Men stirred, boys exhorted, and Jesus exalted!

    COLOSSIANS 1:12–14

  … giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This segment of Col. 1 forms part of the prayer begun in verse 9. Paul begins by praying that the readers will be “filled” with God’s wisdom so that they “will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects” (v. 10a). This goal is to be reached by means of “bearing fruit … and increasing in the knowledge of God” and being “strengthened with all power, … giving thanks to the Father” (vv. 10b–11). Verses 12b–14 give the reason for the thanksgiving, which is rooted in the language of Israel’s exodus and subsequent inheritance of the promised land.
While there is not likely one OT passage in mind about the exodus and land inheritance, the broad tradition describing Israel’s exodus appears to have influenced the wording of Col. 1:12–14, which is a pattern that we just observed in Eph. 1:13–14. “In Christ” the believers “have redemption” (apolytrōsis) (Col. 1:14), and they have been “delivered from” (rhyomai + ek) bondage to evil (Col. 1:13). Likewise, Israel had been “delivered from” bondage of Egypt and “redeemed” (see rhyomai + ek and lytroō in Exod. 6:6 LXX).24 Interestingly, the second-exodus prophecies of Israel’s deliverance from exile also employ the terminology of “redemption” (Isa. 44:22, 23, 24; 51:11; 52:3; 62:12; cf. 41:14; 43:1, 14).

In addition, prophecies of the second exodus use the language of “bringing [Israel] out of darkness” (skotos). These prophecies also picture Israel as being restored from the “darkness” (skotos) of exile into “light” (phōs) (Isa. 9:2 [9:1 LXX]; 42:6b–7, 16; 58:10; 60:1–3), which may be a development of the contrasting “darkness” (skotos) and “light” (phōs) that was part of the narrative of the first exodus (Exod. 10:21–23; 14:20). The Israelites deliverance from Egypt also had qualified them to become “saints” (hagios) (Exod. 22:31 [22:30 LXX]; Lev. 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:6; Num. 15:40; 16:3) and to receive a “share of the inheritance” in Canaan. Indeed, the combination of “share” and “inheritance” (meris + klēros) appears fifteen times in this respect in the LXX of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua (often with respect to the Levites, who had “no portion” or “inheritance” in the land as did the other tribes [e.g., Deut. 10:9]).

Just as the Israelites had been “delivered from” Egyptian slavery, had become “saints,” and then the tribes received “a share of the inheritance” in the promised land, so likewise the church was “delivered from” (rhyomai + ek; apolytrōsis) a greater bondage than that of Egypt (satanic “darkness,” skotos) and became “qualified … for a share” in a greater “inheritance of the saints in light” (meris + klēros + hagios + phōs). This inheritance was none other than “the kingdom of [God’s] beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).

What inspired Paul’s application of exodus imagery to the church’s salvation? Presumably, he sees the people of God in Christ as undergoing an exodus like Israel’s out of Egypt but on an escalated scale (beginning spiritually in this age and consummated with physical resurrection). Paul was likely also directed to such an application because of Isaiah’s second-exodus prophecies, which utilized and developed some of the same language as the first exodus. Elsewhere in his epistles Paul views prophecies of Israel’s second exodus and restoration to the land as having begun fulfillment in Christ’s first coming and in the formation of the earliest Christian churches. Additionally, Paul’s awareness of OT restoration themes is apparent from his description of his own call in terms of second-exodus language of Isa. 42:7, 16 (noted above) together with wording uniquely similar to Col. 1:12–14: “to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in [Christ]” (Acts 26:18). In fact, it is possible that Paul is reflecting on this aspect of his call in Col. 1:12–14. Note here that the notion of “inheritance” in Acts 26:18 is included in Paul’s commission to be an agent in carrying out the new exodus.

Paul uses the exodus images either analogically or, more likely, typologically; if the latter, then Israel’s redemptive historical pattern of deliverance from Egypt and receiving an inheritance in the promised land prefigured that of eschatological Israel, the church. Paul does not appear to be the only one of his time to have conducted such a typological exegesis. Early Judaism applied the promise of Israel’s “share of the inheritance” in Canaan to an eternal, end-time reward, which was likely also done according to a typological rationale.29 Paul seems to see the promised inheritance of Canaan to have its end-time inaugurated fulfillment in those who believe in Christ and thus are “in him” (Col. 1:14), so that they “have been raised up with Christ, … where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). 

As in the case of Acts 2, the geography of David’s eschatological throne (at God’s “right hand” [v. 34]) is in heaven in Christ, with whom believers are identified. This throne will find its ultimate place of real estate in the consummated new cosmos, so that this is not an allegorizing or wild spiritualizing of the end-time land promises of the OT. If so, then the reference to parts of the fulfillment of the land promises (in this case, the geography of the throne of David and Israel’s “share” in the “inheritance”) that never were fulfilled in the OT epoch are not merely typological but rather are fulfilled in an ultimate straightforward manner in the literal land of the new cosmos, which is the new Jerusalem, new Israel, new temple, and new Eden. This consummate fulfillment will occur after the destruction of the old heavens and earth (Rev. 21:1–5). What Israel never achieved, the church in the resurrected Christ has begun to attain and will consummately possess in the future.


Beale, G. K. (2011). A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New (pp. 763–766). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.