Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
You (not "we," from Colossians 1:9) "giving thanks unto the Father." Note, Colossians 1:10: this clause is connected with 'That ye may walk' (Colossians 1:10).
Unto the Father - of Jesus, and so our Father by adoption (Galatians 3:26; Galatians 4:4-6).
Which hath made us meet, х hikanoosanti (G2427)] - 'who made us meet, fit, once for all' (2 Corinthians 3:6). Not 'is making us meet' by progressive growth in holiness. The Spirit's work is not primarily meant here; but the Father's work in putting us by adoption, once for all, in a new standing-namely, that of children. The believers meant here were in different stages of progressive sanctification; but in respect to the meetness specified, they all alike had it from the Father, in Christ, His Son, being "complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10: cf. John 17:17; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Jude 1:1). Secondarily, this once-for-all meetness contains the germ of sanctification, developed progressively in the life by the Father's Spirit in the believer. The life of heavenliness is the first stage of heaven itself. There will follow a personal meetness for heaven where there is a judicial meetness. B prefixes 'Who called and' before 'made us meet' х kalesanti (G2564) kai (G2532)]. A C, Vulgate, omit.
To be partakers ... х eis (G1519) teen (G3588) merida (G3310)] - 'for the (our) portion of the inheritance (Acts 20:32; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 1:11) of the saints in light.' The inheritance is a joint one, of which each saint has his 'portion.' 'Light' (including knowledge, purity, love, and joy) begins in the believer here, descending from "the Father of lights" by Jesus, "the true light," and is perfected in the kingdom of light: in antithesis to "darkness" (Colossians 1:13). It contrasts with the "darkness" of the unconverted state (Colossians 1:13: cf. 1 Peter 2:9).