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
It is asked how anyone can be saintly and unblemished in God’s sight…. We must reply [that] Paul does not say he chose us before the foundation of the world on account of our being saintly and unblemished. He chose us that we might become saintly and unblemished, that is, that we who were not formerly saintly and unblemished should subsequently be so…. So understood it provides a counterargument to one who says that souls were elected before the world came to be because of their sanctity and freedom from any sinful vice. .
