Devine Scripture

Ephesians 1:3

What does Ephesians 1:3 mean?

A plain-English look at Ephesians 1:3 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Ephesians 1:3 means

Paul bursts into worship, blessing God because God has first blessed us. These blessings are “every spiritual blessing,” not necessarily material, but those imparted by the Holy Spirit—new life, forgiveness, adoption, hope. They are located “in the heavenly places,” the unseen realm where Christ reigns, and they come “in Christ,” meaning union with him is the channel of every gift. Paul’s worship directs our gaze upward: God the Father is worthy of praise because, in Christ, he has already secured for believers the fullness of what they truly need. This doxology frames salvation as divine generosity that evokes heartfelt adoration.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Blessedbethe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Blessedbethe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us every blessing of the Spirit in the heavens in Christ:

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Blessed <FI>is<Fi> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did bless us in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, in Christ:

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Blessed [be] theGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ;

Context

This verse begins the long, cascading sentence of praise (verses 3–14) that catalogs God’s saving work from eternity past to eternity future. Verse 3 states the theme: God has blessed us in Christ with comprehensive spiritual riches. The following verses then unpack those blessings—election (verse 4), adoption (verse 5), grace in the Beloved (verse 6), redemption and forgiveness (verse 7), wisdom and revelation (verses 8–9), summing all things in Christ (verse 10), inheritance (verses 11–12), and the sealing of the Spirit (verses 13–14). The flow is doxological and theological at once.

v.2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

v.3This passage

v.4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Ephesians 6:12

    For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

  • Philippians 2:11

    and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

  • Isaiah 61:9

    And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah hath blessed.

  • John 14:20

    In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:17

    Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.

  • Ephesians 1:20

    which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

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