Thanksgiving and prayer
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ancient people who were conquered by other nations were often transplanted from their homeland, where they were free, to unfamiliar foreign lands, where they were slaves. In believers’ spiritual lives, however, God has graciously done just the opposite. He has transplanted sinners like the Colossians and the apostle (notice how Paul, in a surge of emotion, changes the “you” of verse 12 to “us” in verse 13), as well as us 21st-century Christians, from the spiritual kingdom of darkness, ignorance, and death to the kingdom of wisdom, life, and light in Jesus, the Savior.
God did this for sinful human beings by one mighty act of love in human history. In the fullness of time he sent his Son whom he loves into our world of sin and shame. That Son, though he was and remained true God, took on a true human nature and became the substitute for the whole human race. He lived a perfect life to satisfy God’s law in man’s place and to gain for sinners a righteousness that none have by nature. On Calvary’s cross he shed his blood and died to pay the penalty God’s perfect justice demanded for man’s countless transgressions of his law. The Father accepted his Son’s work on man’s behalf. By raising Jesus from the dead, God declared that the world’s sin had all been paid for. Thus he qualified a world of sinners for the eternal inheritance and rescued them from Satan’s kingdom.
Individual sinners personally receive these blessings through the gospel when the Holy Spirit brings them the news of God’s perfect salvation in Christ Jesus and then works in their hearts by that same gospel the faith that believes the message and trusts in Jesus. The whole world of sinners has been justified in Christ Jesus; that is the central teaching of Scripture. And the primary purpose of Scripture is to bring individual sinners to faith in Christ, so that they share in his perfect righteousness and inherit eternal life. If these truths are lost, there is no Christian faith left, and there is no salvation.
Paul wanted the Colossians to remember and continually thank God for these saving truths.
Each of us also will want to be continually thanking the Lord for the blessings of his grace in our lives. Daily and earnestly, we need to seek his help to grow through his Word in clear knowledge of him, a knowledge that will be a living force throughout every area of our lives. Just hearing or reading this magnificent thanksgiving and prayer should have lifted the Colossians’ spirits and made them eager to hear the rest of what Paul had to say to them.
Paul’s words still provide Christians with a wonderful model for the thanksgivings and prayers we always ought to be raising to God, both for ourselves and for our fellow believers. Reading this thanksgiving and prayer and applying it to ourselves ought to lift our spirits as well and make us eager to drink in the spiritual nourishment that the apostle will provide for us in the rest of this important epistle.