Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as He hath chosen us in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD that we should be holy and without blameless before Him in love (Eph. 1:3-4).

In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie PROMISED BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching which is committed unto me, according to the commandment of God our Saviour (Titus 1:2-3).

“Before the foundation of the world”? Does that mean God chose us before He created the earth and the heavens? On thinking about it, no. The “world” is not the physical earth nor the sun, moon or stars above. It is the God-rejecting form of human society that lives on it

Fact is, God did not “found” the world; Satan working through Adam and Eve did. That’s why the devil is still running the show and setting the world’s evil agenda to this day.

The important point is that God chose us BEFORE all that began. In the BEFORE when He could talk freely with our first parents as they walked in Eden’s evening cool. BEFORE they ate of the forbidden fruit. BEFORE they were seduced into rebelling against God. 

Deep in the heart of every human being is a longing to return to a state where we could be “at one” with God and walk and talk with Him. It is the true “homeland” for both man and woman. And deep in the heart of God there is also a burning desire to have man at home with Him, for ever.

So deep is that desire that God determined it should be so BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. And He has been working ever since the rebellion in Eden. “Known unto God are all his works from the BEGINNING of the world” (Acts 15:18).

What a stunning thought! That before the world came into being God chose us who believe his latest word to us through the Apostle Paul, to be “holy and blameless before Him in love”. Now, for many of us it’s enough to know He has chosen us at all. But to realise that He did so before the devil brought the world into being is mind-boggling.

And it’s not just that He CHOSE us back then. 2 Tim. 1:8-9 asserts that we are both “saved” and “called” according to his “purpose and grace” which was given to us “BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN”.

Today there is debate among expositors of the word as to whether the verses quoted above really mean what they say. Some say “before” in the verses really means before “the world to come” (Matt. 12:32, Eph. 1:21, Heb. 2:5, Luke 20:35). The “world to come” is, of course, the “Day of Christ” in which the Lord Jesus Christ will take over government of the world, and it is true that we will appear with Him in glory to reign with Him.

But the plain fact is that in the three verses quoted at the head of this article, the past, not future, tense is used. Thus, it was in the past when God determined we should be saved by his grace and called according to his own purpose He had already formed before He created anything.

You see, if we are true Bible believers, we must let the authority of God’s word itself finally determine its meaning. We must let the verses say what they mean since they mean what they say. There is no need to re-interpret or alter what God has plainly said.

That this is God’s first and ultimate purpose is spelled out in the first chapter of Ephesians.

Verse 9 even says that He has “made known unto us the mystery (secret now revealed) of his will, according to his good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself”. It is a sad commentary on the state of Christianity in 2025 that few believers know what that purpose is. In a word it is “eternal life”. And eternal life means living happily with God forever and knowing Him more fully without sin.

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, even Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).

Yes, we are called and saved for a purpose that will only be fulfilled in the Day of Christ to come when we will reign with Christ as his assistants in his new world order (2 Tim. 2:12). But that is not what the verses above speak about.

They speak about the Lord having chosen us before Satan’s world began through Adam and Eve’s sin for a special purpose. That purpose was and is that He should have a company of holy, faithful people to be with Him “holy and blameless in love”. Not only did He choose us back then, but our very calling and grace was given to us then.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com