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In the words "That we should be holy and without blame before Him," we have the object of the Divine election declared, and the cooperation of the elect implied, by the inseparable connection of holiness with election. There is an instructive parallel in Colossians 1:22, "He hath reconciled you in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in His sight." The word "without blame," or "unblamable," is properly without blemish; and the word "unreprovable" more nearly corresponds to our idea of one unblamable — i.e., one against whom no charge can be brought. Here God is said to have "chosen" us, in the other passage to have "presented" us (comp. the sacrificial use of the word in Romans 12:1), in Christ, to be "holy and without blemish." It seems clear that the words refer not to justification in Christ, but to sanctification in Him. They express the positive and negative aspects of holiness; the positive in the spirit of purity, the negative in the absence of spot or blemish. The key to their interpretation is to be found in the idea of Romans 8:29, "whom He did foreknow, He did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son." The word "without blame" is applied to our Lord (in Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19) as a lamb "without blemish." To Him alone it applies perfectly; to us, in proportion to that conformity to His image. The words "before Him" refer us to God's unerring judgment as contrasted with the judgment of men, and even our own judgment on ourselves (comp. 1 Corinthians 4:3, 4; 1 John 3:20, 21)

(A. Barry, D. D.)

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KJV: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

WEB: even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love;