February 17 – Happy or Blessed

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” – Ephesians 1: (NASB)

 

Sometimes common usage of a word might lead to a slightly different meaning that the original intended. Say it often enough or read it frequently and the meanings merge. This results sometimes in losing the significance of what the author intended. And example is the exchange of the English words ‘blessed’ and ‘happy.’  Sometimes a Scripture reference with blessed is read as if it says happy. There certainly is a similarity between the meanings. Our passage today uses forms of the word ‘bless’ three different ways. First is ‘blessed be’ as an adjective which is applied only to God in the New Testament Greek. Second is ‘has blessed’ as a verb and communicates God’s promise that He has already given believers total blessing. Third is “spiritual blessing’ used as a noun and not immaterial as opposed to material blessings, but rather speaks of the work of God as the divine source of all blessings we are receiving, have received, and will receive. It is worth noting that it is “in the heavenly” domain from where all blessings come. We may well have joy and happiness because of this promise but saying were ‘happy’ would use a different word.

 

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