Our Inheritance in The Now! Ephesians 1:3

 

📖 Scripture:

“Praiseworthy is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.”
– Ephesians 1:3

🔎 Examination:

Ephesians 1:3 is one of the most theologically dense verses in all of Scripture, and it dismantles one of the most pervasive counterfeit gospels of our age: the lie that the fullness of the Christian inheritance is delayed, deferred, or pending. Paul doesn't write with future tense ambiguity or spiritual vagueness. He writes with present precision, finality, and covenantal certainty. God has blessed us. Not will bless. Not might bless. Not waiting to bless once all the conditions are met. He has blessed regenerate saints with every spiritual blessing—in Christ.

This verse immediately confronts transactional religion. Transactional Christianity treats God as a distributor of benefits contingent upon performance, obedience, emotional sincerity, or religious output. It replaces sonship with servitude and inheritance with wages. But Paul begins Ephesians by grounding everything in doxology, not duty. Praise comes first because blessing comes first. Obedience flows from identity inheritance; it never purchases it.

Notice the object of praise: “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Paul roots blessing in the intra-Trinitarian relationship. The Father’s generosity toward the elect isn't abstract; it is mediated exclusively through union with the Son. Saints aren't blessed because they are impressive, faithful, or useful. They are blessed because they are in Christ. Union, not effort, is the inheritance of the Christian life.

Paul then makes a sweeping claim: “every spiritual blessing.” That word “every” leaves no remainder. There is no missing category, no withheld benefit, no future installment required for completeness. This annihilates the lie that saints are living in a spiritual deficit NOW while waiting for heaven to eventually make things whole. The present, not heaven, is where our inheritance begins; heaven is where inheritance is consummated for those who embraced it. The inheritance itself is already possessed. The question is: Are you a faithful, loving, and trusting son or daughter in the NOW, or are you busy serving self and squandering your inheritance as a blessing?

The location of these blessings is crucial: “in the heavenly realms.” Paul isn't speaking of geographic space, but covenantal reality. The “heavenly realms” in Ephesians refer to the sphere of Christ’s authority, reign, and victory. Legitimate saints are already seated there with Him (Eph 2:6). This means inheritance isn't tied to our present fleeting circumstances on earth. God's love, favor, and inheritance aren't validated by comfort, prosperity, safety, or cultural approval. Inheritance is secured by Christ’s exaltation in our lives in the NOW.

This directly confronts the modern evangelical obsession with the health and wealth prosperity gospel, i.e., material blessings. When blessing is defined by mammon, suffering becomes a theological problem and cause for cognitive dissonance. But when blessing is defined relationally—union with Christ—suffering becomes the proving grounds and context for manifestation, not contradiction. We don't lose our inheritance when we suffer; we express it.

Paul’s language also dismantles the notion that identity is still being assembled. Many operate as though the Christian life is about slowly accumulating spiritual assets—wisdom, power, maturity, authority—until someday they are finally “complete.” But Scripture declares that accumulation isn't the goal; suffering together in brotherly love and gutsy humility is (1 Peter 3:8). Sanctification isn't the process of becoming whole; it is the process of denying self, picking up our cross, and following our King wherever He leads. As John the Baptist said, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven... Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This is why Paul can later command obedience without fear of contradiction. Because inheritance is settled, obedience is freed from anxiety. Because blessing is secure, generosity is no longer risky. Because identity is fixed, suffering no longer threatens meaning. Saints aren't striving to earn a place in the Kingdom; they are learning to walk as those who already belong to it.

Ephesians 1:3 also exposes the error of “not yet” Christianity that perpetually defers joy, delays peace, waives purpose, and postpones usefulness to some undisclosed future occasion. This mindset seems humble but is functionally unfaithful. It treats God’s promises as theoretical and Christ’s work as incomplete. It mirrors the older brother in Luke 15—living around the Father, but holding out for a time when his father is dead and gone. His plight is in failing to see that the relationship with his father, not the stuff, that's the REAL inheritance.

Paul refuses that pernicious postponement posture. He speaks to saints as those already blessed, already chosen, already adopted, and already redeemed. The verbs pile up in the past tense. They create a contemporary Christian culture of belief-driven behaviors (verbs/action) in the PRESENT. This isn't secular or worldly optimism; it is divine revelation manifest as ACTION. The Gospel doesn't announce future potential; it announces past accomplishment for ministry in the NOW. That's why the name of God is YAHWEH... I AM... not Has-Been... or Will-Be.

Paul says these blessings are “spiritual,” not in contrast to real, but in contrast to temporary. Spiritual doesn't mean internal feelings or mystical impressions. It means immutable blessings sourced in the Holy Spirit and secured by eternal decree. They are more solid than money, more enduring than health, and more reliable than circumstances... the stuff that time, moths, and rust destroy.

This verse also guards against individualistic spirituality. The “us” denotes community. Inheritance isn't a private portfolio; it's a shared reality within the Body & Bride of Christ. Saints don't hoard blessings; they embody them together. That's why Paul moves immediately from praise to election, adoption, and corporate identity... ecclesiology.

When people live as though their inheritance is lacking, they are submitting to Satan’s schemes. He cannot revoke what Christ has secured, but he can deceive saints into living as though it's inaccessible. Fear, striving, comparison, bitterness, and withdrawal all flourish where inheritance is treated as pending rather than present.

But when saints embrace the truth of Ephesians 1:3, everything changes. Ministry becomes joyful overflow, not religious obligation. Giving becomes joy, not loss. Suffering becomes meaningful rejoicing, not pointless pain. Obedience becomes collective praise and worship, not private negotiation.

This verse isn't abstract theology; it is spiritual warfare. To live as those already blessed is to reject the serpent’s ancient lie that God is withholding the truly good stuff. That lie fractured humanity in Eden. It continues to keep entitled prodigals and bitter children stuck in the sinful rebellion of self-worship. The truth restores our relationship with the Father in Christ Jesus.

The question Scripture presses isn't whether God has blessed His people, but whether we're living as though He has... as the salt & light of the GOSPEL blessing in the now. 

🤺 Action:

• Test your assumptions — “Why do you spend money on what is not bread?” (Isa 55:2). Where do you act as though something essential is still missing from your life in Christ? Ask the Holy Spirit to expose how you might be filling the void by chasing idols rather than resting in Christ.

• Examine your striving — “Come to Me, all you who are weary and overburdened...” (Matt 11:28). Are you obeying from a place of supernatural peace and rest in inheritance identity or from fear of consequences, loss, and insufficiency?

• Search your prayers — “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” (Matt 6:10). Do your prayers reflect confidence in, and a desire for, God’s accomplished blessing, or anxiety about and carnal cravings for unmet desires?

• Test your generosity — “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matt 6:21). Does your service, surrender, and giving back of time, energy, and resources in the local church (not charities, causes, parachurch organizations, and nonprofits) reveal functional faith in your present and relational inheritance in Christ as a devoted member of His Body & Bride?

🧠 Reflection:

God hasn't placed our inheritance on layaway. He hasn't asked us to wait patiently while He withholds perks, benefits, and blessings. That attitude was the plight of the older son in Luke 15. Scripture reveals that in Christ, every spiritual blessing is already ours—not as an abstract, delayed, deferred, or pending promise, but as a PRESENT reality meant to be expressed in obedience, endurance, and love. That's not to say that HEAVEN is already here. It is to say that those who have inherited the kingdom of heaven... we embrace the fullness of our calling to suffering with and for Christ and His glory in the NOW.

When saints live as though we are already blessed, we stop surviving for self and start living for Christ. We stop grasping and bless by giving ourselves away. We stop striving out of fear and start serving out of faith. We stop worrying about what we could lose and start pouring ourselves out because of what we've ALREADY gained in Christ. That's not some delusional denial of our current hardships; it's the proper framing and perception of them as light, momentary affliction producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison (2 Cor 4:17).

Are you living like a son or daughter who has faith that the Father has already given everything that truly matters in your relationship with Him, or are you in it for the goodies? Are you being poured out as a drink offering... serving as a blessing or squandering your inheritance in Christ?

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor

BigIslandChristianChurch.com

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