just as he chose all of us in Him before the foundations of the world, us all to be holy and blameless before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4).
As Paul continues describing how God speaks well of those in the heavens who are in Christ, he reveals that God determined before the foundations of the world to set apart a group of believers to be holy and blameless before Him in His love.
God’s act of raising Christ from the dead, thereby creating a new man (2 Corinthians 5:17), was not a response to human wickedness; rather, it fulfilled a plan established before the creation of the universe. Prior to creation, the Godhead determined their purpose. One aspect of this counsel pertains to those who would be in Christ: a group of saints set apart and blameless before Him in love.
This position is reserved for the Church (Ephesians 5:27). The Father was pleased that all fullness would dwell in Christ, and through Him, all things would be reconciled to Himself in the body of His flesh through death, presenting the Church as holy and blameless (Colossians 1:20–22).
Since the believer under grace will be presented to the Father as blameless in Christ, he should seek to live a life that represents this position (2 Peter 3:12). Therefore, Christians should do all things without complaining or grumbling, so that they may be recognized as children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, by living out their identity in Christ (Philippians 2:15).
It is God’s determinate will that all who are in Christ will remain set apart and blameless before Him in love. This is not a work-based position. Those of the Church possess the righteousness of God in Christ and are thereby blameless before God (1 Corinthians 1:30). Therefore, we should not set aside the grace of God by seeking our own righteousness (Galatians 2:21), but rather be found in Christ, expressing the righteousness that comes from faith (Philippians 3:9). This is the position God determined to give to all those who are in the Christ.
