What Does Ephesians 1:3 Mean?
Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, who has blessed us with every blessing of breath in the heavenly places, in the Anointed One.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:THE KEY
One Greek word-family appears three times, binding praise to God, God’s giving, and the blessings you receive into one movement.
THE MEANING
God has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, in Christ. The same word-family blesses God and names what God gives you, holding praise and gift together in one sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s blessing is scarce or has yet to begin for you.
THE ROOT
εὐλογητός
eulogētos
GROWS FROM
εὐλογ- (eu + λέγω)
Speak well; praise or bless.
“Praised be” in this verse is eulogētos. The KJV’s “Blessed be,” “hath blessed,” and “blessings” translate three forms of the same Greek word-family. God’s blessing of you and your blessing of God are joined in the language itself.
ALSO GROWS
eulogētos: Blessed; worthy of praise.
εὐλογητός
This is the form used to bless God at the start of the verse.
eulogeō: To bless or speak well of.
εὐλογέω
This is the verb behind “hath blessed,” describing what God gives.
eulogia: Blessing; praise.
εὐλογία
This noun names the blessings given to you, completing the repeated word-family.
πνευματικῇ
pneumatikē
GROWS FROM
πνέω
pneō
Breathe or blow.
“of breath” in this verse is pneumatikē. The word translated “spiritual” belongs to the family of πνεῦμα, meaning breath. That shared root gives these blessings a living, breath-related texture beneath the English abstraction.
ALSO GROWS
pneuma: Breath.
πνεῦμα
This is the noun at the heart of the word-family behind “spiritual.”
pnoē: Breath; blowing.
πνοή
This related form keeps the family’s concrete sense of breathing and moving air in view.
Χριστῷ
Christō
GROWS FROM
χρίω
chriō
Anoint; apply oil.
Christ names the Anointed One, from the act of anointing. “In Christ” places the blessings within the sphere of the Anointed One, joining the title to where the gifts are found.
ALSO GROWS
christos: The anointed one.
Χριστός
This title identifies the one in whom the verse locates the blessings.
chrisma: Anointing.
χρῖσμα
This related noun makes visible the act behind the title “Christ.”
THE PATTERN
What God gives in fullness is received as gift, then remembered and returned in praise.
Bless the LORD, O my living soul, and do not forget all his dealings.As his divine power has given us all things that belong to life and awe, through the full knowing of the one who called us to weight and strength.Every good giving and every complete gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no shifting and no shadow cast by turning.THE THREAD
And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting his hands, he blessed them.Luke uses the same Greek word-family when Jesus raises his hands and blesses the disciples. It makes the blessing in Ephesians feel like an action flowing outward through the Anointed One to the reader.
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