notice there was no scripture....but you do not need it when you go into fantasy.
but if you want truth;
In (
1722) (
en) means in and in this phrase denotes the object of our faith is Christ, the Source of
every spiritual blessing. Saints are "
in" Christ and because of this covenantal, inseparable
union are partakers of these benefits throughout this life and the life to come.
In the heavenly places is the place where believers receive “every spiritual blessing” because it is where the ascended, exalted Christ is (God "
raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places" -
Ep 1:20-
note), and where believers also are, since they are incorporated “
in Him” (God "
raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus" -
Ep 2:6-
note). In contrast to the present earthly realm, which represents experiential reality for the believer, the region designated by "the heavenly places" is the locus of the ascended Christ in His present state of exaltation, a spiritual (not figurative nor metaphorical but very real) reality in which believers currently share by virtue of their participation “
in” Him as a result of their by faith entering into the New Covenant in His blood.
This truth of the believer’s present participation “
in” Christ is amplified in
Ephesians 2:5-6 where Paul uses 3 verbs that have the preposition "
sun-" (picturing intimate union) in their prefix (
suzoopoieo = "
made alive together with Christ",
sunegeiro = "
raised up with Him" ,
sugkathizo = "
seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus"]) which describe the participation of believers with Christ in His resurrection and exaltation. This truth of the believer's present union with Christ is also explained by Paul in the well-known verse
Galatians 2:20 (with reference to co-crucifixion). (
see in depth discussion)
Spurgeon comments that...
One of the first doctrines of our holy faith is that of the
union of all believing souls with Christ. We are
blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Apart from Christ we are nothing (cp
Jn 15:5);
in Christ we have "all spiritual blessings" We are rich as Christ is rich, when we are united to him by the living bond of faith. Another great doctrine of Holy Scripture is that of
election. We are blessed in Christ according as the Father "
hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world." Why did God choose any unto eternal life? Was it because of any holiness in them then existing, or foreseen to exist? No, by no means; for we read that: "
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,"
John Eadie writes that
en Christo, in Christ...
might be viewed as connected with ta epournia (the heavenly), and their position at the end of the verse might warrant such an exegesis. Christ at once creates and includes heaven. But they are better connected with the preceding participle, and in that connection they do not signify, as Chrysostom and Luther suppose, “through Christ” as an external cause of blessing, but “in Him.”...The words are reserved to the last with special emphasis. The apostle writes of blessing—spiritual blessing—all spiritual blessing—all spiritual blessing in the heavenly places; but adds at length the one sphere in which they are enjoyed—
in Christ—in living union with the personal Redeemer. God blesses us: if the question be,
When? the aorist (aorist tense) solves it; if it be,
With what sort of gifts? the ready answer is, “With all spiritual blessings”—en; and if it be,
Where? the response is, “In the heavenly places”—en; and if it be,
How? the last words show it, “in Christ”—
en, the one preposition being used thrice, to point out varied but allied relations. If Christians are blessed, and so blessed with unsparing liberality and universal benefaction in Christ through the Spirit's influence upon them; and if the scenes of such transcendent enjoyment may be named without exaggeration “heavenly places”—may they not deeply and loudly bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? And so the triune operation of the triune God is introduced: the Father Who blesses—the Son, in Whom those blessings are conferred—and the Spirit, by Whose inner work they are enjoyed, and from whom they receive their distinctive epithet. (
A commentary on the Greek text - Page 17)
CHS;
We were in Christ in the suretyship engagements of the eternal covenant. What Christ spoke before the world was, he spoke as for us. His prescient eye foresaw our existence, foreknow our ruin. He espoused us unto himself then, and stood, in the Council Chambers of Eternity, the Surety and Sponsor of his people’s souls.
