Paul prays that his readers would be strengthened to patiently endure, for God had delivered them from the dominion of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of his beloved Son, a deliverance that was purchased by the blood of Christ. This alludes to the restoration, or re-creation, project that God initiated after darkness had descended upon humanity in the wake of Adam’s fall. From the very beginning, the agent of the rescue was to be a man, one who would be born of a woman, who would bruise the head of the deceiver. What Paul's hymn reveals is that the messianic figure was more than a man, he was the one through whom, and for whom, all of creation was made! Who better suited to re-create than the one who first created. |