Our Spiritual Identity in Christ {Ephesians 1:1-14 Study}
Hey, Everybody! How are WE doing?! In a world of social media, I believe that it's easy for us to get lost in what everyone is doing, how much money they have (or flaunting), and we then lose sight of who we really are. We lose our identity in trying to keep up with everyone, and in the end, our confidence and self-esteem ends of suffering in the midst of all of this comparing. There is very much so a need for the body of believers to know who they are in CHRIST, not what this world says about them, but what Jesus does. It's something about knowing what our savior has to say about us, and it sets us free from the comparison game that we play in our minds all day.
Let's begin by taking a look at Philippians 2:5-11 because it exemplifies the start of our spiritual identity in Christ and WHY we gain our other spiritual identities:
5 Your attitude should be the sam as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, In heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
These scriptures exemplify many essential points about Jesus' characteristics; however, I am going to highlight four of them for the sake of this blog post:
Even though Christ is God, He became man in order to fulfill God's plan of salvation for His people.
Christ did not only have the appearance of being a man -- He actually became human to identify with our sins.
Christ voluntarily laid aside His divine rights and privileges out of respect and love for His Father.
Christ dies on the cross for our sins so we would not have to face eternal death -- He suffered the most shameful death so that we would not have to face eternal separation from God.
On of the essential truths about these verses (Philippians 2:5-11) is that: Because of Christ's sacrifice, we inherit a spiritual identity with God -- which is through Christ. Now that we know why we have a spiritual identity, let's get in to what they are or what they contain through the studying of Ephesians 1:1-14!
I know some of you may be think, "What does spiritual mean anyway?!" because I was wondering the same exact thing. The definition of spiritual is having to do with God, the human spirit, or other supernatural spirits.
According to Ephesians 1:3 [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.], in Christ we have all of the spiritual benefits of knowing God, and they include:
Being chosen for salvation, which is the deliverance from danger and difficulty; deliverance from the power or penalty of sin. We are saved in Christ; being saved means to be rescue or preserve from danger; to deliver from sin.
Being adopted as God's child
Forgiveness
Insight
The Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit
Grace
Revelation, which is something that is revealed by God himself.
The power to do God's will
The hope of spending eternity with Christ
We enjoy these heavenly, spiritual blessings now (here on earth) because we have a relationship with Christ. These blessings cannot be taken away from us by anyone on this earth, they are eternal and not temporary because of the heavenly realm in which they are attached to. These spiritual blessings came from Christ's spiritual realm and not earthly realms. The gift is only provided in the Spirit, when we genuinely pursue a 1 on 1 relationship with Christ -- accepting Him as our Lord and savior.
Now that we know what are spiritual identity is through Christ, gifted to us from God, let's take a look at verses 4-7 and 13-14 more in depth:
Verse 4 assures us that God chose us as His people -- we did not choose Him. We do not have the opportunity to be saved because we deserved it or because we did something in particular, but because of God's grace. When we belong to God through Christ, God sees us as being holy and blameless -- as if we've never sinned in the first place. Isn't that so awesome?! We're forgiven for our sins because of God's love and mercy -- He forgives us! That deserves a praise in itself!
Verse 5 says that through Jesus' sacrifice, God has brought us into His family and made us heirs along with Jesus. In Romans law, adopted children had the same rights and privileges as biological children, EVEN if they had been slaves -- we're God's children, even though we use to be slaves to sin! Note that Paul (the author of Ephesians) uses the term adoption to show how strong our relationship to God is.
Verse 6 says that God graciously accepts us as His children now that we belong to His dearly loves son -- even though we do not deserve it because of our sinful nature.
Verse 7 points out two essential truths about Jesus' death:
1. Redemption, meaning to redeem, buy back, repurchase, rescue (often from sin) with a ransom.
2. Forgiveness,which means to pardon/excuse or acquit of sins; acquittal.
-Redemption was the price paid to gain freedom for a slave in the Old Testament (Leviticus 25:47-54). Through His death, Jesus paid the ULTIMATE price to release us from slavery to sin.
-Forgiveness was granted in the Old Testament times on the basis of the shedding of Jesus' blood (Leviticus 17:11) -- He died as the perfect and final sacrifice!
Verses 13-14 says that when we heard the word of Truth (the goods news about our salvation through Jesus!), we were included IN Christ. When we believe Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit (known as the Counselor) -- the deposit that guarantees our inheritance. The Holy Spirit (which is in us) proves that we are God's children, and secures eternal life for us. His power works in us to transform us; our transformation cannot happen without the Holy Spirit. In John 14:26, Jesus' says that the Holy Spirit (sent from the Father) will teach us all things.
The main truth: Living in a world that has the capacity to brutally damage our confidence, forcing us to have low self-esteem, I believe it's ESSENTIAL for us to know our identity in Christ. He loves us and He died for us! We no longer are in bondage to this world and what it has to say about us! We no longer have to struggle and suffer in our sins! When Jesus died on the cross and defeated death, He defeated all of sin along with death. If He defeated death, what makes you think He can't defeat sin and restore us as God's children!? It's because of His sacrifice that we no longer have to walk in low self-esteem, doubting our value worth because we are comparing our lives to everyone around us. It's on my heart to speak about this, but if you are comparing yourself to your followers on social media, take a break from it! Ask God to heal the comparison game you sometime play in your mind. Don't let the enemy have a field day with your mind, take your mind back and ask God to heal your mind. The enemy has no authority over you!
OK everybody! That's it for tonight's study on Ephesians 1:1-14! I hope you all enjoyed your studying throughout this week. I will have plenty more of these throughout the summer and I will (join me!) be studying the book of Ephesians all summer and will be posting them on my blog.
Remember your spiritual identity in God, He loves ya!
Love,
LaGerrica, xoxoxo
P.S. I know this is quite a lot to read, if I'm feeling led to it, I'll record a live video on this part of Ephesians on my YouTube channel! So possibly stay tuned for that!
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