Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. — “Delivered” is “rescued,” properly applied to dragging a person out of battle or the jaws of danger. “The power of darkness” (see Luke 22:53) is, of course, the power of evil, permitted (see Luke 4:6) to exist, but in itself a usurped tyranny (as Chrysostom expresses it), not a true “kingdom. Salvation is, first of all, rescue from the guilt and bondage of sin, to which man has given occasion by his own choice, but which, once admitted, he cannot himself break. It is here described in its first origination from the love of the Father. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”
And hath translated us... — The word “translated” is a word properly applied to the transplanting of races, and the settlement of them in a new home. Salvation, begun by rescue, is completed by the settlement of the rescued captives in the new kingdom of Christ. The two acts, indeed, are distinct, but inseparable. Thus baptism is at once “for the remission of sins” and an “entrance into the kingdom of God.”
His dear Son. — The original is far more striking and beautiful. It is, “The Son of His love,” corresponding to “the beloved” of the parallel passage in the Ephesian Epistle (Colossians 1:6), but perhaps going beyond it. God is love; the Son of God is, therefore, the “Son of His love,” partaking of and manifesting this His essential attribute.
In whom we have... — This verse corresponds verbally with Ephesians 1:7, where see Note. From the love of the Father, the first cause of salvation, we pass to the efficient cause in the redemption and propitiation of the Son.
Colossians 1:15-17 pass from Christ as our Mediator to Christ as He is in Himself from all eternity, “the image of the invisible God,” and as He is from the beginning of time, the creator and sustainer of all things in heaven and earth. What was before implied is now explicitly asserted; what was before emphatic ally asserted is now taken for granted, and made the stepping-stone to yet higher and more mysterious truth.