---

1. These grounds of thanksgiving are but various aspects of the great blessing of salvation. The diamond flashes green and purple and yellow and red, according to the angle at which its facets catch the eye.

2. All these blessings are the present possessions of Christians.

3. Note the remarkable correspondence with Acts 26:17-18.

I. The first ground of thankfulness which all Christians have is that THEY ARE FIT FOR THE INHERITANCE. The metaphor is drawn from Israel's "inheritance" of Canaan. Unfortunately our use of "heir" and "inheritance" is confined to succession on death. In Scripture it implies possession by lot, and points to the fact that the people did not win their land, but "God had a favour unto them." So the Christian inheritance is not won by merit, but given by God's goodness.

1. Is it present or future? Both: because whatever may wait to be revealed, the essence of all which heaven can bring is ours to-day who live in the faith and love of Christ. The difference is one of degree, not of kind. He who can say, "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance" will neither leave his treasures behind by death, nor enter on a new inheritance. Its beginnings are here but as the "earnest," limited, in comparison, as the tuft of grass which used to be given to a new possessor, when set against the broad lands from which it was plucked. Here the idea is that of a present fitness for a mainly future inheritance.

2. The inheritance is, "in the light," a realm where purity and knowledge and gladness dwell.

3. From this it follows that it can only be possessed by saints. There is no merit, but there is congruity. If it be a kingdom of light, then only souls who love the light can go thither, and until owls and bats rejoice in the sunshine there will be no way of being fit but by ourselves being "light in the Lord."

4. But men not perfectly pure are fit. The Colossians were made meet at their conversion. Incipient faith in Christ works a change so great as to fit us, for although it be but as a grain of mustard seed, it shapes from henceforth our personal being. There is nothing in this inconsistent with the need of continual growth in congruity. True fitness will become more and more fit.

5. The land was parted among the tribes according to their strength; some had a wider, some a narrower strip. So as there are differences of character here there will be differences in participation hereafter. "Star differeth from star."

II. The second ground is THE CHANGE OF KING AND COUNTRY. In the "deliverance" there may be a reference to that of Israel suggested by "inheritance," while the "translation" may be derived from the practice of deporting whole bodies of natives from conquered kingdoms to some other part of the conqueror's realm.

1. The two kingdoms and their kings.

(1) The power of darkness (Luke 22:18) implies harsh, arbitrary dominion, a realm of cruel and grinding sway. Men who are not Christians live in a subjection to darkness of ignorance, misery, and sin.

(2) What a wonderful contrast do the other kingdom and King present! The Son who is the object of God's love. Wherever men lovingly obey Christ is His kingdom of light, gladness, hope, knowledge, and righteousness.

2. The transference of subjects. A great conqueror has come, and speaks to us as Sennacherib did to the Jews (2 Kings 18:31-32). If we listen He will lead us away and plant us, not as pining exiles, but as happy citizens in the kingdom which the Father has appointed.

3. The transference is effected the moment we yield our heart to Christ. When we die we shall change provinces, but not kingdoms or King, only we shall see the King in His beauty.

III. The heart and centre of all thankfulness is THE REDEMPTION WE RECEIVE THROUGH CHRIST.

1. Redemption is the act of delivering a captive by ransom. So it is the same as the deliverance of the previous verse, only what is there an act of power is here an act of self-sacrificing love. Christ's death breaks the chains, sets us free, and acquires us for Himself.

2. The essential element of this redemption is forgiveness, not only the removal of legal penalties, however. The truest penalty of sin is that death which is separation from God; and the conceptions of judicial pardon and Fatherly forgiveness unite in the removal of that separation and the deliverance of the heart and conscience from the burden of guilt and a Father's wrath.

3. Such forgiveness leads to that full deliverance from the power of darkness which is the completion of redemption. Forgiveness means "sending away" not only as guilt but as habit.

4. The condition of possessing this redemption is union with Christ. "In whom." We cannot get His gifts without Himself.

5. Redemption is a present and growing possession. "We have," or "are having."

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

---

---

KJV: Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

WEB: giving thanks to the Father, who made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light;