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4. 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; 5 having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will , 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

4. kaqwv" ...] The several points which follow display the mode and the measure of the blessing with which GOD has blessed us. The historical fulfilment in time corresponds with the eternal Divine will. St Paul piles up phrase on phrase to shew that all is of God's timeless love.
ejxelevxato ] He chose us ( i.e. Christians as a body vs. 3) for Himself out of the world. The word ejklevgesqai is found in the Epistles only in 1 Cor. 1:27, 28 and James 2:5 in addition to this place. The theological sense of the word is seen most clearly in the words of the Lord recorded by St John: John 6:70; 13:18; 15:16-19. (Compare Mk 13:20; Acts 13:17.) The derivatives ejklektov" (Synoptists, St Paul, 1 Peter, 2 John, Apoc.) and ejkloghv (Acts, St Paul, 2 Pet.) must be considered with ejklevxasqai . The middle voice emphasises in all the places, where ejklevxasqai is used in the N. T., the relation of the person chosen to the special purpose of him who chooses. The ‘chosen’ are regarded not as they stand to others who are not chosen, but as they stand to the counsel of GOD Who works through them. Compare Lightfoot, Col. 3:12. The ejkloghv , like the ejkklhsiva , is preparatory to a wider work (Eph. 1:10, 14).
pro; kat. k. ] Vg. ante mundi constitutionem, before the foundation of the world. As the thought of ‘the heavenly order,’ the scene of the Christian's life, lifts us above the limits of space, so the origin of his life is placed beyond the limits of time. The members of Christ are placed in an eternal relation to Christ their Head. The same phrase ( pro; kat. k. ) is used of the love of the Father for His Son, John 17:24, and of the work of Redemption in the Son (1 Pet. 1:20). Compare also 1 Cor. 2:7 pro; tw'n aijwvnwn , 2 Tim. 1:9 pro; crovnwn aijwnivwn || Tit. 1:2. The Jewish Covenant was from Abraham, late in time: the Christian Covenant was before all time: compare John 8:56 ff. Contrast with pro; kat. k. the corresponding phrase ajpo; kat. k. from the foundation of the world , since time began: Matt. 25:34; Lk. 11:50; Heb. 4:3; 9:26; Apoc. 13:8; 17:8. Comp. Rom. 16:25 ( crovnoi" aijwnivoi" ). A like difference lies between ejn ajrch'/ John 1:1 f. and ajpj ajrch'" 1 John 1:1.

For katabolhv see 2 Macc. 2:29. It is not used elsewhere in LXX. Katabavllein, bavllesqai and katabolhv are used rarely in classical writers of ‘foundation,’ literal or metaphorical.
ei\nai hJma'" ...] that we should be holy (as devoted to Him) and without blemish (as acceptable offerings) before Him , in whose sight no evil can stand. For a{gio" see vs. 1. [Amwmo" is properly ‘blameless’ morally but in the LXX. it came to be used for victims which were ‘without blemish,’ and this sense prevails here, and in 1 Pet. 1:19; Heb. 9:14. The addition of ajnegklhvtou" in the parallel passage of the Colossians (1:22) gives a moral colour to the word there, and this meaning is dominant in Jude 24 and Apoc. 14:5. The combination a{gioi kai; a[mwmoi (comp. Eph. 5:27) gives the fulness of the conception positively and negatively. Chrysostom expresses another aspect of the combination: a{giov" ejstin oJ th'" pivstew" metevcwn, a[mwmo" oJ ajnepivlhpton bivon metiwvn .

For the thought compare 2 Tim. 1:9. The use of the simple infinitive ( ei\nai ) as distinguished from eij" to; ei\nai (Eph. 1:12) marks the purpose as potentially realised and not simply as aimed at. So far as


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