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We have seen that the apostle's prayer loses itself in utterances of adoring gratitude to the Fountain of all good. In the work of our salvation we have proofs of the love of the Father (John 3:16; Romans 8:32), the love of the Son (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2), and the love of the Spirit (Romans 15:30; Ephesians 4:30), of the one "God of our salvation." In vers. 12-14 Paul reminds the Colossians of the love of the Father, and that the blessings which this love secures to us are powerful motives for gratitude and for seeking to attain to that character for which he has been praying. The blessings which the Father's love procures for us includes four changes - a change of place, of character, of kingdom, and of state.

I. A CHANGE OF PLACE. There is an "inheritance" which has been "prepared" and is "reserved" for us (Matthew 25:34; 1 Peter 1:5). It is not here, but "in heaven;" not here, amid darkness and ignorance, "the shadow of death," and, what is worse, the stern realities of sin and of death itself; but "in light" - note various uses of this figure (Isaiah 60:19, 20; Ephesians 5:8, 9; 1 John 1:5; 1 John 2:8-10; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5, etc.). That inheritance is possessed only by God's "saints," whether angelic or human. The sanctity needed for this inheritance is something more than that "consecration" of heart to God which even we sinful children of God may enjoy as we render service in the lower sanctuary of "this present evil world." The "saints in light" are "without blemish," "faultless." God, who is himself "light," is our pledge, that in that inheritance there shall be "no darkness at all," nothing "that defileth," etc. (Revelation 21:27).

II. A CHANGE OF CHARACTER, "Who made us meet," etc. The reference is not here to that growth in the elements of spiritual mindedness by which we become increasingly fitted for the employments and enjoyments of the heavenly inheritance. Paul has been praying for these (vers. 9-11); but here he recognizes that the new nature which God has bestowed on us has already qualified us "to be partakers," etc. A king's child is already, by his birth, capable of taking some part in the life and the engagements of the palace. The penitent robber could take a place in Paradise on the day of his conversion. If we are partakers of the Divine nature we are meet for the Divine inheritance. Already we are "children of the light." Our darkness is past, never to return; the light shineth, and when we change our place it must needs be to an inheritance suited to our new natures and present characters (John 17:24). Without the new birth we shall be as unfit for our inheritance above as a boorish peasant, who had suddenly come to a peerage, for his new position, and as incapable of enjoying and really "inheriting" it as one who had no taste for art or sacred music would be if admitted to a picture gallery or an oratorio; he could not "see the kingdom of God." What a glorious gift our new nature is! It is only by means of it we are made capable of receiving the blessings offered to us; as though a monarch could not only give us a high place in his service, but at the same time could endow us with power to discharge its duties, without which the mere position would be a burden rather than a blessing. Thus God deals with us (2 Corinthians 5:5; Ephesians 2:10).

III. A CHANGE OF KINGDOMS. (Ver. 13.) The change of nature is accompanied by a twofold deliverance - we are rescued from a lawless tyranny (ver. 13) and delivered from a lawful condemnation (ver. 14). We speak of a change of kingdoms, for elsewhere we read of the "kingdom" of Satan who is "the prince of this world." But here the term suggests mere power ("the power of darkness," spoken of by Christ, Luke 22:53). The agents of Satan are described as "the powers, the world rulers of this darkness' (Ephesians 6:12). We were under their power and under the tyranny of" the prince of the power of the air," who is at their head (Luke 11:21; Ephesians 2:2). The mental anarchy of demoniacal possession is a fit symbol of the lawless tyranny of the kingdom of Satan. From that tyranny the Father, with a strong hand, rescued us, emancipated us, and transferred us into a Divine kingdom, of which "the Son of his love" is the Head. Love is as much the essence of the only begotten Son as it is of the Father (1 John 4:8-10). So that his kingdom is a kingdom where love is the ruling power, and where promises, privileges, and benedictions are the main motives for wearing his easy yoke. We are made free citizens of that kingdom and shall share in its triumphs here and in its final glory.

IV. A CHANGE OF STATE. (Ver. 14.) The kingdom which Christ established in our hearts is based on his work as a Redeemer (Romans 14:9; Philippians 2:7-11). The pardon of sins and the translation into the kingdom are inseparable. Each blessing would be incomplete and insufficient without the other. Pardoned sinners left under the power of Satan can no more be thought of than subjects of Christ's kingdom still under wrath. We were under a lawful condemnation as well as a lawless tyranny. From that merited curse we have been ransomed by the Father's love through the redeeming work of Christ (Ephesians 1:7; Titus 3:5-7). The fundamental facts and doctrines of the gospel are all implied here (Romans 4:25; Romans 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Galatians 3:10-13, etc.). We thus enjoy a change of state, being justified and no longer condemned. Note the words, "in whom," etc. Luther remarks that there is a good deal of divinity in the pronouns; so is there also in the prepositions. Christians not only receive blessings through Christ, but in Christ (ver. 19; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 John 5:20, etc.); from whose fulness we receive (like the air, in which we live and move and draw our breath without limitation or restraint; not like water, supplied to us from time to time in a limited cistern). Notice too the necessity of all these four blessings to us, and how absolutely dependent we are for them upon the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Our enfranchisement in the kingdom of Christ includes free forgiveness, secures for us, by the work of the Spirit, "the sanctification, without which no man can see the Lord," and ensures our admission to the heavenly inheritance. "Blessed are they that wash their robes," etc. (Romans 22:14; see also Acts 20:32; Acts 26:17, 18; Romans 8:29, 30; Philippians 3:20). What motives for "giving thanks unto the Father" arise from the reception of such glorious gifts! - E.S.P.

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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;