009-010: የባረከን አባትና አምላክ ይባረክ – ኤፌ. 1:3 (የኤፌሶን ምዕራፍ አንድ ጥናት)

“Blessed be the God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (Eph. 1:3; Cf. 2 Co 1:3; 1 Pe 1:3).

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Prayers have context. Growing up most of us heard and prayed “Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name….” Communal prayers, such as the Lord’s Prayer are designed to both teach and preserve important summary of faith to the next generation. The Lord’s Prayer is such prayer designed to summarize the message of the kingdom, the message of the gospel. Likewise, if we were growing up in biblical times, we would have prayed daily two common Jewish prayers. The first one is provoked in prayers known as the ‘shema’ and the other in thanksgiving known as ‘Barakah’. First let’s look at the Barakah, a Hebrew word meaning ‘the blessing’.

If we were Palestinian Jew growing up with the Apostles Paul and Peter, in Galilee and Judea area, we would have been very familiar with this praise formula: “Blessed be the LORD…” Compare this with how David and the rest of the Israelites praised Yahweh in the Old Covenant scriptures:
“…and the king [David] also said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.” (1 Kings 1:48; Cf. 1 Kgs. 1:48; 1 Chr. 29:10; Ezra 7:27; Ps. 41:13; 72:18; 106:48)

Now, compare this with the Christian version of the Barakah: “Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:3; Cf. 2 Co 1:3; 1 Pe 1:3). It is almost verbatim to David’s blessing. Paul praises the Father as God and Jesus as Lord and Messiah. As a Jew, we would almost immediately recognize that this is the Barakah and the twist both Apostles (Peter and Paul) have introduced into this common Jewish prayer –“Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel who….”.

These are the twist: they Identified Jesus as the LORD of the Barakah and replacing “the God of Israel” with “the Father of our Lord and Messiah Jesus”. Therefore this Jewish praise transformed into a deeply Trinitarian and Christian praise, a prayer only those who are in Christ would praise. This, as Palestinian Jews who would supposed to despise idol worship, either would outrage us or would place a smile on our face expressing deep gratitude to the new covenant surprises in Jesus- Yahweh has visited us in his incarnate Son, Jesus who is Lord and Messiah. Precisely this was what Zechariah John the Baptist’s Father, blessed God for, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people and redeemed them.”(Lk 1:68) God is now blessed for sending Jesus and visiting us in Him. He is now blessed as the Father of Jesus who adopted as sons onto his family (a point we shall discuss on the next audio, Eph. 1:4-5)

Second, Each morning and evening they would repeat the “shema” (the word shema means –hear- which comes from the first word of Deut. 6:4) “Hear Israel the LORD our God, the LORD is one” This creedal statement teaches the Israelites an important truth about the God of Israel, Yahweh, is the only God there is. Yahweh is God, that is Adonai is Elohim. This affirms monotheism, Israel’s central theology, a belief in one true God who created the heavens and the earth. The God who revealed himself as Yahweh as he redeemed a nations for his name’s sake through the exodus, he revealed himself yet one more time. This time, not through Moses, but through his own Son who was given the human name: Jesus. This Jesus is both Christ and Lord. This part would be the one that outrages a Jew, who is not a follower of Christ. We are confessing Jesus as the Adonai/ LORD of the Shema, in the Old Testament. He is the promised Messiah. Therefore, this blessing, Barakah, teaches the new covenant believers a central truth about the God whom we worship as Father and Jesus whom we worship as both Lord and Messiah. Now read it again “Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
The audio message explains in-depth:

• What does the Barakah: blessed be the God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed us” mean
• What do the three phrases introduced by the preposition ‘in’ mean:
  • “In spiritual blessing;
  • In spiritual places
  • In Christ

አንደኛ፦ የባረከን የክርስቶስ አባት ይባረክ (ኤፌሶን 1:3)

“አምላክ፤ የጌታችን የኢየሱስ ክርስቶስ አባት ይባረክ [Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ]”

1. ይህን አንድ ወጥ ባርኮት (1:3-14) አብን በመባረክና በሶስት ድግግሞሽ የተቀመረ ውዳሴ ያቀርባል (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14)
2. የባረከን እግዚአብሔር ይባረክ
   • (Ps. 28:6; 31:21; 41:13; 119:12; 1Chr. 29:10; 1QS 11:15)
   • በአይሁድ የጸሎት መጽሐፍ ላይ የተደጋገመ የጸሎት ቀመር ነበር
   • በተጨማሪ ለአሕዛብ አብያተክርስቲያናት ይህ መደገሙ (2Cor 1:3) እንዲሁም 1 Pet 1:3 በጥንታዊቷ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ይህ ባርኮት የተለመደ መሆኑን ነው።
3. በዚህ ባርኮት አይነተኛና ከአይሁድ ጸሎት ለየት የሚያደርገው የእስራኤልን አምላክ አሁን የኢየሱስ አባት ተብሎ መጠራቱና፤ ኢየሱስ ደግሞ ጌታችን ክርስቶስ መባሉ ነው።
   • የእሥስራኤል አምላክ ጥብቅ የሆነ የአባትና የልጅ ግንኙነት ከናዝሬቱ ኢየሱስ ጋር መኖሩን
   • ኢየሱስ የእስራኤል መሲሃዊ ተስፋ ፍጻሜ መሆኑን
   • ኢየሱስ ጌታ መሆኑን፡ ይህ ባርኮት የኢየሱስን ጌትነት ማዕከል ያደረገ ነው (1:10)
4. ከዚህ የተነሳ ከአባቱ ጋር ያለው ይህ ልዩ የአባትና የልጅ ግንኑነት ለመዳናችን ምክኒአይትና በእ/ር የዘላለም እቅድና ሥራ ውስጥ ያለውን አማራጭ የለሽ ልዩ ሚናና ተሳትፎ ያመላክታል፤ ይህም በክርስቶስ በሚለው ቃል ተደጋግሟል።

[በ]መንፈሳዊ ሥፍራ [በ]መንፈሳዊ በረከት ሁሉ [በ]ክርስቶስ የባረከን [ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ,]

1. እግዚአብሔርን የምንባርክበት ምክኒያት በርግጥ ሕዝበ-ክርስቲያን ሁሉ ያለተከፍሎ የተባረከ ስለሆነ ነው። ‘በ’ የሚለው ቃል ሦስት ጊዜ ተደጋግሟል “በመንፈሳዊ ሥፍራ፤ በመንፈሳዊ በረከት፤ በክርስቶስ” እነዚህ የመረከታችንን ሥፍራ፤ የበረከታችን ምንጭና የበረከታችን ልእልና
   1. መንፈሳዊ በረከት፦ በመጀመሪያ ባርኮታችን ምን እንደሆን ያሳየናል። ይህም ይህ በረከት የአዲስ ኪዳን በረከት መሆኑን ነው። ይህም ያህዌህ ለሕዝቡ ሊሰጣቸው ተስፋ የገባው በረከት መንፈስ ቅዱስ ነው (Eze. 37:26)፤ እነዚህ አሁን የአዲስ ቃል ኪዳን ህዝብ ገንዘባችን የሆኑት በረከቶች በሙሉ ከእርሱ ከሥጦታው መንፈስ የመነጩ ናቸው። ስጦታ መንፈስ ቅዱስን በዚህ የበረከት ውዳሴ መጀመሪያና መጨረሻ ላይ ይደጋግመዋል (3፣ 13-14)
   2. በመንፈሳዊ ሥፍራ፦ ይህ ሰማይን ለመወከል መግባቱን ከማሳየቱ ባሻገር ነገር ግን በክርስቶስ መክበርና ሹመት የተጎናጸፈውን ል ዕልና ያመለክታል። ይህ የሚያሳየን ይህ ሐረግ በዚህ መጽሐፍ ብቻ መገኘቱ ብቻ ሳይሆን በዚህ መጽሐፍ በመደጋገም ተገልጧል።
      1. ቁጥ. 10 ላይ የእ/ር አላማ በሰማይና በምድር ያሉትን ሁሉ በክርስቶስ ለመጠቅለል እንደሆን ያመለክታል። ይህ ል ዕልና መሆኑን ትርጉም የሚሰጠው በዚህ ሥፍራ የእግዚአብሔር መኖሪያ (6:9; 4:10) ክፉ መናፍስትም የራሳቸውን ሐይል ለመግለጥና የእ/ርን ሥልጣንና የእ/ርን ሕዝብ የሚቃወሙ ሐይላትም ያሉበት ሥፍራ ነው (6:12)
      2. ይህ ንፅፅር Eph. 1:3, 10; 3: 10, 15; 6:12
   3. በክርስቶስ፡ ይህ ቃል (በዚህ አጭር ባርኮት ውስጥ 11 ጊዜ ይደጋገማል) መሳሪያነትን የሚያመላክት ቢሆንም ነገር ግን አጠቃላይ አጠቃቀሙ የአማኞችን አንድነትና በክርስቶስ ተሳትፎ ያሳያል። አማኞች የክርስቶስን መከራና መስቀል ጋር እንዲሁም ከትንሳኤውል ከክብሩና ከአዲስ ህይወት ይካፈላሉ፤ የውገናሉ። ስለዚህ እ/ር ህዝቡን የሚባርከው ከልጁ ጋር ካላቸው አንድነት የተነሳ ነው። ምንም እንኳ በአንድ ወቅት ከወደቀው አዳም ጋር ቢወገኑም ከዚህ የተነሳ ሐጥያቱን፤ ኩነኔውንና ሞቱን ወራሾች የነበሩ ቢሆኑም አሁን ግን በክርስቶስ ላይ እምነታቸውን በማድርገ መዋጀትን ላገኑት የመዳንና የቤዛነታቸው ራስ ሆኗል። ስለዚህ በክርስቶስ የሚለው በክርስቶስ አለቅነት ሥር የሚኖረውን ይህንን አዲስ ህይወት ማመልከቱ ነው። አማኞች አዲስ ማንነትና ሕይወታቸውን ወደ ሚለውጥ አዲስ እውነታ ውስጥ ገብተዋል።