According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
All Commentaries on Ephesians 1:4 Go To Ephesians 1
Jerome
AD 420
Between saintly and unblemished there is this difference, that one who is saintly is ipso facto understood also to be unblemished, but one who is at some point unblemished is not by that fact itself saintly. Infants, after all, are spotless because their bodies are pure and they have committed no sin; and yet they are not saintly, because sanctity is not acquired without will and effort. Moreover, he who has done no sin can be called unblemished, but the saintly person is the one who is full of virtues. .