Eph, 1:4 "Before the Foundation of the World"?

Ephesians 1:4

According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. . .

A believer wrote:

Even before the overthrow? What does it mean? I remember a verse in the bible that says:
Before me, there was no God.
implying that there was a time before God. I do not know about other translations.

Dear Believer,
God bless you, and thank you for writing. There was a world that was and perished or was overthrown (2 Peter 3:6). If there was no world that perished, then the following Scripture could not be true:

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Eph 1:4  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:

Here is why:

Foundation

There is something unique in Ephesians 1:4 that, when once perceived, makes the calling of The Church of The One Body completely separate from that of any other company spoken of in the Scriptures. The peculiarity of this calling does not rest on the word foundation; whatever that word shall ultimately prove to be, it rests on the word "before," this is the unique feature.

All other callings are related to a choice and a purpose dated "from or since" the foundation of the world; this calling of Ephesians alone is related to a choice and a purpose that goes back to before that era. As a certain amount of doctrine must be built upon these two prepositions before and from, some acquaintance with them seems called for.

The Greek Pro, translated as "before," is a preposition that indicates time, place, or preference.

1. Before in respect of place:  The Judge standeth before the door (Jas. 5:9).

2. Before in respect of time:  Judge nothing before the time (1 Cor. 4:5).

3. Before in respect of preference:  He is before all things (Col. 1:17).

The Greek Apo, translated as "from," is a preposition that indicates separation or origin. The primary use of apo is with reference to place, but by a recognized transition, it can be employed of the distance of time of the temporal terminus from which:

• • From that time Jesus began to preach (Matt. 4:17).
    
    
  • From two years old and under (Matt. 2:16).
    
    
  • From the beginning of the world (Eph. 3:9).

The two expressions from the foundation of the world and before the foundation of the world occur as follows:

FROM THE FOUNDATION

1. With reference to the use of parables, in speaking of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world (Matt. 13:35).

2. With reference to the separation of the nations at the second coming of Christ: Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt. 25:34).

3. With reference to the character of those who killed the prophets sent to them: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation (Luke 11:50).

4. With reference to the typical character of the Sabbath: As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world (Heb. 4:3).

5. With reference to the character of the offering of Christ: Nor yet that He should offer Himself often ... for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world (Heb. 9:25-26).

6. Everyone whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain (Rev. 13:8, R.V. margin). They whose name hath not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world (Rev. 17:8, R.V.).

BEFORE THE FOUNDATION

• • With reference to Christ alone:  Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).
    
    
  • As of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:19-20).
    
    
  • With reference to the Redeemed:  Chosen us In Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

Commenting upon the most obvious difference between these two sets of passages is unnecessary. However, let us not miss one precious item of doctrine revealed by comparing the three references "before the foundation" together. In John 17:24, Christ was "loved" - agapao; in 1 Peter 1:19-20, He was without "blemish" and without spot. amomos. In Ephesians 1:4, the believer is said to have been chosen before the foundation of the world in "love" agape, to be "blameless" amomos. Here, those chosen in Christ were looked upon as being so closely identified with Him that the same terms are used. No wonder, as we proceed, we read of further identification with The Beloved, which speaks of being crucified with Christ, raised together, seated together, and ultimately manifested with Him in Glory. These two sets of terms before and since indicate two distinct time periods. Further studies will show that before and since the age times is a somewhat similar set of terms, but before this, we must understand the meaning of the word foundation.

Our thoughts naturally turn to passages such as Job 38:4 and Isaiah 48:13, where the Lord speaks of laying the earth's foundation. Now, happily, we have a New Testament quotation in Hebrews 1:10, where the word foundation is expressed by the Greek word themelion, but when we turn to any of the passages where the words before or from the foundation of the world occur, themelion is not found, but instead, the word katabole is employed. It is impossible to argue that Paul, for some peculiar reason, would not and did not employ the word themelion, for it occurs as the translation of the word "foundation" of a temple in Ephesians 2:20-21, the "foundation" of the apostles and prophets, and again in 1 Corinthians 3:10 and 2 Timothy 2:19. There must be, therefore, some good reason for choosing so different a word as katabole.

This word has entered into our own language as a biological term - metabolism, being the name given to the process in an organism or a living cell by which nutritive material is built up into living matter, and this process is divided into (1) constructive metabolism, which is called anabolism, by which protoplasm is broken down into simpler substances to perform special functions; and (2) destructive metabolism, which is called katabolism. In its biological use, katabole indicates destruction.

It is strange, if the word means to place upon a foundation that scientists should have adopted it to indicate disruption. The verb kataballo is used three times in the New Testament.

Heaven

Heaven. There are five words employed in the Hebrew O.T. translated as "heaven" and one Greek word so translated in the N.T. Of the Hebrew words, galgal (Psa. 77:18) refers to the "rolling clouds," the word galgal being elsewhere rendered "wheel" and "rolling thing." Shachaq, used in Psalm 89:6 and Psalm 89:37, means a "thin cloud" and is elsewhere translated as "cloud," "sky," and "small dust." It may be accidental, but it is nevertheless interesting that the blue color, and hence the visibility of the "sky," is owing to the refraction of blue rays of light and that "it is to the vapoury and the earthy particles in the atmosphere that the refraction is due; but for these, there would be total darkness till the instant of sunrise." As the imagery of the O.T. has been seized upon to "prove" the unscientific character of these ancient writings, the inclusion of the above note may not be without justification. Arabah "mixed" (Psa. 68:4) and ariphim "dropping" (Isa. 5:30) complete the references that refer to the clouds under the covering figure of heaven.

Shamayim. This Hebrew word is the one that is translated as "heaven" or "heavens" in the O.T. except in those portions where the Chaldee equivalent shemayin is used (Ezra, Daniel, and Jeremiah 10:11). The Hebrew shamayim occurs in the O.T. 419 times, of these, twenty-one occurrences are translated "air," as in Genesis 1:26. In the N.T. only one word, ouranos, is translated "heaven." This Greek word occurs over 280 times, of which "air" accounts for ten occurrences and "sky" for five. "The name "heaven" in our own language has been explained, according to its etymology, as that which is heaved or lifted up, and a similar origin has been assigned to the Greek ouranos and the Hebrew shamayim. The nature of the temporary "heaven" stretched out like a tent over the earth during the ages of Redemption. In this article, we deal with heaven itself. Whether the translation reads "heaven" or "heavens," the word is always plural in the original. This no more indicates a plurality of "heavens" than the plural Elohim "God" indicates a plurality of gods. There is a use of the plural in the Hebrew language known as "The Plural of Majesty" as, for example, "the sacrifices of God" in Psalm 51:17, which means "the Great Sacrifice."

Creation is divided into two parts, "heaven and earth" (Gen. 1:1), which in Colossians 1:16 is expanded to mean "all things visible and invisible," and the term "heaven" may include thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, as well as physical sun, moon, and stars. Heaven is often used as a symbol of authority, for example, when Nebuchadnezzar learned "that the heavens do rule" (Dan. 4:26). The superiority of the heavens to the earth is expressed in the words "on high" (Luke 1:78, Heb. 1:3), "height" (Isa. 7:11, Psa. 148:1, Prov. 25:3). It is possible that, after Genesis 1:1, there are but nine or ten references to "heaven itself," i.e., The Heaven of Genesis 1:1, in the whole of the O.T. This can be put to the test by reading the Book of Genesis, and noting every allusion to "heaven." We read of the waters that are under heaven, lights in the firmament of heaven, fowl that fly in the "air," the windows of heaven opened at the deluge, Abraham directed to look toward heaven, to the countless number of the stars, but no passage demands that the term "heaven" should be interpreted of the heaven of Genesis 1:1. We cannot print here the 419 references to heaven, but we can print the nine or ten references that look beyond the present limited firmament.

"Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God" (Deut. 10:14).

Here Moses draws attention to the firmament which is "called" heaven, and the Heaven of heavens, the Heavens in the highest degree that were created long before the six days of Genesis 1:3-2:1. No further reference is made to the Heavens themselves, until the days of David and Solomon, where in Psalm 8:1, Psa. 57:5, Psa. 57:11, Psa. 108:5, Psa. 113:4, Psa. 115:16 and Psa. 148:4, we have six references to a Glory that is above the present limited heavens, making, with Deuteronomy 10:14, seven in all, the perfect number; in all other places, the heavens referred to are put into correspondence with the firmament (Psa. 19:1) either by the actual statement or by implication. Five hundred years after Moses, Solomon recognized that neither the present heavens nor the Heaven of heavens could "contain" God (1 Kings 8:27), and the last reference to the Heaven of heavens, in contrast with the firmament, is found in the Levites' prayer (Neh. 9:6).

Even when we bring these passages forward, they only emphasize the fact that "the heaven" of the O.T. was the "firmament" of Genesis 1:8, stretched out like a curtain or a tent for God to dwell in (Isa. 40:22) and any reference in Psalm or Prophecy that speaks of heaven as God's "dwelling place" refers to this tabernacle formed by the firmament. When we open the N.T., it is pardonable if we expect to find a great advance upon this limitation of the term "heaven." Twelve times do we read in Matthew of the "Father which is in heaven," but we also read that the heavens were opened at the baptism of the Lord, that the heavens are to pass away, and unless it is a matter beyond dispute that "angels" inhabit the Heaven of heavens, we shall find no instance in The Gospel of Matthew of a reference to any other "heaven" than the firmament of Genesis 1:8.

We have to wait until we reach The Gospel of John for any explicit reference to the highest heavens, and there the Saviour speaks of ascending up to Heaven to where He was before (John 3:13, John 6:62), to The Glory that He had "before the world was" (John 17:5). In these few references is contained practically all that is said of the "Heavens" of Genesis 1:1 in The Four Gospels. The only Calling and company, Hope, and Sphere of Blessing that pierces the present firmament above us and ascends to where Christ sits at the right hand of God is The Church of The Mystery. Christ is set forth, in Ephesians 4:10, as having ascended "Far above all heavens" yet revealed as seated at the right hand of God "in The Heavenly Places." These Heavenly Places, therefore, must be above the limitations of the outstretched heavens. This is not invalidated by the fact that the selfsame sphere is called in Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians "Heaven," for we must not allow ourselves to rob "Heaven itself" of its true title simply because we have used it so often of the limited firmament. In connection with this same calling, Christ can be said to be both "Far above all the heavens" yet "in Heaven" at the right hand of God.

There are eleven references to "heaven" in the Epistle to the Hebrews; one only speaks of "Heaven itself," and the others refer to the lesser and lower heavens. For the heavens created as recorded in Hebrews 1:10 are to "perish," but this can never be said of "Heaven itself," Christ is said to have "passed through the heavens," dierchomai (Heb. 4:14) and as being made "Higher than the heavens" (Heb. 7:26), without involving any contradiction in the saying that He Who passed through the heavens and was made higher than the heavens, was at the selfsame time depicted as entering "Heaven itself" (Heb. 9:24). The contradiction only exists in our minds if we fail to distinguish the Heaven of the beginning, Genesis 1:1 from the heaven of the ages, Genesis 1:8. The only references to the heavens of Genesis 1:1 that are found in the remainder of the N.T. are those of Peter and of the Revelation, which speaks of a new heaven and new earth (2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:1).

The new heavens and the new earth spoken of by Isaiah are related to Jerusalem (Isa. 65:17-18). Where we read in Revelation 21 of a "first heaven" and a "first earth," the word translated "first," protos, is rendered in Rev. 21:4 as "the former things," and we should possibly translate Revelation 21:1, "the former heaven and the former earth," the reference to "no more sea" being an evident allusion to Genesis 1:2. In connection with the subject before us, let us turn to the words of Paul as found in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4. In direct connection with the visions and revelations he had received, he refers to an extraordinary experience. Whether he was "in the body or whether out of the body," he could not tell, but he did know that he had been caught up to the third heaven . . . caught up into paradise.

First, we must be clear as to the meaning of the term "caught up." The word "up" in this passage has no equivalent in Greek, and to attempt to make it have any bearing upon the subject betrays as much ignorance of the original as would be betrayed by anyone seeking to extract the idea of direction upward, from such idiomatic phrases of the English language as "shut up," "wash up," "lock up" and the like. We can omit the word "up" for the Greek word arpazo is translated as "take by force," "catch away," "pluck," "caught away," and "pull." The phrase "in the body" translates as en somati, which is very like the phrase en pneumati "in spirit" used on the occasion when John was translated to "The Day of the Lord" (Rev. 1:10). The closest parallel is that of the experience of Philip, who was "caught away" by The Spirit of The Lord and was "found at Azotus," some miles away.

Evidently, the third heaven to which Paul was "caught away" was Paradise. Otherwise, his reiteration would need a deal of explanation. Paradise has been located in different regions by different teachers, mainly in accordance with their peculiar beliefs concerning the intermediate state. If we keep close to the Scriptural meaning of Paradise, we shall know that it is derived from the Hebrew pardes (Neh. 2:8, Song. 4:13) and means "a garden or orchard," and when we meet the word in the Book of Revelation, it has no connection whatever with an intermediate state but is still a garden and orchard, it is indeed the garden of Eden restored and extended.

In what way, we may ask, can this Paradise at the end of the age be in any way related to the "third" heaven? If we count the third heaven as being like the third story of a building, it will certainly appear incongruous. But Revelation 21 has already spoken of "a new earth" and a "former earth," consequently it would be true to say, even as Peter in 2 Peter 3 has indicated, that there was a first heaven in the beginning (Gen. 1:1); a second heaven, at the making of the earth ready for mankind (Gen. 1:8); a third heaven, at the end when redemption shall be finished (Rev. 21:1). It was to this "heaven" and this "paradise" that Paul was caught away, and as he stresses more than any other writer in the N.T. the blessings of the New Creation, it is quite understandable that he should associate this great goal of the ages with the visions and revelation he had received in connection with his apostleship.

The great lesson that forces itself upon our attention, however, is the fact that, apart from Paul's ministry, and especially his prison ministry, there is scarcely any reference in the Scriptures, either Old or New, to The Heaven of Genesis 1:1. The Hope of The Mystery alone pierces the intervening firmament and places the believer "Far above all" even where Christ sits at the right hand of God. We must now consider the special term "Heavenly Places," but we will devote separate studies to this.

All God's Blessings,
The Believers