Blessed in whom? The good news about the Jewish people (Ephesians 1:1-12 and Genesis)

 A beautiful prayer

Ephesians begins with a much-loved prayer of praise to God. Its different aspects have each been a cause of rejoicing for millions throughout history. Some have focussed on the wonder of union with Christ that Christians enjoy. Some, while doing this, marvel that God has revealed to us his plan for the fullness of time. Others consider the invisibility of the blessings described, and have been spurred on to see with the eyes of faith just how blessed those who are in Christ really are. In systematic theology, the glorious truth of God’s sovereignty in salvation has often been discerned from this passage.

So what could a focus on the audience of the Ephesians possibly add to this? How could seeing the letter to the Ephesians as primarily aimed at Old-Testament-loving, first-century Gentile Christians possibly give us more cause to praise God?

Underwhelming and painful first steps

At first, the answer is very underwhelming. But the beauty of it lies in seeing this passage as just the start of a glorious theology which builds and builds towards the end of chapter 3. Often, we read Ephesians 1 as glorious, Ephesians 2 as starting well but then getting a bit difficult to apply, and then Ephesians 3 as a bit of an afterthought. But that is not how Paul saw it! It is only after Ephesians 3:13 that Paul launches into his glorious prayer. If we are willing to slow down a bit, the richness of Ephesians will shine forth much more.

But the first step in this is quite painful. We have to accept that Ephesians 1:3-12 is not about us. It is about “us”, but that “us” is actually pretty narrow, and doesn’t really include the Ephesians. We can see this because in 1:13, Paul says “you also” (more on that in the next chapter) in such a way that the “we”/“us” in verse 12 cannot possibly also include “you”. Grammatically, there is also nowhere in between verse 3 and verse 12 that the “we”/“us” can start referring to a different group. Whoever “we” refers to in verse 12 (i.e. not “you”), it also refers to in verse 3. Paul starts the letter by saying “look how blessed we are”, not “look how blessed you are”.

Why so exclusive? Easy answers and beyond

No matter who the “we” and “you” are, this is an odd way to start a letter. It is odd to start off by saying “Look how blessed we are… We, but not you.” Furthermore, we’ve seen in the rest of the letter that the “we” generally refers to “we Jewish believers” and the “you” to “you Gentile believers”. Why would a book reassuring Gentiles about their blessings in the gospel start in such an exclusive way? “Look at all these blessing that we Jewish believers have!” Why would this wonderful prayer of praise on which systematic theologies have been built, and from which invisible blessings have been enjoyed, be written in so narrowly and exclusively?

The easy answer is to say that, in the end, they do apply to us. The “you also” in 1:13 shows that some of the blessings in 1:3-12 are for Gentiles too. We also know from the rest of the Bible that all these blessings are ultimately for all Christians. While it’s not wrong if we enjoy the invisible blessings described in 1:3-12, that approach treats Ephesians as less than scriptural. In the first instance, Ephesians is making a point about blessings for Jewish believers, not all Christians. If we really believe that God’s word presents God’s truth in the best way possible, we need to understand why it is good for the book to start this way, rather than to imagine it starts a different way.

So, we need to find the more difficult answer. And this comes through reading the text. The immediately striking thing about the blessings mentioned is that no matter what they are, they are given “in Christ” (or “in him”). This is emphasised repeatedly and is given far more airtime than, for example, the invisibility of the blessings. But the meaning of “in Christ” goes beyond merely thinking about the Christian doctrine of “union with Christ”.

Beyond easy answers to the Old Testament

Elsewhere in the New Testament, “in Christ” can refer to what we think of as “union with Christ”, but remember: the Ephesians did not have the New Testament. They may have had a few of the letters, but for them, reading the Bible meant reading the Old Testament. What would “in Christ” have meant to an Old-Testament-loving Gentile?

We could search for the word “in” within the Old Testament and probably find thousands of results. Thankfully, however, Ephesians doesn’t say “in Christ” alone, but talks of being “blessed ... with ... blessing in Christ”. The word “blessed” comes up a lot at the beginning of this prayer, and that significantly narrows down the possibilities of what Paul might be referring to here.

One of the most significant passages in the whole Old Testament uses this language of blessing numerous times, as well as stating that those blessings are “in” someone. Genesis 12:1-3 comes after the first 11 chapters of the Bible, where the world, which God initially blessed, is cursed by God and everything seems to go horribly wrong, and it is into that context that God makes a promise where “bless” comes up five times in quick succession. The final of these times, God says, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

As we move through the book of Genesis, God proves his determination to fulfil these promises through the line of Abraham, as well as expanding them and making them more specific. In Genesis 15:3-5 and Genesis 17:4-8, he reiterates his promises about Abraham having his own offspring in grand terms. In Genesis 22, after the birth (and, in a way, resurrection) of Isaac, God says, “In your offspring shall all the nations of the world be blessed”. The same promise has been given greater specificity. And again, in Genesis 26:4, God makes another similar promise, this time to Isaac: “In your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”.

Paul, in Ephesians, is making a point about the blessings made to Abraham and his descendants. Going through a particular line (e.g. not through Ishmael but rather through Isaac, but also not Isaac himself but one of his descendants) is the way that all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So how does that change the way we read Ephesians 1?

Beyond difficult answers to encouragements

Paul is NOT saying “all of us Christians are blessed with the Christian doctrine of union with Christ”. Paul is saying “all of us Jewish Christians are blessed, not through Abraham, but through Christ, the true seed of Abraham in the line of Isaac.” He goes through a wonderful list of Old Testament blessings that God’s people were given, but in each case says that the reason he and his fellow believing Jewish people enjoy them is because it is “in Christ” that they have been made available.

This is hugely encouraging for the Gentile Christians, because Paul is showing that whatever the Jewish Christians have does not come through being biologically from Abraham’s family. Rather, Abraham and Isaac’s offspring, Jesus, is the one “in” whom they are fully blessed. And this blessing was always intended to be a blessing for all the nations. Genesis 12, 22 and 26 state that as clear as day.

It is as if Paul is saying “in all the massive Old Testament blessings – adoption, redemption, forgiveness, inheritance – us Jewish Christians don’t have anything you Gentiles don’t. We get them all in Christ.”

This is only a start. Ephesians goes on to unpack much more clearly how this can be. In doing so, there are many more allusions to the book of Genesis, which speaks about the cursing of the whole world and God’s plan to bring blessing to the whole world through Abraham’s seed. But this is a start.

Previous Post: Ephesians: It's time to meet the audience 

Next Post: You also. The role of the Spirit in the Gentiles' inclusion (Ephesians 1:13-14 and Acts)