[← ] ἡμᾶς εἰς τὴν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί· 13ὃς ἐρύσατο ἡμᾶς ἐκ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ [ →]
τὴν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου] ‘the parcel of the lot,’ ‘the portion which consists in the lot,’ τοῦ κλήρου being the genitive of apposition: see Winer § lix. p. 666 sq., and comp. Ps. xv (xvi). 5 Κύριος μερὶς τῆς κληρονομίας μου. In Acts viii. 21 μερὶς and κλῆρος are coordinated; in Gen. xxxi. 14, Num. xviii. 20, Is. lvii. 6, μερὶς and κληρονομία. The inheritance of Canaan, the allotment of the promised land, here presents an analogy to, and supplies a metaphor for, the higher hopes of the new dispensation, as in Heb. iii. 7-iv. 11. See also below, iii. 24 τὴν ἀνταπόδοσιν τῆς κληρονομίας, and Ephes. i. 18. St Chrysostom writes, διὰ τί κλῆρον καλεῖ· δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐδὲις ἀπὸ κατορθωμάτων οἰκείων βασιλείας τυγχάνει, referring to Luke xvii. 10. It is not won by us, but allotted to us.
ἐν τῷ φωτί] best taken with the expression τὴν μερίδα κ.τ.λ. For the omission of the definite article, [τὴν] ἐν τῷ φωτὶ, see above, vv. 2, 4, 8. The portion of the saints is situated in the kingdom of light. For the whole context compare St Paul’s narrative in Acts xxvi. 18 τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι ἀπὸ σκότους εἰς φῶς καὶ τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ Σατανᾶ ἐπὶ τὸν Θεόν, τοῦ λαβεῖν αὐτοὺς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν καὶ κλῆρον ἐν τοῖς ἡγιασμένοις , where all the ideas and many of the expressions recur. See also Acts xx. 32, in another of St Paul’s later speeches. As a classical parallel, Plato Resp. vii. p. 518 A, ἔκ τε φωτὸς εἰς σκότος μεθισταμένων καὶ ἐκ σκότους εἰς φῶς, is quoted.
13. ‘We were slaves in the land of darkness. God rescued us from this thraldom. He transplanted us thence, and settled us as free colonists and citizens in the kingdom of His Son, in the realms of light.’
ἐρύσατο] ‘rescued, delivered us’ by His strong arm, as a mighty conqueror: comp. ii. 15 θριαμβεύσας. On the form ἐρύσατο see A. Buttmann, p. 29: comp. Clem. Rom. 55, and see the note on ἐξερίζωσεν, ib. 6.
ἐξουσίας] here ‘arbitrary power, tyranny.’ The word ἐξουσία properly signifies ‘liberty of action’ (ἔξεστι), and thence, like the corresponding English word ‘license,’ invokes two secondary ideas, of which either may be so prominent as to eclipse the other; (1) ‘authority,’ ‘delegated power’ (e.g. Luke xx. 2); or (2) ‘tyranny,’ ‘lawlessness,’ ‘unrestrained or arbitrary power.’ For this second sense comp. e.g. Demosth. F.L. p. 428 τὴν ἄγαν ταύτην ἐξουσίαν, Xenoph. Hiero 5 τῆς εἰς τὸ παρὸν ἐξουσίας ἕνεκα (speaking of tyrants), Plut. Vit. Eum. 13 ἀνάγωγοι ταῖς ἐξουσίαις καὶ μαλακοὶ ταῖς διαίταις, Vit. Alex. 33 τὴν ἐξουσίαν καὶ τὸν ὄγκον τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου δυνάμεως, Herodian ii. 4 καθαίρεσιν τῆς ἀνέτου ἐξουσίας. This latter idea of a capricious unruly rule is prominent here. The expression ἡ ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους occurs also in Luke xxii. 53, where again the idea of disorder is involved. The transference from darkness to light is here represented as a transference from an arbitrary tyranny, an ἐξουσία, to a well-ordered sovereignty, a βασιλεία. This seems also to be St Chrysostom’s idea; for he explains τῆς ἐξουσίας by τῆς τυραννίδος, adding χαλεπὸν καὶ τὸ ἀπλῶς εἶναι ὑπὸ τῷ διαβόλῳ· τὸ δὲ καὶ μετ’ ἐξουσίας, τοῦτο χαλεπώτερον.
μετέστησεν] ‘removed,’ when they were baptized, when they accepted Christ. The image of μετέστησεν is supplied by the wholesale transportation of peoples (ἀναστάτους or ἀνασπάστους ποιεῖν), of which the history of oriental monarchies supplied so many examples. See Joseph. Ant. ix. 11. 1 τοὺς οἰκήτορας αἰχμαλωτίσας μετέστησεν εἰς τὴν αὐτοῦ βασιλείαν, speaking of Tiglath-Pileser and the Transjordanic tribes.
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[← ] σκότους, καὶ μετέστησεν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ υἱοῦ τῆς [ →]