Our blessings are not so much in mind in this opening passage as an overwhelming

sense of grace. "Blessed be God." No petition rises to the Father, no confession, no

vows of reform, no statement of failure, but thanksgiving and worship, full and free,

ascends unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. No blessing is sought or

desired, "all blessings" are acknowledged.

The opening words of this glorious revelation are NOT "may I be blessed" but "may

He be blessed". This note struck so early, should never be forgotten by the reader as he

follows his guide through chamber after chamber of unspeakable glory. "He hath blessed

us". The word eulogia "blessings" is derived from the verb eulogeo "to bless", which is a

compound of eu "well" and lego "to speak". The reader will recognize that this word is

the origin of the English "eulogy", a word meaning a high form of praise. The word

translated "blessings" in Eph. 1: 3 is actually once translated "fair speeches", namely in

Rom. 16: 18 which reveals the primary meaning of the word. Eu is an adverb and is

found in Eph. 6: 3, "that it may be well with thee". It is of frequent use as a particle in

combination with other words and is most familiar to the reader in the word evangel or

"gospel" where the letter "u" is pronounced "v" in English.

Writing to the believer before the great dispensational landmark of Acts 28:, Paul

speaks of "the blessing of Abraham" coming on the Gentiles, but Abraham is never

mentioned in the "Prison Epistles", and no blessing of Abraham is associated either with

"heavenly places" or "before the foundation of the world". There are some terms used in

the Scriptures, which by their very nature and the place they occupy in the scheme of

salvation, come over and over again in the writings of the apostle. Such terms as "faith",

"redemption", "justification" will come to the mind immediately, and are found in many

of the epistles whether written before or after Acts 28: No one moreover could deny

the use of the word "blessing" when speaking of these great doctrines of salvation, yet

the fact remains that Rom. 15: 29 "the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ",

I Cor. 10: 16 "the cup of blessing which we bless" and Gal. 3: 14 "the blessing of

Abraham", are the only other occurrences of the word in Paul's epistles. So far as the

Prison Epistles are concerned Eph. 1: 3 stands alone of the new revelation and never

again employed in any capacity by the apostle. Terms such as "seated together" and

"blessing" receive emphasis by their glorious solitariness. They stand alone and are

beyond compare.

These blessings of Eph. 1: 3 are moreover peculiar in this, that they are "all spiritual".

As the record stands in the Authorized Version "all spiritual blessings" must be

considered as plural. The fact is, however, that in the original the word is singular, and a

literal rendering is "in (or with) every blessing (that is) spiritual". Where the Greek word

pas "all" is used of one it means "the whole", "entire" or "all the . . . . .", but if it be used

to cover several items, it means "every".

Green, in his handbook says that where the adjective pas "all" in the singular number

is written without the article "the", it signifies "every", but with the article it means "the

whole of" the object which it qualifies. Thus pasa polis means "every city"; pasa he