Correctly reading a sentence from Ephesians

Greek Koine and Biblical and Medieval Greek
1

Can anyone help me with a question about correctly reading Ephesians 1:4 from the New Testament.

In english it’s: “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”

I’m interested about the phrase “before the creation of the world”.

I always understood that it means that “us” is being chosen before the creation of the world.

I came upon an argument that it means that “Him” was before the creation of the world, like some form of a title - He That Was Before The Creation Of The World.

I find argument wrong, but I’d like a confirmation from someone who knows Koine Greek. Can “before the creation of the world” apply to “Him” instead of “us” in that sentence, and be grammatically correct? I’m talking about original sentence in Koine Greek:

καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ

In case I didn’t render the sentence correctly, here’s also a link to the page with this sentence in Koine Greek:
http://biblehub.com/text/ephesians/1-4.htm

2

It would be a lot easier do address this question if you would cite the source or provide a link.

Can “before the creation of the world” apply to “Him” instead of “us” in that sentence …"

Both are wrong, I should let Barry Hofstetter handle this.

Eph. 1:3 Εὐλογητὸς ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ εὐλογήσας ἡμᾶς ἐν πάσῃ εὐλογίᾳ πνευματικῇ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ, 4 καθὼς ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους καὶ ἀμώμους κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ, 5 προορίσας ἡμᾶς εἰς υἱοθεσίαν διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰς αὐτόν, κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, …

This is a long sentence. καθὼς introduces a new clause. ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς is the propositional core. ἐν αὐτῷ and πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου are both adverbial constituents that qualify the proposition. εἶναι ἡμᾶς ἁγίους … κατενώπιον αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀγάπῃ further qualifies …

I have the late Harold Hoehner’s magnum opus on Ephesians sitting here. I haven’t consulted it, about 20 pages on Ephesians 1:4. The suggestion you presented from an unnamed source doesn’t sound to me like it was made by anyone who can read the language.

I know this isn’t very helpful. Perhaps Barry we’ll have something more enlightening to offer.

3

That phrase is used a number of times in scripture (John, 1 Peter), and a number of times by Clement of Alexandria. Here he is in Stromata 6.9.76.3: …ὃν προώρισεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου εἰς τὴν ἄκραν ἐγκαταλεγῆναι υἱοθεσίαν…

If it were a title, it would be ὁ θεὸς ὁ πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου

4

The short answer is “absolutely not.” πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου is a prepositional phrase used adverbially to modify ἐξελέξατο. Stirling is right that an individual who would make such a claim likely does not know Greek and has a religious axe to grind. Jesdaith also correctly shows how a title would be rendered.

5

Thank you, to all, for the answers. Barry, you used the same phrase I used about the argument when I heard it - an axe to grind. I just wanted to be sure.

6

As Barry rightly says, πρὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου applies to ἐξελέξατο. More precisely it applies to ἐξελέξατο ἡμᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ: before the foundation of the cosmos he chose us in him. The preceding part of the sentence shows that “he” (the one who did the choosing) is God and father of Jesus Christ and that “him” is Christ; and the opening salutation shows that “us” refers to Christians (or Ephesian Christians). So the implication is that God had already chosen Christians before he created the world. Christians (as opposed to Jews?) are the chosen people. Of course, only a Christian could say that.

And as Stirling rightly says, the following ειναι ημας … constituent continues that in turn—as do the following constituents, all the way down to the end of verse 14, where we finally reach the end of this phenomenally long sentence.