Colossians 1.13-The Father Delivered the Christian From Satan's Kingdom and Transferred Them to His Son's Kingdom
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 22, 2015
Colossians: Colossians 1:13-The Father Delivered the Christian from Satan’s Kingdom and Transferred Them to His Son’s Kingdom
Lesson # 17
Colossians 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. (NASB95)
The apostle Paul is employing the figure of asyndeton in order to emphasize with the faithful believers in Colossae that the Father delivered them from the cosmic system of Satan and then transferred them to His Son’s kingdom who He loves.
“He” is the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), which means “who” and refers of course to the Father since the Father is the word’s nearest antecedent and agrees in number (singular) and gender (masculine) with the noun patēr (πατήρ), “to the Father” which appears in verse 12.
“Rescued us” is composed of the following: (1) verb rhuomai (ῥύομαι), “rescued” (2) personal pronoun ego (ἐγώ), “us.”
The verb rhuomai means “to deliver or rescue from severe and acute danger” and is used here of the Father “delivering” or “rescuing” the Colossian believers from the severe and acute danger of being in bondage to Satan’s kingdom.
This danger was severe and acute because Satan’s kingdom will be totally and completely destroyed with Satan and his angels being cast into the eternal lake of fire at the end of human history (Revelation 20:7-10).
“Us” is the personal pronoun ego which refers to the church or in other words all those who are Christians when Paul wrote this epistle.
It is used in a distributive sense and means “each and every one of us” emphasizing that there were no exceptions in that every Christian without exception was delivered from Satan’s kingdom by the Father at the moment of their conversion to Christianity.
“From the domain of darkness” is composed of the following: (1) preposition ek (ἐκ), “from” (2) noun exousia (ἐξουσία), “the domain” (3) noun skotos (σκότος), “of darkness.”
The noun exousia means “authority, power” referring to the temporary authority of Satan and the fallen angels and speaks of the government of Satan expressing Satan’s rulership over unregenerate humanity.
The noun exousia is also the object of the preposition ek which means “from” since it functions as a marker of separation indicating that the Colossian believers at the moment of their conversion were separated or removed from the kingdom of darkness by the Father.
The noun skotos means “darkness” and is used in a figurative sense to describe Satan’s kingdom expressing the fact that this kingdom is characterized by evil.
“Transferred” is the verb methistēmi (μεθίστημι), which pertains to causing a change of state with emphasis upon the difference in the resulting state from the preceding state.
It indicates that the Father caused these Christians to change kingdoms when they trusted in His Son as Savior emphasizing the difference between being in Satan’s kingdom prior to conversion and the present state as members of His Son’s kingdom.
“The kingdom” is the noun basileia (βασιλεία), which expresses three interrelated ideas: (1) The right to rule: The authority delegated by God to a king or sovereignty or dominion granted by God to someone reigning over a kingdom (Luke 19:11-27; Revelation 17:12). (2) The realm of rule: This involves the subjects of the one in authority rather than the authority himself (Matthew 21:43; Mark 1:15; Acts 1:6; 2 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 11:15). (3) The reality of rule: The exercise of royal authority in a realm over which one has sovereign right to rule (Matthew 16:19; Daniel 5:7, 16; 6:1, 3; John 19:14-15).
Pentecost states that “there is an eternal aspect as well as a temporal aspect; it has a universal nature as well as a local nature; or there is an immediate sense of the kingdom in which God rules directly, and a mediated sense of the kingdom in which God rules indirectly through appointed representatives.” (ibid, page 15).
There are four essential truths that characterize its eternal aspect according to Pentecost: (1) It is timeless since God is eternal (Psalm 10:16; 74:12; 145:13; Jeremiah 10:10; Lamentations 5:19). (2) It is universal since God is omnipresent (1 Chronicles 29:11-12; Psalm 103:19; 139:7-10; Daniel 4:17, 25, 32; Amos 9:2). (3) It is administered through appointed representatives whom God deals sovereignly through men (Genesis 45:7-8; 50:20; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 10:5-6; 45:1-4; Jeremiah 25:8-12; 27:48; 51:11-24, 27). (4) It is miraculous in that God sometimes directly intervenes in the affairs of men (Exodus 7:3-5; Psalm 135:6-10).
So in Colossians 1:13, the noun basileia means “kingdom” and refers to the authority the Father delegated to His Son Jesus Christ and expresses the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ exercises royal authority in a realm over which He has sovereign right to rule as the Son of God.
“Of His beloved Son” is composed of the following: (1) noun huios (υἱός), “the Son” (6) noun agapē (ἀγάπη), “the love” (7) intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “His.”
The noun huios is used in relation to Jesus Christ and is employed here as a title for the deity of Christ describing the relationship between the Father and Jesus Christ.
The noun expresses three fundamental concepts regarding the Lord Jesus Christ: (1) His eternal relationship with the Father. (2) His appointment to the office of Savior and Messiah. (3) His divine essence.
This word expresses the Lord Jesus Christ’s eternality (John 1:1-2, 14; John 8:58; 10:30a; Col. 2:9a; Rev. 1:8) and indicating His equality with the Father (Matthew 17:1-5; John 10:30, 37-38; 14:9; 17:5, 24-25; 20:30-31; Romans 1:1-4; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 1:3).
The noun agapē means “divinely-loves” since it refers to the exercise of the Father’s love for His Son Jesus Christ and expresses the affection the Father has for His Son and the intimacy between the two.
The intensive personal pronoun autos refers to the Father and functions as a subjective genitive expressing the fact that the Father loves the Son.
Colossians 1:13 who delivered each and every one of us from the dark power. Also, He transferred each and every one of us to His Son’s kingdom He loves. (Author’s translation)
When Paul teaches that the Father delivered them from the dark power or in other words Satan’s power or kingdom and transferred them to His Son’s kingdom, he is speaking of salvation.
The Scriptures teach that salvation is deliverance from eternal condemnation and is also a deliverance from being condemned by the Law.
Furthermore, it is a deliverance from real spiritual death, the sin nature, personal sins, the devil and his cosmic system.
At the moment of their conversion or we can say justification the Christian was delivered from all these things in a positional sense.
They initially experience this deliverance at their conversion but lose this experience by committing sin.
Confession of sin restores them to fellowship which is maintained by obedience to the Word of God.
They can experience this deliverance in time after their conversion through fellowship.
They will experience this deliverance in a perfective sense when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture of the church.
The Christian’s salvation, i.e. his deliverance is also accomplished in three stages: (1) positional (2) experiential (3) perfective or ultimate.
Positional: At the moment the believer exercised faith alone in Christ alone, they were delivered “positionally” from real spiritual death and eternal condemnation, the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature through the crucifixion, death, burial, resurrection and session of the Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 19:9; John 4:22; Acts 4:12; 13:26, 47; 16:17; Romans 1:16; 10:1, 10; 11:11; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 1:13; Philippians 1:28; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Hebrews 2:10; 5:9; 6:9; 1 Peter 1:9-10; 2 Peter 3:15; Jude 3; Revelation 7:10).
By “positionally,” I mean that God views the believer as crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ, which was accomplished at the moment of conversion through the baptism of the Spirit when the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit placed the believer in an eternal union with Christ.
In other words, the “positional” aspect of the believer’s salvation refers to the past action of God saving the Christian from sin, Satan, his cosmic system and eternal condemnation when we trusted in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
The believer’s deliverance positionally sets up the “potential” for them to experience this deliverance in time since this deliverance can only be experienced after conversion through obedience to the teaching of the Word of God.
It also guarantees the believer’s ultimate deliverance at the rapture, which is based upon the sovereign decision of God rather than the volition of the believer.
Experiential: After conversion, the believer can “experience” deliverance from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature by appropriating by faith the teaching of the Word of God that they have been crucified, died, buried, raised and seated with Christ.
This constitutes the believer’s spiritual life after being delivered from real spiritual death (2 Corinthians 1:6; 7:10; Romans 6:11-23; 8:1-17; Philippians 2:12; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:5-17; 2 Timothy 2:10; 3:15; Hebrews 2:3, 10; 1 Peter 2:2).
In other words, the “experiential” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system in the present moment (2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 1 Timothy 4:16).
Perfective: At the resurrection the believer will be delivered “in a perfective sense” and permanently from the devil, his cosmic system and the sin nature when they receive their resurrection body at the rapture of the church, which is imminent (Romans 13:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:8-9; Hebrews 1:14; 9:28; 1 Peter 1:5).
In other words, the “perfective” aspect of salvation is used of the believer’s future deliverance from sin, Satan and his cosmic system (Philippians 3:20-21).
