4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
God’s purpose in choosing the kind of salvation He offers is that believers will hold a certain kind of status before Him.
that
“That” indicates purpose. The purpose of God’s choosing us is that we should be holy and without blame before Him for eternity.
we should be holy
“Holy” means set apart. God sets us apart as His special people. He sets us apart entirely for Himself. This is positional holiness; that is, our eternal status before God is that we are set apart for Him.
and without blame
The New Testament uses the Greek word for “without blame” eight times (here, Eph 5:27; Php 2:15; Co 1:22; He 9:14; 1 Pe 1:19; 2 Pe 3:14; Re 14:5). “Without blame” is also positional. We have an eternal status before God as never being blamed by Him for our sin. God will never blame us for our sins because Jesus fully paid for them by His blood.
It is important not to understand “without blame” as meaning without personal sin or fault. One day we will be sinless and faultless, but not now. “Without blame” means we have the same standing or position before God as Jesus right now.
God will one day in eternity present us “faultless.”
Jude 24-25, Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
before Him [God]
Our holiness and blamelessness are “before” God. We will be just like our Lord as we live before Him. Again, we will appear before Him in eternity holy and blameless, but that is not the point here. When God looks at us now He sees absolute and undiminished perfection. This is how God looks at us presently.
in love,
The reason God gave us a perfect status before Him was because He loved us. When God looks at us, all He sees is Jesus in us and everything that He represents.
PRINCIPLE:
Christians have a perfect standing in the sight of God.
APPLICATION:
Election brings both privilege and responsibility. Our salvation not only involves the repair of the damage of sin in our lives but also, on the positive side, brings the possibility to construct maturity in Christ.
Election takes us out of the status of membership in Satan’s family to the status of being “in Christ”—to the new prerogative of being “in Christ.” We are no longer in the family of Satan but in the family of God. We are set apart in Christ.
Our status “in Christ” has implications for Christian living. Once a husband marries his wife, he becomes very dogmatic about her not running around with other men. Marriage sets them apart for each other. Since God set us apart for Himself, He expects us to change our lifestyle. There is no latitude or exception in this.
We are “without blame” before God forever. No one can level a charge against us, because Christ took our penalty.
Ro 8:33, Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
