev. 26; Deut. 28) we do not see fulfilled in the prophets, who ‘went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated… wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes of the earth’ (Heb. 11:37, 38). So everything must be understood spiritually, and the spiritual must be sought not in earthly places but in heavenly ones. — The question arises: how then, while we are still on earth, has He blessed us with a heavenly blessing? — We are called blessed with a heavenly blessing either because our citizenship is in heaven, and we are not of this world, but having put off the image of the earthly we bear the image of the heavenly, and no longer live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, and are laying up treasure in heaven, where our heart also is; or because every heavenly blessing, though it comes about (is received) on earth, is sent from heaven.”

He blessed us “in Christ.” This phrase itself shows that the thanksgiving and doxology burst from the heart after a survey of all that has been accomplished by the Lord and all that He has prepared for believers. But truth and life exist only in this; outside of it is delusion and ruin. Whatever descends from God to us comes entirely through the Lord Jesus Christ; and our ascent to God is possible by no other way than through the Lord Himself. “Every gift of divine grace is in Christ. Whoever, despising Christ, thinks to be blessed by God, let him know that he is in error” (Ambrosiaster).

St Chrysostom draws from this a lesson about the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old. “In Christ,” that is, through Christ Jesus, and not through Moses, is this blessing; and therefore we surpass the Jews not only in the quality of the blessing but in its Mediator as well. Moses is a servant; Christ is the Son (Heb. 3:5, 6).

Let everyone therefore hold in mind and heart that Christ the Lord is the sole Mediator through whom every divine blessing descends upon us; every spiritual gift is given to us through Christ and for the sake of Christ. And conversely—Christ is the Mediator through whom every thanksgiving and doxology of ours must ascend to God. Just as God through Him and in Him blesses us and grants all spiritual gifts, so too through Him and in Him and with Him shall we give thanks, glorify, and bless God, who so abundantly bestows grace upon us. Just as God grants us nothing apart from Christ the Lord, so He receives nothing from us if we offer it apart from Him. Through Christ the Lord, therefore, let us both seek new gifts from God and render thanks for what has already been granted. Let us be united to Christ both when we petition and when we give thanks.

Eph. 1:4. Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.

“Just as,” χαθως — “because.” There follows the reason for what was said above. In the preceding verse God is blessed for His abundant blessings to us in Christ Jesus. Regarding this, two questions may arise: Was it only now that God saw fit to enrich us so greatly? And what was the need to expend so many divine treasures upon us? — The Apostle answers in the present verse: No, it was not only now determined that it should be so, but from all eternity; it is only now that it has been brought to fulfilment. And the reason so many spiritual treasures have been poured out upon us is that otherwise we could not be holy. God purposed to lead us back to holiness and blamelessness and directed everything toward this end. It was necessary to justify us—and behold, the Lord took upon Himself death on the cross for our sake; it was necessary to quicken us, who had been put to death by sin—and behold, the grace of the Holy Spirit was sent down upon the Apostles, so as thereafter to be poured out upon all believers and to quicken all; it was necessary to prepare a place for those being saved—and behold, the Lord ascended into the heavens to prepare places, so that where He is, His servants also may be. Three principal moments in the life of Christians: the forgiveness of sins, sanctification by the grace of the Holy Spirit, and eternal blessedness in the Kingdom of Christ. All the blessings are contained in these. But all of them are directed toward making us holy and blameless. This is the centre of all the gracious institutions of the New Covenant.

“Just as He chose us.” The holy Apostle does not intend to dwell long on the election. It is a most important moment for each person being saved, but it is not here fully unfolded—it is only mentioned in passing, to explain further how it was natural for the Apostolic doxology to burst from the heart upon surveying the blessings in Christ Jesus the Lord. It is not only the abundance of these blessings that moves one to bless God, but especially the fact that they were ordained from all eternity. This was part of the general plan of the world’s existence. St Chrysostom says of this: “In almost all his epistles (St Paul) strives to show that what has been done for us is not something new, but was foreshadowed from of old; and that it did not come about because of any change in God’s purpose, but was precisely thus pre-ordered and predestined: it is the work of God’s long-standing solicitude.” Theodoret sets this thought of the pre-eternal election in relation to the Old Testament institution and writes: “Since some thought that the preaching (of the Gospel) was something new and despised it on the grounds that it appeared after the life under the Law, the Apostle corrects this as well: ‘just as He chose… before the foundation of the world.’ For from the beginning, before the ordering of the world, God both foreknew and foreordained all that comes to pass with us.”

The spiritual blessing of us that has been accomplished in time is the work of redemption accomplished by the Lord. The spiritual blessing in relation to this or that individual is that person’s entry into participation in the redemption. Both take place in time; but their foundation is not in time but in eternity. From eternity God ordained that there should be redemption; the time came, and it was accomplished. From eternity likewise those who are to be saved were ordained; the appointed moment comes, and those who were ordained receive salvation. The foundation of this latter is the pre-eternal election of God.

“He chose us in Him.” “Us”—all Christians, all who have already believed and all who will believe until the end of the world. The Apostle’s gaze encompasses all who are saved from among humanity. What this election is may be understood from the election of the people of God. Israel was chosen from among the nations to be the people of God, consecrated to God and to the work of God. But that election was temporary, though for eternal purposes encompassing all humanity. When the purpose was fulfilled, the significance of the temporary election came to an end. It was replaced by another, higher election—spiritual in its purpose and eternal in its significance. Here it is not one tribe that is chosen from all peoples, but from all peoples one people is chosen, consisting of persons of one spirit, serving one goal. And it is of this election that he says it was accomplished before the foundation of the world: time and history only fulfil that pre-eternal election. The Apostle ascends beyond the limits of time and sees the beginning of this election in the pre-eternal act of God’s will.

He chose “in Him”—that is, in Christ. Christ is the recapitulator of all redeemed humanity, as Adam is the recapitulator of fallen and perishing humanity. From the whole mass of those who perish in Adam, God chose us for Himself through faith in Christ Jesus. All who descend from Adam are sinners before God and lack grace. Such God beholds them. This dark covering is lifted, and God’s blessing extends only to that portion of them which takes shelter beneath the protection of Christ. Through Christ—the supremely blessed One—He not only beholds them as blessed but also fills them with blessings.

God chose us in Christ. Consequently, Christ was chosen first. The decree that salvation should come through redemption in Christ was the original, entirely free decree of the divine will. Christ is the first-chosen. But since He was chosen not for His own sake but for the sake of those being saved, in His election they too were elected. The blessing of God rests entirely upon Christ, and for His sake upon all who believe in Him. In them everything is from God through Christ. Those being saved need faith, grace, holiness, and for all this—eternal glory. All of this comes to them from Christ and through Christ. When Christ was chosen, those whom He saves were chosen as well, and all the means for salvation were chosen. How any individual enters by deed into his pre-election, or takes up his appointed portion—this is an incomprehensible hidden mystery in God. The Apostle here only states that all such persons have been chosen and chosen in Christ—before the foundation of the world. Through communion with Him by faith and through being graced in the sacraments, the eternal election receives its temporal fulfilment or realisation. And in the one who works out his salvation there is added to it also the assurance of actual, living communion with Christ. Together with the maturing of assurance in this communion, the assurance of pre-eternal election in Christ matures as well, in the one who is in actual fact being saved.

He chose before “the foundation of the world”—that is, from eternity, for before the foundation of the world there was no time. St Paul does not use such an expression elsewhere. In a parallel passage—in 2 Thess. 2:13 — it reads: “God chose you from the beginning.” — St Chrysostom draws from the phrase “the foundation of the world” a point about the manner in which the world came into being. “Foundation,” καταβολη, means a throwing downward. From the infinitely great God this world was cast into space and time at an infinite distance from Him—in terms of dignity. Or—the world was cast by the Word of God into space and time. He spoke—and they came into being; He spoke—and they came into being. Each word that went forth from the mouth of God brought worlds into existence, worlds that we cannot even count. These are the words of St Chrysostom! — “How aptly the Apostle called the creation of the world χαταβολη — a casting down from on high. Truly great and ineffable is the height of God—not in relation to place, but in relation to the boundlessness of the divine nature; and great is the distance between the creature and the Creator.” — The same observation is made by all the ancient Eastern commentators and by blessed Jerome. In their day there was at times a struggle with materialist and fatalist philosophers; that is why they felt it necessary to make such a remark. It is not without value in our own day either. It is remarkable that in the contemplation of the saints the world, however immense, vanishes in their consciousness before the consciousness of the greatness of the Godhead. This is because, passing beyond the world, they lived in God. — By contrast, for those who dig in matter with forgetfulness of God, the world with its forces seems something incomprehensibly great and powerful, and in their consciousness it eclipses God and, as it were, drives Him out of it. One must marvel that the latter, “beholding the works,” “do not recognise” “the Craftsman” (“Gazing on the works, they did not recognise the Author” (Wis. 13:1))!

He chose—“that we should be holy and blameless.” The immediate goal of the election is holiness and blamelessness, which in their turn become the means to a higher goal—adoption (Eph. 1:5), and this in turn leads to a still further goal—the inheritance. Such is the goal! — But the centre of everything is holiness and blamelessness. Since we are chosen to them in Christ, and Christ is the accomplisher of the whole economy of salvation, the entire purpose of that economy lies in our holiness and blamelessness. Man was created holy and blameless. Having fallen, he lost holiness and blamelessness. Being restored from the fall, he is restored again to holiness and blamelessness.

God did not choose those who were already holy and blameless, but chose sinners so that they might become holy and blameless. Whoever is pure and blameless in himself—he is holy. Every person who has received baptism, or absolution of sins in repentance, is cleansed from every defilement, both in God’s sight and in his own conscience—though it does not always follow that he possesses full holiness in every aspect of his nature. He is holy because all his sins are forgiven and he has taken upon himself the obligation of holiness, has been clothed with the gracious power for it, and is zealously resolved to lay down his life, if need be, to stand firm in good, however strong the assaults of the contrary may be. This inward disposition is essential to the spirit of Christians. To it all Christians are elected. If, then, holiness is not given all at once but requires labours, sweat, and struggle, those elected to holiness are elected also to this narrow path toward it, fully realised in the ascetic life. Christian, chosen one, saint, combatant, ascetic, and toiler—all these titles are of one meaning. St Chrysostom says: “Lest you should think that faith alone suffices, the Apostle points also to life. God chose us, he says, for this purpose—that we should be holy and blameless. The election testifies, on the one hand, to the love of God for humanity, and on the other, to the virtue of the chosen. Without doubt He chose those who are worthy of it. He made us holy, but we too need to be worthy of being holy. Holy is every person who partakes of the faith, and blameless is the one who leads a blameless life.”

God chose us to be holy and blameless “before Him”—that is, before God—not merely outwardly and in the eyes of men, but before the face of the all-seeing God, and therefore in very truth. “He requires not a superficial holiness, says St Chrysostom,—and not a superficial blamelessness, but such as shall be found to be so before Him. For there are holy and blameless people who are esteemed as such by men, who however are in reality like whitewashed tombs, or are ravening wolves in sheep’s clothing. But He does not choose such, but those who resemble the Prophet who said: ‘And the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness and according to the cleanness of my hands before His eyes’ (Ps. 17:25). Do you see what holiness He seeks? — Holiness before His eyes, that is, such as the eye of God can acknowledge.”

“In love.” Commentators attach this phrase to different words in the sentence. Oecumenius refers it to “He chose”; St Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophylact refer it to what follows—“having predestined” (from the Greek—having foreordained). St Damascene and Ambrosiaster refer it to “that we should be holy and blameless.” To which word this phrase is to be joined depends on whether one understands the love here to be divine or human. Blessed Jerome says that one may understand either human love here or divine. If the former, the meaning is that we were chosen to be holy and blameless out of love for God and for our neighbour; if the latter, that God chose us and foreordained us out of His love for us.

Judging from the fact that these verses speak of election and predestination—the highest of God’s beneficent acts toward us, flowing from His love for us—it seems better to understand here the love of God. But taking into account that immediately before this word stand holiness and blamelessness—whose true beginning in us is not a cold sense of obligation toward them, but a living and active love—and that immediately after it comes the mention of predestination to adoption, whose essential mark is a warm love for the Heavenly Father and acting according to His will not out of fear but out of love, one is also inclined to see in this word human love—our own. It must be supposed that the one and the other converge here into one.

Ambrosiaster writes: “Those steadfast in faith were chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be blameless before Him in love—that is, that love for God should render their life holy. No one obeys another better than the one who submits to him out of love.”

And holy Chrysostom says: “Having spoken of the necessity of virtue, he passes on to grace and says: ‘in love having foreordained’ (predestined) ‘us’. For this (election) does not come about only by reason of good works, but through love (toward him), and moreover not through love alone: for then all would have to be saved; if, on the other hand, our virtue were sufficient, then His (the Son of God’s) coming into the world and all His economy would have been superfluous. Thus this takes place neither through love alone nor by our virtue alone, but on condition of both together. — Were it not for God’s love, virtue would save no one. — Or in other words: the bestowal of such great gifts is the fruit of (God’s) love (toward us), not of our (own) virtue alone. To be virtuous, to believe, and to draw near to God—this, though it is also the work of the One who calls, is nonetheless also ours. But to count those who draw near worthy of such great honors, to transfer them from a state of enmity into a state of adoption—this is truly the work of an overabounding love.”