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"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it, in
order that He might sanctify (hagiazõ `holy' is hagios) and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word, in order that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not
having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but in order that it should be holy and without
blemish" (Eph. 5: 25-27).
The words are exactly the same as those rendered "holy and without blame" in
Eph. 1: 4. What fulness! what assurance! The Father's object accomplished by His Son,
our Lord. Oh that the Lord's people could rest here, cease their vain strivings, and rest in
the words of blessing "it is finished." Col. 1: 12-22 brings before us the same blessed
truth. There again we find the Father and the Son in perfect accord:--
"Giving thanks unto the Father, Who hath made us meet (sufficient) unto the portion
of the inheritance of the saints (or holy place, hagiõn) in the light. Who hath delivered us
from the authority of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His beloved
Son. . . . You that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through the death, to present
you holy and unblameable (the same word as used in Eph. 1: 4 and 5: 27) and
unreprovable in His sight."
Meetness for the inheritance, the Father's object (Eph. 1: 4, Col. 1: 12), is the result of
the offering of His Son, our Lord (Eph. 5: 25-27; Col. 1: 22). Positively holy, negatively
without blame or blemish, made meet by the Father, presented perfect by the Son, surely
none can refrain from the words of praise, "Blessed be God Who hath blessed us." The
condition of "blamelessness," and "spotlessness" (Eph. 1: and 5:) is that which pertained
to the Lord Jesus in the capacity of the great sacrifice for sin:--
"The precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish (cf. Eph. 1: 4), and without spot
(Eph. 5: 27), Who verily was preordained before the overthrow of the world" (I Pet. 1: 19, 20).
In this passage we learn that not only is the believer's state of blemishlessness exactly
the same as that of the Lord Jesus, but that the same mark of time (before the overthrow)
is spoken of them as it is of the Lord as the fore-ordained Lamb.
Every additional verse we have read in this connection has strengthened and deepened
our knowledge and faith in the completeness and perfectness of our standing "in Him."
Eph. 1: 4 adds one more clause which is too important to miss. All this perfectness and
holiness is "before Him." The expression "before Him" is no vague term, but is the
rendering of a very intense and searching word, katenõpion. In II Cor. 2: 17 the apostle
uses this strong word (according to the received text) when seeking to show that he was
not a corrupter of the word, but "as of sincerity (tested by sunlight), as of God, speak we
in Christ" (cf. II Cor. 12: 19; Jude 24).
Eph. I renders katenõpion autou "before Him"; Col. 1: 22 "in His sight." The less
emphatic word enõpion occurs several times (see Rom. 12: 17; Rev. 4: 5, &100:). The
qualification is stated positively holy, negatively without blame, and positionally
before Him. If the holiness provided by the Saviour can endure the light of God's
presence, we have that which is perfect and complete. To attempt to improve it or make