English word does not appear in Holy Scripture, such word need not be unscriptural; it

could only rightly be called unscriptural if the idea contained in the term was not based

upon, derived from, or depending upon Holy Scripture. Therefore, to say, regarding the

use of the term "sphere": "As it is not an inspired term we have no means of fixing its

force"; seems either to manifest ignorance of the English language or to be an effort

unduly to influence the unwary. In either case the matter is no loner disputable, for the

use of the term "sphere of blessing" has been proved to be both good English and

Our next step is to enumerate, in scriptural terms, the actual "spheres of blessing" that

are spoken of in the Scriptures, and then to compare and contrast them so that by trying

the things that differ we may avoid confusion and keep each calling in its appointed

place. Let us begin with our own calling as revealed in the Epistle to the Ephesians.

At the moment we are not concerned with the kind of blessings here set forth, namely,

"all spiritual", but with the "province", "range" or "domain" in which these blessings

naturally find their setting, and we have but to record:

(1) The sphere of blessing found in Eph. 1: 3 is defined as "in heavenly places".

Again we are not yet concerned as to whether these "heavenly places" are no higher

than the firmament in which birds fly; whether they denote the starry heavens; or

whether they refer to a position far above all. All that we are immediately concerned

with is that a distinct "sphere" is indicated by the words "in heavenly places".

We now turn to another part of the N.T., where we read of another sphere of blessing:

"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5: 5). Once more, we are

not concerned with the character of those here referred to, nor with their inheritance, but

exclusively with the "sphere" of their inheritance, and we therefore record:

(2) A sphere of blessing is found in Matt. 5: 5, which is defined as "the earth".

We assume, but have not yet proved, that "the earth" and "heavenly places" are two

distinct spheres. Common sense says that they are distinct, but we leave the proof until

Here, then, are two spheres of blessing concerning which there is no controversy. But,

in addition to these two, we discover what appears to be an intermediate sphere of

blessing, a sphere above "the earth", yet not "in heavenly places". For this we turn to

Gal. 3: 14: "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus

Christ." The question which now arises is, Does this passage refer to a distinct sphere of

blessing, or is this blessing of Abraham to be enjoyed in one or other of the two spheres

already considered? A complete answer can only be given after careful examination, but

for the sake of consciseness, and to bring our first study to a conclusion, we note that in