Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ephesians 1:4
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
4. According as he hath chosen, &c.] Better, According as He chose, &c. The time-reference is the same as just above; to the Divine premundane deed of purpose. “ Chosen ”: out of mankind. See Rom 8:33 and its context for commentary on the idea of the word. The word “elect” (chosen) is generally used in N. T. in connexions where the highest level of Divine purposes, or spiritual privileges, is in view. In the O. T., Israel is “My people, My chosen” (Isa 43:20). In the N. T. the chosen are “the Israel of God” (Gal 6:16; cp. Gal 3:29; Rom 4:11). As with the Old so with the New Israel the choice is emphatically sovereign; “not according to our works” (2Ti 1:9). On the other hand, it takes effect through means; a truth perfectly harmonious with sovereign purpose, while often conveyed in the language of ordinary contingency. Cp. 2Ti 2:10; and, by way of illustration, Act 27:22 with 31.
before the foundation of the world ] For the identical phrase, cp. Joh 17:24; 1Pe 1:20. “ From the foundation, &c.” occurs, among other places, Luk 11:50; Heb 4:3; Heb 9:26, where the apparent meaning is “since the beginning of human time.” But with the word “before”, as here, the context always suggests the highest reference; “before any created being began.” Cp. the parallel phrases “before the ages ( ons)” (1Co 2:7); “before eternal ( onian) times” (2Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2); and see Rom 16:25. Every genuine scientific discovery of vast antiquity in material nature throws a true though faint light on the grandeur of such words of Revelation.
that we should be, &c.] This clause, taken in itself, is of ambiguous reference. It may bear either (1) on the intended personal spiritual state of the elect, whether in this life, or in the life eternal, or in both; or (2) on their intended standing, as they are viewed as “in Christ,” their Covenant Head. In the first case it would convey the undoubted truth that the intention of the electing Father is a real and universal personal holiness, perfect in this life in principle and motive (cp. e.g. Mat 5:48; below, Eph 4:24; Col 3:12; 1Th 5:23 ; 1Pe 1:15-16; 1Jn 3:3; 1Jn 3:6; 1Jn 3:9), and, in the life eternal, in attainment (cp. e.g. ch. Eph 5:27; Rom 4:22; 1Jn 3:2; Jude 24). Cp. 1Th 4:7 (where the “ call ” closely corresponds to the “ choice ” here, as to the persons in view), and 2Th 2:13, a remarkable parallel. In the second case the clause would mean that the elect are to be viewed as holy and spotless because identified, for purposes of acceptance, with their absolutely holy Head and Representative, “in Whom” they stand. Cp. for illustration the whole range of passages where believers are said to have “died and risen with Christ,” in respect of atonement and justification, e.g. Rom 6:2, &c.; Col 3:1; Col 3:3. (And see Article XI. of the Church of England.) On the whole the powerful argument of context decides the ambiguity for the second alternative. The thought throughout this passage is of the relation of the elect to Christ as their Head and Representative in the pre-mundane Covenant of the Father and the Son. We may explain accordingly, “that we should stand, in the judgment of eternal and absolute Holiness, accepted and satisfactory because united to Christ.” Such a truth is only one aspect, but an all-important one, of the great Truth of Salvation.
in love ] I.e., in the embrace of that Divine Love which gave, and sustains, our position (1Jn 3:1). If we connect “in love” with the words previous (as A. V.), and explain those words as above, this must be the meaning. Many expositors, however, ancient and modern, and the important Peshito Syriac Version (cent. 2), connect “in love” with the words following; “in love having predestinated, &c.” So margin, R.V. But the cadence of the Greek is in favour of the ordinary connexion. In questions of punctuation in the Greek Testament it must be remembered that the oldest MSS. are scarcely punctuated at all, and the decision must rest accordingly with grammar, context, or the like.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
According as – The importance of this verse will render proper a somewhat minute examination of the words and phrases of which it is composed. The general sense of the passage is, that these blessings pertaining to heaven were bestowed upon Christians in accordance with an eternal purpose. They were not conferred by chance or hap-hazard. They were the result of intention and design on the part of God. Their value was greatly enhanced from the fact that God had designed from all eternity to bestow them, and that they come to us as the result of his everlasting plan. It was not a recent plan; it was not an afterthought; it was not by mere chance; it was not by caprice; it was the fruit of an eternal counsel. Those blessings had all the value, and all the assurance of permanency, which must result from that fact. The phrase according as – kathos – implies that these blessings were in conformity with that eternal plan, and have flowed to us as the expression of that plan. They are limited by that purpose, for it marks and measures all. It was as God had chosen that it should be, and had appointed in his eternal purpose.
He hath chosen us – The word us here shows that the apostle had reference to individuals, and not to communities. It includes Paul himself as one of the chosen, and those whom he addressed – the mingled Gentile and Jewish converts in Ephesus. That it must refer to individuals is clear. Of no community as such can it be said that it was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy. It is not true of the Gentile world as such, nor of anyone of the nations making up the Gentile world. The word rendered here hath chosen – exelexato – is from a word meaning to lay out together, (Passow,) to choose out, to select. It has the idea of making a choice or selection among different objects or things. It is applied to things, as in Luk 10:42, Mary hath chosen that good part; – she has made a choice, or selection of it, or has shown a preference for it. 1Co 1:27, God hath chosen the foolish things of the world; he has preferred to make use of them among all the conceivable things which might have been employed to confound the wise; compare Act 1:2, Act 1:24; Act 6:5; Act 15:22, Act 15:25.
It denotes to choose out, with the accessary idea of kindness or favor. Mar 13:20, for the elects sake whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. Joh 13:18, I know whom I have chosen. Act 13:17, the God of this people of Israel chose our fathers; that is, selected them from the nations to accomplish important purposes. This is evidently the sense of the word in the passage before us. It means to make a selection or choice with the idea of favor or love, and with a view to impart important benefits on those whom be chose. The idea of making some distinction between them and others, is essential to a correct understanding of the passage – since there can be no choice where no such distinction is made. He who chooses one out of many things makes a difference, or evinces a preference – no matter what the ground or reason of his doing it may be. Whether this refers to communities and nations, or to individuals, still it is true that a distinction is made or a preference given of one over another. It may be added, that so far as justice is concerned, it makes no difference whether it refers to nations or to individuals. If there is injustice in choosing an individual to favor, there cannot be less in choosing a nation – for a nation is nothing but a collection of individuals. Every objection which has ever been made to the doctrine of election as it relates to individuals, will apply with equal force to the choice of a nation to unique privileges. If a distinction is made, it may be made with as much propriety in respect to individuals as to nations.
In him – In Christ. The choice was not without reference to any means of saving them; it was not a mere purpose to bring a certain number to heaven; it was with reference to the mediation of the Redeemer, and his work. It was a purpose that they should be saved by him, and share the benefits of the atonement. The whole choice and purpose of salvation had reference to him, and out of him no one was chosen to life, and no one out of him will be saved.
Before the foundation of the world – This is a very important phrase in determining the time when the choice was made. It was not an afterthought. It was not commenced in time. The purpose was far back in the ages of eternity. But what is the meaning of the phrase before the foundation of the world? Dr. Clarke supposes that it means from the commencement of the religious system of the Jews, which, says he, the phrase sometimes means. Such principles of interpretation are they compelled to resort to who endeavor to show that this refers to a national election to privileges, and who deny that it refers to individuals. On such principles the Bible may be made to signify anything and everything. Dr. Chandler, who also supposes that it refers to nations, admits, however, that the word foundation means the beginning of anything; and that the phrase here means, before the world began There is scarcely any phrase in the New Testament which is more clear in its signification than this.
The word rendered foundation – katabole – means properly a laying down, a founding, a foundation – as where the foundation of a building is laid – and the phrase before the foundation of the world clearly means before the world was made, or before the work of creation; see Mat 13:35; Mat 25:34; Luk 11:50; Heb 9:26; Rev 13:8, in all which places the phrase the foundation of the world means the beginning of human affairs; the beginning of the world; the beginning of history, etc. Thus, in Joh 17:24, the Lord Jesus says, thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world, i. e., from eternity, or before the work of creation commenced. Thus, Peter says 1Pe 1:20 of the Saviour, who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world. It was the purpose of God before the worlds were made, to send him to save lost men; compare Rev 17:8. Nothing can be clearer than that the phrase before us must refer to a purpose that was formed before the world was made. it is not a temporary arrangement; it has not grown up under the influence of vacillating purposes; it is not a plan newly formed, or changed with each coming generation, or variable like the plans of people. It has all the importance, dignity, and assurances of stability which necessarily result from a purpose that has been eternal in the mind of God. It may be observed here,
(1) That if the plan was formed before the foundation of the world, all objections to the doctrine of an eternal plan are removed. If the plan was formed before the world, no matter whether a moment, an hour, a year, or millions of years, the plan is equally fixed, and the event equally necessary. All the objections which will lie against an eternal plan, will lie against a plan formed a day or an hour before the event. The one interferes with our freedom of action as much as the other.
(2) If the plan was formed before the foundation of the world, it was eternal. God has no new plan, He forms no new schemes. He is not changing and vacillating. If we can ascertain what is the plan of God at any time, we can ascertain what his eternal plan was with reference to the event. It has always been the same – for he is of one MinD, and who can turn him? Job 23:13. In reference to the plans and purposes of the Most High, there is nothing better settled than that what he actually does, he always meant to do – which is the doctrine of eternal decrees – and the whole of it.
That we should be holy – Paul proceeds to state the object for which God had chosen his people. It is not merely that they should enter into heaven. It is not that they may live in sin. It is not that they may flatter themselves that they are safe, and then live as they please. The tendency among people has always been to abuse the doctrine of predestination and election; to lead people to say that if all things are fixed there is no need of effort; that if God has an eternal plan, no matter how people live, they will be saved if he has elected them, and that at all events they cannot change that plan, and they may as well enjoy life by indulgence in sin. The apostle Paul held no such view of the doctrine of predestination. In his apprehension it is a doctrine suited to excite the gratitude of Christians, and the whole tendency and design of the doctrine, according to him, is to make people holy, and without blame before God in love.
And without blame before him in love – The expression in love, is probably to be taken in connection with the following verse, and should be rendered In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children. It is all to be traced to the love of God.
(1) It was love for us which prompted to it.
(2) It is the highest expression of love to be ordained to eternal life – for what higher love could God show us?
(3) It is love on his part, because we had no claim to it, and had not deserved it. If this be the correct view, then the doctrine of predestination is not inconsistent with the highest moral excellence in the divine character, and should never be represented as the offspring of partiality and injustice. Then too we should give thanks that God has, in love, predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eph 1:4
According as He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world.
Election
I. Let us consider the cause, fountain, origin of the blessings of salvation–according as He hath chosen as. The blessings which we enjoy, the apostle affirms, are in consequence of Gods having chosen us, that we might become partakers of them in all their extent and fulness. To this source alone are they to be traced. How comes it that the Church of Gods saints and faithful thus stands distinguished from the ungodly world, in the blessings it enjoys, the favours reserved for it, and the eternal glory it shall inherit?
1. It is a matter of fact concerning which this question is raised. Whatever may be the solution of the question, or difficulties connected with it, there is no denying or concealing the fact itself, that there has been, is, and will be, a distinction among men–a difference–a separation–as respects their state and character before God, and their ultimate destiny.
2. This fact cannot be accounted for by any reference to individual or personal distinctions of character or worthiness.
3. We reach the only reasonable account of the matter when we adopt the Scriptural explanation, and ascribe all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies as enjoyed by Gods people to His free electing love, according as He hath chosen us. If you wished to explore the true source of some majestic liver, which in its course beautifies and blesses the earth, as it flows through thousands of miles to the great ocean, you would not pause at some expanding lake which it fills and empties, nor ascend the route of some acceding tributary which helps to swell its volume; but, keeping by the main channel, and leaving behind you the verdant plain and the smiling hamlet and the sleeping lake, you ascend high up the mountain steep, and there hidden in the cleft of the rock you discover the little bubbling spring that marks the origin and fountain and true rising place of that noble stream. So, taught and guided by Gods Word, when you would trace to its true fountain the stream of spiritual blessing which blesses you in the heavenlies, you pause not at any works or deeds of yours, you point not to any superiority natural or acquired over others, you fix not even on faith and repentance (as if these all did not need to be accounted for!), but, in all humility, yet with all thankfulness, you rest in the elective love of God, as the original and actual cause of all. You hear Paul saying, and you must echo the acknowledgment, according as He hath chosen us, whilst with John you gaze on that pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
II. We come now to consider the second thing in our text, viz.: how this electing love of God–the cause or fountain of salvation–comes into being and operation–hath chosen us in Him, i.e., in Christ. A virtual or representative union was formed by God, between sinners of mankind and Christ, when He purposed their salvation. A covenant was entered into between God, of the one part, and Christ constituted the head of the Church and its representative, of the other part. In terms of this covenant Christ was to do the will of God; i.e., fulfil the requirements of law, suffer its penalty and perform its duties, in room and stead of His people; and God, on His part, was to confer on them His Spirit, work holiness in their natures, and at last receive them into eternal mansions.
III. In the third place we are here taught when the election took place, viz., before the foundation of the world. This surely must be allowed to carry us far back, beyond the operation of human merit or agency.
1. There is no room, then, for chance, uncertainty, or hazard. Gods plans are complete, and His purposes definite. Doubtless He has chosen, on the whole, the greatest good of the universe as His object; and, in the election unto grace, only displays a part of His glorious and all-comprehending plan.
2. Again, we are taught in this not only Gods wisdom, but also His sovereignty. This, at least, is a precious truth–that the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. What comfort, otherwise, would there be in contemplating a scene where sin abounds and agents of darkness are abroad on the earth?
IV. This suggests to us the fourth topic in our text, viz., why, or for what end God hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world–that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. It is an old saying: God does not find, but makes men holy. It is evident, indeed, that none are chosen because they are holy or blameless, but some are chosen in order that they may become so. (W. Alves, M. A.)
The doctrine of election
I. The spiritual blessing.
1. The term election is sometimes used for that election which is made in temporary execution of Gods purpose;
(1) whether it be a separating of men to the state of grace, which makes them as the chosen first fruits of the creation (Joh 15:19; 1Pe 1:2); or
(2) a separating of them to any office and dignity. Saul, Judas.
2. But here it means that choice which God made with Himself from all eternity. From this flow all the blessings we receive, even as the body and boughs and branches of the tree issue from the root. What a cause for thankfulness is here!
II. The persons. Those who have true faith and holiness. As we may know faith, so we may know election. If we see in any a faith unfeigned and true endeavour after holiness, we may charitably judge that such are elected.
III. The order of election.
1. Christ, the Head.
2. From Christ it descends to us His members.
IV. The time. Before all worlds (2Ti 1:9; Joh 17:24).
V. The end.
1. God has of grace chosen us to the supernatural life.
2. He has not only chosen us to this supernatural life, but to the perfection of it.
3. He has called us to this life, that we may live forever in His presence. (Paul Bayne.)
Gods elective grace
It would be a narrow and superficial view of these words to suppose them to refer only to the enjoyment of external privilege, or to imagine that they are meant to level Jewish pride, and that they describe simply the choice of the Gentiles to religious blessings. The purpose of the election is, that its objects should be holy, an end that cannot fail, for they are in Christ, and in Him they are complete. Yet the sovereign love of God is strikingly manifested even in the bestowment of external advantage. Ephesus enjoyed what many a city in Asia Minor wanted. The motive that took Paul to Ephesus, and the wind that sped the bark which carried him, were alike of Gods creation. It was not because God chanced to look down from His high throne, and saw the Ephesians bowing at the shrine of Diana, and worshipping the image that fell from Jupiter, that His heart was moved, and He resolved to give them the gospel. Nor was it because its citizens had a deeper relish for virtue and peace than masses of the population around them, that He sent among them the grace of His Spirit. He is of one mind, and who can turn Him? Every purpose is eternal, and awaits an evolution in the fulness of the time, which is neither antedated nor postponed. The same difficulties are involved in this choice to the external blessing, as are found in the election of men to personal salvation. The whole procedure lies in the domain of pure sovereignty, and there can therefore be no partiality where none have any claim. The choice of Abraham is the great fact which explains and gives name to the doctrine. Why then should the race of Shem be selected to the exclusion of Ham and Japheth? Why of all the families in Shem should that of Terah be chosen? and why of all the members of Terahs house should the individual Abraham be marked out, and set apart by God to be the father of a new race? As well impugn the fact as attempt to upset the doctrine. Providence presents similar views of the Divine procedure. One is born in Europe with a fair face, and becomes enlightened and happy; another is born in Africa with a sable countenance, and is doomed to slavery and wretchedness. One has his birth from Christian parents, and is trained in virtue from his earlier years; another has but a heritage of shame from his father, and the shadow of the gallows looms over his cradle. One is an heir of genius; another, with some malformation of brain, is an idiot. Some, under the enjoyment of Christian privilege, live and die unimpressed; others, with but scanty opportunities, believe, and grow eminent in piety. Does not more seem really to be done by God externally for the conversion of others who live and die in impenitence, than for many who believe and are saved? And yet the Divine prescience and predestination are not incompatible with human responsibility. Man is free, perfectly free, for his moral nature is never strained or violated. Foreknowledge, which is only another phase of electing love, no more changes the nature of a future incident, than after knowledge can affect an historical fact. Gods grace fits men for heaven, but men by unbelief prepare themselves for hell. It is not mans non-election, but his continued sin, that leads to his eternal ruin. Action is not impeded by the certainty of the Divine foreknowledge, he who believes that God has appointed the hour of his death is not fettered by such a faith in the earnest use of every means to prolong his life. And God does not act arbitrarily or capriciously. He has the best of reasons for His procedure, though He does not choose to disclose them to us. (John Eadie, D. D.)
God the author of the plan of salvation
Christians have no grounds for self-felicitation in their possession of holiness and hope, as if with their own hand they had inscribed their names in the Book of Life. Their possession of all spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is not self-originated. Its one author is God, and he has conferred it in harmony with His eternal purpose regarding them. His is all the work, and His is all the glory. And therefore the apostle glories in this eternal election. It is cause of deep and prolonged thankfulness, not of gloom, distrust, or perplexity. The very eternity of design clothes the plan of salvation with a peculiar nobleness. It has its origin in an eternity behind us, and its consummation in an eternity before us. Kindness, the result of momentary impulse, has not and cannot have such claim to gratitude, as a beneficence which is the fruit of a matured and predetermined arrangement. The grace which springs from eternal choice must command the deepest homage of our nature. (John Eadie, D. D.)
Salvation an eternal provision for human need
The eternity of the plan suggests another thought. It is this–salvation is an original thought and resolution it is no novel expedient struck out in the fertility of Divine ingenuity, after Gods first purpose in regard to man had failed through mans apostasy. It is no afterthought, but the embodiment of a design which, foreseeing our ruin, had made preparation for it. (John Eadie, D. D.)
The object of the Divine election
In the words That we should be holy and without blame before Him, we have the object of the Divine election declared, and the cooperation of the elect implied, by the inseparable connection of holiness with election. There is an instructive parallel in Col 1:22, He hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in His sight. The word without blame, or unblamable, is properly without blemish; and the word unreprovable more nearly corresponds to our idea of one unblamable–i.e., one against whom no charge can be brought. Here God is said to have chosen us, in the other passage to have presented us (comp. the sacrificial use of the word in Rom 12:1), in Christ, to be holy and without blemish. It seems clear that the words refer not to justification in Christ, but to sanctification in Him. They express the positive and negative aspects of holiness; the positive in the spirit of purity, the negative in the absence of spot or blemish. The key to their interpretation is to be found in the idea of Rom 8:29, whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. The word without blame is applied to our Lord (in Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:19) as a lamb without blemish. To Him alone it applies perfectly; to us, in proportion to that conformity to His image. The words before Him refer us to Gods unerring judgment as contrasted with the judgment of men, and even our own judgment on ourselves (comp. 1Co 4:3-4; 1Jn 3:20-21) (A. Barry, D. D.)
The antiquity of our final humanity
The word foundation. () suggests a descent, or letting down. But since we were chosen m Christ before the foundation of the world, let us joy with reverence over the priority of our original nature, and not confound ourselves with any of the products of time. We are clothed upon with temporal nature, but we are not children of time. We are fallen into time, but we are from eternity. From of old, God loved us with an everlasting love. There is nothing in the world that represents to us either what we were, or what we shall be. Long before the geological eras began, long before the great chaotic age, and long before that first of all the sad changes, namely, the angel fall, God beheld His final human race, perfect in His Son. Whatever we have become through the two great falls, in heaven, and in earth, in Christ Jesus we are the holy children of eternity. Our right home is in our Fathers house, amid the first-born eternal glories. It is not strange, therefore, that there should be a spirit in us which refuses to rest in anything under the sun, as our final condition. That which was elect and precious, before the foundation of the world, lingers in us. (John Pulsford.)
Election and holiness
God elected us as well to the means as to the end. Note this. For as they (in Act 27:31) could not come safe to land if any left the ship, so neither can men come to heaven but by holiness. (John Trapp.)
Predestination to holiness
It would be a poor proof that I were on my voyage to India, that with glowing eloquence and thrilling poetry, I could discourse on the palm groves and spice isles of the East. Am I on the waters? Is the sail hoisted to the wind? and does the land of my birth look blue and faint in the distance? The doctrine of election may have done harm to many, but only because they have fancied themselves elected to the end, and have forgotten that those whom Scripture calls elected are elected to the means. The Bible never speaks of men as elected to be saved from the shipwreck, but only as elected to tighten the ropes and hoist the sails and stand at the rudder. Let a man search faithfully: let him see that when Scripture describes Christians as elected, it is as elected to faith, as elected to sanctification, as elected to, obedience; and the doctrine of election will be nothing but a stimulus to effort. It will not act as a soporific. I shall cut away the boat, and let drive all human devices, and gird myself, amid the fierceness of the tempest, to steer the shattered vessel into port. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Of election to everlasting life
I. Our first business is, to show what election is. It is that decree of God whereby some men are chosen out from among the rest of mankind, and appointed to obtain eternal life by Jesus Christ, flowing from the mere good pleasure of God; as appears from the text. So the elect are they whom God has chosen to everlasting life (Act 13:48).
II. I proceed to show who are elected. Who they are in particular, God only knows; but in general we say, that it is not all men, but some only. For where all are taken, there is no choice made.
III. The next head is to shew what they are chosen to.
1. They are chosen to be partakers of everlasting life. Hence the scripture speaks of some being ordained to eternal life (Act 13:48), and of appointing them to obtain salvation (1Th 5:9), God appoints some to be rich, great, and honourable, some to be low and mean in the world: but electing love appoints those on whom it falls to be saved from sin, and all the ruins of the fall; its great view is to eternal glory in heaven.
2. They are chosen also to grace as the mean, as well as to glory as the end. Gods predestinating them to eternal blessedness includes both, as in the text; and it further appears from 2Th 2:13. Hence faith is held out as a certain consequent of election (Act 13:48). As many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed. The man who intends to dwell in a house yet unbuilt, intends also the means by which it may be made a fit habitation. And therefore there is no ground from the decree of election to slight the means of salvation.
IV. Let us consider the properties of election.
1. It is altogether free, without any moving cause, but Gods mere good pleasure. No reason can be found for this but only in the bosom of God.
2. Election is eternal. They are elected from all eternity (Eph 1:4), chosen before the foundation of the world; (2Ti 1:9). All Gods decrees are eternal (Eph 1:11). Because God is eternal, His purposes must be of equal duration with His existence.
3. It is particular and definite.
4. It is secret, and cannot be known till God is pleased to discover it.
V. The next thing is to show, that all the elect, and they only, are in time brought out of a state of sin and misery into a state of salvation.
1. All the elect are redeemed by Christ (Joh 10:15). None other but the elect are brought into a state of salvation; none but they are redeemed, sanctified, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Joh 17:9).
VI. I come to show by whom the elect are saved. It is by Christ the Redeemer. Hence the apostle says (Tit 3:4-6).
1. Before the elect could be delivered from that state of sin and misery into which they had brought themselves, a valuable satisfaction behoved to be given to the justice of God for the injury done by sin. It is evident from Scripture that God stood upon full satisfaction, and would not remit one sin without it. Several things plead strongly for this: As,
(1) The infinite purity and holiness of God.
(2) The justice of God.
(3) The wisdom of God.
(4) The truth and veracity of God. He must be true to His threatenings as well as to His promises.
2. As satisfaction to justice was necessary, and that which God insisted upon, so the elect could not give it themselves, neither was there any creature in heaven or earth that could do it for them (Isa 63:5). This is the desperate and forlorn condition of the elect by nature as well as others. God pitched upon Christ in His infinite grace and wisdom as the fittest person for managing this grand design.
4. Christ accepted the office of a Redeemer, and engaged to make His soul an offering for sin. He cheerfully undertook this work in that eternal transaction that was between the Father and Him.
5. Christ satisfied offended justice in the room of the elect, and purchased eternal redemption for them. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Php 2:8). Thus the elect are saved by the Lord Jesus Christ.
I shall conclude all with a few inferences.
1. Behold here the freedom and glory of sovereign grace, which is the sole cause why God did not leave all mankind to perish in the state of sin and misery, as He did the fallen angels.
2. This doctrine should stop mens murmurings, and silence all their pleadings with or against God.
3. This is ground of humility and admiration to the elect of God, and shows them to what they owe the difference that is between them and others, even to free grace. (T. Boston, D. D.)
On election
I. State the doctrine itself. The word rendered predestinated denotes simply predetermined, or foreordained (See Act 4:27-28),
1. It proceeds on the assumption of the fact that man is in a state of guilt, condemnation, and ruin: that, in himself considered, he is without any claim on the Divine favour, without help and without hope.
2. In maintaining the doctrine under consideration, it is assumed that a sufficient, complete, and glorious redemption has been accomplished and revealed.
3. This salvation is proclaimed to all men, without restriction; and all are freely invited to receive its blessings. Is not the blessed God sincere, in all the proffers of His mercy? Can there be any secret counsels at variance, in reality, with the overtures of His grace?
4. All men, if left to themselves, disregard the overtures of mercy, and neglect the great salvation.
5. That grace which God now communicates to the hearts of men, He has resolved and decreed, from all eternity, to communicate.
II. Remove misconceptions. Let it be observed–
1. That the leading object of our present inquiry regards not an abstract truth, involved in metaphysical obscurity, but a matter of fact, to be determined by scriptural testimony.
2. That the proof of the fact and of the doctrine of election, does not rest on a few insulated texts of Scripture. A minister of the gospel, lately deceased, who was distinguished by no common share of mental energy, discovered, on one occasion, that he had armed against himself the strongest prejudices of a very intelligent hearer, by preaching the doctrine of election. In his private writings he thus records the conversation which ensued:–I told her that I had no choice; the doctrine was not mine; nor did the evidence rest on the words elect and election. I advised her to read the fifth and sixth chapters of the Gospel of John, in which the word election does not once occur, but which are full of the doctrine itself. She followed my advice, and in a few days she was confirmed in the belief of this truth. I then advised her to read the seventeenth chapter of John; and she acknowledged, that it was full of the same truth. I asked her, to what conclusion her experience led her on the subject;–whether she had chosen Christ as the Saviour of her soul? Yes, she exclaimed. And do you think He has chosen you? Yes, I do, she replied. If you chose Him first, I rejoined, you made yourself to differ, and salvation is of works: if the Divine choice was first, your choice of Christ was the effect of it, and salvation is of grace. This, she added, is the fact. Then, I concluded, fact, matter of fact, establishes the doctrine of election. Her peace now flowed like a river, bearing all abjections before it, and her blessedness was as the waves of the sea.
3. The doctrine does not in the least restrict the free invitation of the gospel. God has given these invitations in full sincerity. He has given them on the finished and accepted redemption of His Beloved Son. The only barrier between the sinner and salvation is his cherished unbelief.
4. This doctrine does not in the slightest degree affect mans obligation to repent and to believe the gospel. Mans responsibility arises out of his rational and moral nature, and his relation to the God that made him. He does net cease to be accountable, because he has made himself sinful; for were this the case, a man would only have to become a depraved and abandoned transgressor, in order to exonerate himself from all further obligation to obey the Author of his existence.
5. This fact–that there is a Divine election–does not create an obstacle to the salvation of any human being. From the remarks already made, it is apparent, that if any man perish, he must perish in consequence of his own unbelief. In the investigation of the Word of God, I discover no traces of any decree involving an appointment to wrath irrespective of guilt. Throughout the Bible, the perdition of the soul is ascribed, not to Gods decree, but to mans transgression. No human being will be condemned at the last day, on the ground of not being included in the election of grace.
6. This doctrine, rightly understood, has no tendency unfavourable to the interests of practical religion.
III. The effects which a correct view and a cordial reception of this doctrine are calculated to produce on the mind and heart of the believer.
1. The belief of this doctrine is calculated to extend and to elevate our views of the character of God.
2. This doctrine presents the most vivid exhibition of the certainty of the final salvation of all who truly believe in the Divine Redeemer.
3. This doctrine is adapted to produce the deepest humility. Every truth associated with this doctrine is a humbling truth. We are reminded, at every step of our researches, of some trait in our own character, or in the character of the blessed God, which is calculated to humble the heart. We are reminded, that we are, by nature, children of wrath–that by unmerited grace alone we can be saved. Where is boasting then? It is excluded; that no flesh should glory in His presence; that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
4. Finally, The subject under consideration is designed and adapted to call forth the most grateful and adoring praise. (H. F. Burder, D. D.)
Good men the subjects of Divine thoughts from all eternity
Every true Christian, then, as a member of Christs body, is thus an elect and predestinated person, and as such has been, along with Christ Himself–the Head of that body–an object of thought to the Almighty Lord of Life during the eternity bygone. But now what an awful dignity is thus seen at once to gather around the existence of a predestinated soul, around one whose appearance and character are both the subject and result of the never commenced meditations and resolves of the Omniscient and Eternal Mind. We look, if at all given to such reflections, with a feeling of profound interest upon a stone, which has been agitated far ages on the sunken floor of the ocean, and which is at length cast up by the sounding sea, rounded by the attrition of the sea bottom, and by the currents of unnumbered centuries–an agate or carnelian, that was being rolled and polished by the billows before the old empires of antiquity were founded, or before the deluge, or before the creation of man. We gaze awestruck upon these everlasting hills, whose summits were standing above the universal waters before some of the other continents were made, and whose stratified contents, rich with the fossils of successive worlds, and the deep-lying beds of molten and crystallized porphyry and granite below them, indicate an era of upheaval that is lost in the mists and twilights of remotest eld. But what are such feelings of awe and wonder at such immeasurable antiquity, compared with those which fill the soul when we look upon a Person older than all geological chronology, older than the stars, whose goings forth have been from everlasting. On Christ, whose countenance, whose aspect, marred more than any mans, whose history, instinct with miracles, whose words, full of grace and truth, were the manifestations of a Divine purpose as ancient in the darkness, that all the works of the visible universe–rock systems and the deepest foundations of the mountains, and constellations that have already shone through cycles which would defy even archangelic arithmetic to measure, are comparatively of yesterday. Before Abraham was, I am. Before the universe was, I was in the bosom of the Infinite. And all good men were chosen in Him. The names of all who believe in God were written before the foundation of the world, in the Lambs Book of Life. They have from eternity been there recorded by Divine love as members of Christ–of His Body, of His flesh, and of His bones. Every Christian has thus been, in ideal vision, a subject of blissful Divine thought from before all worlds. (E. White.)
The saving purpose of God in earthly realization
I. Its spiritual character (verses 3, 4).
1. Bestowing spiritual gifts.
2. Contemplating a moral change in its objects. It is not because they are already better than other men that believers are chosen, but in order that they may become so.
II. Its predetermining influence. (verses 4, 5, 9-11).
1. It works from afar. Through eternity and time–from before the foundation of the world.
2. Bestowing provisional advantage. It does not appear that by the adoption here spoken of, final salvation is implied, but rather that the Gentiles being brought nigh through the blood of Christ, are put in the way of being saved. It is well for us to consider the limits as well as the vastness of spiritual privilege.
3. Ordaining the means of salvation. In Christ.
III. Its cyclic completeness (verses 4-14).
1. Engaging successively the several Persons of the Blessed Trinity. In the progress of revelation and the history of the Church there seem to be discernible an age of the Father, an age of the Son, and an age of the Holy Ghost.
2. Perfecting human salvation. There are indicated three stages of the process of salvation, viz., election, justification through the blood of Christ, and, finally, sanctification by the Spirit. The cycle of redemption, as evolved in this passage, recalls that of Rom 8:28-30.
3. Consummating the order of the universe. In Christ all things are summed up, i.e., He is the Head and Representative of time, creation, humanity, etc. They gather about Him as their true Centre and Lord.
IV. Its resultant glory (verses 6, 12, 14). (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
The electing love of God
I. As expressive of the Divine character. Paul labours by variety and accumulation of phrases to show that in its entire manifestation it is of God and not of man. He calls attention to–
1. Its absoluteness. It is according to the good pleasure of His will, i.e., an absolutely free impulse and act. No cause external to the Divine Being can be discovered to account for it.
2. Its sublime consistency and harmony.
II. As affecting human destiny.
1. It reveals itself in a gracious act, viz., the choice or adoption of men as its objects.
2. It sets before itself a grand moral aim.
3. It exerts a transforming power.
III. As evoking grateful adoration (verse 6). The objects of saving grace realizing the benefits it confers,
1. Bless God with their lips.
2. Glorify Him in their lives. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Gods purpose in election
What was God driving at in His electing some out of the lump of mankind? Was it only their impunity He desired, that while others were left to swim in torment and misery, they should only be exempted from that infelicity? No, sure; the apostle will tell us more. He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy. Mark, not because He foresaw that they would be of themselves holy, but that they should be holy; this was that God resolved He would make them to be. As if some curious workman, seeing a forest growing upon his own ground of trees (all alike, not one better than another), should mark some above all the rest, and set them apart in his thoughts, as resolving to make some rare pieces of workmanship of them. Thus God chose some out of the lump of mankind, whom He set apart for this purpose, to carve His own image upon them, which consists in righteousness and true holiness; a piece of such rare workmanship which, when God hath intended, and shall show it to men and angels, will appear to exceed the fabric of heaven and earth itself. (W. Gurnall.)
Election
1. The elector is the Father, to whom it belongs to originate all things. The purpose of eternal love flows directly from the Divine mind, as its heavenly source (Rom 8:29; 2Th 2:13)
2. The person in whom the election is made is the Son. We are chosen in Him as the Divine Mediator, and predestinated Election-Head, in whom, by means of our union with Him, we find a supply for all our wants, strength for our weakness, joy for our sorrow, light for our darkness, and eternal life for our all-sufficient portion at last.
3. As to the date of this election; it is before the foundation of the world (comp. Mat 13:35, Joh 17:4, Luk 11:50, Mat 14:34, 1Pe 1:20). This is the same as the expression, Before the ages or worlds (1Co 2:7; comp. Eph 3:9, Col 1:26, 2Ti 1:9, and Rom 16:25). This is the ancient love of God to His people of which the Scriptures are so full, and on which the believing soul delights to dwell. His love is no impulsive feeling, varying with the changes of the creature, but the steady, irreversible purpose of His grace, based on the life and death, the doing and dying of the Mediator.
4. The purpose of this election is very clearly stated in one passage–That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Holy means separated, consecrated, devoted to Gad. He would have a loving, devoted, holy, people, and for this end He elects them. (W. Graham, D. D.)
Gods choice and desire
I. Let us observe the first outflow of these heavenly blessings. The fountain of eternal love burst forth in our election–According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. Consider these words one by one.
1. The first is, He hath chosen: God has a will and a choice in the matter of salvation. Is mans will to be deified? Is the whole result of the scheme of salvation to depend upon the creatures choice? God forbid.
2. Carefully note that election shapes everything: the Father has blessed us with all spiritual blessings, According as He hath chosen us in Christ. All the grace of earth and the glory of heaven come to us in accordance with the eternal choice. There is not a single boon that comes from the blessed hand of the Divine Redeemer but is stamped with the mark of Gods electing love. We were chosen to each mercy, and each mercy was appointed for us.
3. The next word is, He hath chosen us. Herein is grace indeed. What could there be in us that the Lord should choose us? Some of us feel ourselves the most unworthy of the unworthy, and we can see no trace of a reason for our being chosen. So far from being choice men in our own esteem, we feel ourselves by nature to be the very reverse. But if God has chosen us, then let our hearts love Him, our lips extol Him, our hands serve Him, our whole lives adore Him.
4. Then we are told, he has chosen us in Christ Jesus. He first chose Christ as the head, and then looked through Christ upon us, and chose us to be members of Christs mystical body.
5. The time when this choice was made–Before the foundation of the world, the earliest conceivable period. The choice is no sudden act.
II. The designed result of all this blessing.
1. It is Gods eternal design that His people should be holy. When you grow in grace, and faith, and hope, and joy, all that growth is towards holiness. There is something practical in every boon that comes from the Fathers hand, and you should pray to Him that you may by each one conquer sin, advance in virtue and perfect holiness in His fear. The ultimate end of election is the praise of the glory of Divine grace, but the immediate and intermediate end is the personal sanctification of the chosen.
2. The Father chose us to Himself that we might be without blame before Him in love. He would have us blameless, so that no man can justly find fault with us; and harmless, so that our lives may injure none, but bless all.
3. But notice where and what kind of holiness this is: holy and blameless before Him. It would be something to be perfect before the eyes of men who are so ready to criticize us; but to be blameless before Him who reads our thoughts and sees our every failure in a moment–this is an attainment of a far higher order. To conclude, we are to be holy and blameless before Him in love. Love is the anointing oil which is to be poured on all the Lords priests; when he has robed them in their spotless garments, they shall partake of the unction of love. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods election of men in Jesus Christ
I. That God, before He made the world, chose some persons of His own free grace to become His children, or to be made holy and happy.
1. There is a manifest difference between the children of men in this world.
2. This difference between men, or this distinction of the righteous from the wicked, is not ascribed in Scripture, originally and supremely, to the will and power of man, as the cause of it, but to the will and power of God, and to His Spirit working in them.
3. The distinction that is made by this work of God in the heart of men, is attributed in Scripture, not to any merit in man, which God foresaw, but to the free grace of God toward His people, and His special choice or election of them, to be partakers of these blessings.
4. This choice of persons to sanctification and salvation by the grace on God is represented in Scripture, as before the foundation of the world, or from eternity.
II. That God from the beginning appointed His Son Jesus Christ to be the medium of exercising all this grace, and gave His chosen people to the care of His Son, to make them partakers of these blessings.
1. Let us consider what it was that Christ undertook, as the chosen Saviour of His people (Joh 1:18; Joh 17:5; Joh 16:28; Php 2:7; Heb 2:14; Gal 4:4; Rom 8:3; Eph 5:30).
2. Let us take a brief survey of the articles of this covenant on God the Fathers side. Whatsoever powers, or honours, or employments He bestowed on His Son, we have reason to suppose it was in pursuance of this original covenant of grace and salvation. First then, we may justly conclude, that God engaged to employ Him in the work of creation, as a foundation of His future kingdom among men; by Him God made angels, and they shall be His ministering Spirits, for the men who shall be heirs of his salvation; by Him God created mankind, and He shall be Lord of them all; by Him the Blessed God made His own people, and He shall save them. Again, We may suppose it was agreed by the Father, that He should be the King of Israel, which was the visible Church of God, as a type of His kingdom, and the government of His invisible Church; that He should fix His dwelling in a cloud of glory, in His holy hill of Sion (Psa 2:6-7), and should govern the Jewish nation by judges, or priests, or kings, as His deputies, till He Himself should appear in the flesh. God the Father undertook also to furnish Him with everything necessary for His appearance and His ministry here upon earth, to prepare a body for Him (Heb 10:5), to give Him the Spirit without measure (Joh 3:34; Isa 11:2), to bear Him up through all His sufferings, to accept His sacrifice and atonement for sin, to raise Him up from the dead, to exalt Him not only to the former glory which He had with Him before the world was, which He asks for as a matter of agreement (Joh 17:4-5), but to honour Him at His right hand with superior powers.
1. Since we are chosen to be holy, as well as happy, we may search and find out our election by our sanctification, and make it sure and evident.
2. Let those who by a sincere search have found the blessed marks and evidences of their election in Christ Jesus take the comfort of it, rejoice in it, and walk worthy of so Divine a privilege. See that you keep your evidences of grace ever clear and bright by holy watchfulness, that ye may have a strong defence in every hour of temptation.
In conclusion:
1. I infer that there are some doctrines wherein the reason of man finds many difficulties, and which the folly of man would abuse to unhappy purposes, which yet are plain and express truths asserted in the Word of God. Among these, we place the great doctrine of the election of sinners in Christ to be made holy and happy.
2. However this doctrine may be opposed by the reasonings of men, and even ridiculed by a bold jest, yet, if it then appear to be a Divine truth, as the Scriptures now seem to teach us, the blessed God will not be ashamed of it in the last great day; then shall He unfold all the scheme of His original counsels, and spread abroad His transactions towards mankind, before the face of all His intelligent creatures. I cannot think, that any of the cavils of wit against this doctrine will stand before the light of the great tribunal.
3. The whole chain and current of our salvation, from the beginning to the end, arises and proceeds all the way from the free grace of God, through the mediation of His Son Jesus Christ. God and His Son must have the glory, and pride must be hid from man forever. (Dr. Watts.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. According as he hath chosen us in him] As he has decreed from the beginning of the world, and has kept in view from the commencement of the religious system of the Jews, (which the phrase sometimes means,) to bring us Gentiles to the knowledge of this glorious state of salvation by Christ Jesus. The Jews considered themselves an elect or chosen people, and wished to monopolize the whole of the Divine love and beneficence. The apostle here shows that God had the Gentiles as much in the contemplation of his mercy and goodness as he had the Jews; and the blessings of the Gospel, now so freely dispensed to them, were the proof that God had thus chosen them, and that his end in giving them the Gospel was the same which he had in view by giving the law to the Jews, viz. that they might be holy and without blame before him. And as his object was the same in respect to them both, they should consider that, as he loved them, so they should love one another: God having provided for each the same blessings, they should therefore be , holy-fully separated from earth and sin, and consecrated to God and , without blame-having no spot nor imperfection, their inward holiness agreeing with their outward consecration. The words are a metaphor taken from the perfect and immaculate sacrifices which the law required the people to bring to the altar of God. But as love is the fulfilling of the law, and love the fountain whence their salvation flowed, therefore love must fill their hearts towards God and each other, and love must be the motive and end of all their words and works.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God blesseth us with all spiritual blessings according as he hath chosen us; election being the fountain from whence those blessings come, so that God doeth nothing for us in carrying on the work of our salvation, but what he had in his eternal counsel before determined.
Chosen us; separated us in his purpose and decree from others, (whom he left out of that gracious act of his will), and determined that we should be holy and unblamable, &c.
In him; either:
1. By and through Christ, (as in the former verse), for his sake, and upon the account of his merit as the procuring cause, not of our election, but sanctification; q.d. God hath chosen us, that we should be made holy and unblamable by Christ. Or rather:
2. In Christ, as the foundation on which he would build us, (his spiritual house), and by which both we might be united to God, and he communicate his influence and grace to us; or as our Head, by which he might convey grace, and strength, and life to us as Christs members.
Before the foundation of the world; either before Gods decree of creating the world, or rather, before his executing that decree in the actual creation of it; i.e. from eternity, when neither we nor the world had a being.
That we should be holy and without blame; by inherent grace begun in regeneration, and carried on in sanctification and mortification in this life, though not perfected till the other. Holiness in us is declared here to be not the cause, but the effect of our election; we are chosen that we may be holy, not because we are, or God foresees we will be holy.
Before him; in the sight of God, who is not deceived with an outward appearance, but looks to the heart.
In love; as a principal part of our sanctification, and the best evidence of the fear of God in us, and our obedience to the whole law.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. hath chosen usGreek,“chose us out for Himself” (namely, out ofthe world, Ga 1:4): referring toHis original choice, spoken of as past.
in himThe repetitionof the idea, “in Christ” (Eph1:3), implies the paramount importance of the truth that it is inHim, and by virtue of union to Him, the Second Adam, the Restorerordained for us from everlasting, the Head of redeemed humanity,believers have all their blessings (Eph3:11).
before the foundation of theworldThis assumes the eternity of the Son of God (Joh 17:5;Joh 17:24), as of the election ofbelievers in Him (2Ti 1:9;2Th 2:13).
that we should beholypositively (De 14:2).
without blamenegatively(Eph 5:27; 1Th 3:13).
before himIt is to Himthe believer looks, walking as in His presence, before whom he looksto be accepted in the judgment (Col1:22; compare Re 7:15).
in lovejoined byBENGEL and others with Eph1:5, “in love having predestinated us,” c. But EnglishVersion is better. The words qualify the whole clause, “thatwe should be holy . . . before Him.” Love, lost to man by thefall, but restored by redemption, is the root and fruit and sum ofall holiness (Eph 5:2 1Th 3:12;1Th 3:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
According as he hath chosen us in him,…. This choice cannot be understood of a national one, as Israel of old were chosen by the Lord; for the persons the apostle writes to were not a nation; nor does he address all the inhabitants of Ephesus, only the saints and faithful in Christ that resided there; nor are they all intended here, if any of them. However, not they only, since the apostle includes himself, and perhaps some others, who did not belong to that place, nor were of that country: nor does this choice regard them as a church; for though the saints at Ephesus were in a church state, yet the apostle does not write to them under that formal consideration, but as saints and faithful; nor are these persons said to be chosen to church privileges, but to grace and glory, to be holy and blameless: besides, from Eph 1:3, the apostle seems to speak of himself, and some others, who first trusted in Christ, as distinct from the believers at Ephesus, Eph 1:13, nor is this choice of persons to an office, for all that are here intended were not apostles, or pastors, or deacons: nor can it design the effectual calling, or the call of persons in time by efficacious grace; because this was before the foundation of the world, as follows: but it intends an eternal election of particular persons to everlasting life and salvation; and which is the first blessing of grace, and the foundation one, upon which all the rest proceed, and
according to which they are dispensed; for according to predestination are calling, justification, and glorification. The author of this choice is God, God the Father, who is distinguished from Christ, in whom this act is made; and it is according to his foreknowledge, and is an act of his grace, and is entirely sovereign: the objects of it, us, are not angels, but men, considered as unfallen with respect to the end, and as fallen with respect to the means; and these not all mankind: to choose, implies the contrary; and they that are chosen are distinguished from others, and are represented as few; nor do all men partake either of the means or end appointed in the decree of election; and yet some of all nations, Jews and Gentiles, are included in it; though none for any previous qualifications in them, as not for their good works, faith, holiness, or perseverance therein; for these are fruits and effects of election, and therefore cannot be causes or conditions of it: and this choice is made in Christ; and the persons chosen are chosen in him, and by being chosen they come to be in him; for this refers not to their openly being in him at conversion, as believers, but to their secretly being in him before time. Christ, as Mediator, is the object of election himself; and all the elect were chosen in him as their head, in whose hands their persons, grace, and glory are, and so are safe and secure in him: the Arabic version renders it, “by him”; not as the meritorious cause, for Christ’s merits are not the cause of election, though they are of redemption and salvation; but as the means, in order to the end: the Ethiopic version renders it, “to him”; to salvation by him, and to the obtaining of his glory; as if he and his benefits, being the end of this choice, were intended; which was made
before the foundation of the world: and that it was so early, is certain, from the love of God to his people, which this is the effect of, and which is an everlasting love; and from the covenant which was made with Christ from everlasting, on account of these chosen ones, when Christ was set up as the head and representative of them; and from the provision of all spiritual blessings for them in it, which proceeds according to this choice; and from the preparation of a kingdom for them from the foundation of the world; and from the nature of God’s decrees, which are eternal; for no new will, or act of will, can arise in God, or any decree be made by him, which was not from eternity: God’s foreknowledge is eternal, and so is his decree, and is no other than himself decreeing. The end of this choice follows,
that we should be holy, and without blame, before him in love; the objects of it are not chosen because they were holy, but that they might partake of the sanctification of the Spirit; that they might be sanctified by him here, and be perfectly holy hereafter; and be without fault and blame, both in this life, as instilled by the righteousness of Christ, and as washed in his blood; and in the life to come, being entirely freed from all sin, and without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; and appear so in the sight of Christ, who will present them to himself, and in the sight of his Father, to whom they will also be presented by him, even in the sight of divine justice: and this will be all “in love”, or “through love”, as the Syriac version renders it; or “through his love”, as the Arabic version; for the love of God is the source and spring of election itself, and of holiness and happiness, the end of it; and which is shed abroad in the hearts of God’s people now, and will be more fully comprehended and enjoyed in the other world; and which causes love again in them to him. A phrase somewhat like this is used by the Targumist on Ec 11:6 where, speaking of a man’s children, he says;
“it is not known unto thee which of them , “is chosen to be good”, this, or that, or both of them, to be alike good.”
Some copies put the stop at before him; and read the phrase, “in love”; in connection with the words following, thus, “in love”, or “by love hath predestinated us”; so the Syriac version.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Even as he chose us in him ( ). First aorist middle indicative of , to pick out, to choose. Definitive statement of God’s elective grace concerning believers in Christ.
Before the foundation of the world ( ). Old word from , to fling down, used of the deposit of seed, the laying of a foundation. This very phrase with in the Prayer of Jesus (Joh 17:24) of love of the Father toward the Son. It occurs also in 1Pe 1:20. Elsewhere we have (from) used with it (Matt 25:34; Luke 11:50; Heb 4:3; Heb 9:26; Rev 13:8; Rev 17:8). But Paul uses neither phrase elsewhere, though he has (from the ages) in Eph 3:9. Here in Eph 1:3-14. Paul in summary fashion gives an outline of his view of God’s redemptive plans for the race.
That we should be ( ). Infinitive of purpose with the accusative of general reference (). See Col 1:22 for the same two adjectives and also .
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Even as [] . Explaining blessed us, in ver. 3. His blessing is in conformity with the fact that He chose.
Chose [] . Middle voice, for himself.
In Him. As the head and representative of our spiritual humanity.
Compare 1Co 14:22. Divine election is in Christ the Redeemer. The crown of divine sovereignty is redemption. God rules the world to save it.
Holy and without blame [ ] . The positive and negative aspects of christian life. See on Col 1:22. Rev., without blemish. The reference is to moral rather than to forensic righteousness. Compare 1Th 4:7.
In love. Join with foreordained, ver. 5. Having in love foreordained.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “According as he hath chosen us in him” (kathos ekseleks to hemas en auto) “Just as he chose us in Him.” The salvation calling and election of the whole fallen universe of men, was and is “in Christ.” The call of all men to salvation is universal and all inclusive, with none excluded or left out of the provision for and Gall to acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s personal Savior.
2) “Before the foundation of the world” (pro kataboles kosmou) “Before a world foundation,” or prior to the casting down of the first world order.” God purposed, ordained, or set Jesus in order as a Savior for the whole universe “in eternity,” before time began. But the provision and calling comes or confronts each man for his acceptance in his own life, 1Pe 1:18-20; 1Ti 2:5; Joh 3:16.
3) “That we should be holy and without blame” (einai hemas hagious kai amoumous) “That we should be holy and unblemished.” The called, chosen, or saved, those who have personally accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and their Lord, are called or saved to a life of holy living and blameless service to the Master, Eph 2:10; Gal 5:13; Gal 5:25.
4) “Before him in love” (katenopion autou en agape)
Before His face in love.” High, holy, and divine love in the redeemed is to express itself in the Master’s service in holy living, Joh 13:34-35; Joh 14:15; Joh 15:14; Rom 12:1-2. The “fulfilling of the law of the Lord” is love in action, Rom 13:11; Gal 5:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. According as he hath chosen us. The foundation and first cause, both of our calling and of all the benefits which we receive from God, is here declared to be his eternal election. If the reason is asked, why God has called us to enjoy the gospel, why he daily bestows upon us so many blessings, why he opens to us the gate of heaven, — the answer will be constantly found in this principle, that he hath chosen us before the foundation of the world. The very time when the election took place proves it to be free; for what could we have deserved, or what merit did we possess, before the world was made? How childish is the attempt to meet this argument by the following sophism! “We were chosen because we were worthy, and because God foresaw that we would be worthy.” We were all lost in Adam; and therefore, had not God, through his own election, rescued us from perishing, there was nothing to be foreseen. The same argument is used in the Epistle to the Romans, where, speaking of Jacob and Esau, he says,
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For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.” (Rom 9:11.)
But though they had not yet acted, might a sophist of the Sorbonne reply, God foresaw that they would act. This objection has no force when applied to the depraved natures of men, in whom nothing can be seen but materials for destruction.
In Christ. This is the second proof that the election is free; for if we are chosen in Christ, it is not of ourselves. It is not from a perception of anything that we deserve, but because our heavenly Father has introduced us, through the privilege of adoption, into the body of Christ. In short, the name of Christ excludes all merit, and everything which men have of their own; for when he says that we are chosen in Christ, it follows that in ourselves we are unworthy.
That we should be holy. This is the immediate, but not the chief design; for there is no absurdity in supposing that the same thing may gain two objects. The design of building is, that there should be a house. This is the immediate design, but the convenience of dwelling in it is the ultimate design. It was necessary to mention this in passing; for we shall immediately find that Paul mentions another design, the glory of God. But there is no contradiction here; for the glory of God is the highest end, to which our sanctification is subordinate.
This leads us to conclude, that holiness, purity, and every excellence that is found among men, are the fruit of election; so that once more Paul expressly puts aside every consideration of merit. If God had foreseen in us anything worthy of election, it would have been stated in language the very opposite of what is here employed, and which plainly means that all our holiness and purity of life flow from the election of God. How comes it then that some men are religious, and live in the fear of God, while others give themselves up without reserve to all manner of wickedness? If Paul may be believed, the only reason is, that the latter retain their natural disposition, and the former have been chosen to holiness. The cause, certainly, is not later than the effect. Election, therefore, does not depend on the righteousness of works, of which Paul here declares that it is the cause.
We learn also from these words, that election gives no occasion to licentiousness, or to the blasphemy of wicked men who say, “Let us live in any manner we please; for, if we have been elected, we cannot perish.” Paul tells them plainly, that they have no right to separate holiness of life from the grace of election; for
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whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified.” (Rom 8:30.)
The inference, too, which the Catharists, Celestines, and Donatists drew from these words, that we may attain perfection in this life, is without foundation. This is the goal to which the whole course of our life must be directed, and we shall not reach it till we have finished our course. Where are the men who dread and avoid the doctrine of predestination as an inextricable labyrinth, who believe it to be useless and almost dangerous? No doctrine is more useful, provided it be handled in the proper and cautious manner, of which Paul gives us an example, when he presents it as an illustration of the infinite goodness of God, and employs it as an excitement to gratitude. This is the true fountain from which we must draw our knowledge of the divine mercy. If men should evade every other argument, election shuts their mouth, so that they dare not and cannot claim anything for themselves. But let us remember the purpose for which Paul reasons about predestination, lest, by reasoning with any other view, we fall into dangerous errors.
Before him it love. Holiness before God ( κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ) is that of a pure conscience; for God is not deceived, as men are, by outward pretense, but looks to faith, or, which means the same thing, the truth of the heart. If we view the word love as applied to God, the meaning will be, that the only reason why he chose us, was his love to men. But I prefer connecting it with the latter part of the verse, as denoting that the perfection of believers consists in love; not that God requires love alone, but that it is an evidence of the fear of God, and of obedience to the whole law.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) According as (i.e., inasmuch as) he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.Again it should be, He chose us for Himself. The eternal election of God is inseparably connected with the blessing of the Spirit. This passage stands alone in St. Pauls Epistles in its use of this word chosen in connection with Gods eternal purpose, before the foundation of the worlda phrase only applied elsewhere to the eternal communion of the Son with the Father (Joh. 17:24), and to the foreordaining of His sacrifice in the divine counsels (1Pe. 1:20). The word chosen itself is used by our Lord of His choice of the Apostles (Joh. 6:70; Joh. 13:18; Joh. 15:16-19); but in one case with the significant addition, one of you is a devil, showing that the election was not final. It is similarly used in the Acts (Act. 1:2; Act. 1:24; Act. 6:5; Act. 15:7; Act. 15:22; Act. 15:25) of His choice or the choice of the Apostles; and once (Act. 13:7) of the national election of Israel. In 1Co. 1:27-28 (the only other place where it is used by St. Paul), and in Jas. 2:5 it refers to choice of men by Gods calling in this world. Clearly in all these cases it is applied to the election of men to privilege by an act of Gods mercy here. In this passage, on the contrary, the whole reference is to the election in Christ, by the foreknowledge of God, of those who should hereafter be made His members. From this examination of Scriptural usage it is clear that the visible election to privilege is constantly and invariably urged upon men; the election in Gods eternal counsels only dwelt upon in passages which (like this or Romans 9, 11) have to ascend in thought to the fountain-head of all being in Gods mysterious will. It will be observed that even here it clearly refers to all members of the Church, without distinction.
That we should be holy and without blame before him.In these words we have the object of the divine election declared, and the co-operation of the elect implied, by the inseparable connection of holiness with election. There is an instructive parallel in Col. 1:22 :He hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in His sight. The word without blame, or unblamable, is properly without blemish; and the word unreprovable more nearly corresponds to our idea of one unblamablei.e., one against whom no charge can be brought. Here God is said to have chosen us, in the other passage to have presented us (comp. the sacrificial use of the word in Rom. 12:1), in Christ, to be holy and without blemish. It seems clear that the words refer not to justification in Christ, but to sanctification in Him. They express the positive and negative aspects of holiness; the positive in the spirit of purity, the negative in the absence of spot or blemish. The key to their interpretation is to be found in the idea of Rom. 8:29, whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son. The word without blame is applied to our Lord (in Heb. 9:14; 1Pe. 1:19) as a lamb without blemish. To Him alone it applies perfectly; to us, in proportion to that conformity to His image. The words before Him refer us to Gods unerring judgment as contrasted with the judgment of men, and even our own judgment on ourselves. (Comp. 1Co. 4:3-4; 1Jn. 3:20-21.)
In love.If these words are connected with the previous verse, they must be taken with He hath chosen us, in spite of the awkwardness of the dislocation of order. But it is best to connect them with the verse following, Having predestinated us in love.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. According as The blessing of us by the blessed One is in full accordance with his eternal choice of us. But who are this us? This is a most important question in determining the meaning of this epistle. The objects of choice must present to the Chooser the proper qualities, either seen or foreseen, in order to being intelligently chosen. They cannot be mere characterless blanks. Nor are they personal or impersonal entities in which exist no qualities, conditions, or suitableness for being chosen rather than not, for that makes the Chooser act without a wise reason. But they are those who present the proper rational conditions of the divine choice, namely, submitting and believing men.
We may say that in the section 3-12 St. Paul uses the first person plural of the personal pronoun, namely, we, us, and our, thirteen times in all, which, while it explicitly includes himself and the Ephesians, it also, by implication, takes in all believers. With Eph 1:13 commences the second person, used mainly throughout the epistle. It applies specially to the Ephesians, with much that is inferentially true of all believers. In Eph 1:14 the our refers to the Ephesians and himself directly, and all other believers inferentially.
Hath chosen The Greek is a word full of force chose out for himself. The prefix , out from, implies an unchosen remainder really or conditionally left, which remainder constitutes the anti-Church of chapter Eph 5:1-21. This choice was part of the grand divine ideal, the universal restoration of Eph 1:10.
In him In Christ; as the mystical embodiment of the redemption in whom it was the divine idea and purpose of God’s mercy that all should be gathered, Eph 1:10.
Before the foundation of the world The world is here figured as a building; and the builder as laying his plans for the transactions in the house before he lays its foundations. And as the builder is no less than the Eternal, so this before sends our thoughts back into the deep, dim, anterior eternity. And, then, Paul’s glad thought is, that salvation and the Church being gathered from out the world, is not a human thing of to-day, but a divine thing from eternity. The choice of a sinner conditioned upon his faith, now first objectively performed, is traced far back into the divine mind, as in a mirror; the mind that, foreseeing all things, and precognizing the evil to result from the misdirected freewill of finite man, provides and adjusts them with the good, so that the highest good is ultimately attained.
The fact that God chooses chooses us from all eternity, chooses us out from the world, chooses us from his divine good pleasure does not in the slightest degree countenance the inadmissible idea that God does not know and foreknow what he is choosing, as well as the reasons both without the man and within the man on account of which he is chosen. Scripture most decisively shuts out from the text such an idea. The apostle puts foreknowledge as antecedent to predestination. “Whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate,” Rom 8:29, where see our notes. So also 1Pe 1:2: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God.” And this election is made definite, individual, and sure by our performance of the human condition: 2Pe 1:10, “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” So that this elective purpose, as ideal purpose in eternity, becomes objective and real divine act in time.
In this present paragraph, Paul says little about conditions, and nothing to exclude them. He says little about them because it is not the human but the divine side of this election upon which he is now, with grateful rapture, expatiating. The human side comes in at Eph 2:4. Preaching to unconverted men, he would make the condition the main topic, calling upon them to enter, by faith and repentance, into the range of God’s eternal conditional purpose, by which he, from all eternity, chooses all who truly believe.
That we should be holy As faith is the condition upon which we are elected, so holiness, blamelessness, and eternal life, are the results for which and to which we are elected. See note on Rom 8:29.
Holy and without blame ”The positive and negative aspects,” says Ellicott, “of true Christian life.”
Before him Blameless even under His dread scrutiny.
In love Meyer, Ellicott, and others, join this to predestinated; making a predestination in love. To this Afford objects, conclusively, that all the three leading verbs, chosen, predestinated, made known, being co-ordinate with each other, have no qualifying phrase prefixed, but lead and give the drift of what follows. Love is the element in which the forgiven soul is held before God as without blame, not justice or innocence in the past; love, as from God and reciprocated to God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love, having foreordained us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’
‘He chose us in Him.’ This does not just mean that He chose Him before the foundation of the world, and that when we are in Him we are included in that choice, for elsewhere Paul will tell us that we ourselves are ‘foreknown’ (proginosko) (Rom 8:29), a word which means God has, as it were, entered into a relationship with us beforehand. He ‘knew’ us in eternity and thus chose us (see Gen 18:19). The wondrous truth is that in His infinite goodness, and eternal awareness and knowledge, He chose us out from the beginning, before the world was, because of what Christ Jesus is and would be, with the purpose of purifying and perfecting us and presenting us to Himself as His sons.
Thus are we who believe in Christ ‘the elect’, the chosen ones (2Th 2:13; Mat 24:22; Mat 24:24; Mat 24:31; Mar 13:20; Luk 18:7; Rom 8:33; Rom 9:11 ; 1Co 1:27-28; Col 3:12; 1Th 1:4 ; 1Pe 1:2; 1Pe 2:4; 1Pe 5:13), like a woman chosen for her husband (Eph 5:25-27). But we are not to be complacent about this but to make our calling and election sure by our good, fruitful and holy lives (2Pe 1:10) wrought in us by the Spirit, thus proving that we are the true children of God.
‘Before the foundation of the world.’ The choice was made even before that time when He first spoke and it was done, and creation came into being. He chose us, then, before Gen 1:1. The choice was made in eternity. ‘God chose you from the beginning unto salvation, in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth’ (2Th 2:13).
‘That we should be holy and without blemish before him in love.’ His purpose in so calling us was to make us Christlike, to make us ‘holy’, set apart totally to Him, sharing that ‘otherness’ which marks Him off in His supreme goodness and splendour, as we are made ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2Pe 1:4) through His Spirit. It is to make us ‘without blemish’ so that no spot or stain or any such thing might mar our beings. We will need no mirror to search for blemishes then, no make-up to hide the truth, for it will be genuine through and through.
We are set apart to a holy purpose, to manifest and to glorify Him, and only in so far as we are fulfilling that purpose are we being what we should be. But it is a process which will take time, for although the inward change takes place on our rebirth, the effecting of that change in our sinful bodies will go on and on until we are presented perfect before Him.
This blessing initially becomes ours when we first believe and are cleansed, reckoned as righteous and sanctified once for all through His sacrifice on the cross so that all stain is removed and we are made without blemish and acceptable to Him (Eph 5:26; Isa 1:18; Rom 3:24; 2Co 5:19 ; 2Th 2:13; Heb 9:14; Heb 10:10; Heb 10:14). It continues as the Holy Spirit works in us His sanctifying work so that we are more and more without blemish among men who see us as lights in the world (‘it is God Who works in you — that you may be — children of God without blemish’ – Php 2:13-15; ‘are transformed — from glory to glory’ – 2Co 3:18; ‘those who are being sanctified’ – Heb 10:14; ‘you have your fruit to sanctification’ – Rom 6:19; Rom 6:22). And finally reaches its completion when in receiving us into His eternal presence He finally perfects that work which He has begun, presenting us as a spotless wife, holy and without blemish (Eph 5:27; Col 1:22 ; 1Th 3:13; 1Th 5:23; 1Co 15:42-44) making us like Him (1Jn 1:2).
‘In love.’ And all this is not the hard, cold choice of some artisan choosing to make one piece of work rather than another, but a work of incomparable love, the love that God revealed in the giving of His Son (Joh 3:16; Rom 5:8; 1Jn 4:9-10) that sweeps us up into His arms and into His heart (Deu 33:27; Joh 14:21; Joh 14:23; Joh 16:27), so that all that comes to us comes in love, for God is love (1Jn 4:8).
(It matters little whether we attach ‘in love’ to the earlier words or those that follow. The passage is all of a piece and the thread of His love flows through the whole).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Eph 1:4. In him That is, in Christ. See the preceding verse, which, together with this, makes up the following sense: “As it was in consideration of Christ alone that God heretofore, before the foundation of the world, designed us Gentiles to be his people; so now that the Messiah is come, all the blessings and benefits which we are to receive in his heavenly kingdom, are laid up in him, and to be had only by our faith and dependance on him, without any respect to the law of Moses.” The Apostle cannot be understood to intimate here, that every one of the persons who belonged to the Church of the Ephesians, or elsewhere to other Christian societies, in the bonds of external communion, was, by a particular decree of God, personally chosen to eternal life: for he could have no evidence that this was the case with regard to each, without such a revelation as none, we believe, ever pretended to, and as would very ill agree with other passages relating to the apostacy of some, who once made a very forward profession; and with the many exhortations and cautions which every where occur in his writings. We conclude, therefore, that he speaks of whole societies in general, as consisting of saints and believers, because this was the predominant character. The word rendered foundation is spoken of the foundation of a building, and is here applied to the creation of the world. The Jews date their election from Abraham; but, in the divine dispensations, Christ was prior to Abraham; and it is declared in other places of the New Testament, as well as this, that, even before the creation of Adam, the divine mercy had provideda remedy for his fall. In love means, particularly here, “to all the saints,” as appears from Eph 1:15.comp. also Col 1:4. Love is very often insisted on in this Epistle; the reason of which is, perhaps, to intimate, that now, when the partition wall was broken down, (see ch. Eph 2:14; Eph 2:22,) it was of the highest importance to cultivate mutual affection, without any regard to the Jewish or Gentile character.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eph 1:4 . Further amplification of . . . on to Eph 1:14 . See the contents.
] even as , denotes that that has taken place in conformity with the fact that, etc., and is consequently argumentative ; see on 1Co 1:6 ; Joh 13:34 .
] He has chosen us (from the collective mass of men) for Himself ( sibi ). Comp. 1Co 1:27 ; Rom 9:11 ; Rom 11:5 ; Rom 11:7 ; Rom 11:28 ; Joh 15:19 ; 1Pe 2:9 f. Entirely without reason does Hofmann, Schriftbeweis , I. p. 223, deny that here has reference to others not chosen , and assert that it applies only to that which we, in the absence of election, should not have become. This is according to the very notion of the word quite impossible. always has, and must of logical necessity have, a reference to others , to whom the chosen would, without the , still belong. Even in Act 6:5 ; Act 13:17 ; 1Ti 5:21 ; Exo 18:25 ; Deu 4:37 , it sets forth the distinctive separation from the remaining mass, just as also Christ, as one who is chosen out from all that is man, is called the of God (Luk 9:35 ; Luk 23:35 ).
] for in nothing else and in no one else than in Christ , whose future work of redemption God has foreknown and decreed from eternity (Act 15:18 ; Rom 16:25 ; 2Ti 1:9 ; 1Pe 1:20 , al. ), lay the ground, that the electing grace (Rom 11:5 ) chose us (comp. Eph 3:11 ); hence God had, as respected the subjects to be affected by the election, to deal, not in any arbitrary manner, but according to His of the same ( praecognovit credituros ). See on Rom 8:29 . Christ is not, however, here conceived of as Himself chosen of God, and we as included in Him ( ), as Hofmann, p. 229, thinks; but, as the more precise explanation in Eph 1:5 shows, the divine act of our election has in Christ its determining ground , so that to us by this act there is assigned and allotted no other than the salvation to be gained through Christ (who in the fulness of the times was out of His preexistence to be sent as Incarnate and was to accomplish the work of salvation). Apart from this connection of the divine election with Christ we should not be chosen; but in Christ lay for God the causa meritoria of our election. [95] The reference of to God (Al. Morus, Holzhausen: with Himself, in His heart ) is to be rejected on account of the utter superfluousness of this definition, and on account of the preceding .
] thus before all time, already in eternity. Comp. Col 1:15 ff.; 2Th 2:13 ; Mat 25:34 ; also 1Co 2:7 ; 2Ti 1:9 . The expression is nowhere else found in Paul; but see Mat 13:35 ; Luk 11:50 ; Joh 17:24 ; Heb 4:3 ; 1Pe 1:20 ; Rev 13:8 .
. . .] Infinitive of the design: in order that we should be , etc. See Winer, p. 298 f. [E. T. 399 f.]. The predicates and ( blameless , Herod, ii. 177; Theoc. xviii. 25) exhaust the conception positively and negatively. Comp. Plut. Pericl . p. 173 D: , and see on Col 1:22 ; Eph 5:27 . It is not, however, to be explained of the holiness conditioned by morality and virtue (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin, Piscator, Grotius, Calixtus, and many others, including Flatt, Rckert, Matthies, Meier, Schenkel), in which case reservations on account of human imperfection are often arbitrarily inserted, or it is referred, as by Rckert, to the ideal point of view of the apostle; but rather of the holiness and blamelessness brought about through the atoning death of Christ by means of the thereby attained (Rom 3:21 ff; Rom 5:1 ff; Rom 8:1 ; Rom 8:33 ff; 1Co 6:11 ; Heb 10:10 ; Heb 10:14 ; Heb 10:29 ), in favour of which the very (not ) and the whole context are decisive (Eph 1:5-7 ). We may add that, if the emphasis with which our Epistle brings into prominence the holiness of the church (comp. Eph 5:27 ) is to be held as betraying the standpoint of the second century (see Schwegler in Zeller’s Jahrb. 1844, p. 382), for which especial reference is made to Eph 3:10 ; Eph 3:21 , with equal reason the like suspicion may be thrown even on the most fully acknowledged Epistles (such as the Epistles to the Corinthians).
] before God’s eyes, judice Deo (Col 2:14 ; Rom 3:20 ; Rom 4:5 ). It is God’s judgment , which has posited the reconciled as holy and blameless, and that by imputation of faith unto righteousness; thereupon He gives to them every , Eph 1:3 . The reference of successively recurring to different subjects cannot surprise us (Winer, p. 135 [E. T. 179]); and so it is not to be written (as Harless still does), but , from the standpoint of the author (Dissen, ad Dem. de Cor. p. 276; Khner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 2. 49).
] is attached by many to Eph 1:4 , so that it is connected either with (Oecumenius, Thomas, Flacius, Olearius, Baumgarten, Flatt, and others), but in how isolated and awkward a way! or with . . . (Vulgate, Ambrosiaster, Erasmus, Luther, Castalio, Beza, Calvin, Piscator, Grotius, Wolf, Wetstein, and others, including Rckert, but with hesitation,
Matthies, Meier, Baumgarten-Crusius), so that would be the ground, or rather the element ( evangelii , says Grotius, lies in love), of the holiness and blamelessness. But this is not compatible with the correct explanation of , as a state brought about by the of Christ , according to which, not , but , would have been a definition of the element of holiness in keeping with the context. Hence the connection with , Eph 1:5 , remains as the only correct one. So the Peshito, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Augustine, Estius (but with hesitation), Bengel, Michaelis, Zachariae, Koppe, and others, including Lachmann, Harless, Olshausen, de Wette, Tischendorf, Schenkel, Bleek. The only one of the objections made to this view which is plausible is that of Matthies and Meier, that the following would render the preceding in this connection superfluous. But see on Eph 1:5 .
[95] Beyschlag ( Christol. d. N.T. p. 141) finds in the thought, “that the divinely conceived prototypes of perfected believers are from eternity posited by God in the One Prototype of humanity acceptable unto Him, as the countless multiplications of the same, to be thereupon brought through the historically realized One Prototype to their realization and perfection.” In opposition to this view we may simply urge the context, according to which denotes Christ as the personal ground of the made before all time, in so far as He, as Reconciler, is the bearer of the divine grace , vv. 6, 7.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Ver. 4. He hath chosen us in him ] Christ was mediator therefore from eternity, viz. by virtue of that human nature which he should assume.
That we should be holy ] God elected us as well to the means as to the end. Note this against libertines. For as they Act 27:31 could not come safe to land that left the ship; so neither can men come to heaven but by holiness. Cyrus was moved to restore the captivity by finding himself before appointed to this glorious service 170 years before he was born, Isa 44:28 . Should not we likewise be excited to good works by this that we were elected to them?
Without blame ] Or blot, Eph 5:27 . Absque querela,Luk 1:6Luk 1:6 .
Before him ] i.e. In purity of heart, 2Ki 20:3 .
In love ] In sanctity of life.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 .] According as ( explains and expands the foregoing shewing wherein the consists as regards us, and God’s working towards us. Notice, that whereas Eph 1:3 has summarily included in the work of blessing the Three Persons, the FATHER bestowing the SPIRIT in CHRIST, now the threefold cord, so to speak, is unwrapped, and the part of each divine Person separately described: cf. argument above) He selected us (reff. I render se lected, in preference to e lected, as better giving the middle sense, ‘chose for himself,’ and the , that it is a choosing out of the world. The word (ref. Deut.) is an O. T. word, and refers to the spiritual Israel, as it did to God’s elect Israel of old. But there is no contrast between their election and ours: it has been but one election throughout an election in Christ, and to holiness on God’s side and involving accession to God’s people (cf. , Eph 1:13 , and , Col 1:23 ) on ours. See Ellicott’s note on the word, and some excellent remarks in Stier, p. 62, on the divine and human sides of the doctrine of election as put forward in this Epistle) in Him (i.e. in Christ, as the second Adam ( 1Co 15:22 ), the righteous Head of our race. In Him, in one wide sense, were all mankind elected, inasmuch as He took their flesh and blood, and redeemed them, and represents them before the Father: but in the proper and final sense, this can be said only of His faithful ones, His Church, who are incorporated in Him by the Spirit. But in any sense, all God’s election is in HIM only) before the foundation of the world ( . . only here in St. Paul: we have . . in Heb 4:3 ; his expressions elsewhere are , 1Co 2:7 , . ., Eph 3:9 . Col 1:26 , , 2Ti 1:9 , , Rom 16:25 , , 2Th 2:13 .
Stier remarks on the necessary connexion of the true doctrines of creation and redemption: how utterly irreconcilable pantheism is with this, God’s election before laying the foundation of the world, of His people in His Son), that we should be (infinitive of the purpose, see Winer, edn. 3, p. 267, 45. 3. (In edn. 6, the treatment of the inf. of the purpose without the art. , seems to have been inadvertently omitted.) The Apostle seems to have Deu 7:6 ; Deu 14:2 , before his mind; in both which places the same construction occurs) holy and blameless (the positive and negative sides of the Christian character , of the general positive category, , of the non-existence of any exception to it. So Plut. Pericl., p. 173 (Mey.), . . This holiness and unblamableness must not be understood of that justification by faith by which the sinner stands accepted before God: it is distinctly put forth here (see also ch. Eph 5:27 ) as an ultimate result as regards us, and refers to that sanctification which follows on justification by faith, and which is the will of God respecting us, 1Th 4:7 . See Stier’s remarks against Harless, p. 71) before Him (i.e. in the deepest verity of our being throughly penetrated by the Spirit of holiness, bearing His searching eye, ch. Eph 5:27 : but at the same time implying an especial nearness to His presence and dearness to Him and bearing a foretaste of the time when the elect shall be , Rev 7:15 . Cf. Col 1:22 , note) in love . There is considerable dispute as to the position and reference of these words. Three different ways are taken. (1) cum., &c., join them with . I do not see, with most Commentators, the extreme improbability of the qualifying clause following the verb after so long an interval, when we take into account the studied solemnity of the passage, and remember that in the last verse was separated nearly as far from its verb . My objection to this view is of a deeper kind: see below. (2) The Syr., Chrys., Thdrt., Thl., Bengel, Lachm., Harless, Olsh., Mey., De W., Stier, Ellic., all., join them with in the following verse. To this, in spite of all that has been so well said in its behalf, there is an objection which seems to me insuperable. It is, that in the whole construction of this long sentence, the verbs and participles, as natural in a solemn emphatic enumeration of God’s dealings with His people, precede their qualifying clauses: e.g. Eph 1:3 , Eph 1:4 , Eph 1:6 , Eph 1:8 , Eph 1:9 , ib., Eph 1:10 . In no one case, except the necessary one of a relative qualification ( Eph 1:6 , and again Eph 1:8 ), does the verb follow its qualifying clause: and for this reason, that the verbs themselves are emphatic, and not the conditions under which they subsist. “Blessed be God who DID all this, &c.” He may have fore-ordained, and did fore-ordain, in love : and this is implied in what follows, from . . to : but the point brought out , as that for which we are to bless Him, is not that in love He fore-ordained us, but the fact of that fore-ordination itself : not His attribute, but His act. It is evidently no answer to this, to bring forward sentences elsewhere in which stands first, such as ch. Eph 3:18 , where the spirit of the passage is different. (3) The vulg., Ambrst., Erasm., Luth., Castal., Beza, Calvin, Grot., all., join them, as in the text, with . . This has been strongly impugned by the last-mentioned set of Commentators: mainly on the ground that the addition of to . . . . , is ungrammatical, is flat and superfluous, and that in neither ch. Eph 5:27 , nor Col 1:22 , have these adjectives any such qualification. But in answer, I would submit, that in the first place, as against the construction of . with ., the objection is quite futile, for our arrangement does not thus construct it, but adds it as a qualifying clause to the whole . Next, I hold the qualification to be in the highest degree solemn and appropriate. , that which man lost at the Fall, but which God is, and to which God restores man by redemption, is the great element in which, as in their abode and breathing-place, all Christian graces subsist, and in which, emphatically, all perfection before God must be found. And so, when the Apostle, ch. Eph 4:16 , is describing the glorious building up of the body, the Church, he speaks of its increasing . And it is his practice, in this and the parallel Epistle, to add as the completion of the idea of Christian holiness cf. ch. Eph 3:18 ; Col 2:2 , also ch. Eph 4:2 ; Eph 5:2 . With regard to the last objection, in both the places cited, the adjectives are connected with the verb , expressed therefore in the abstract as the ultimate result of sanctification in the sight of the Father, not, as here, referring to the state of sanctification, as consisting and subsisting in love.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Eph 1:4 . : even as . Not “because,” but “according as,” “in conformity with the fact that”. Cf. , which is used in the NT only by Luke and means both “according as” and “because”; and the Attic , , for which, indeed, is occasionally used in classical Greek, at least from Aristotle’s time. Here designates the ground of the “blessing” and so is also the note of its grandeur. The “blessing” proceeded on a Divine election, and took effect in accordance with that. It has its foundation, therefore, in eternity, and is neither an incidental thing nor an afterthought of God. So in 1Pe 1:2 , the has its ground and norm in the , the foreknowledge of God the Father, and that “foreknowledge” is not a theoretical but an efficient knowledge. : He chose us (not “hath chosen us”), or elected us . The verb, which occurs in the NT only in the Middle (except, perhaps, in Luk 9:35 ), is the LXX equivalent for , and expresses the idea of selecting for oneself out of a number . It is sometimes alleged that we are not entitled to give it so definite a meaning in doctrinal paragraphs like the present, because there are passages in which it appears to express nothing more than the general idea of a, choice , without reference either to any special relation to the person choosing or to the leaving of others unchosen. (So, e.g. , Abbott.) But the passages adduced in support of this are few in number and by no means bear out the contention. In Luk 9:35 , e.g. , where is said of the Son, the idea of a choice from among others is certainly not an alien idea ( cf. Thayer-Grim., Lex., sub voc. ); and in Act 4:5 ; Act 15:22 ; Act 15:25 , the point is a choice for oneself in the form of an appointment to a particular service or office. That the verb denotes the choice of one or more out of others is implied in its compound form, and is made abundantly clear by actual usage, e.g. , in the case of the selection of the Twelve (Joh 6:70 ; Joh 13:18 ; Joh 15:16 ), the appointment of a successor to Judas (Act 1:24 , etc.). In not a few passages it is made more certain still by the addition of explanatory terms, e.g. , (Luk 6:13 ), (Joh 15:19 ), (Act 1:24 ), (Act 15:7 ). That it means to choose out for oneself appears from such passages as Luk 10:42 ; Luk 14:7 . The verb is specially used of God’s election of some out of mankind generally to be His own in a peculiar sense, the objects of His grace, destined for special privilege, special relations, special service; cf. Act 13:17 (of Israel); Mar 13:20 ; Joh 15:19 ; Rom 9:11 ; Rom 11:5 ; Rom 11:7 ; Rom 11:28 ; 1Co 1:27 ff.; Jam 2:5 ; 1Pe 2:9 ff. The foundation of the statement is the great OT idea of Israel as a nation chosen by the Lord to be “a peculiar people unto Himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth” (Deu 14:2 ; cf. Psa 33:11-12 ; Psa 135:4 ; Isa 41:8-9 ; Isa 42:1 ). What is meant, therefore, is that the blessing which God bestowed on these Ephesians was not a thing of the time merely, but the issue of an election prior to their call or conversion, a blessing that came to them in accordance with a definite choice of them out of the mass of others by God for Himself. : in Him ; that is, in Christ, not “through Him” simply. But in what sense? It is true that Christ is the first “Elect” of God, and that our election is contained in His. But His election is not the matter in hand here, and the point, therefore, is not that in electing Christ God also elected us (Calv., Beng., etc.). Nor, again, is it that we are included in Him (Hofm.), for neither is this the point in view here. The immediate subject is not what we are or are made, but what God does His election and how it proceeds. And the idea is that that election has its ground in Christ, in the sense that apart from Christ and without respect to His special relation to us, and His foreseen work, there would be no election of us. An extraordinary sense is attached to the by Beys., who takes the point to be that the “divinely conceived prototypes of perfected believers are from eternity posited by God in the One Prototype of humanity acceptable unto Him” ( Christ. d. N. T. , p. 141). This is a philosophical notion wholly alien to Paul, on which see Meyer, in loc. The might mean that God’s election of us was in Christ in so far as Christ was contemplated as having the relation of “head and representative of spiritual, as Adam was the representative of natural, humanity” (Ols., Ell.). But it is best taken as expressing again the broad idea that “in Christ lay for God the causa meritoria of our election” (Mey.). : before the foundation of the world . This is the only occurrence of this particular expression in the Pauline writings, but it occurs also once in John (Joh 17:24 ) and once in Peter (1Pe 1:20 ). It is akin to the form (Mat 13:35 , omitting with LTTrWHR marg. ), (Luk 11:50 ; Heb 4:3 ; Rev 13:8 ); as also to these phrases: (1Th 2:13 ), (1Co 2:7 ), (2Ti 1:9 ). It expresses most definitely the fact that the election in question is not the setting apart of certain persons at a definite period, an act in time, a historical selection, as some ( e.g. , Beys.) strive to prove, but an eternal choice, a determination of the Divine Mind before all time. The idea of the Divine election in the NT is not a philosophical idea expressing the ultimate explanation of the system of things or giving the rationale of the story of the human race as such, but a religious idea, a note of grace, expressing the fact that salvation is originally and wholly of God. In Pauline teaching the subjects of this Divine election are neither the Church as such (Ritschl), nor mankind as such (Beck), but Christian men and women, designated as , . It is, as is here clearly intimated, an eternal determination of the Divine Will, and it has its ground in the freedom of God, not in anything foreseen in its subjects. Of a prevision of faith as the basis or motive of the election there is no indication here. On the contrary, the character or distinguishing inward quality of the subjects of the election is presented in the next clause as the object of the election, the end it had in view. (See especially Haupt, in loc. ) : that we should be holy and without blemish . The election, therefore, had a definite purpose before it the making of its subjects . The simple infinitive is freely used to express the idea of purpose or design not only in the NT but in classical Greek (Soph., Oed. Col. , 12; Thuc., i., 50, iv., 8; Herod., vii., 208, etc.; cf. Winer-Moult. Gram. , p. 399). On the see under Eph 1:1 . There is a question, however, as to the precise sense of . The adjective means both “without blame” ( inculpatus ) and “without blemish” ( immaculatus ). In the LXX it is a sacrificial term, applied in the latter sense to victims (Exo 29:1 ; Lev 1:3 ; Lev 1:10 ; Lev 3:1 ; Lev 3:6 ; Lev 3:9-10 ; Lev 22:19 , etc.). It has this sense of “without blemish” also in Heb 9:14 ; 1Pe 1:19 ; cf. the use of the noun in 2Pe 2:13 . In the Pauline writings it is found, in addition to the present passage, in Eph 5:27 ; Phi 2:15 (according to the best reading); Col 1:22 . In the first and third of these occurrences it is rendered by the RV “without blemish,” in the second, “blameless”. On the ground of usage, especially in the LXX, many commentators conclude for the second sense. Light., e.g. , takes the point of the two adjectives to be that the former denotes the consecration of the victim and the latter its fitness for the consecration ( Notes on Epistles of Paul , p. 313). The Vulg. gives immaculati , and Wycl. “without wene ”. On the other hand, there is nothing in the verse to suggest the idea of sacrifice or a victim . The parallel passage, also, in Col 1:22 , where we have not only and but a third adjective , is on the whole on the side of “blameless”. That, too, is the meaning of the word in classical Greek ( e.g. , Herod, ii., 177), and in inscriptions (C. I., 1974). Little indeed depends on the decision between the two senses; for both terms, “without blemish” and “without blame,” may have ethical applications. There is the further question, however, whether in this statement Paul has in view the standing of believers or their character whether he thinks of them as justified or as designed to be sanctified. The arguments in support of the objective relation to God being a view here (Mey., Haupt, etc.) are weighty. It is held, e.g. , that would be more appropriate than if the personal sanctification of believers was in the writer’s mind; that in that case the would more naturally have come in before the ; above all, that the tenor of the section as a whole is on the side of the first view, the idea all through the paragraph (Eph 1:3-14 ) being what God does for us, not what we are now or are meant to be inwardly to Him, and the objective facts of the forgiveness of sin, adoption, etc., being clearly introduced in Eph 1:7 ff. On the other hand the ethical sense is strongly advocated by many (Chrys., Theophy., Alf., Ell., Candl., Abb., etc.) on the broad ground that it is so much Paul’s way to point us to newness and holiness of life as the great end of the Divine purpose and the Divine call (Phi 2:15 ; 1Th 4:7 ; 2Th 2:13 ; Tit 2:14 ). This is supported further by the presence of the qualifying , if it is attached to Eph 1:4 ; and by the weighty consideration that the in the parallel passage in Col 1:22 is followed immediately by a reference to continuing “in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the Gospel”. Something depends, however, on the position of the following , on which see below. : before Him ; that is, before God. Read , not (as Harl., etc.) ; see Winer-Moul., Gram. , pp. 188, 189. So, too, in the parallel passage Col 1:22 . The present approbation of God is in view, not His future judgment. Light, thinks that God Himself is thus regarded as the great , who inspects the victims and takes cognizance of blemishes. But this is to import a priestly notion which is not expressed in the context. This phrase might be specially appropriate to the idea of the standing or relation of believers as supposed to be conveyed by . But it also suits the idea of character “in God’s sight,” “under the eye of God as Witness and Judge, and so in truth and reality ”. The terms , , are also used in this sense in the NT, and do not appear to occur in profane Greek. They are peculiar to the LXX, the Apocrypha , and the NT. All three are used by Paul, and sparingly (the former only here and in Col 1:22 , the latter in Rom 4:17 ; 2Co 2:17 ; 2Co 12:19 ); most frequently (Rom 3:20 ; Rom 12:17 ; Rom 14:22 ; 1Co 1:29 ; 2Co 4:2 , etc.), which is also much employed in Luke and Revelation, never in Matthew or Mark. : in love . What does this qualify? The divine election , say some (c.; etc.). But the remoteness of the from the makes this, if not an impracticable, at least a less likely connection. It is possible, indeed, also to retain the connection of the with Eph 1:4 and yet give it the sense of the Divine love, if we take it to qualify not the alone, but the whole clause which it concludes. In that case the idea would be that the electing act and the object it had in view, namely holiness and blamelessness on our part, were both due to God’s love and had their explanation in it. The choice, however, appears to be between attaching the clause to the preceding and attaching it to the following . Commentators and Versions are widely divided on the question. The former is the connection in LP, the Goth. and Copt. Vv., the Vulg., the texts of Stephens, WH, and the Revisers, and it is preferred by Eras., Luth., Beza, Calv., Grot., Wetst., Alf., Light. The latter is the connection in the Syr.-P, and is followed by LTTr marg. , RV marg. , Orig., Chrys., Thdrt., Theophy., August., Beng., Harl., de Wette, Olsh., Hof., Bleek., Mey., Ell., V. Sod., Haupt, Abbott, etc. The propriety of understanding the as meant to qualify the is urged on such grounds as these that the Pauline Epistles furnish no other instance of or having attached to it any grace or virtue defined by as the form in which the holiness or blamelessness shows itself (Haupt); that it is befitting that the love which is its principle and ground should get emphatic expression when the Divine is first introduced (Ell., etc.); that this connection is most in harmony with the ascription of praise (Mey.), and with the genius of the paragraph as a whole, which is concerned with what God is to us rather than what we are required to be to Him. On the other hand in support of attaching the to the preceding, it is pointed out that in view of the subsequent there is less reason for introducing in so emphatic a position before the ; that, if not in the Pauline Epistles themselves, yet elsewhere both within and without the NT we have instances analogous to the connection of with here e.g. , 2Pe 3:14 , ; Jud 1:24 , ; Clem. Rom. , 50, (cited by Light., Notes; ut sup. , 313), and above all that it is Paul’s usual, if not constant, habit to place after the clause it qualifies (Eph 4:2 ; Eph 4:15-16 ; Eph 5:2 ; Col 2:2 ; 1Th 5:13 ; cf. also, though in association with other terms, 1Ti 4:12 ; 2Ti 1:13 ). On the whole this connection is to be preferred, and the will then define the holiness and blamelessness, which are the end and object of God’s election of us, as having their truth and perfection in the supreme Christian grace of love.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
According = Even.
hath chosen = chose out. Greek. eklegomai. Compare Act 1:2.
before. App-104.
foundation. App-146.
world. App-129. Compare 2Ti 1:9.
without blame. Greek. amomos. Here; Eph 5:27. Col 1:22. Heb 9:14. 1Pe 1:19. Jud 1:24. Rev 14:5.
before Him = in His sight. See 2Co 2:17.
love. App-135. Some insert “in love” after “predestinated us” in Eph 1:5.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] According as ( explains and expands the foregoing-shewing wherein the consists as regards us, and Gods working towards us. Notice, that whereas Eph 1:3 has summarily included in the work of blessing the Three Persons, the FATHER bestowing the SPIRIT in CHRIST,-now the threefold cord, so to speak, is unwrapped, and the part of each divine Person separately described: cf. argument above) He selected us (reff. I render selected, in preference to elected, as better giving the middle sense,-chose for himself,-and the , that it is a choosing out of the world. The word (ref. Deut.) is an O. T. word, and refers to the spiritual Israel, as it did to Gods elect Israel of old. But there is no contrast between their election and ours: it has been but one election throughout-an election in Christ, and to holiness on Gods side-and involving accession to Gods people (cf. , Eph 1:13, and , Col 1:23) on ours. See Ellicotts note on the word, and some excellent remarks in Stier, p. 62, on the divine and human sides of the doctrine of election as put forward in this Epistle) in Him (i.e. in Christ, as the second Adam (1Co 15:22), the righteous Head of our race. In Him, in one wide sense, were all mankind elected, inasmuch as He took their flesh and blood, and redeemed them, and represents them before the Father: but in the proper and final sense, this can be said only of His faithful ones, His Church, who are incorporated in Him by the Spirit. But in any sense, all Gods election is in HIM only) before the foundation of the world ( . . only here in St. Paul: we have . . in Heb 4:3; his expressions elsewhere are , 1Co 2:7,- . ., Eph 3:9. Col 1:26,- , 2Ti 1:9,- , Rom 16:25,- , 2Th 2:13.
Stier remarks on the necessary connexion of the true doctrines of creation and redemption: how utterly irreconcilable pantheism is with this, Gods election before laying the foundation of the world, of His people in His Son), that we should be (infinitive of the purpose, see Winer, edn. 3, p. 267, 45. 3. (In edn. 6, the treatment of the inf. of the purpose without the art. , seems to have been inadvertently omitted.) The Apostle seems to have Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2, before his mind; in both which places the same construction occurs) holy and blameless (the positive and negative sides of the Christian character-, of the general positive category,-, of the non-existence of any exception to it. So Plut. Pericl., p. 173 (Mey.), . . This holiness and unblamableness must not be understood of that justification by faith by which the sinner stands accepted before God: it is distinctly put forth here (see also ch. Eph 5:27) as an ultimate result as regards us, and refers to that sanctification which follows on justification by faith, and which is the will of God respecting us, 1Th 4:7. See Stiers remarks against Harless, p. 71) before Him (i.e. in the deepest verity of our being-throughly penetrated by the Spirit of holiness, bearing His searching eye, ch. Eph 5:27 : but at the same time implying an especial nearness to His presence and dearness to Him-and bearing a foretaste of the time when the elect shall be , Rev 7:15. Cf. Col 1:22, note) in love. There is considerable dispute as to the position and reference of these words. Three different ways are taken. (1) cum., &c., join them with . I do not see, with most Commentators, the extreme improbability of the qualifying clause following the verb after so long an interval, when we take into account the studied solemnity of the passage, and remember that in the last verse was separated nearly as far from its verb . My objection to this view is of a deeper kind: see below. (2) The Syr., Chrys., Thdrt., Thl., Bengel, Lachm., Harless, Olsh., Mey., De W., Stier, Ellic., all., join them with in the following verse. To this, in spite of all that has been so well said in its behalf, there is an objection which seems to me insuperable. It is, that in the whole construction of this long sentence, the verbs and participles, as natural in a solemn emphatic enumeration of Gods dealings with His people, precede their qualifying clauses: e.g. Eph 1:3, Eph 1:4, Eph 1:6, Eph 1:8, Eph 1:9, ib., Eph 1:10. In no one case, except the necessary one of a relative qualification ( Eph 1:6, and again Eph 1:8), does the verb follow its qualifying clause: and for this reason, that the verbs themselves are emphatic, and not the conditions under which they subsist. Blessed be God who DID all this, &c. He may have fore-ordained, and did fore-ordain, in love: and this is implied in what follows, from . . to : but the point brought out, as that for which we are to bless Him, is not that in love He fore-ordained us, but the fact of that fore-ordination itself: not His attribute, but His act. It is evidently no answer to this, to bring forward sentences elsewhere in which stands first, such as ch. Eph 3:18, where the spirit of the passage is different. (3) The vulg., Ambrst., Erasm., Luth., Castal., Beza, Calvin, Grot., all., join them, as in the text, with . . This has been strongly impugned by the last-mentioned set of Commentators: mainly on the ground that the addition of to . . . . , is ungrammatical,-is flat and superfluous,-and that in neither ch. Eph 5:27, nor Col 1:22, have these adjectives any such qualification. But in answer, I would submit, that in the first place, as against the construction of . with ., the objection is quite futile, for our arrangement does not thus construct it, but adds it as a qualifying clause to the whole . Next, I hold the qualification to be in the highest degree solemn and appropriate. , that which man lost at the Fall, but which God is, and to which God restores man by redemption, is the great element in which, as in their abode and breathing-place, all Christian graces subsist, and in which, emphatically, all perfection before God must be found. And so, when the Apostle, ch. Eph 4:16, is describing the glorious building up of the body, the Church, he speaks of its increasing . And it is his practice, in this and the parallel Epistle, to add as the completion of the idea of Christian holiness-cf. ch. Eph 3:18; Col 2:2, also ch. Eph 4:2; Eph 5:2. With regard to the last objection,-in both the places cited, the adjectives are connected with the verb , expressed therefore in the abstract as the ultimate result of sanctification in the sight of the Father, not, as here, referring to the state of sanctification, as consisting and subsisting in love.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Eph 1:4. , according as He has chosen us) The blessing corresponds to the [prior] election, and follows upon it and makes it manifest.- , in Him) Eph 3:11. These things presuppose the eternity of the Son of God; for the Son, before the world was made, was not merely the future, but even then the present object of the Fathers love; Joh 17:24; Joh 17:5, otherwise the Father would not have loved Him in [or for] Himself [per se], but likewise through another [per alium: God would have loved in connection with the Church, not in Himself purely].-, before) Joh 17:24.-, to be) i.e. , that we should be.-, holy) positively.-, without blame) without evil and fault [ch. Eph 5:27].
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Eph 1:4
Eph 1:4
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,-From this we learn that certain persons were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, but there is not a word said as to whether this choosing was conditional or unconditional.
that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love:-This is the character to be worn by the persons chosen, and it clearly shows that Paul was speaking of a class, and not of individuals as such. This in no way intimates that God by any direct power made them holy and without blemish; but he had chosen that class as his beloved, and left it to every man to make himself one of the class. It is said of that class that they were the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience. (1Pe 1:1-2). One who does not first show his election by obeying God may be sure that he will never be elected to anything beyond obedience. So obedience is the prerequisite to all other and higher election. There is not a word in this to discourage a man from seeking to make his calling and election sure, nor to give him assurance of salvation, save to obedience to the will of God.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Our Election and Predestination (Eph 1:4-5)
Next the apostle carries our minds back to the past eternity that we may be brought to realize that salvation is altogether of God, not at all of ourselves. An old hymn puts it this way:
Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For, Lord, that could not be,
This heart would still refuse Thee,
But Thou hast chosen me.
And again in another hymn that we know well, we are taught to sing:
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Robert Robinson
It was God Himself who purposed our salvation in the past eternity. It is Jesus Christ who accomplished our salvation on the cross when the fullness of time had come. It is God the Holy Spirit who convicts us and brings us to repentance and to a saving knowledge of the grace of God as revealed in Christ. We cannot take any credit to ourselves for our salvation. A little boy was asked, Have you found Jesus? He looked up and said, Please, sir, I didnt know He was lost; but I was, and He found me. We did not have to do the seeking after Him, He sought us because of the love that was in His heart from eternity.
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4). This, of course, is the truth of election. Again and again believers are spoken of as elect people, as children chosen of God. Charles Spurgeon said, God certainly must have chosen me before I came into this world or He never would have done so afterwards. He set His love on us in the past eternity. This troubles people sometimes, and yet how could it be otherwise? God who is infinite in wisdom, with whom the past and the future are all one eternal now, purposed in His heart before the world came into existence that He was going to have a people who would be to the praise and glory of His grace for all eternity. He looked down through the ages and saw us as those for whom He would give His Son in order to add to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is wonderful to see how intimately the joy of Christ and our salvation are linked together. John Bunyan said, Oh, this Lamb of God! He had a whole heaven to Himself, myriad of angels to do His bidding, but these could not satisfy Him. He must have sinners to share it with Him.
Notice that it is God who purposes salvation this way; it is God who plans; it was God who chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Notice, it is not that He chose the church as such, but he chose every individual who was to be a member of that church, to be one with Christ for eternity. You say, I do not understand that. I dont either. Whenever I consider a subject such as Gods electing grace and predestinating love, I remind myself that the Word says, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:8-9). But it may help us a little if we consider predestination apart from the question of the fall of man. Before the world was made, before sin came in, God chose us in Christ to be with His Son for all eternity. The fact that sin came in did not alter Gods purpose. He is still going to carry it out in spite of all that Satan has done to wreck His fair creation.
The purpose of God is according to His grace, grace to those who could not earn it, who did not deserve anything but eternal judgment. Somebody has well said, The truth of election is a family secret. It is not something that we go out and proclaim to the world. We read, Cast not your pearls before swine, and swine, you know, are unclean. We are not to go to unsaved men in the uncleanness of their sin and talk about election. They would not understand it at all. It is a family secret that God loves to whisper in the ears of His beloved children.
The doctrine of election has been pictured in this way. Here is a vast host of people hurrying down the broad road with their minds fixed on their sins, and one person stands calling attention to a door- the entrance into the narrow way that leads to life eternal. On this door is plainly written the text, Whosoever will, let him come. Every man is invited, no one need hesitate. Some may say, Well, I may not be of the elect, and so it would be useless for me to endeavor to come, for the door will not open for me. But Gods invitation is absolutely sincere: it is addressed to every man, Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely (Rev 22:17). If men refuse to come, if they pursue their own godless way down to the pit, whom can they blame but themselves for their eternal judgment? The messenger addressed himself to all, the call comes to all, the door could be entered by all, but many refuse to come and perish in their sins. Such men can never blame God for their eternal destruction. The door was open, the invitation was given, they refused. God says to them sorrowfully, Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life. But as the invitation is extended, every minute or two someone stops and asks, What is that? The way to life, is the reply. Ah, that I might find the way to life! I have found no satisfaction in this old world. I should like to know how to be free from my sin, how to be made fit for the presence of God. Then he draws near and listens, and the Spirit of God impresses the message on his heart and conscience. As a result he says, I am going inside: I will accept the invitation; I will enter that door, and he presses his way in and it shuts behind him. As he turns about he finds written on the inside of the door the words, Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. What? he says, had God His heart fixed on me before ever the world came into being? Yes, but he could not find it out until he got inside. You see, you can pass the door if you will, you can trample the love of God beneath your feet, you can spurn His grace if you are determined to do it, but you will go down to the pit and you will be responsible for your own doom.
There is no such thing taught in the Word of God as predestination to eternal condemnation. If men are lost, they are lost because they do not come to Christ. When men do come to Christ, they learn the wonderful secret that God has foreknown it all from eternity, and that He had settled it before the world came into existence that they were to share the glory of His Son throughout endless ages. D. L. Moody used to say in his quaint way, when people talked about the subject of election, the whosoever wills are the elect, and the whosoever wonts are the non-elect. And so you can settle it for yourself whether you will be among the elect of God or not.
When asked to explain the doctrine of election, a brother once said, Well, its this way, the Lord voted for my salvation; the devil voted for my damnation. I voted with the Lord, and so we got into the majority. The devil seeks my eternal loss and God seeks my eternal blessing, and my heart says, I will. I then know that I am among those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Let me link this up with another Scripture, 2Th 2:13, But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. There you have the purpose of God in the past eternity. God had from the beginning chosen you unto salvation, and He is carrying out His purpose through the work of the Holy Spirit as the one who hears the message believes the truth.
Then listen to the apostle Peter, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied (1Pe 1:2). There you have exactly the same order. God the Father foreknew us from eternity, but it was up to us whether or not we would yield to Christ. When we did yield in the obedience of faith, we took our places beneath the sprinkled blood of Jesus and our salvation was eternally assured. People try sometimes to put the whole responsibility on God and say, If God has not chosen me, I cannot be saved. If you will trust in Christ, you may know that God has chosen you.
You remember the striking illustration that the Spirit of God Himself gave us at the end of the book of Acts. When Paul and his company were on their way to Rome, a terrific storm arose, and they were casting out some of the cargo in order to lighten the ship, but finally they gave up in despair. And then an angel appeared and spoke with Paul, and Paul called for the captain of the ship and said:
I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any mans life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee (Act 27:22-24).
There was Gods foreknowledge. Everyone in that ship would be brought through safely, not one of them would be lost. But a little while afterwards Paul noticed something going on among the sailors. They were fitting out a boat and were preparing to launch it into the sea, putting some provisions into it and getting ready to cut away and leave the ship. And Paul said to the captain, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved (Act 27:31). Had he not already told them that no one would perish? That was Gods side; their side was to abide in the ship. They were responsible to see that no one left the ship, and so it is in regard to the doctrine of election and mans responsibility. Everyone who is saved will be in Heaven because he was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and yet every man who is ever saved will be there because as a guilty sinner he put his personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. You may say, I cant reconcile these two ideas to each other. You do not need to do so; just believe it and go on your way rejoicing.
Look at Eph 1:4, According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him. God, who foresaw all who would put their trust in Christ, provided a means whereby all our sin and iniquity could be paid for, in order that we might be presented holy and without blame before Him. This, of course, involves the work of the cross. Redemption was not an afterthought with God. It was all provided for when He decided to bring into existence creatures who could give Him voluntary love and service.
The questions may be asked, Why did not God who knows all things create a race of people who would not have sinned and rejected Him, but who would always have done that which was right in His sight, who would always have loved and obeyed Him? Is not God in some sense responsible for sin because He created a creature weak enough to sin? Could He not have created one so strong that he could not have sinned? Certainly He could. He could have made creatures that could not have failed Him. He could have created humanity in such a way that it could not have deviated from the right path. But Gods determination to create a man or woman who could choose to give Him loyal obedience, loving service, and voluntary devotion, necessitated the creation of men and women who could turn away from God if they wanted to and refuse to obey Him if they so desired. Otherwise there would have been no freedom in their love, devotion, reverence, and affection. God was willing to take all the risk that He did take in order to have beings in this universe who would give Him glad and free-hearted love and devotion. So when sin came in, the Savior was given, and the Seed of the woman has bruised the serpents head. Now through the work of Christ, God can present us in His glorious presence holy and without blame in Him. It is not what we are naturally in ourselves, but what we are in Christ Jesus.
Now notice in Eph 1:5 we have another word that troubles people. We read, In love having predestinated us. You will notice that I began reading Eph 1:5 with the last part of verse Eph 1:4. I ended verse Eph 1:4 with the word him-That we should be holy and without blame before him. The King James version ends verse 4 this way: That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. But I believe a better translation is to add the phrase, in love, to the beginning of verse Eph 1:5 : In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. One is not so afraid of the word predestinated when it is preceded by the word love. There is no arbitrariness there, but it is all in love. Predestination is a manifestation of the love of the Father. As it is God who chose us in grace, it is the Father who had predestinated us to the adoption of children. Nowhere in the Bible are people ever predestined to go to Hell, and nowhere are people simply predestined to go to Heaven. Look it up and see. We are chosen in Christ to share His glory for eternity, but predestination is always to some special place of blessing.
In Rom 8:29 we read: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Predestined to what? Predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. You see, predestination is not God from eternity saying, This man goes to Heaven and this man to Hell. No, but predestination teaches me that when I have believed in Christ and trusted Him as my Savior, I may know on the authority of God that it is settled forever that some day I am to become exactly like my Savior. It settles the question of the security of my salvation. Whatever my present unsatisfactory experiences may be, some day I shall be altogether like the One who has redeemed me.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself (Eph 1:5). The word adoption perplexes some. They say, Does it mean that we are only adopted children and not really born into the family? Does it mean adopted in that sense? This word literally means, the full placing as sons. We might read this verse, Having predestinated us unto the son-placing through Jesus Christ unto Himself. It will help us to understand this concept of adoption better if we bear in mind that in the days when our Bible was written, a man might have a number of wives and some who were really his slaves. He would have to select those children among whom he wished to divide his estate for he might not wish it divided among all his various children. He would take those whom he selected as his heirs down to the forum, and there confess them openly before the proper authority as his sons and then go through a ceremony of adoption. From that day on they were recognized as his heirs. We have been born into the family of God by regeneration and thus made children of God. We have received the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of adoption, and God has marked us out as those who will share everything with the Son for all eternity. We are adopted sons and born-again children.
In love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. Our Lord is the One through whom all this blessing comes. There is a beautiful passage in the Old Testament that speaks of the coming Savior as a nail in a sure place (Isa 22:23). The simile is taken from the tent-life of the nomadic people. Pegs, on which they hung their garments and blankets, were fitted into the upright poles of their tents, and the women hung the utensils they used on similar pegs. Scripture pictures all kinds of vessels hung on one of these nails fastened in a sure place, and it says, And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his fathers house (Isa 22:24). So the Lord Jesus Christ having accomplished redemption has become that nail in a sure place, and every one of us are hung upon Him. If the nail goes down, we all go down; if Christ fails, then we all go down together. But since Christ will never fail, then He will sustain every one of us right on to the very end. That is the truth that is revealed here.
This truth of election and predestination and of sonship emphasizes the preciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ! Say it over and over to your soul until your whole being is thrilled, Lord Jesus, I owe it all to You. Then you will begin to understand why one enraptured with His love could sing:
Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills my breast;
But sweeter far Thy face to see,
And in Thy presence rest.
Bernard of Clairvaux
Every blessing for time and eternity we owe to Him. Are those blessings given to us according to our understanding or the strength of our faith, or our devotedness? Not at all! What then? According to the good pleasure of his will. You know some people are afraid of the will of God, yet it is the will of God that you and I who put our trust in the Lord Jesus should share the Saviors glory for all eternity. And in revealing His will to us step by step along the way, He would have us become more and more conformed to Him while here on earth. Oh, to be able to say from the heart, I welcome Your sweet will, O God. The greatest mistake any Christian can make is to substitute his own will for the will of God.
Remember, it is the will of God that every saved one should eventually be with Christ and like Christ forevermore.
I know not where His hand shall lead,
Through desert wastes, or flowery mead;
Mid tangled thicket set with thorn,
Mid gloom of night or glow of morn;
But still I know my Fathers handWill bring me to His goodly land.
If you are still unsaved, the most fearful mistake you can ever make is to suppose that if you yield yourself to the will of God it would take away from your peace and happiness and joy. The only real peace, the only real happiness, the only real joy for created beings is found in following the will of God. His will planned our redemption, His will purposed our salvation, and His will secures our place in the glory for all eternity.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
as: Deu 7:6, Deu 7:7, Psa 135:4, Isa 41:8, Isa 41:9, Isa 42:1, Isa 65:8-10, Mat 11:25, Mat 11:26, Mat 24:22, Mat 24:24, Mat 24:31, Joh 10:16, Act 13:48, Act 18:10, Rom 8:28, Rom 8:30, Rom 8:33, Rom 9:23, Rom 9:24, Rom 11:5, Rom 11:6, 2Th 2:13, 2Th 2:14, 2Ti 2:10, Tit 1:1, Tit 1:2, Jam 2:5, 1Pe 1:2, 1Pe 2:9
before: Mat 25:34, Joh 17:24, Act 15:18, 1Pe 1:20, Rev 13:8, Rev 17:8
that: Eph 2:10, Luk 1:74, Luk 1:75, Joh 15:16, Rom 8:28, Rom 8:29, Col 3:12, 1Th 4:7, 2Ti 1:9, 2Ti 2:19, Tit 2:11, Tit 2:12, 2Pe 1:5-10
without: Eph 5:27, 1Co 1:8, Phi 2:15, Col 1:22, 2Pe 3:14
love: Eph 3:17, Eph 4:2, Eph 4:15, Eph 4:16, Eph 5:2, Gal 5:6, Gal 5:13, Gal 5:22, Col 2:2, 1Th 3:12, 1Jo 4:16
Reciprocal: Lev 20:7 – General Num 15:40 – be holy Num 16:7 – that the man Psa 33:12 – people Psa 65:4 – choosest Psa 103:17 – the mercy Psa 106:5 – may see Psa 110:3 – beauties Psa 115:15 – blessed Isa 4:3 – shall be Isa 44:2 – Fear Jer 2:3 – holiness Zec 1:17 – choose Joh 15:19 – because Joh 17:6 – thine Rom 8:39 – love Rom 9:11 – according Rom 11:7 – but the election Rom 16:13 – chosen 1Co 1:30 – in 1Co 2:7 – even 2Co 5:17 – be Eph 3:9 – beginning Eph 3:11 – General Phi 3:12 – apprehended Col 3:14 – the 1Th 1:4 – Knowing Heb 4:3 – from 1Pe 2:6 – elect 2Jo 1:1 – the elect lady
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
(Eph 1:4.) -According as He chose us in Him. The adverb defines the connection of this verse with the preceding. That connection is modal rather than causal; , like , may signify sometimes because, but the cause specified involves the idea of manner. , in classic Greek , is the later form (Phrynichus, ed. Lobeck, p. 426), and denotes, as its composition indicates, according as. These spiritual blessings are conferred on us, not merely because God chose us, but they are given to us in perfect harmony with His eternal purpose. Their number, variety, adaptation, and fulness, with the shape and the mode of their bestowment, are all in exact unison with God’s pretemporal and gracious resolution; they are given after the model of that pure and eternal archetype which was formed in the Divine mind-
.-1Co 1:27. The action belongs wholly to the past, as the aorist indicates. Krger, 53, 5, 1; Scheuerlein, 32, 2. The idea involved in this word lay at the basis of the old theocracy, and it also pervades the New Testament. The Greek term corresponds to the Hebrew , H1047, of the Old Testament, which is applied so often to God’s selection of Abraham’s seed to be His peculiar people. Deu 4:37; Deu 7:6-7; Isa 41:8; Psa 33:12; Psa 47:4, etc. Usteri, Paulin. Lehrbegriff, p. 271. The verb before us, with its cognate forms, is used frequently to indicate the origin of that peculiar relation which believers sustain to God, and it also assigns the reason of that distinction which subsists between them aud the world around them. Whatever the precise nature of this choice may be, the general doctrine is, that the change of relation is not of man’s achievement, but of God’s, and the aorist points to it as past; that man does not unite himself to God, but that God unites man to Himself, for there is no attractive power in man’s heart to collect and gather in upon it those spiritual blessings. But there is not merely this palpable right of initiation on the part of God; there is also the prerogative of sovereign bestowment, as is indicated by the composition of the verb and by the following pronoun, -us-we have; others want. The apostle speaks of himself and his fellow-saints at Ephesus. If God had not chosen them, they would never have chosen God.
Hofmann (Schriftb. p. 223, etc., 2nd ed. 1857) denies that the verb contains the idea of choice in its theological use. Admitting that it does mean to choose, as in Jos 8:3, and to prefer, as in Gen 13:11, Luk 10:42, he abjures in this place all notion of selection-they are chosen not out of others, but chosen for a certain end-fr etwas. The supposition is ingenious, but it is contrary to the meaning of the compound verb, even in the passages selected by him, as Exo 18:25, Act 6:5, in which there is formal selection expressed-judges out of the people by Moses; deacons out from the membership of the early church. The phrase in 1Ti 5:21, may, for aught we know, have a meaning quite in harmony with the literal signification, or may bear a secondary sense, based on its primary meaning, such as Hofmann finds in Luk 23:35, and according to a certain reading, in Luk 9:35. But while there is a high destiny set before us, there is a choice of those who are to enjoy it, and this choice in itself, and plainly implying a contrast, the apostle describes by . On the other hand, Ebrard-Christliche Dogmatik, 560, vol. ii. p. 65, 1851-denies that the end of election, considered as individual eternal happiness, is contained in the verb; for election, according to him, signifies not the choice of individuals, but of a multitude out of the profane world into the church, so that is synonymous with . Election to external privilege is true, but it does not exhaust the purpose: for it would be stopping at the means without realizing the end. Besides, the choice of a multitude is simply the choice of each individual composing it. That multitude may be regarded as a unity by God, but to Him it is a unity of definite elements or members. On the divine side, the elect, whatever their number, are a unity, and are so described- , Joh 6:39; , Joh 17:2 -a totality viewed by Omniscience as one; but on the human side, the elect are the whole company of believers, but thus individualized- -Joh 6:40 :-
-in Him, for such is the genuine reading, not , or in ipso, as the Vulgate has it and some commentators take it; nor to Himself, as the Ethiopic renders it. The reference is to Christ, but the nature of that reference has been disputed. Chrysostom says, He by whom He has blessed us, is the same as He by whom He has chosen us; but afterwards he interprets the words before us thus- , and he capriciously ascribes the elective act to Christ. Many, as a-Lapide, Estius, Bullinger, and Flatt, translate virtually, on account of Christ. But the apostolical idea is more definite and profound. seems to point out the position of the . Believers were looked upon as being in Christ their federal Head, when they were elected. To the prescient eye of God the entire church was embodied in Jesus-was looked upon as in Him. The church that was to be appeared to the mind of Him who fills eternity, as already in being, and that ideal being was in Christ. It is true that God Himself is in Christ, and in Christ purposes and performs all that pertains to man’s redemption; but the thought here is not that God in Christ has chosen us, but that when He elected us, we were regarded as being in Christ our representative-like as the human race was in Adam, or the Jewish nation in Abraham. We were chosen-
,-before the foundation of the world.-Similar phraseology occurs in Mat 13:35; Joh 17:24; 1Pe 1:20. The more usual Pauline expressions are – , 1Co 2:7; , 2Ti 1:9. is also used in the same sense in the classics, and by Philo. Loesner, Observat. p. 338; Passow, sub voce. Chrysostom, alluding to the composition of the noun -, says fancifully,-Beautiful is that word, as if he were pointing to the world cast down from a great height-yes, vast and indescribable is the height of God, so wide the distance between Creator and creature. The phrase itself declares that this election is no act of time, for time dates from the creation. Prior to the commencement of time were we chosen in Christ. The generic idea, therefore, is what Olshausen calls Zeitlosigkeit, Timelessness, implying of course absolute eternity. The choice is eternal, and it realizes itself or takes effect in that actual separation by which the elect, , are brought out of the world into the church, and so become , , . Before that world which was to be lost in sin and misery was founded, its guilt and helplessness were present to the mind of God, and His gracious purposes toward it were formed. The prospect of its fall coexisted eternall y with the design of its recovery by Christ-
-in order that we should be holy, and without blame before Him. is the infinitive of design-that we should be. Winer, 44, 1; Col 1:22. The two adjectives express the same idea, with a slight shade of variation. Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2. The first is inner consecration to God, or holy principle-the positive aspect; the latter refers to its result, the life governed by such a power must be blameless and without reprehension-the negative aspect, as Alford and Ellicott term it. Tittmann, Synonym, p. 21. The pulsation of a holy heart leads to a stainless life, and that is the avowed purpose of our election.
That the words describe a moral condition is affirmed rightly by Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin, Matthies, Meier, Stier, Baumgarten-Crusius, and de Wette. Some, however, such as Koppe, Meyer, von Gerlach, Bisping, and Harless, refer the phrase to that perfect justifying righteousness of believers to which the apostle alludes in Rom 3:21-22; Rom 5:1, etc., Rom 8:1, etc.; 1Co 6:11. But the terms found here are different from those used by the apostle in the places quoted, where men are said to be justified, or fully acquitted from guilt, by their interest in the righteousness of Christ. On the other hand, the eternal purpose not only pardons, but also sanctifies, absolves in order to renew, and purifies in order to bestow perfection. It is the uniform teaching of Paul, that holiness is the end of our election, our calling, our pardon and acceptance. The phrase, holy and without blame, is never once applied to our complete justification before God; and, indeed, men are not regarded by God as innocent or sinless, for the fact of their sin remains unaltered; but they are treated as righteous-they are absolved from the penal consequences of their apostasy. It is no objection to our interpretation, which gives the words a moral, and not a legal or forensic signification, that men are not perfect in the present state. We would not say apologetically, with Calixtus-Quantum fieri potest, per Dei ipsius gratiam et carnis nostrae infirmitatem. We can admit no modification; for though the purpose begins to take effect here, it is not fully wrought out here, and we would not identify incipient operation with final perfection. The proper view, then, is that perfection is secured for us-that complete restoration to our first purity is provided for us-that He who chose us before time began, and when we were not, saw in us the full and final accomplishment of His gracious purpose. When He elected us-He beheld realized in us His own ideal of restored and redeemed humanity.-See under chap. Eph 5:27. Men are chosen in Christ, in order to be holy and without blame. 1Th 4:7; Tit 2:14. Jerome says, Hoc est, qui sancti et immaculati ante non fuimus, ut postea essemus. The father vindicates this view, and refutes such objections as Porphyry was wont to advance, by putting the plain question, Why, if there be no sovereignty, have Britain and the Irish tribes not known Moses and the prophets? These facts are as appalling as any doctrine, and the fact must be overturned ere the doctrine can be impugned. The last lesson deduced by Jerome is, Concede Deo potentiam sui.
-before Him, . No good end is gained by reading , with Harless and Scholz, as the subject is remote. The meaning is, indeed, before Himself, that is, before God. Winer, 22, 5; note from Bremi; Khner, 628. As the middle form of indicates, they were chosen by God for Himself, and they are to be holy and blameless before Him. The reference to God is undoubted, and the phrase denotes the reality or genuineness of the holy and blameless state. God accounts it so. The elect are not esteemed righteous merely before men, as Theophylact explains. Their piety is not a brilliant hypocrisy. It is regarded as genuine, before Him whose glance at once detects and frowns upon the spurious, however plausible the disguise in which it may wrap itself. Such is another or second ground of praise.
The reader may pardon a few digressive illustrations of the momentous doctrine of this verse. It would be a narrow and superficial view of these words to imagine that they are meant to level Jewish pride, and that they describe simply the choice of the Gentiles to religious privilege. The purpose of the election is, that its object should be holy, an end that cannot fail, for they are in Christ; in Him ideally when they were chosen, and also every man in his own order in Him actually, personally, and voluntarily, by faith. Yet the sovereign love of God is strikingly manifested, even in the bestowment of external advantage. Ephesus enjoyed what many a city in Asia Minor wanted. The motive that took Paul to Ephesus, and the wind that sped the bark which carried him, were alike of God’s creation. It was not because God chanced to look down from His high throne, and saw the Ephesians bowing so superstitiously before the shrine of Diana, that His heart was moved, and He resolved in His mercy to give them the gospel. Nor was it because its citizens had a deeper relish for virtue and peace than the masses of population around them, that He sent among them the grace of His Spirit. He is of one mind, and who can turn Him? Every purpose is eternal, and awaits an evolution in the fulness of the time which is neither antedated nor postponed.
And the same difficulties are involved in this choice to external blessing, as are found in the election of men to personal salvation. The whole procedure lies in the domain of pure sovereignty, and there can therefore be no partiality where none have any claim. The choice of Abraham is the great fact which explains and gives name to the doctrine. Why then should the race of Shem be selected, to the exclusion of Ham and Japheth? Why of all the families in Shem should that of Terah be chosen? and why of all the members of Terah’s house should the individual Abraham be marked out, and set apart by God to be the father of a new race? As well impugn the fact as attempt to upset the doctrine. Providence presents similar views of the divine procedure. One is born in Europe with a fair face, and becomes enlightened and happy; another is born in Africa with a sable countenance, and is doomed to slavery and wretchedness. One has his birth from Christian parents, and is trained in virtue from his earlier years; another has but a heritage of shame from his father, and the shadow of the gallows looms over his cradle. One is an heir of genius; another, with some malformation of brain, is an idiot. Some, under the enjoyment of Christian privilege, live and die unimpressed; others, with but scanty opportunities, believe, and grow eminent in piety. Does not more seem really to be done by God externally for the conversion of some who live and die in impenitence, than for many who believe and are saved? And yet the divine prescience and predestination are not incompatible with human responsibility. Man is free, perfectly free, for his moral nature is never strained or violated. We protest, as warmly as Sir William Hamilton, against any form of Calvinism which affirms that man has no will, agency, or moral personality of his own. Foreknowledge, which is only an other phase of electing love, no more changes the nature of a future incident, than afterknowledge can affect a historical fact. God’s grace fits men for heaven, but men by unbelief prepare themselves for hell. It is not man’s non-election, but his continued sin, that leads to His eternal ruin. Nor is action impeded by the certainty of the divine foreknowledge. He who believes that God has appointed the hour of his death, is not fettered by such a faith in the earnest use of every means to prolong his life. And God does not act arbitrarily or capriciously. He has the best of reasons for His procedure, though He does not choose to disclose them to us. Sovereignty is but another name for highest and benignest equity. As Hooker says, They err who think that of the will of God to do this or that, there is no reason but His will. Eccles. Pol., lib. i. chap. Eph 2:3. The question of the number of the saved is no element of the doctrine we are illustrating. There have, alas! been men, Calvino Calviniores, who have rashly, heartlessly, and unscripturally spoken of the as a few-a small minority. God forbid. There are many reasons and hints in Scripture leading us to the very opposite conclusion. But, in fine, this is the practical lesson; Christians have no grounds for self-felicitation in their possession of holiness and hope, as if with their own hand they had inscribed their names in the Book of Life. Their possession of all spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is not self-originated. Its one author is God, and He hath conferred it in harmony with His own eternal purpose regarding them. His is all the work, and His is all the glory. And therefore the apostle rejoices in this eternal election. It is cause of deep and prolonged thankfulness, not of gloom, distrust, or perplexity. The very eternity of design clothes the plan of salvation with a peculiar nobleness. It has its origin in an eternity behin d us. The world was created to be the theatre of redemption. Kindness, the result of momentary impulse, has not and cannot have such claim to gratitude as a beneficence which is the fruit of a matured and predetermined arrangement. The grace which springs from eternal choice must command the deepest homage of our nature, as in this doxology- — .
The eternity of the plan suggests another thought, which we may mention without assuming a polemical aspect, or entering into the intricacies of the supra- and sub-lapsarian controversies. It is this-salvation is an original thought and resolution. It is no novel expedient struck out in the fertility of divine ingenuity, after God’s first purpose in regard to man had failed through man’s apostasy. It is no afterthought, but the embodiment of a design which, foreseeing our ruin, had made preparation for it. Neander, indeed, says the object of the apostle in this place is to show that Christianity was not inferior to Judaism as a new dispensation, but was in truth the more ancient and original, presupposed even by Judaism itself. The election in Christ preceded the election of the Jewish nation in their ancestors. Geschichte der Pflanzung, etc., 2.443. But to represent this as the main object of the apostle is to dethrone the principal idea, and to exalt a mere inferential lesson into its place.
Before proceeding to the words , we may remark, that the theory which makes foreseen holiness the ground of our election, and not its design, is clearly contrary to the apostolical statement; chosen-in order that we should be holy. So Augustine says that God chose us not quia futuri eramus, sed ut essemus sancti et immaculati. There is no room for the conditional interjection of Grotius, Si et homines faciant, quod debent. The dilemma of those who base predestination upon prescience is: if God foresaw this faith and holiness, then those qualities were either self-created, or were to be bestowed by Himself; if the former, the grace of God is denied; and if the latter, the question turns upon itself-What prompted God to give them the faith and holiness which He foresaw they should possess? The doctrine so clearly taught in this verse was held in its leading element by the ancient church-by the Roman Clement, Ignatius, Hermas, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus, before Augustine worked it into a system, and Jerome armed himself on its behalf. It is foreign to our purpose to review the theory of Augustine, the revival of it by Gottschalk, or its reassertion by Calvin and Janssen; nor can we criticise the assault made upon it by Pelagius, or describe the keen antagonism of Calixtus and Julian, followed up in later times by Arminius, Episcopius, Limborch, and Tomline. Suffice it to say, that many who imagine that they have explained away a difficulty by denying one phase of the doctrine, have only achieved the feat of shifting that difficulty into another position. The various modifications of what we reckon the truth contained in the apostolical statement, do not relieve us of the mystery, which belongs as well to simple Theism as to the evangelical system. Dr. Whately has, with characteristic candour, admitted that the difficulty which relates to the character and moral government of God, presses as hard on the Arminian as the Calvinist, and Sir James Mackintosh has shown, with his usual luminous and dispassionate power, how dangerous it is to reason as to the moral consequences which the opponents of this and similar doctrines may impute to them. In short, whether this doctrine be identified with Pagan stoicism or Mahometan fatalism, and be rudely set aside, and the world placed under the inspection of an inert omniscience; or whether it be modified as to its end, and that be declared to be privilege, and not holiness; or as to its foundation, and that be alleged to be not gratuitous and irrespective choice, but foreseen merit and goodness; or as to its subjects, and they be affirmed to be not individuals, but communities; or as to its result, a nd it be reckoned contingent, and not absolute; or whether the idea of election be diluted into mere preferential choice: whichever of these theories be adopted,-and they have been advocated in some of these aspects not only by some of the early Fathers, but by Archbishops Bramhall, Sancroft, King, Lawrence, Sumner, and Whately, and by Milton, Molina, Faber, Nitzsch, Hase, Lange, Copleston, Chandler, Locke, Watson, and many others,-such hypotheses leave the central difficulty still unsolved, and throw us back on the unconditioned and undivided sovereignty of Him of whom, to whom, and through whom are all things,-all whose plans and purposes wrought out in the church, and designe d to promote His glory, have been conceived in the vast and incomprehensible solitudes of His own eternity. I can only say, in conclusion, with the martyr Ridley, when he wrote on this high theme to Bradford-In these matters I am so fearful, that I dare not speak further; yea, almost none otherwise than the text does, as it were, lead me by the hand.
The position of the words will so far determine their meaning, but that position it is difficult to assign. Much may be said on either side. 1. If the words are kept, as in the Textus Receptus, at the end of the fourth verse, then some would join them to , and others to the adjectives immediately preceding them. That at the end of the verse should refer to at the beginning, is highly improbable. The construction would be so awkward, that we wonder how OEcumenius, Flacius, Olearius, Bucer, and Flatt could have adopted it. The entire verse would intervene between a reference to the act of election and the motive which is supposed to prompt to it. 2. Others, such as the Vulgate and Coptic, Ambrosiaster, Erasmus, Luther, Beza, Calvin, Grotius, Matthies, Meier, Baumgarten-Crusius, and Alford, join the words to the adjectives , as if love were represented as the consummation of Christian virtue. The doctrine itself is a glorious truth-all the Christian graces at length disappear in love, as the flower is lost in the fruit. Those who refer the adjectives to justifying righteousness-justitia imputata-object to this view that it is not Pauline, but that would be the words employed. 3. Though we are not hampered by such a false exegesis, we prefer to join to the following verse, and for these reasons:-Where is used along with , as in Eph 5:27, and even in Col 1:22, where a third epithet, , is also employed, there is no such supplementary phrase as . Alford tries to get rid of this objection by saying that refers not to the epithets alone, but to the entire last clause. Yet the plea does not avail him, for his exegesis really makes a qu alification of the two adjectives. Olshausen appeals to other passages, but the reference cannot be sustained; for in Jud 1:24 the additional phrase qualifies not , but the entire preceding clause-the presentation of the saved to God. When synonymous epithets are used, a qualifying formula is sometimes added, as in , 1Th 3:13, but blameless in what? the adjective is proleptic, and is added. Koch, Comment. p. 272. The words occur also in 2Pe 3:14, in the same clause with , but they belong not, as Olshausen supposes, to the adjective; they rather qualify the verb -found in peace. If belonged to the preceding adjectives, we should expect it to follow them immediately; but the words intervene. The construction is not against the Pauline style and usage, as may be seen, chap. Eph 3:18, Eph 6:18, in which places the emphasis is laid on the preceding phrase. Nor has Alford’s other argument more force in it-that the verbs and participles in this paragraph precede these qualifying clauses: for we demur to the correctness of the statement. 1. We interpret the 8th verse differently, and make qualify the following . 2. The other qualifying clauses following the verbs and participles in this paragraph are of a different nature from this, four of them being introduced by -referring to rule or measurement, and not to motive in itself or its elements. 3. It is more natural, besides, to join the words to the following verse, where adoption is spoken of; for the only source of it is the love of God, and it forms no objection to this view that precedes the participle. Love is implied in predestination. Di-lectio p raesupponitur E-lectioni, says Thomas Aquinas. And lastly, the spirit of the paragraph is God’s dealing towards man in its great and gracious features; and not precisely or definitely the features or elements of man’s perfection as secured by Him. The minuter specifications belong to God-His eternal purpose and His realization of it.
The union of with is sanctioned by the old Syriac version, by the fathers Chrysostom, Theophylact, Theodoret, and Jerome; by Zanchius, Crocius, Bengel, Koppe, Storr, Rckert, Harless, de Wette, Olshausen, Holzhausen, Stier, Turner, and Ellicott; and by the editors Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, and Tischendorf.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Eph 1:4. From this verse through 12, the passages have special reference to the apostles. This truth should be kept in mind in order to avoid confusion on the subject of predestination. God never decreed that any certain person should be saved, but He has predetermined what kind of character would be given salvation, then left it to the individual to qualify for the favor. However, God has predestinated certain official facts to be accomplished, and has selected certain ones to be His instruments in bringing about the predestined results. Among the persons who were chosen beforehand for special work were the apostles, referred to here by the pronoun, us, whom Paul says God has chosen in him, meaning Christ. This foreordained plan was formed before the foundation of the world, which means the inhabitants of the earth. The work for which they were previously selected will be named in the next verse, but this one tells the kind of character the apostles must have before they would be permitted to go on with the work. They must be holy and without blame, which pertains to their personal character. This may sound like the doctrine of salvation by predestination, but it is not since they were left as their own agents as to those qualities. If they chose not to qualify for the work they were put out of the plan as was done in the case of Judas.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eph 1:4. Even as. The blessing corresponds with the choice. These spiritual blessings are conferred upon us, not merely because God chose us, but they are given in perfect harmony with His eternal purpose (Eadie).
He chose, or more fully rendered, chose out for Himself. The choosing was for His own glory; it is here conceived of as a single act, and was an act of selection, a choosing out of. No interpretation is grammatical which denies these three points.
Us. The whole invisible Church of Christ, the body of Christ (comp. Eph 1:22-23), is undoubtedly meant. This Church is made up of individuals (us) designed, indeed, to form an organic unity, but here regarded as chosen persons. Nothing is said as yet of faith, or of any other subjective characteristic; the Apostles thought concerns the counsels of God. This election is not, however, an arbitrary or mechanical matter: it is in him, i.e., in Christ (Eph 1:3). This is more than on account of Him, or, through Him, though both ideas are correct. It indicates that those who are chosen are chosen in Christ, as the second Adam, the new head and representative of spiritual humanity. There could be no such antecedent choice, except in Him.
Before the foundation of the world. The election preceded creation; comp. 2Ti 1:9. This presupposes the eternity of the Son of God, the object of the Fathers love (Joh 17:5; Joh 17:24), but not the real individual existence of believers before the creation of the world.
That we should be. The Purposed result of the election is now stated.
Holy and without blame (or, blemish, as in chap. Eph 5:27). The former marks the positive, the latter the negative side of the moral result.
Before him, i.e., before God. But in what sense? Some have referred it to Gods justifying verdict, but as an ultimate result is here spoken of, and as the Apostle could have plainly expressed that meaning in other ways, the reference to sanctification is preferable. Before Him, then means either at the final judgment, or truly, really, in His all-searching eye. If men are chosen to be holy, they cannot be chosen because they are holy. Holiness is the only evidence of election (Hodge).
In love. The connection of this phrase has occasioned much discussion. (1.) The E. V. joins it with holy and without blame. In that case it explains that the sanctified state consists in love, our love. (2.) It might be joined with chose, referring to Gods love; but the words are so separated as to make this connection improbable. (3.) It may be referred to Gods love, and joined with Eph 1:5. This is, on the whole, preferable; for a reference to Gods love seems more natural, and (2) is objectionable. Both (1) and (3) are grammatically allowable; if before Him refers to justification, then (1) is logically incorrect.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our apostle having in the former verse offered up a very solemn thanksgiving to God, for blessing the Ephesians with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ, he comes in this verse to discover and declare the fountain from whence all these spiritual blessings did proceed and flow, namely, from God’s gracious purpose in our election before all time; He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, &c.
Where note, 1. The favour vouchsafed, election; and the fruit and product of that favour, holiness of life and conversation.
Note, 1. The favour and privilege vouchsafed by God, He hath chosen. This denotes the freeness of the favour: he chose when he might have refused. His book of life is a book of love; the cause of our love is in the object; the reason of God’s love is in himself.
Note, 2. The subject of this favour, He hath chosen us, us Gentiles. The Jews much gloried in their being a chosen generation, a peculiar people; we Gentiles are a chosen generation also; they were beloved for their father’s sake, Abraham’s, we for Christ’s sake.
Note, 3. The antiquity of this favour: Before the foundation of the world: that is, from all eternity. The apostle, to take the Jews off from boasting, as they did, that the world was made for their sake, and that the Messiah from the beginning of the world did enter into a covenant with God to redeem them especially, declares, that the despised Gentiles were elected and chosen by God to be an holy people to himself; and all this, in the purpose of God, before the foundations of the world were laid.
Note, 4. God is said to have chosen us in Christ, as our head. Consider Christ as God, so we are chosen by him. I know whom I have chosen, says Christ. Consider him as a Mediator; so we are chosen in him, not for him: because, not Christ’s undertaking for us, but the Father’s good pleasure towards us, was the spring and fontal cause of our election. The truth is, God was so far from choosing the Gentiles out of faith foreseen, that he did not choose them for the sake and obedience of Christ foreseen; God did not love us from eternity because Christ was to die for us in time, but because he loved us with an everlasting love; therefore in the fulness of time, Christ was sent to die for us: so that the death of Christ was the fruit and effect, but not the cause of our election. No other reason, says bishop Fell upon the place, can be assigned of this privilege, but the good pleasure of God; and if Christ’s sufferings were not the cause of our election, much less our own deserving, as he adds there; Almighty God not choosing us because worthy, but to make us worthy by choosing us.
Note, 5. The effect and fruit, the benefit and end, of this free and ancient favour: That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Holiness is here declared not to be the cause, but the effect of our election: God chose the Gentiles from eternity to be his people, not because they were holy, they were far enough from that, being afar off from God, but designing that they thus graciously chosen should be holy; initially, progressively, and perseveringly holy in this life, and perfectly holy in the next; yet arriving at such a perfection here in holiness as to denominate us blameless in the account of God, by virtue of our faith in Christ, and love to one another.
From the whole learn, 1. That God’s bestowing all spiritual blessings upon us in time, is the effect and fruit of his electing love from all eternity; He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings, according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Learn, 2. That God hath chosen none to happiness and glory hereafter, but only such as are holy in conversation here, holy in the habitual frame and disposition of their hearts, and in the general course and tenor of their lives and actions.
Learn, 3. That such as are holy before God, will endeavour to walk unblamably in the sight of man, in the exercise of love, and in the practice of all the duties of the second table, which are at once evidences of our sincerity, and an ornament to our profession; That we should be holy, and without blame, before him in love.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 4
Hath chosen us–that we should be holy; hath designed and intended us to be made holy.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
According as he [God the Father] hath chosen us in him [God the Son, refers back to us being in Christ] before the foundation of the world [before creation], that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Okay, here we have some more doctrine – chosen – decrees – holiness – all sorts of side studies that you can do if you really want to dig. We have already mentioned the decrees briefly and with them are a number of controversies relating to the when of, the order of and the content of, but we won’t go into them here. If you want further information my theology deals with them, as do most any systematic theology books. The information you find will vary with the theological position of the writer so beware which theology you choose.
At any rate God chose the elect before the foundation of the world, indeed, most agree that somewhere in the far eternity past, if not as far as God Himself, He chose which people would be part of His kingdom in eternity future. I am vague on the when of the decrees in that they have to precede God in that God cannot decree before He is, but then God has always been so have the decrees always been? We don’t know for positive I don’t think but we do know they are eternal.
How He chose, in my mind is based on foreknowledge, though the reform camp would bristle at the suggestion. They pretty much ignore foreknowledge and hope it will go away, however foreknowledge, in my understanding, is in the Word and must be integrated into the scheme of the whole. My view on foreknowledge and free will do no damage to God’s sovereignty, nor to any of the other attributes and doctrines that the reform feel it destroys.
This was done before time began, before creation, thus it was set and going to happen in time. The doctrine of choosing is not all that shallow but we can’t delve into it here. Let it suffice that He chose. He did not choose some for hell as many would suggest, He merely chose some to be saved. The salvation had a purpose and that was to bring them to holiness.
Now, to apply that for a moment. We can be holy. We ought to be holy. God expects us to be holy. So, how can we justify the life that we often lead – a life of unholiness? We cannot justify it; we can only answer for it when we stand before God in the end.
Holiness is the standard, not the fifth choice in a list of things we can do if and when we get time; it is top option in a list of things we are supposed to do. Remember that verse that is quoted three times in the Word, “be ye holy for I am holy?” It isn’t there three times for nothing; He must want us to be holy – especially if He chose us before the foundation of the world to be so! (Lev 11:44-45; Lev 19:2; – guess it was more than three times – 20:26; 21:8; 1Pe 1:16 and many other places tell us to be holy.)
And, by the way being holy is in the present tense – a continuing action. Being holy in the aorist tense won’t do at all; that is being holy at one point in time. Holy is a life style, not an option for one part of the day or one part of the week.
And on top of all that He expects us to be without blame! The idea is that we are to live our lives so that no person can lay accusation against us and make it stick. It isn’t that we are so slick that the accusation slides off, but we are so holy that there is no basis for accusation. No one could dare to accuse you of doing something wrong.
The Net Bible points out that this word translated “without blame” is used of the Pascal lamb that is without blemish. One that is pure enough to be offered in sacrifice. This is God’s goal for us not only in this life, but it will be totally that way in the next.
And on top of this we are to live before Him in love. This is the deep love, the “agape” love that causes one to give of yourself for the other.
Note it isn’t that we are to be holy and blameless and then before Him in love, we are to be before him holy and blameless in love. All three should be part of the desired condition as we are before Him. This is not just in prayer; it is to be our overall condition of life.
I might make a little observation about God’s choosing. I eat half a pear for a snack every day to keep my sugar levels in balance. I do not like the juicy messy pears so I pick Anjou pears and when I go to pick them off the counter there are some characteristics that I look for. I like nice bright green ones because they aren’t juicy and messy, and I like them green because they are still hard like an apple. I also like the bigger ones – if I’m going to snack I’m going to get as much as possible.
The word used in the verse has the idea of selecting for an office or selecting for one’s own use. This wasn’t a random, you, you, and you picking, it was a selection of some out of a group.
Often I have heard that God didn’t pick us because of anything we can do or be, but I think this word indicates differently. There is nothing in me that could help me find God, there is nothing I can do to bring God to save me, but there may have been characteristics within me that He desired to use in His overall work. Much as a golfer chooses his clubs for a particular purpose (I assume that is why they carry so many different clubs 🙂 God looked at the multitudes of people that would populate the earth and he chose those that He wanted to use in His work of redemption through the ages.
Now, that should give your self image a boost – it should make you realize your worth is in Him not in your peers! This verse kind of makes 1Co 1:26 ff jump up and become alive doesn’t it! 26 “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called]: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.”
God chose YOU! Think on that awhile and not only thank Him for including you, but get on your knees and ask Him what He wants to use you for in this life, because there is a purpose! If you aren’t busy for Him you are in trouble – He picked you to use in a specific purpose. If you are not being useful, you are being useless. When you stand before Him what’s it going to be?
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
1:4 {6} According as he hath chosen us in {d} him before the foundation of the world, {7} that we {e} should {f} be holy and without blame {g} before him in love:
(6) He declares the efficient cause, or by what means God the Father saves us in his Son: because, he says, he chose us from everlasting in his Son.
(d) To be adopted in him.
(7) He expounds the next final cause which is twofold, that is, sanctification and justification, of which he will speak later. And by this also two things are to be noted, that is, that holiness of life cannot be separated from the grace of election: and again, whatever pureness is in us, is the gift of God who has freely of his mercy chosen us.
(e) God then, did not choose us because we were, or otherwise would have been holy, but to the end we should be holy.
(f) Being clothed with Christ’s righteousness.
(g) Truly and sincerely.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The selection of the Father 1:4-6
The spiritual blessings that have come to us are the work of all three members of the Trinity. God Himself is the basis of these blessings.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The first blessing is election. God has sovereignly chosen some people for salvation (cf. Eph 1:11; Rom 8:30; 1Th 1:4; 2Th 2:13; Tit 1:1). Salvation is ultimately God’s doing, not man’s (Eph 2:8-9). Belief in divine election is probably the most fundamental tenet of Calvinistic theology. Someone who denies it is not a Calvinist. Salvation comes to the elect when they trust in Jesus Christ (Eph 1:13; 2Th 2:13).
"Now everybody finds the doctrine of election difficult. ’Didn’t I choose God?’ somebody asks indignantly; to which we must answer ’Yes, indeed you did, and freely, but only because in eternity God had first chosen you.’ ’Didn’t I decide for Christ?’ asks somebody else; to which we must reply ’Yes, indeed you did, and freely, but only because in eternity God had first decided for you.’" [Note: Stott, p. 37.]
"It [election] involves a paradox that the New Testament does not seek to resolve, and that our finite minds cannot fathom. Paul emphasizes both the sovereign purpose of God and man’s free will." [Note: Francis Foulkes, The Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, p. 46.]
God chose us "in Him" (Christ, Eph 1:3) in the sense that He is our representative. When we trust Christ, we become a member of the redeemed race within mankind of which Jesus Christ is the Head (Eph 1:10; Eph 1:22; Rom 5:12-21; Col 1:18). God has ordained that all the elect should be under Christ’s authority. Some interpreters have concluded that God chose Jesus and that all who believe in Him become elect by their faith. [Note: E.g., Gregory A. Boyd, God of the Possible, pp. 46-47.] However this verse states that God chose "us" to be in Christ.
"Though it is true that Christ is God’s Elect One (Isa 42:1; Isa 42:6 f.; cf. Mat 12:18) and that apart from His election there could be no realization of the election of unbelievers, His election is of a different nature. Christ was elected to be the redeemer in contrast to sinners being elected for redemption. Thus Christ’s election does not truly parallel that of Christians, and so theirs cannot be contained in His." [Note: L. J. Crawford, "Eph 1:3-4 and the Nature of Election," The Master’s Seminary Journal 11:1 (Spring 2000):85.]
"Here is a vast host of people hurrying down the broad road with their minds fixed upon their sins, and one stands calling attention to yonder door, the entrance into the narrow way that leads to life eternal. On it is plainly depicted the text, ’Whosoever will, let him come.’ Every man is invited, no one need hesitate. Some may say, ’Well, I may not be of the elect, and so it would be useless for me to endeavor to come, for the door will not open for me.’ But God’s invitation is absolutely sincere; it is addressed to every man, ’Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely’ (Rev 22:17). If men refuse to come, if they pursue their own godless way down to the pit, whom can they blame but themselves for their eternal judgment? The messenger addressed himself to all, the call came to all, the door could be entered by all, but many refused to come and perished in their sins. Such men can never blame God for their eternal destruction. The door was open, the invitation was given, they refused, and He says to them sorrowfully, ’Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life.’ But see, as the invitation goes forth, every minute or two some one stops and says, ’What is that?’ ’The way to life,’ is the reply. ’Ah, that I might find the way to life! I have found no satisfaction in this poor world.’ We read, ’She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.’ ’I should like to know how to be free from my sin, how to be made fit for the presence of God.’ And such an one draws near and listens, and the Spirit of God impresses the message upon his heart and conscience and he says, ’I am going inside: I will accept the invitation; I will enter that door,’ and he presses his way in and it shuts behind him. As he turns about he finds written on the inside of the door the words, ’Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.’ ’What!’ he says, ’had God His heart fixed on me before ever the world came into being?’ Yes, but he could not find it out until he got inside. You see, you can pass the door if you will, you can trample the love of God beneath your feet, you can spurn His grace if you are determined to do it, but you will go down to the pit and you will be responsible for your own doom." [Note: H. A. Ironside, In the Heavenlies, pp. 27-29.]
"The doctrine of election is never presented in Scripture as something to be afraid of, but always as something for believers to rejoice in." [Note: Alfred Martin, "The Epistle to the Ephesians," in The Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 1303.]
The time of our individual election was before God created the world. The purpose for which God chose us was two-fold. First, it was that we should be "holy" (Gr. hagious; cf. hagiois, "saints," Eph 1:1), which means different and set apart to God. [Note: See Barclay, p. 89.] Second, it was that we should be "blameless" (Gr. amomous), which means without blemish (cf. Eph 5:27; Php 2:15; Col 1:22; Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:19; 2Pe 3:14; Rev 14:5). This word elsewhere describes the paschal lamb and Jesus Christ (Heb 9:14; 1Pe 1:19).
"In love" probably modifies "to be holy and blameless in His sight" rather than "He chose us" (Eph 1:4) or "He predestined us" (Eph 1:5). Normally the modifying phrases follow the action words in this context (cf. Eph 1:3; Eph 1:6; Eph 1:8-10). Also the other occurrences of the phrase "in love" in Ephesians refer to human rather than divine love (cf. Eph 3:17; Eph 4:2; Eph 4:15-16; Eph 5:2). Furthermore love is appropriate to connect with holiness and blamelessness since it provides a balance. Our duty is to love God as well as to be pure.
"The point, then, is that holiness of life is only made perfect in and through love (cf. I Thes. iii. 12f.)." [Note: Foulkes, p. 47.]
". . . the freer the Lord’s paramount choice, the deeper the debt of the chosen to live divine." [Note: Simpson, p. 26.]