A paean of doctrinal praise
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,The full name of Jehovah the Son is now ‘The Lord Jesus Christ’. Where ‘Lord’ occurs without the definite article or a possessive pronoun I often render ‘Sovereign’. who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms"In the heavenly realms" appears to be a synonym for Heaven; the blessings are there, ready to be distributed. in Christ;The blessings are only for those who are in Christ. Unbelievers may receive some spinoff benefits. 4 just as He[F]Here the pronoun refers to the Father, not ‘Christ’. Below, whenever the referent changes I will indicate this by [F] or [S], which will be good until the next change. chose us in Him[S] before the foundation of the world,This one is difficult for our poor little finite minds to handle. If I was chosen before Creation, then I am part of a PLAN that antedates that Creation, just like the slain Lamb (1 Peter 1:19-20). So He knows who I am and calls me by name (John 10:3). When faced with a ‘God-thing’ that exceeds our understanding, we can either accept or reject—I choose to accept [there are consequences]. And let’s not forget to give thanks. that we should be holy and blameless before Him[F], in love,The syntax is ambiguous: does "in love" go with the preceding clause, or the following one? If the preceding, then it would be our love for Him; if the following, His love for us. When the Text is ambiguous I like to allow for both possibilities, which is why I place a comma before and after. Since both are true, why not teach both? 5 having predestined us into an adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, into Him[S], according to the good pleasure of His[F] will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved;