Colossians 1:13-14

While we in America pride ourselves in our independence from the world around us, the reality is that the environment in which we live shapes what choices we have, and even what choices we make. Consider a man living under the rule of an oppressive dictator. His life will be marked by fear and suspicion. He may be forced into one job or another, or even into slavery. He may be murdered if he tries to resist. Compare him to the woman who lives in a country that honors free speech and freedom of religion. She will be more able to shape her own life.

We also see this in nature. The tomato plant in the garden that is not well kept – that is not weeded, is overrun by pests, and gets insufficient sun and rain – will either die or produce much less fruit than if it were in a well-tended garden. In one case it flourishes, in the other it withers.

Of course, our environments do not determine our condition entirely. We all enjoy a good “rags to riches story” of the person who moves from poverty to wealth. But we love these stories because they are heroic. They are the exception that proves the rule. 

This passage in Colossians invites us to consider our own “spiritual environment” and how it impacts our lives. Paul looks beyond the circumstances we find ourselves in, and looks at a deeper reality.

The Dominion of Darkness

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

Paul begins by saying that God has “rescued us from the dominion of darkness.” What is the “dominion of darkness?” The dominion of darkness is contrasted, first, with the “kingdom of light” and then with the “kingdom of the Son he loves.” “Kingdom” and “dominion” together evoke geographical images. God has smuggled across the border.

The word for “dominion” here can also mean “power” or “authority.” To say that we were in a “dominion of darkness” also means that we were under the power or authority of darkness. We were bound up under an oppressive ruler.

The Rulers over the Dominion of Darkness

Who does Paul see as the oppressors of this dominion? Who are the “powers” or “authorities” that darken this land?

Spiritual beings 

Colossians 1:16 says that all things were created in Christ, including “powers or rulers or authorities.” When Paul uses these words he has in mind created spiritual beings. Christ has authority over “every power and authority” (2:10). In 1:16 and 2:10, the powers are not seen as either good or evil, just as created beings who are under Christ’s authority as any other part of creation. 

They take on a sinister nature in 2:15 where we see that Christ “disarmed the powers and authorities” by making a spectacle of them through the cross. Already disarmed by the cross, followers of Jesus also fight against these powers: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the power of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph 6:12).

In fact, Jesus made his battle against these rebellious spiritual forces a hallmark of his earthly ministry (e.g., Mark 5:1-20).

It should not surprise us that Paul sees spiritual powers as potential enemies of humanity. After all, he was steeped in the Scriptures and the world of Genesis. It was the deceptive serpent that tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, and led to humanity’s fall from grace.

Sin

In Romans 5 and 6 Paul characterizes Sin as a force unleashed on the world through Adam. “Sin entered the world through one man” (Rom 5:12). Under Adam, sin “reigns” (Rom 5:20). It exercises authority over us by making us its slaves (Rom 6:6). Apart from Christ Sin is our master (Rom 6:14, 18, 20). Certainly, we need to be forgiven of our sins (Col 1:14) in which we are dead (Col 2:13), but it is also, in some sense, a power that exists outside of us, from which we must be rescued.

Death

Sin leads to Death. Again, Paul can envision death not only in its abstract sense but as a power that exercises authority. Through Sin, Death entered the world (Rom 5:12) and it now “reigns” (Rom 5:14, 5:17) along with Sin. In 1 Corinthians 15:16, Paul describes Death as the final enemy to be defeated. In Revelation, John sees Death, along with Hades, thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:14). The new creation will see the death of Death.

This “dominion of darkness,” then, ruled by dark spiritual forces, Sin the slave master, and Death, the Last Enemy, exercises its authority and oppression over all of humanity. So long as we are under its power, we have no hope. 

Life in the Dominion of Darkness

These powers and authorities make for terrible and oppressive rulers. Paul describes their dominion as a dominion of Darkness. The contrast between light and darkness is common in Scripture, and we see it again here. Darkness is a symbol of chaos, confusion, and corruption. 

Chaos: In the beginning, God spoke “Let there be light” and separated the light from the darkness. He brought creation into the chaos of uncreation.

Confusion: Those who walk in darkness do not know where they are or where they are going. They stumble in their confusion and lack of knowledge. 

Corruption: The corrupt hide in the darkness. They fear the light because the light will expose what they do.

So where do we “live” before God’s rescue? We live in a realm ruled by and characterized by the powers of darkness. It is a place of chaos, confusion, and corruption. Humanity cannot thrive in such an inhospitable environment.

Egypt and the Dominion of Darkness

Another way to make this abstract language more concrete is to recall the Exodus story. Egypt is the paradigmatic “dominion of darkness” and Pharoah is the prototypical slave master. He forced the Israelites into slavery. When the Israelites became strong his solution was to murder their infants. When Moses tried to advocate for their freedom, Pharoah refused to listen and became increasingly harsh and hard-hearted. 

Rescue

God rescues Israel from Egypt

Just as Egypt is the pattern for the dominion of darkness, so the Exodus is the paradigm of God’s rescue. In the Exodus, we see that rescue comes from God’s initiative. He hears the groanings of the Israelites in slavery and looks down on them with concern (Exodus 2:23-25). He then acts by sending Moses. Through the word of Moses God performs signs and wonders in the form of the 10 plagues. These plagues demonstrate the power and authority of God over the nations and the so-called gods of the nations. They also result in God’s rescue of Israel and initiate their journey into the Promised Land. 

When we look at rescue in the New Testament, we will often see echoes of the Exodus story. The same is true in this case. 

Rescue as Redemption

Colossians 1:14 says that we have “redemption” in the Son [God] loves. Redemption refers to the act of buying someone back from slavery. In Paul’s day, this was used in reference to slave markets. But Paul also would have been thinking back to the Exodus story, where the word also appears (Exodus 6:6, 13:13, 13:15, 15:13). 

Redemption has two parts. First, there is the transfer of the individual from slavery to freedom. Second, though is the cost paid to make that redemption a reality. We see this at the pivotal moment in the Exodus story, the final plague. That cost is paid in the form of the Passover Lamb. God instructed Israel to put the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. If they did so, the destroying angel sent to bring judgment on the Egyptians would see the blood and “pass over” the house of the Israelites, sparing the firstborn inside. 

This act of redemption initiated the transfer of the people of Israel from the oppression of Egypt and into the (intended) freedom of the Promised Land. This is the same transfer we see in Colossians 1:13-14. God redeems us by transferring us from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son. 

The Kingdom of His Son

Having looked first at the nature of the dominion of darkness and the act of rescue, let us now consider the “kingdom of the Son.” 

Life in the Kingdom of Light

Before being contrasted with the kingdom of the Son, Paul contrasts the dominion of darkness with the kingdom of light. Earlier we described darkness as a metaphor for chaos, confusion, and corruption. Light, by contrast, evokes images of creation, clarity, and moral cleanliness.

Creation: “Let there be light” was God’s first act of creation (Gen 1:3). This light swept away the chaos of darkness. Here we see light as the characteristic of the new creation that we have in the Son. 

Clarity: The light of the Son enables us to see the world truly so that we do not stumble around in darkness.

Moral Cleanness: Whereas corruption hides in the dark, only those who have been made morally clean feel free to walk in the light.

These categories fit with what we know of Israel’s own redemption from Egypt. Israel experienced a sort of rebirth when God brought her out of Egypt. At Sinai, He gave her the law, the light by which to live. And, by walking by that law, by walking in the light, she would be blameless before God and the nations. 

They also fit with what we know of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He came proclaiming the kingdom of God. By healing the sick, raising the dead, and casting out demons, he gave a foretaste of the new creation. By teaching, he gave the light of wisdom. And, by trusting in his word, we have the ability to walk in the light and be blameless before God and our neighbors. We can “let our light shine” for the glory of God (Matt 5:14-16).

The Kingdom of the Son

The kingdom of light and the kingdom of the Son are synonyms because the Son is the light of the world, the light of the new creation (John 8:12, Rev 21:23).

Paul notes three things about the Son in 13b-14.

First, this is the Son whom God loves. We may think here of Jesus’ baptism and the words “This is my Son, whom I love, in whom I am well please” (Matt 3:17), which may itself be a reference back to Psalm 2, a Messianic Psalm which declares the kingship of the Son over the nations. This fits with the “kingdom” theme in these verses and points us forward to the supremacy of Christ in the poem that follows. By calling Christ the “Son” Paul affirms his royal reign.

Second, Paul says that in the Son we have redemption. We have already noted the theme of redemption as part of the broader story of God’s rescue. We will see later that this rescue/redemption/reconciliation happens through Christ’s blood shed on the cross (Col 1:20, 22). Here, it’s worth noting that we have redemption “in” the Son. To the extent that we are bound up with Jesus (connected with his death and resurrection), we experience the freedom that is redemption from the chains of slavery. 

Finally, Paul says that in the Son we have the forgiveness of sins. This is one of the most familiar ways in which we talk about salvation. We are guilty of sins, and that guilt leads to judgment. Therefore, we must be forgiven of our sins, and that forgiveness leads to salvation. That is the true biblical story, but on closer inspection it is not immediately obvious from these verses alone. Allow me to explain:

If we think of Sin as a power that exists outside of us – as a spiritual power from which we must be rescued – then we run the risk of dissociating ourselves from our own sin. We become mere victims of something over which we have no agency. In this paradigm, forgiveness does not fit, for why would we need to be forgiven for being held captive? This would be like blaming the kidnapped victim because of the actions of the kidnapper.

But that’s not the full story. Let us go back to Romans 5. Paul says “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people because all sinned” (Rom 5:12). Sin has its power to the extent that we participate with it in its death-dealing schemes. 

We find ourselves not only living in the “dominion of darkness” but actually as agents of this dominion. Under the reign of sin, we are simultaneously oppressed by its power and participants in its oppression. We cannot separate ourselves from sin, since it is bound up within our own hearts. We do, then, also find ourselves to be guilty and in need of forgiveness. 

That forgiveness is part of the broader story of God’s redemption. As we are brought from the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of the Son, we are bought back from our slavemasters and, at the same time, forgiven of the ways in which we are also guilty before God. Apart from Christ, we are subject to darkness, and agents of darkness. In the Son, we are exposed by the light, purified by the light, and can become lights ourselves (Eph 5:8). 

Conclusion

Since this is not just an explanation of Scripture, but an exposition and exhortation, I want to also consider how this applies to our daily lives. 

I mentioned in the introduction that our environment matters. If you are in Christ then you have been transferred from the dominion of darkness brought into the kingdom of light. This new environment enables you to grow and thrive. Paul wanted his readers to recognize this reality, and then live as if it were so. 

We see the same sort of logic in Romans 6. Paul tells the Romans to “count yourselves dead to sin” (Rom 6:11). He tells them that they are free from the power of sin, but still needs to remind them to “not let sin reign” (Rom 6:12) in their mortal bodies. In Colossians 3 Paul says “Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above” (Col 3:1). God has brought us into a new reality, but we still need to recognize and live into that reality to realize its benefits.

Paul has incredible hope that living like this is really possible (not all the time, not perfectly). Just a few verses earlier he tells the Colossians to “live a life worthy of the Lord, and please him in every good way: bearing fruit in every good work” (Col 1:10). God has planted us in a well-tended garden and has enabled us to truly please God and to bear fruit that lasts as we learn to continue to trust and follow him. All of this is from God’s grace, demonstrated in His Son, in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.