Colossians 1:12

Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

Who made us meet ... This is rendered "qualified us" in RSV, which is a definite improvement over the rendition in the English Revised Version (1885).

HOW GOD QUALIFIES PEOPLE TO BE SAVED

I. People must hear the truth to be saved; and it is God who sends out preachers to all the world that people may hear it. See Romans 10:14ff.

II. People's hearts must be open to receive the truth; and that all-important event is produced by the word of God which opens people's hearts. "Lydia ... heard us, whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things which were spoken" (Acts 16:14ff).

III. Belief enters into qualification for salvation; and, as Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29).

IV. Repentance also figures in salvation (see Luke 13:3,5); but it is God who "grants" repentance. "To the Gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:18).

V. Confession of Christ is one of the prior conditions of salvation (Matthew 10:32,33); but it is God who reveals the great truth which people confess. Thus when Peter confessed Christ (Matthew 16:16), Jesus responded by telling him and all the apostles that "flesh and blood had not revealed it to him" but that "the Father in heaven" had done so! Thus it is God who does the qualifying when one confesses the Saviour.

VI. One is baptized "into Christ"; and after Pentecost, salvation is not promised in the New Testament to any unbaptized person whomsoever. Jesus said, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). But, when one is baptized, is he thus attempting to earn his salvation, or does his obedience of this command deny that salvation is of grace? Indeed no! Here again, it is God who does the baptizing! Note this:

Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples) (John 4:1,2).

It is still like that today. When one accepts the gospel and is baptized by one of the Lord's disciples, it is still Jesus (God) who is making and baptizing the convert.

Thus God qualifies people to be partakers of the inheritance of eternal life by preaching to them, causing them to hear, opening their hearts, thus causing them to believe, revealing Christ through the sacred word, granting them (along with all other Gentiles) repentance unto life, and by baptizing them into Christ! Now, what about that person who simply will not allow God to do all this for him? The simple and obvious answer is that God will disqualify him!

"It is God who makes worthy those who in themselves art not worthy, and thus enables them to have a share in the inheritance."[22] God would indeed make all people worthy, if people would permit it; but God having given people the freedom of choice and the freedom of their will, the result is that some men "will not believe"; others "will not repent or confess"; and others will not "arise and be baptized."

Inheritance of the saints in light ... Most commentators find in this an allusion to the allotment of the share of the land of Canaan to each of the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament. Thus Hendriksen:

The Lord provided for Israel an earthly inheritance, which was distributed to the various tribes and smaller units of national life by lot (Genesis 31:14; Numbers 18:20; Joshua 13:16; 14:2; 16:1, etc.); so he had provided for the Colossians an allotment or share in the better inheritance.[23]

[22] Ibid., p. 60.

[23] Ibid.