J Philip Bible Readings

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 

We should note first of all three things that Paul underlines at the outset in these verses. Firstly, he indicates the primary and abiding characteristic of the true Christian life as being centred on God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle never wearied in his desire to magnify and commend the Saviour to all who would listen to him. Secondly, he speaks in these verses of 'spiritual blessing'. It need hardly be said that he was of course conscious of the many temporal blessings that gladden and enrich the common life of man; and he never neglected to be thankful for them. But it would be true to say that for Paul God's spiritual blessings so far eclipsed them in grandeur and glory that he could not even think of them here. It is well to be reminded of this when so many think of God's love only in terms of His daily goodness to us - our happy homes, security, comforts, friendships, and suchlike, all so true and real, but never the primary preoccupation of New Testament saints, who were gripped and thrilled by the realities of forgiveness and reconciliation and the new life, almost to the exclusion of every lesser thing. Thirdly, these verses bear out what has just been said in the thought of 'the heavenly places', the sphere in which the true Christian really lives, and from which he draws all his resources. And the simple challenge of this word is that we should live as Christians in the right world. 'Seek those things which are above', says Paul, as clearly here as he does in Colossians 3:1. Let us browse, then, in that unseen world of the heavenly places, and savour its joy and wonder.