Across the theological spectrum it is agreed that easy texts are to interpret the difficult texts. The challenge for the interpreter is to discern which passages are easy and which are difficult. Since the only other occurrence of “kingdom” in the book of Colossians occurs in the final greetings in chapter 4,1 the meaning of “kingdom” likely occurs in an easier text somewhere else. The Bible develops the idea of a literal kingdom, the “kingdom of God,” established on land from Genesis all the way through the New Testament, so one would anticipate that this is the same kingdom in Col 1:13. There is an alternative theory, however, that Paul here is speaking of a spiritual facet of the kingdom, rather than the Millennial Kingdom. This theory that there is a spiritual facet of the kingdom is not necessarily in conflict with postponement theology. Much of this dissertation has responded to external threats to dispensational theology, but since a Spiritual Facet of the kingdom can coincide with postponement theology, Col 1:13 will be treated with the spirit of unity as an in-house dispute. Some fine dispensational scholars, propose that this Spiritual Kingdom is God’s rule in the heart of the believer and that it is composed of all believers, and only believers, of all time.
Spiritual Kingdom Analyzed
In order for this interpretation of Colossians 1:13 to be viable, there should be evidence of a Spiritual Kingdom elsewhere in the Bible. Some proof texts that could be appealed to include John 3:3–5; Acts 8:12; 20:25; Matthew 6:33; 1 Thessalonians 2:12. We will address these texts before moving to Colossians 1:13.
Regarding John 3, as seen earlier in this research, the conversation with Nicodemus features Jesus changing the topic from the kingdom to the message of life. At the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom, only regenerate people will be on earth. The last unbeliever will have perished at the end of the tribulation and all saints will have been resurrected. When Jesus says “you must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God,” He is speaking of the Millennium, which only the regenerate will enter, not a Spiritual Kingdom that is already here. In Matthew 19, Jesus again uses the term, “enter the kingdom of God,” with the connotation that if someone has eternal life now, then he will enter the kingdom when that time comes.2
Acts 8:12 occurs in a Samarian context. As seen earlier, the Samarians were looking forward to the coming Messiah, with the global implications including His role as Savior (John 4:5-42). Philip goes to Samaria and ἐκήρυσσεν αὐτοῖς τὸν χριστόν “preaches Christ to them” (Acts 8:5b). Preaching Christ in Samaria involved performing miracles (Acts 8:6-8), presumably to verify Philip as authentic along with his new message about the Messiah. This new message would likely build on what the Samarians already knew, but included the news that the Messiah had come to Israel, had been rejected, and that the kingdom will come another day. Eschatology is a fundamental doctrine to the first-century faith and this is further seen in the ministry of Paul in Acts 20. Grammatically, the preaching of the kingdom in 20:25 is not in apposition to “the gospel of the grace of God” in 20:24. The gospel of the grace of God is the message that Paul has decided to sail past Ephesus to deliver to Jerusalem in a hurry (20:16), while the preaching of the kingdom was something that Paul did with those in Ephesus.3 Regardless, even if the preaching of the Kingdom occurred with the preaching of the gospel, this is logical from a full postponement perspective as the good news of eternal life through faith includes the wonderful message that believers will some day be in the Millennial Kingdom.
Matthew 6:33 occurs in the Sermon on the Mount, which, as described earlier, gives insight to becoming great in the kingdom. Seeking first his kingdom means living a life today that recalls a future of reward based on current behavior. This is by no means an introduction to a new spiritual facet of the kingdom, but is a concrete expectation for Millennial excellence.
Paul’s correspondence with the Thessalonians is evidence that eschatology is not a doctrine to be pushed aside, but rather a fundamental teaching that the new believer needs. Paul was only in Thessalonica for three weeks and he already invests in their understanding of the rapture. Indeed, the rapture is the doctrine that the Thessalonians (and by extension, all Christians) are to appeal to in order to encourage one another (1 Thess 4:18). 1 Thessalonians 2:12 occurs on the above list of proof texts for a spiritual facet of the kingdom, yet this passage is another reference to eschatology if taken in its entirety, “that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” The Thessalonians are called into God’s kingdom and glory, yet they clearly are not yet glorified. Instead, they will be glorified in future glorified bodies which they will take into the Millennial Kingdom after they forfeit their natural bodies at the resurrection and rapture.
Christians are to work together with the coming kingdom as a motivation. In Col 4:11, Paul says of Aristarchus, Mark, and Jestus, οἱ ὄντες ἐκ περιτομῆς, οὗτοι μόνοι συνεργοὶ εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ, οἵτινες ἐγενήθησάν μοι παρηγορία “These are my only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are of the circumcision; they have proved to be a comfort to me.” Paul is speaking of Jews who would have certainly accepted the kingdom of God in its Old Testament sense. Though no explanation is given, it seems that the spiritual facet interpretation hangs upon εἰς indicating the aim or purpose of the fellow-working,4 but this by no means defines the kingdom of God as a current reality. As already seen, the future, millennial, Jewish, kingdom is a significant motivation for the Christian life and is the main factor that the Colossians would have associated with Paul’s Jewish colleagues.
Colossians Analyzed
Returning to the passage at hand, it seems that there is hardly a basis to assume a Spiritual Kingdom when reading Col 1:13. Thus far, it seems that every possible Spiritual Kingdom passage is more plainly understood as a reference to the Millennial Kingdom. What then is to be made of Col 1:13? Perhaps an appropriate course would be to start at the beginning of the letter.
The epistle begins with a greeting (Col 1:1-2) and then Paul moves on to an expression of praise for the Colossians (1:3-8) before opening his doctrinal discourse on Christology, which extends through the bulk of the letter (1:9-3:4) followed by applications (3:5-4:6) and concluding remarks (4:7-18). After the greeting, the first chapter can be divided into four sections (1:3-8, 9-18, 19-23, 24-29), each of which features the Colossians’ anticipation of eschatological expectations based on Christ’s past work.
In the first of these four sections (Col 1:3-8), Paul praises the Colossian saints “We give thanks… praying… for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints” (Col 1:3-4). As is common with Paul, he links this behavior directly to eschatology, διὰ τὴν ἐλπίδα τὴν ἀποκειμένην ὑμῖν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς “because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven.” The English word, “hope,” often depicts something that somebody wants, but knows is unlikely. The Greek word, ἐλπίς, portrays a greater degree of confidence, as in the English word, “expectation.” For example, Plato has πρὸς δὲ τούτοιν ἀμφοῖν αὖ δόξας μελλόντων, οἷν κοινὸν μὲν ὄνομα ἐλπίς, ἴδιον δέ, φόβος μὲν ἡ πρὸ λύπης,5 which R. G. Bury translates “And that, besides these two, each man possesses opinions about the future, which go by the general name of ‘expectations’ [ἐλπίς]; and of these, that which precedes pain bears the special name of ‘fear,’ and that which precedes pleasure the special name of ‘confidence.’”6 The Colossians have an “expectation” that is laid up for them in heaven. As Christians, the Colossians likely prefer to be raptured ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα in nubibus obviam Christo in aera “in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17), a meeting which could be called ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς “in heaven” or “in the heavens.” Historically, the Colossians all died physically and were “well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8), which means going εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν “into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Ultimately, all believers will go to the Millennial Kingdom, which the Lord Himself calls ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν “the kingdom of heaven.” They live on earth in anticipation of something great in heaven in the future. Paul states the reason for their hope, “of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col 1:5). Lest there be any doubt of what Paul means, this gospel can be extrapolated from 1 Cor 15, an includes the work of Christ. The past work is the cross and the future expectation is ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς “in heaven.”
It is the second of these sections (Col 1:9-18) that is under evaluation, so attention will first be given to the third and fourth sections. In the third of these sections (1:19-23), Paul maintains the application of eschatology as evidenced by Christ’s past work. That past work is Christ’s reconciliation ministry: καὶ ὑμᾶς ποτε ὄντας ἀπηλλοτριωμένους καὶ ἐχθροὺς τῇ διανοίᾳ ἐν τοῖς ἔργοις τοῖς πονηροῖς—νυνὶ δὲ ἀποκατηλλάγητε ἐν τῷ σώματι τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death” (1:21-22). Christ’s eschatological purpose is to present Christians “holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight” (1:22). To this rewarding, future, end, they must not move “away from the hope of the gospel” (1:23).
The fourth section (Col 1:24-29) follows suit. This time, the past work is Christ’s revelation of the Church (1:26). He summarizes this ministry as χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν, ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27). Christ is in the Christian today and the Christian therefore anticipates future glorification. The past work is the establishment of the Church, and the future expectation is ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς δόξης “the hope of glory.”
Returning to the third section (Col 1:9-18), one would anticipate an eschatological element attached to a Christological element in the past. Paul says, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness” (1:13), which fits perfectly in the sequence of the events he is conveying through these four sections. The first section (Col 1:3-8) portrays the foundation, “the word of the truth of the Gospel” (1:5), that is, the cross. Second (1:9-18), “we have redemption through his blood” (1:14), meaning “He has delivered us from the power of darkness” (1:13). Third (1:19-23) Christ finds those “who once were alienated and enemies” (1:21) and “made peace through the blood of His cross” (1:20). Fourth (1:24-29), He established “His body, which is the church” (1:24). Christ died, redeemed man from sin, made peace with man, and built His Church – in that order. In this second section (1:9-18), the only mention of an eschatological term is the reference of “the kingdom of the Son of His love” (1:13). Any mention of “the kingdom” prior to this would have conjured anticipation of the future, literal, global, Messianic Kingdom on land, so for Paul to mention the kingdom so briefly in this Christological and eschatological discourse with the anticipation that his audience would add a new facet to the kingdom is incredibly unlikely.
De Facto/De Jure Distinction Analyzed
Indeed, after saying that Christ μετέστησεν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν “conveyed us into the kingdom,” Paul goes on to talk about Christ’s preeminence “over all creation” (Col 1:15) and specifically mentions things which He will conquer at the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, “whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” (1:16). Indeed, Paul writes τὰ πάντα δι’ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτιστα “All things were created through Him and for Him” (1:16), but this is a far cry from supposing that all things are subjected to Him now as they will be in the Millennial Kingdom. There is a de jure (Latin for “in law”) sense in which everything rightly belongs to Christ. Paul proves this through the doctrine of preeminence (1:15-18). In the Messianic Kingdom, the world will become de facto (Latin for “in fact”) subject to Him. While the legal terms, de jure and de facto, are relatively modern conventions, the concepts themselves are well documented throughout the ancient world. For example, Appian tells the story of Sulla becoming king, ὁ δὲ ἔργῳ βασιλεὺς ὢν ἢ τύραννος, οὐχ αἱρετός, ἀλλὰ δυνάμει καὶ βίᾳ, δεόμενος δ᾽ ἄρα καὶ τοῦ προσποιήματος αἱρετὸς εἶναι δοκεῖν, ὧδε καὶ τόδε ἐμηχανήσατο…7 “Thus Sulla became king, or tyrant, de facto, not elected, but holding power by force and violence. As, however, he needed some pretence of being elected it was managed in this way…”8 Appian then tells how Sulla found some legal loopholes and had an inauthentic election, such that “they welcomed this pretence of an election as an image and semblance of freedom and chose Sulla their absolute master for as long a time as he pleased.”9
The Old Testament is full of situations in which the de facto is in conflict with the de jure. King David is an example. In 1 Sam 16, Samuel anoints David as the de jure king of Israel, and, while he certainly proves himself as a leader in Israel in the meantime, it is not until after Saul dies that “all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel” (2 Sam 5:3) and David becomes fully de jure and de facto king. Later, in chapter 15, Absalom inflicts a rebellion and makes himself the de facto king. David is still de jure king, but must escape and fight to restore his de facto role in chapter 19.
Paul uses de jure speech elsewhere in his writings. In Ephesians, Paul writes “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:5-6). The believer is currently de facto on earth, but because of his de jure position in Christ, he will go to be with Him de facto upon death or rapture. The doctrine of death in sin puts man de facto in the world and the doctrine of regeneration puts him de jure into God’s eschatological plan. It is intentional that Ephesians 2:5 begins καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν “even when we were dead in trespasses” and likewise Col 2:13 begins καὶ ὑμᾶς νεκροὺς ὄντας ἐν τοῖς παραπτώμασιν “And you, being dead in your trespasses” before a short discourse on the cross, which Paul concludes with “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col 2:15). The principalities and powers are still waging war against humanity, but the cross gives us confidence that this de facto rebellion is only temporary. Indeed, the entire story of the angelic conflict can be viewed through the lens of the de facto and de jure distinction. God created everything and therefore everything belongs to Him (Col 1:16), but currently Satan is allowed de facto authority over what rightly belongs to God de jure.
In the greater context of the struggle of Christ’s enemies, who can only exist in a de facto sense, Phil 3 18-21 contains encouragement from de jure eschatology. Paul begins with the de facto enemy aspect:
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
He then moves to the de jure aspect:
For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Phil 3:18-21)
Christians are not currently in heaven, but they “eagerly wait for the Savior” in an eschatological sense because they have a current de jure citizenship in heaven.
Col 1:13 Analyzed
The de facto and de jure distinction is visible in the ancient secular world, in the Old Testament, and in other Pauline writings of the New Testament. The context of Colossians 1 leads the reader to anticipate an eschatological saying. Christ’s kingdom is always described as de facto future with a de jure present and the kingdom is never spiritualized. Colossians 1:13 begins ὃς ἐρρύσατο ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ σκότους “He has delivered us from the power of darkness.” This is a de jure statement of Christ’s saving work. Clearly the Christian still has a sin nature which he must subdue while living in a dark and Satanic world. The temporal sense in which man is saved from the power of sin is not to be described in the third person aorist indicative ἐρρύσατο “He has delivered,” but rather to be in terms of second person present imperative, as in πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι “be filled with the Spirit” from Eph 5:18. In an eschatological sense, the Christian has no fear of appearing before the Great White Throne Judgement, but in fairness, the nonbeliever will not appear before the Great White Throne today either. Since this delivering work is salvific in an eschatological sense, the current state of the believer is described in the de jure sense.
Having described the deliverance aspect of the de jure exchange, Paul continues to describe the transference aspect of the same de jure exchange, καὶ μετέστησεν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ “and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” The most natural reading of a statement like this would understand the words ἐρρύσατο… ἐκ… “deliver… from…” as the cause and the words μετέστησεν εἰς… “conveyed into…” as the result. To accept the ἐρρύσατο… ἐκ… clause as a de jure statement is essentially to accept the μετέστησεν εἰς… clause likewise. It is incredibly unlikely that Paul would change mid-thought from a de jure statement into a spiritualization of the kingdom into a current de facto reality. The de jure understanding fulfills the eschatological purpose behind vs 13: just as the Christian lives in anticipation of Satan’s defeat, he knows that he will live in the glorious kingdom that follows.
- Indeed, the sister book of Philippians does not contain the word, “kingdom,” at all.
- For explanations on how entering the Kingdom of Heaven is by grace alone, see Charles Bing, Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages (The Woodlands, TX: Grace Theology Press, 2015), 80-83 and Hal Haller, “Did the Rich Young Ruler Hear the Gospel According to Jesus?,” Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, 13:25 (Autumn, 2000), 13-41.
- Note the use of the preposition, ἐν, in Acts 20:25 ἐν οἷς διῆλθον κηρύσσων τὴν βασιλείαν “among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God” (NKJV) as opposed to μετά in 20:18 πῶς μεθ’ ὑμῶν τὸν πάντα χρόνον ἐγενόμην “in what manner I always lived among you” (NKJV). Perhaps it would be more appropriate to maintain μετά as “among” in 20:18, but shift the ἐν to “with” in 20:25, such that Paul is reflecting back on a teaching episode “with” the saints in Ephesus in which they taught the news of the coming kingdom together.
- A.T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1934), 594-595.
- Plato, Laws, 644c.
- Plato in Twelve Volumes, R.G. Bury, trans. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1967, 1968), Laws, 644c.
- Appian, The Civil Wars, 1.11.98.
- Appian, The Civil Wars, Horace White, trans, (London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd., 1899), 1.11.98.
- Appian, The Civil Wars, Horace White, trans, (London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd., 1899), 1.11.99.