Colossians 1:12-14

‘Giving thanks to the Father who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son (the Son of his love), in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.'

Here is the source of the power, and of the privilege of walking worthily of the Lord, and the motive force behind it. It is in the action of the Father. It is the Father Who has done these things. And Paul gives thanks for what He has done, and he wants the Colossians, and us, to do so as well. He points out that He has ‘made us meet', made us into what is required. He has delivered us, and He has redeemed and forgiven us. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like me His praise should sing?

‘Who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' When we consider the glory of that inheritance, that time when the people of God will dwell with the Father in His everlasting light (Revelation 21:22; Revelation 22:5), we, in our sinfulness, can only ask, ‘how can we may be made meet (hikanosanti), be made sufficient, be made suitable and satisfactory, be made worthy, for this?' And the answer is given. ‘He has delivered us from darkness and brought us into light and under His kingly rule', having redeemed and forgiven us so that we can face that light without fear, and has been ‘made unto us righteousness' (1 Corinthians 1:30) so that we have been made ‘the righteousness of God in Him' (2 Corinthians 5:21).

‘Who delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.' We were under ‘the power of darkness', the rule of darkness (note the contrast with the rule of Christ, the rule of light). Our minds were blinded (2 Corinthians 4:4), we were manipulated by Satan, we followed His ways (see Ephesians 2:2). And then God stepped in. He paid the transfer price that justice demanded, and,through the death of the Redeemer, He delivered us from darkness and from Satan's manipulation, and transferred us into another sphere of power, the kingship, the rule of His own beloved Son. So were we brought into heavenly places with Christ, recognising Him as our Lord, submitting to Him and sharing with Him His power and His glory (Ephesians 2:4). This is our present state, preparing us for the heavenly kingdom yet to come when earth's clutch will be no more.

‘The power of darkness.' Here darkness is seen as a kingdom which has power over us. We can compare how Jesus said to the Jewish leaders who came to arrest Him, ‘this is your hour and the power of darkness' (Luke 22:53). They were acting on behalf of the power of darkness, as do all who oppose Christ. (Compare the parallel expression ‘the power of Satan' in Acts 26:18).

‘The Son of His love.' His own beloved Son. He Who was great and loved beyond all measure. He Who had died and had risen again and was now seated far above all in glory and majesty (Ephesians 1:20), it is His kingdom that we share. And we share His kingdom even now prior to that day when God will become all in all (1 Corinthians 15:24).

The ‘kingdom (kingship) of Christ' is never elsewhere referred to specifically as such in the New Testament, but the idea is regularly implied for He is the King, both on His own throne and on His Father's throne (Revelation 3:21). He is set at God's right hand and rules over all (Ephesians 1:20). It refers here to His present rule over His people. We are under His rule and called to be obedient and dedicated to Him. But this will be extended by His future rule (Matthew 25:34) when His people enter eternal life (Matthew 25:46) to receive the future kingdom. It parallels ‘the kingdom (kingship) of God' which also has present aspects (Romans 14:17; 1 Corinthians 4:20; Colossians 4:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:12) and future aspects (1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:50; Gal 5:21; 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:18), and can be called ‘the kingdom of Christ and of God' (Ephesians 5:5 compare Revelation 11:15). The emphasis here is on the fact that He has established His rule by His redeeming love and power in accordance with the will of the Father.

‘In Whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.' Here is the secret. A price was paid, a ransom (Mark 10:45). We were ‘redeemed'. We were bought back through His blood (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18). Our lives were forfeit but the price of sin was paid by Another dying in our place (Mark 10:45). And thus we were delivered. The price was not paid to Satan. He had no rights over us except by conquest. The price was paid at the bar of justice before the Judge of all to satisfy a broken Law.

But redemption not only includes the payment of a price, it also includes redemption by power. And through the cross He broke the power of evil and set us free from bondage to Satan and his forces (Colossians 2:15). And so we received forgiveness for all our sins. We were rid of them for they were laid on Him (Isaiah 53:6). And we being thus forgiven no longer have our sins counted against us, for they are cancelled out. They are removed from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12). We are made righteous in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

‘Redemption.' The idea of redemption is redemption from bondage, from bondage to sin as our accuser (Romans 7:11; Romans 3:24) and as our slave-master (Romans 6:12; Romans 6:17; Romans 6:23; Romans 7:5; Romans 7:23), from bondage to fear of death (Hebrews 2:15), from bondage to Satan as ruler over the power of darkness. It is deliverance by the payment of a price and the exercise of great power.

‘The forgiveness of our sins.' A popular New Testament idea. The word for forgiveness here is 'aphesis which means ‘cancellation' and is used to mean the cancellation of the guilt of sin. It is common in the New Testament, see Matthew 26:28; Mark 1:4; Luke 1:77; Luke 3:3; Luke 24:47; Acts 2:38; Acts 5:31; Acts 10:43; Acts 13:38 (by Paul); Acts 26:18 (by Paul); Hebrews 9:22; Hebrews 10:18, but rarely used by Paul in his epistles (only here, in Ephesians 1:7, a parallel passage, and in a quotation in Romans 4:7) who tends to speak more in terms of ‘reckoning righteous'. Elsewhere he speaks of ‘pardon' (charizomai) for sin (Colossian Colossians 2:13) and the ‘passing over' of sins done aforetime in the light of Christ's then future redemptive work (Romans 3:25). For such forgiveness see Psalms 51:1; Psalms 51:9; Isaiah 43:25; Isaiah 44:22. See also James 5:15; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:12.

The deliverance from the power of darkness that we might receive forgiveness of sins, and the receive His inheritance, are found also in Paul's words to Agrippa (echoing Christ's words to him), ‘to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me' (Acts 26:18).