even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him;
- Ephesians 1:4
even as he chose us in him - When God exiled Israel to Babylon, the Israelites began to question whether they were still God's people. God responds through the prophet Isaiah by saying that He affirms that they are indeed His chosen people.
Isaiah 41:8-9So the typical Jew would have thought of themselves as God's chosen. Gentiles were not considered God's chosen. Paul corrects this and says that those in Christ are God's chosen.
"But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham my friend,
You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,
and called from its corners,
and said to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away;’"
See also Isaiah 43:10 Isaiah 44:1
before the foundation of the world - According to The Assumption of Moses, the purpose for creating the world from it's foundation was for God's people. The Jews considered themselves as God's people and again Paul, makes clear that God's people are those in Christ.
that we would be holy and without blemish before him - "Without blemish" is a phrase used to refer to the sacrifices made to the Lord but it was also used to describe those who kept the Law. We see this in the parallelism below:
Psalm 119:1The unblemished would also have an inheritance at the end of the age.
Blessed are those whose ways are without blemish, who walk according to Yahweh's law.
See also Psa. 15:2, Psa. 18:23, Job 1:1, Psa. 19:13, Psa. 119:80, Pro. 11:5, Pro. 20:7
Psalm 37:18The false teachers had been saying that there were two types of holy ones: those who follow the Way of the Flesh (unblemished) and those who followed the Way of the Spirit (blemished). Paul corrects this and says they are all holy and without blemish before God.
Yahweh knows the days of the unblemished. Their inheritance shall be into the age.
