Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Summary: Paul makes unusual claims in his letter to the Ephesians. Whether or not we understand what the Bible tells us about God will determine how much of what Paul is saying makes sense.
How can God bless us “in the heavenly realms” when we are here on earth? The answer to this question is the premise for the following few verses. Paul is going to talk to us about things that no ordinary man could know. He gives us some “insider information” about heaven that had to come from Jesus himself.
When we are born into this world, we are born with a spirit. Our problem is that we are spiritually stillborn. This is why Jesus tells Nicodemus that we must be “born again.” Some of us are aware of our spiritual needs, but many are not.
Our spirit exists in the “heavenly realms” that Paul refers to. He does not say that we are blessed in “heaven.” Instead, we are blessed “in the heavenly realms.” Is this an important distinction? I think so.
In the following two paragraphs, Paul makes some amazing claims. He talks about a time before the creation of the world (v 4). Then he discusses predestination (vs 5 & 11). He even talks about the end times in verse ten. In the midst of all this, he claims that we are included with Christ when we hear the message of truth (v 13).
To the secular eye, none of this makes any sense. How can God’s representative claim that God chose us before the earth was made and predestined us for a life with him through Jesus Christ while at the same time claiming that we can’t be saved until we hear the gospel and believe?
If you do not believe in God, this is hard to explain. Believing in God makes it easier to understand, but only a little. To understand even a tiny bit of what is going on, we have to know a few things about God.
First, God is outside of time (Psalm 90:4). He is not bound by the same laws of physics that constrain you and me. Far from it! God created time and space to give us a framework for our lives and help us make sense of the world. But from God’s point of view, he sees the beginning and the end of things all at the same “time.”
The second thing to understand about God is that he is spiritual (John 4:24). To say that someone is a spirit is to say that they operate outside of time and space, but also that they are in a world that we cannot fully know. As people in a physical form, our spiritual “eyes” are very limited in what they can see. While we can see well enough in this physical world, we are blind or sight impaired in the spiritual realm.
As we continue with Paul’s letter, keeping these two things in mind will make it easier to understand what Paul is saying.
Application: Remember that the spiritual realm existed before the physical and will exist after the physical realm is all gone.
Food for Thought: If you were a spirit without a body, what do you imagine your life would be like?
You raise a question I have never really thought about. Images of Casper and spirits caught wandering the Earth reliving their “past life” come to mind, but I think those images just distract me. As a believer and follower of Christ, I believe that the Holy Spirit is with me, and don’t assume that my state would change that. I believe the Holy Spirit allows and helps me to understand spiritual things. I have to wonder then too if I were a spirit without a body would I then perceive things completely in a spiritual sense, and that the “ways of man” might seem silly and counter-productive.
1 Corinthians 2:14-15 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,
The things about these verses is that they apply to us in our physical form too!
I don’t know if I answered the question but I appreciate you grinding my brain gears this morning! 🙂
Thanks Chris!
There is no “right or wrong” answer here. The question was intended to do just what it did; grind the brain gears as you put it! 🙂
When we look at life from a spiritual perspective, the physical is no longer important. If nothing else, the exercise helps us focus on what is important from a spiritual perspective. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
I personally don’t think we will ever be a spirit without some form of body. The scenes from Revelation have those at the throne of God in heaven with a body. At the transfiguration Elijah and Moses were identifiable with some form of body. The resurrected Jesus had a body. The ascended Jesus is described with a body. The body or case that holds the person will be different, but will still exist. So to answer the question, I have no idea. But I don’t think we will be without a body. I think we will have a different, better, non decaying, glorified body. Philippians 3: 20 – 21; 1 Corinthians 15: 42 – 44
Rich,
You make a fair point, and in fact I agree with you. Perhaps the question should have been stated like “If we were in our spiritual body, what would be different?”
I am with you brother. And I am really curious what that will be like. Because I know it will be better.
02-02-2023, If you were a spirit without a body, what do you imagine your life would be like?
In the Bible we often see spiritual brings in what appear to be physical bodies. God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden. The Lord and two angels appeared to Abraham and Sara, ate with them, two angels rescued Lot and His daughters. An angel appeared city of Jericho, at the tomb of Jesus and more. Jesus met with Moses and Elijah who appeared in new bodies in Matthew 17:1-3.
Revelation 7:9-10, 22:3, We will worship and serve the Lord!
Revelation 5:10, 20:6, 5:10, 2 Timothy 2:12, We will be a kingdom of priests, reign with Him!
Jesus tells us that true worshipers will worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). True worship is the acknowledgment of God and all His power and glory in everything we do. The highest form of praise and worship is obedience to Him and His Word. It is not limited to one act, but is life where the heart and attitude of a person are in the right place. We will do whatever God desires.
We will exist to have life in total unity with our creator and live in a state of total worship His power and authority over our own.
Thanks Ron!
Great take on this question! 🙂
“Life in total unity with our Creator” is a great description of life in Christ.
I’m a little torn about being just a spirit without anything to contain me. I know I’ve read about unclean spirits also. So going down this route would lead me to think if I’m saved by grace and a follower of Jesus, I would be a good Spirit. Then could some of the people I know/knew be unclean spirits?
Hi Tim,
I am sorry if my question took you down a path that is not good! The question was intended to help us thing about our soul (spirit) separately from our flesh. “How would it feel to be freed from the constant desires of the flesh? ” would have been a better question. In heaven, we will have a new body. The Bible promises that!
“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, 3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 1 Corinthians 5:1-5
Be comforted because your response to the question is biblical. As Paul points out in the passage above, we do not want to be found naked, that is we don’t want to be a spirit without a body. That is why God promises us a new body (“heavenly dwelling”).
You did nothing wrong Jeff. Your helping people build a better relationship with God with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. An answer to my prayers! I need to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.
Thanks Tim! 🙂