Ephesians 1:4

ἐν�, with preceding sentence (LP vg boh goth Ambst Pelag Cassiod); joined with Ephesians 1:5 (lat-vet syr-vg Orig Chrys Hier).

4. καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ. This blessing corresponds both in its character and in the manner of bestowing it to an antecedent ‘choosing of us in Him’ which was involved from the beginning in the creative purpose of God, and so preceded the first step towards its realization.

On Election see Hort on 1 Peter 1:1. God’s method of working out His widest purposes by chosen instruments had been illustrated by the whole course of His dealings with Israel. The nation as a whole had been taught to regard itself as chosen out from all other nations to be the instrument of God’s blessing to them. Within the nation again God had raised up from time to time chosen men, notably David, to be His instruments in guiding and governing their brethren. The thought of God’s choice is constantly associated with the prophetic vision of the Servant of the Lord, Isaiah 41:8, &c. And St Paul himself must have been led from the very beginning of his Christian life to meditate on the mysteries involved in this revealed method of the Divine working. See Acts 9:15. He would therefore know from within the strength that comes into a life which God has knit to Himself and admitted to a definite share in the working out of His Eternal purpose. Thackeray (St Paul and Jewish Thought, pp. 250 f.) calls attention to the prominence of the thought of Election in the Book of Similitudes, Enoch, chaps. 37–71.

πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου (cf. Enoch xlviii. 6 f., and Hort on 1 Peter 1:20). The choice is no after-thought. Speaking of the Divine acts, as we are bound to speak, in the language of time, the plan of Creation preceded its execution.

εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ�. The object of our election is that we should be positively and negatively worthy of our consecration; cf. Ephesians 5:27, ἁγίους; cf. on Ephesians 1:1.

ἀμώμους (cf. Lightfoot on Colossians 1:22; Hort on 1 Peter 1:19) ‘without blemish.’ The strict meaning of the word in classical Greek would be ‘without blame.’ In the Greek Bible, however, the word acquired a special connotation by being used of sacrificial victims.

κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ (cf. Jude 1:24, also in conjunction with ἄμωμος), tried by the searching light of His presence.

ἐν�, Ephesians 3:17; Ephesians 4:2; Ephesians 4:15-16; Ephesians 5:2. ‘In the power of love.’ Love appears in this Epistle as the condition of the indwelling of Christ (Ephesians 3:17), an unfailing spring of mutual forbearance (Ephesians 4:2), of life in accordance with the Truth (Ephesians 4:15), and of the development of the Body (Ephesians 4:16). Here it is (see G. H. Whitaker in loc.) ‘the atmosphere of holiness,’ not so much the test of obedience to the law of life, failure in which would constitute a blemish, as the source and shield of sanctification. Cf. Seeley in Ecce Homo, c. 1 (fin.), ‘No heart is pure that is not passionate.’