Colossians 1: 13 – Transported into the kingship of the Son

Who rescues us out of the jurisdiction of darkness and transports us into the kingdom of the Son of His love…

Both the ‘rescue’ and ’transpor’ in the above sentence are in the so-called ‘aorist’ – only the fact is stated, without information about the time of the action. In a physical sense, we are still in the domain of darkness until this moment, even though we are “children of light” (Eph.5:8). And although the Son has already now been “crowned with honor and glory” (Heb. 2:9), his actual reign only begins at his future appearance (2 Tim. 4:1; Ps. 2:8).

The word for ‘kingdom’ in Greek (= basileia), is the same as the word for ‘kingship’. Basileia includes both meanings and indicates what belongs to a king. It can therefore refer both to the area over which he rules (kingdom; Matt. 4:8) as well as to his function and position (Rev. 17:17). The latter will be the idea here: after all, Christ is the Head of the body, the ecclesia (1:18) to whom the “allotment of the saints” has been assigned (Col. 1:12). The ecclesia shares in the position of Christ’s kingship and will soon receive heaven and earth together with Him (Eph. 1:21-23). Christ is not our King, but our Head. And together with Him, Head and body, we share in His kingship.

Delen: