‘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) (Romans 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 Genesis 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 (2 Thessalonians 2:13; Matthew 24:22; Matthew 24:24; Matthew 24:31; Mark 13:20; Luke 18:7; Romans 8:33; Rom 9:11; 1 Corinthians 1:27-28; Colossians 3:12; 1Th 1:4; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 Peter 2:4; 1 Peter 5:13), like a woman chosen for her husband (Ephesians 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 (2 Peter 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 Genesis 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' (2 Thessalonians 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' (2 Peter 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 (Ephesians 5:26; Isaiah 1:18; Romans 3:24; 2Co 5:19; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 10:10; Hebrews 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' - Philippians 2:13-15; ‘are transformed -- from glory to glory' - 2 Corinthians 3:18; ‘those who are being sanctified' - Hebrews 10:14; ‘you have your fruit to sanctification' - Romans 6:19; Romans 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 (Ephesians 5:27; Col 1:22; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44) making us like Him (1 John 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 (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10) that sweeps us up into His arms and into His heart (Deuteronomy 33:27; John 14:21; John 14:23; John 16:27), so that all that comes to us comes in love, for God is love (1 John 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).