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Col_1:12. While ye give thanks with joyfulness, etc.,—a third accompanying definition of περιπατῆσαι ἀξίως κ . τ . λ . (Col_1:10), co-ordinate with the two definitions preceding, and not to be connected with οὐ παυόμεθα κ . τ . λ . (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Calvin: “iterum redit ad gratulationem,” Calovius, Böhmer, Baumgarten-Crusius).
τῷ παρτί ] of Jesus Christ; comp. Col_1:13, and τοῦ Κυρίου in Col_1:10, not: “the Father absolutely” (Hofmann). It is always in Paul’s writings to be gathered from the context, whose Father God is to be understood as being (even at Eph_1:17); never does he name God absolutely (in abstracto) ὁ πατήρ . Comp. Col_1:3, which, however, is held by Holtzmann to be the original, suggesting a repetition by the editor at our passage, in spite of the fact that the two passages have different subjects. Just as little does εἰς τὴν μερίδα κ . τ . λ . betray itself as an interpolation from Eph_1:18; Eph_1:11 (Holtzmann), seeing that, on the one hand, the expression at our passage is so wholly peculiar, and, on the other hand, the idea of κληρονομία is so general in the N. T. Comp. especially Act_26:18.[19]
τῷ ἱκανώσαντι κ . τ . λ .] Therein lies the ground of the thanksgiving, quippe qui, etc. God has made us fit ( ἡμᾶς applies to the letter-writers and readers, so far as they are Christians) for a share in the Messianic salvation through the light, inasmuch as, instead of the darkness which previously prevailed over us, He has by means of the gospel brought to us the ἀλήθεια , of which light is the distinctive element and the quickening and saving principle (Eph_5:9) of the Christian constitution both in an intellectual and ethical point of view (Act_26:18); hence Christians are children of the light (Eph_5:8; 1Th_5:5; Luk_16:8). Comp. Rom_13:12; 2Co_6:14; 1Pe_2:9. In Christ the light had attained to personal manifestation (Joh_1:4 ff; Joh_3:9; Joh_8:12; Mat_4:16, et al.), as the personal revelation of the divine nature itself (1Jn_1:5), and the gospel was the means of its communication (Eph_3:9; Heb_6:4; 2Co_4:4; Act_26:23, et al.) to men, who without this enlightenment were unfit for the Messianic salvation (Eph_2:1 ff; Eph_4:18; Eph_5:11; Eph_6:12; 1Th_5:4, et al.). The instrumental definition ἐν τῷ φωτί is placed at the end, in order that it may stand out with special emphasis; hence, also, the relative sentence which follows refers to this very element. An objection has been wrongly urged against our view (which is already adopted by Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Theophylact; comp. Estius and others, including Flatt and Steiger), that Paul must have used πνεῦμα instead of φῶς (see Olshausen). The ἱκανοῦν ἐν τῷ φωτί is, indeed, nothing else than the καλεῖν εἰς τὸ φῶς (1Pe_2:9) conceived in respect of its moral efficacy, and the result thereof on the part of man is the εἶναι φῶς ἐν κυρίῳ (Eph_5:8), or the εἶναι υἱὸν τοῦ φωτός (1Th_5:5; Joh_12:36), ὡς φωστῆρες ἐν κόσμῳ (Php_2:15). But the light is a power; for it is τὸ φῶς τῆς ζωῆς (Joh_8:12), has its armour (Rom_13:12), produces its fruit (Eph_5:9), effects the Christian ἐλέγχειν (Eph_5:13), endurance in the conflict of affliction (Heb_10:32), etc. Ἐν τῷ φωτί is usually connected with τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων , so that this κλῆρος is described as existing or to be found in light, as the kingdom of light; in which case we may think either of its glory (Beza and others, Böhmer, Huther), or of its purity and perfection (Olshausen, de Wette, and Dalmer) as referred to. But although the connecting article τοῦ might be wanting, and the κλῆρος τ . ἁγ . ἐν τῷ φωτί might thus form a single conception, it may be urged as an objection that the heritage meant cannot be the temporal position of Christians, but only the future blessedness of the Messianic glorious kingdom; comp. Col_1:13, τὴν βασιλ . τοῦ υἱοῦ . Hence not ἐν τῷ φωτί , but possibly ἐν τῇ δόξῃ , ἐν τῇ ζωῇ , ἐν τοῖς οὐρανεῖς , or the like, would be a fitting definition of κλῆρος , which, however, already has in τῶν ἁγίων its definite description (comp. Eph_1:18; Act_20:32; Act_26:18). Just as little—for the same reason, and because τ . μερίδα already carries with it its own definition (share in the κλῆρος )—is ἐν τῷ φωτί to be made dependent on τὴν μερίδα , whether ἐν be taken locally (Bengel: “Lux est regnum Dei, habentque fideles in hoc regno partem beatam”) or as in Act_8:21 (Ewald), in which case Hofmann finds the sphere expressed (comp. also Bleek), where the saints have got their peculiar possession assigned to them, so that the being in light stands related to the future glory as that which is still in various respects conditioned stands to plenitude—as if κλῆρος (comp. on Act_26:18) had not already the definite and full eschatological sense of the possession of eternal glory. This κλῆρος , of which the Christians are possessors ( τῶν ἁγίων ), ideally before the Parousia, and thereafter really, is the theocratic designation ( ðçìä ) of the properly of the Messianic kingdom (see on Gal_3:18; Eph_1:11), and the ΜΕΡῚς ( çì÷ ) ΤΟῦ ΚΛΉΡΟΥ is the share of individuals[20] in the same. Comp. Sir_44:23.
[19] The mode in which Act_26:18 comes into contact as regards thought and expression with Col_1:12-14, may be sufficiently explained by the circumstance that in Acts 26 also Paul is the speaker. Holtzmann justly advises caution with reference to the apparent echoes of the Book of Acts in general, as Luke originally bears the Pauline stamp.
[20] Comp. also Bleek. Hofmann incorrectly says that τοῦ κληροῦ serves only to designate the μερίς as destined for special possession. In that case, at least, the qualitative genitive of the abstract must have been put τῆς κληρονομίας , as in Psa_16:5). But the concrete τοῦ κλήρου τ . ἁγ . is, as the literal sense of μερίς , portio, most naturally suggests, the genitivus partitivus (G. totius), so that the individual is conceived as μερίτης of the κλῆρος of the saints, in which he for his part συμμετέκει .