(REFLECTIONS ON Colossians 1:1-14)

13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We were all, at one time, in the domain of darkness. No, that does not mean that we were all in poor physical condition before we came to know Christ and are now physically healthy, but rather it refers to our spiritual state before Christ.

Although I am a fourth-generation Christian and have known church life since childhood, I am reminded that I too was once in the domain of darkness until the faith of religion became, for me, the faith of relationship through Christ.

From the spiritual domain of darkness, God transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son and into relationship with Him. We are now citizens of a different kingdom, and that is the kingdom of God. We were transferred from hopelessness to all hope in Christ.

As I was reading today’s Scripture, this image of being transferred captured my heart, reminding me that we once were in one spiritual location and now are in another. It reminds me that through this transfer there is a spiritual change not only in our hearts, but also in our identity and spiritual standing.

This spiritual transfer should then work its way into our physical lives and impact our environment and the world around us. That is why Paul refers to increasingly bearing fruit, which is the physical manifestation of our spiritual identity and position in the kingdom of God.

Let us then, having been transferred from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son, also bear fruit—not just for a moment in time, but may it be ever increasing in us, through us, and to the world.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Colossians 1