The Upper Register Blog

Some might object to my interpretation of Col 1:12 that it is too one-sidedly legal. Rather than seeing the verb “to qualify” in forensic terms, i.e., as equivalent to justification, they might argue that the verb refers to, or at least includes, the work of progressive sanctification whereby God makes us more holy and thus renders us ontologically “fit” for heaven. Advocates of this alternative interpretation might appeal to the latter part of the verse, which says that the Father has ”qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints (lit., the holy ones) in the light.” The reference to “the holy ones” here could be taken as implying that we are rendered fit to have a share in the inheritance by actually being made holy in our persons.

Some responses:

(1) I don’t think the verb “to make sufficient, to qualify” fits the role of progressive sanctification in making us fit for heaven. Sanctification does not make us “sufficient” to enter heaven, since it is imperfect in this life. Personal holiness may be necessary for heaven (”the holiness without which no one will see the Lord,” Heb 12:14), but by its very nature it can’t render us qualified to enter heaven. I think Paul would say that if we want to be qualified to enter heaven on the basis of our personal obedience, that obedience must be perfect (Rom 2:13).

(2) It is telling, I think, that Paul uses the aorist participle here: “the Father who qualified us” (ὁ ἱκανώσας). Had he been thinking of the life-long process of sanctification that is never complete in this life, he probably would have used a present participle, “the Father who is making us fit.”

(3) The preceding context (vv 9-11) deals with sanctification. Since the day Paul heard about the conversion of the Colossians, he has not ceased praying for them that God would “fill [them] with the knowledge of his will … so that [they] would walk in a manner worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work.” Then in vv 12-14 the focus of Paul’s concern shifts from sanctification to its gospel motivation:  “joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance,” etc. We can only begin to please the Lord and bear good fruit if we are first assured of our judicial standing. The linkage between the two is ”joyfully giving thanks” for the finality of what the Father has done for us. He has qualified us for heaven by rescuing us from the domain of darkness, transferring us into the kingdom of his dear Son, accomplishing our redemption, and granting us the complete remission of all our sins in Christ. Thus, the assurance of the objective atonement and its legal consequence (being qualified to inherit) causes us to joyfully give thanks to the Father, and that, in turn, motivates us to want to please the Lord and grow in sanctification.

For these reasons, I don’t think the verb “qualified” includes progressive sanctification. At most it may include definitive sanctification, but that is merely another aspect of the forensic benefits of the cross.

Why, then, does Paul mention “the saints” in v 12? I think he is using traditional Jewish terminology here. The whole phrase sounds like something straight out of Qumran:  “a share in the lot of the saints in the light.” By using this traditional language, Paul is acknowledging the principle that only the righteous, the holy ones, have a right to inherit the glory of the age to come. Therefore, it is all the more amazing, and all the more productive of “joyful thanks to the Father,” that he has caused us sinners, lost in our sins under the dominion of darkness, to be qualified - by grace alone, by Christ alone - to share in the inheritance in the light!

Some argue that the doctrine of justification cannot be the heart of Paul’s gospel since justification is reserved almost entirely to two of his letters, Romans and Galatians. But this simply isn’t true. Although it is explained at greater length in those two epistles, Paul’s “justification/righteousness” theology also shows up in 1 Cor 1:30; 6:11; 2 Cor 3:9; 5:21; Phil 3:9; and Tit 3:7. These are brief statements to be sure, but their very brevity suggests that they are concise summaries of Paul’s well-known teaching.

In addition, as James Barr pointed out, the concept can be present even if the terms are absent. For example, Col 1:12 says: “joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified (τῷ ἱκανώσαντι) us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.” In Paul’s thought, only the righteous are qualified to obtain a share in the eschatological inheritance in glory (Rom 2:7-10, 13). To say that the Father has qualified us is to imply that he treats us as righteous and therefore as fit to obtain a share in the eschatological inheritance. 

Here are some of the lexicons on ἱκανόω:

LSJ: “make sufficient, qualify”
Thayer: “make sufficient, render fit”
BDAG: “to cause to be adequate, make sufficient, qualify”

It is used elsewhere in the NT only in 2 Cor 3:5-6 where Paul says that he is not sufficient/qualified in himself, but that God has made him sufficient/qualified to serve as a minister of the new covenant.  

So also in Col 1:12 Paul teaches that though we are not fit in ourselves, by God’s act in Christ we have been made legally fit. The immediate context makes clear that the Father’s act of making us fit/qualified for heaven is characterized by the following:

(a) It is based on divine grace, as evidenced by the fact that Paul exhorts us to “joyfully give thanks to the Father” for so qualifying us (cf. also the explicit reference to “the grace of God” in v. 6). 

(b) Being qualified for heaven is a consequence of a sovereign, divine rescue-operation (”He rescued us from the domain of darkness …”  v. 13a). Lost in the guilt and bondage of sin, we could not rescue ourselves. The Father had to do it by sending his own Son as an apocalyptic inbreaking of divine power (cf. “who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age,” Gal 1:4).

(c) We are qualified to inherit, not because of any worthiness in us, but because we have been transferred into the sphere of the very love that the Father has for his own dear Son (”… and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,” lit., “the Son of his love” [ὁ υἱός τῆς ἀγάπης αὐτοῦ], v. 13b).

(d) Our qualification to inherit is grounded in the work of Christ who redeemed us by his death and resurrection (”in whom we have redemption [ἀπολύτρωσις],” v. 14 - cf. Rom 3:24 where “redemption” is tied to justification). The accent is not on God’s work in us (sanctification) but on God’s work for us (the cross and resurrection, i.e., the atonement).

(e) We aren’t qualified to inherit because God has changed us into good people, but because of a legal transaction, namely, having the guilt of our sins wiped away (”in whom we have … the remission of our sins,” v. 14). N.B.: “forgiveness” is too weak a translation of ἄφεσις. In the LXX this term is used to refer to the complete “release/cancellation” of debts so that poor Israelite families would not lose their apportioned lot in the inheritance through debt-bondage.

Thus, Col 1:12 seems to contain all of the elements of Paul’s doctrine of justification without using the word ”justification.” And since this is the content of ”the word of the truth of the gospel” (v. 5) that Epaphras preached, we may conclude that the Father’s act of making us fit for heaven through the atoning death of Christ lies at the heart of the gospel.

I agree that Paul’s doctrine of justification is not the center of his theology. The center of Paul’s theology is the gospel of God’s Son (Rom 1:1-2), centered on the cross and resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:3-4). But in order to explicate what Christ has done for us in his death and resurrection, the doctrine of justification plays an absolutely essential role. The primitive Palestinian church confessed that “Christ died for our sins.” Paul the theologian came along and fleshed out what that means:  He died and rose again so that the guilt of our sins might be removed and that we might be made legally fit to have a share in the inheritance. 

Or to use Paul’s longer version of the primitive death-formula: “He was handed over to death [by God] for our transgressions and was raised to life [by God] for our justification” (Rom 4:25).