Blessed with every blessing

Erwin H. W. Luimes

Question: Increasingly we are seeing that the practice of 'blessing' is employed more around us. Even since the early Middle Ages, this has been done in the Roman Catholic Church. Since the Reformation, the clergyman has pronounced a blessing over 'his congregation'. And in evangelical or charismatic circles, people bless one another 'in Jesus' Name'. So what are all these blessings actually about?

Answer: 

In order to find the right answer, it is necessary to remain strictly with Scripture, and not to be led by the 'good feeling' that you may have after a blessing.

Blessings 

According to the Bible, everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus receives forgiveness of sins, eternal life, justification through faith; he becomes a child of God (John 1:12) and is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1:13). 

Everyone to whom this applies is 'blessed with every spiritual blessing', according to Ephesians 1:3. By Whom? By God alone. What are these blessings? Where are these blessings? In heaven.

Israel had the promise of earthly blessings if they were to keep the law faithfully (Deut. 6:3, 7:13 vv). We as children of God do not have any promise of material blessing or prosperity; actually, we do not have any promise of spiritual blessings either. Because you are no longer promised something you already have. As Christians, we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing! This is how God's Word puts it. And God does not say this for nothing!

If you are already blessed with every spiritual blessing, what more can you receive? And from whom? God has not kept anything back or hidden what He is still going to give us if others pray for it. He has revealed His whole heart and wants us to enjoy it, so that our joy is perfect. And people really cannot give us more than God would want or be able to; so we cannot expect or receive any additional blessing whatsoever from fellow believers.

Priesthood 

Sometimes it is maintained that we can bless one another because we are priests. Now each true believer is indeed a priest (1 Pet. 2:5-9). But take note: in the Old Testament, only one family from one tribe was the priestly family; they were able and had to bless the rest of God's people. Moreover, in the Old Testament, it was not so much the priests who blessed the people, but the High Priest in particular (Num. 6:22 vv); the priests only acted on the authority of the high priest. And the high priest is an image of the Lord Jesus, as the whole Epistle to the Hebrews explains to us quite clearly (see e.g. Hebr. 3:1, 5:5). 

The priests did not bless one another, but others  – a power that they derived from the high priest himself. And please note: in our time we are all priests. So we are not able to pronounce a blessing on one another, at most on others, i.e. unbelievers (see below), under the authority of our High Priest.

The blessing of others 

If we are able to bless others, we can therefore only do this on the instruction of our High Priest. And what does He say? What does His Word say? This is the great question!

The New Testament says, ‘Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse' (Rom. 12:14). 

And 1 Peter 3:9 says, ‘Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.' God's blessing is our inheritance; and this is the motivation for blessing. Here it does not say whom we bless. In the midst of persecution, opposition and mockery, we can bless. Who can be blessed?

I think that the 'blessing' can move in two directions:

1. God: We can praise, exalt and magnify Him in the midst of all the misery through which we as Christians sometimes go; as Ephesians 1:3 says that God is blessed or highly praised. Many translations have 'Blessed be the God and Father …', which is correct, if we only keep in mind that the meaning of 'blessed' here is directed to God. It means, He is worthy of being praised and worshiped. This means that we tell with awe of His greatness, either to Him Himself (in worship) or to others, to point them to God's great glory.
2. The unbelievers around us: We can bless them, which means allowing blessing to come to them through our behaviour, in which they can see what the gospel has brought about in lost sinners such as we were; and through our words, if we explain to them the blessing of the Gospel. It is a blessing for them if they notice through us Who our Saviour God is. With what goal? That they may be ashamed (1 Pet. 3:16) and come to repentance. How do I come to say this? Verses 10 and following give the answer, 'For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it… And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?' (vs. 10-13; and you can go on reading until verse 18. Then you will see yourself the context in which this is placed.)

This therefore shows that real blessing from a Biblical perspective is when God's glory becomes visible; if this greatness is experienced and enjoyed – by God (who accepts our praise) or by unbelievers (who see God's greatness in us and get to hear it from us.)

The idea that as believers we can give one another a type of additional 'heavenly present' by pronouncing a blessing, through an evening of blessing or something of this type, naturally appeals greatly to our flesh, our emotions, our religious sentiment. We can be moved to tears by this and experience it as being very fine and a blessing. But at the same time, from a Biblical point of view, it still remains completely unfounded and wrong.

This is strengthened when people lay hands on one another (a very risky practice, through which you may unwittingly come to share in sin (1 Tim. 5:22)); or stretch out their hands in blessing, as the Lord Jesus did when He ascended into heaven (Luke 24:50 vv.). What an arrogant (usually unwanted) presumption if people seek to assume His place, the place of the only High Priest!

Rather, on the contrary:

‘Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better' (Heb. 7:7).

This is a Divine principle. Only someone who is higher placed than you can bless you. The blessing only comes from above (see Ps. 133), from the Lord Himself, and not from people such as us. This means that someone who thinks that they can bless me, my school class or the local congregation imagines that they are above me. Perhaps he (or even she!; 1 Cor. 14:34) is doing so in all sincerity, but this does not justify such a fault. It is pre-eminently a Roman Catholic idea, which does not find any grounds in God's Word, but unfortunately is increasing in many Christian practices.

‘One is your Teacher, and you are all brethren…

One is your Father, He Who is in heaven…

One is your Teacher, the Christ’ (Matt. 23:8 vv).

He is the only One Who is above us and can therefore bless us. He is the one Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5) Who can ensure that God's blessing reaches us: not only the blessing of eternal salvation, but every blessing! And this is what He has done. We have already received every blessing!

If we are very positively critical, we must therefore determine that we are not able to wish one another even more blessing, because we are already blessed with every blessing. It is better as children of God to wish for one another to discover and enjoy more of these blessings. No evening of blessing is required for this, but a warm mutual exhortation to Bible reading and prayer, pastoral care and encouragement.