_Blessed be God!_--It is the perpetual strain of the Old Testament, from Melchizedek down to Daniel,--of David in his triumph, and Job in his misery. But not hitherto could men say, Blessed be _the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ_! He was "the Most High God, the God of heaven,"--"Jehovah, God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things,"--"the Shepherd" and "the Rock" of His people,--"the true God, the living God, and an everlasting King"; and these are glorious titles, which have raised men's thoughts to moods of highest reverence and trust. But the name of _Father_, and _Father of our Lord Jesus Christ_, surpasses and outshines them all. With wondering love and joy unspeakable St Paul pronounced this _Benedictus_. God was not less to him the Almighty, the High and Holy One dwelling in eternity, than in the days of his youthful Jewish faith; but the Eternal and All-holy One was now his Father in Jesus Christ. Blessed be His name: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory!
The apostle's psalm is a psalm of thanksgiving to God _blessing and blessed_. The second clause rhythmically answers to the first. True, our blessing of Him is far different from His blessing of us: ours in thought and words; His in mighty deeds of salvation. Yet in the fruit of lips giving thanks to His name there is a revenue of blessing paid to God which He delights in, and requires. "O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel," grant us to bless Thee while we live and to lift up our hands in Thy name!
By three qualifying adjuncts the blessing which the Father of Christ bestowed upon us is defined: in respect of its _nature_, its _sphere_, and its _personal ground_.
The blessings that prompt the apostle's praise are not such as those conspicuous in the Old Covenant: "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and in the field; in the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the increase of thy kine; blessed shall be thy basket, and thy kneading-trough" (Deut. xxviii. 3-5). The gospel pronounces beatitudes of another style: "Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the persecuted." St Paul had small share indeed in the former class of blessings,--a childless, landless, homeless man. Yet what happiness and wealth are his! Out of his poverty he is making all the ages rich! From the gloom of his prison he sheds a light that will guide and cheer the steps of multitudes of earth's sad wayfarers. Not certainly in the earthly places where he finds himself is Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus blessed; but "in spiritual blessing" and "in heavenly places" how abundantly! His own blessedness he claims for all who are in Christ.
Blessing _spiritual_ in its nature is, in St Paul's conception of things, blessing in and of the Holy Spirit.[27] In His quickening our spirit lives; through His indwelling health, blessedness, eternal life are ours. In this verse justly the theologians recognize the Trinity of the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.--Blessing _in the heavenly places_ is not so much blessing coming from those places--from God the Father who sits there--as it is blessing which lifts us into that supernal region, giving to us a place and heritage in the world of God and of the angels. Two passages of the companion epistles interpret this phrase: "Your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. iii. 3); and again, "Our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. iii. 20).--The decisive note of St Paul's blessedness lies in the words "in Christ." For him all good is summed up there. Spiritual, heavenly, and Christian: these three are one. In Christ dying, risen, reigning, God the Father has raised believing men to a new heavenly life. From the first inception of the work of grace to its consummation, God thinks of men, speaks to them and deals with them _in Christ_. To Him, therefore, with the Father be eternal praise!