Ephesians 1:4 - Exposition

Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world ; literally, he chose us out , or selected us ( ἐξελέξατο ) for himself (middle voice). The Father chose the heirs of salvation, selected those who were to be quickened from the dead ( Ephesians 2:1 ) and saved, they chose them in Christ —in connection with his work and office as Mediator, giving them to him to be re-decreed ( John 17:11 , John 17:12 ); not after man was created, nor after man had fallen, but "before the foundation of the world." We are here face to face with a profound mystery. Before even the world was founded, mankind presented themselves to God as lost; the work of redemption was planned and its details arranged from all eternity. Before such a mystery it becomes us to put the shoes from off our feet, and bow reverently before him whose "judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out." That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. This is obviously the design of God's electing act; εἷναι ἡμᾶς cannot denote the ground, but the purpose, of the choice. God did not choose some because he foresaw their holiness, but in order that they might become "holy and without blame." These two terms denote the positive and negative sides of purity: holy—possessed of all the fruits of the Spirit ( Galatians 5:22 , Galatians 5:23 ); without blame, or blemish—marked by no stain or imperfection (see Ephesians 5:27 ). The terms do not denote justification, but a condition of sanctification which implies justification already bestowed, but goes beyond it; our justification is a step towards our complete final sanctification. This renewal being "before him," must be such as to bear the scrutiny of his eye; therefore not external or superficial merely, but reaching to the very heart and center of our nature ( 1 Samuel 16:7 ). The expression further denotes how it is of the very nature and glory of the new life to be spent in God's presence, our souls flourishing in the precious sunshine which ever beams out there from. For, when thus renewed, we do not fly from his presence like Adam ( Genesis 3:8 ), but delight in it ( Psalms 42:1 ; Psalms 63:1 ). Fear is changed to love ( 1 John 4:18 ); the loving relation between us and God is restored. It has been much disputed whether the words ἐν ἀγάπῃ ought to be construed with the fourth verse or with προορίσας in the fifth. The weight of authority seems in favor of the latter; but we prefer the construction which is given both in the Authorized and the Revised Version, first, because if ἐν ἐγάπῃ qualified προορίσας , it would come more naturally after it; and second, because the scope of the passage, the train of the apostle's thought, seems to require us to keep ἐν ἀγάπῃ in Ephesians 1:4 . We never could come to be holy and without blemish before God unless the loving relations between us were restored (comp. Ephesians 3:17 , "Rooted and grounded in love"). The spirit of love, trust, admiration, directed to God helps our complete sanctification—changes us into the same image ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ).