the result of good luck,720 so in truth is it here also. For a life so good as to be counted worthy of the kingdom doth no one show forth, but the whole is of His free gift. Therefore He saith, “When ye have done all, say, We are unprofitable servants, for we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke xvii. 10.) “To be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light,”—he means, both the future and the present light,721—that is, in knowledge. He seems to me to be speaking at once of both the present and the future. Then he shows of what things we have been counted worthy. For this is not the only marvel, that we are counted worthy of the kingdom; but it should also be added who we are that are so counted; for it is not unim- portant. And he doth this in the Epistle to the Romans, saying, “For scarcely for a righteous722 man will one die, but peradventure for the good man some one would even dare to die.” (Rom. v. 7.) Ver. 13. “Who delivered us,” he saith, “from the power of darkness.” The whole is of Him, the giving both of these things and those; for nowhere is any achievement of ours. “From the power of darkness,” he saith, that is, of error, the dominion of the devil. He said not “darkness,” but “power”; for it had great power over us, and held us fast. For it is grievous indeed even to be under the devil at all, but to be so “with power,” this is far more grievous. “And translated us,” he saith, “into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Not then so as to deliver man from darkness only, did He show His love toward him. A great thing indeed is it to have delivered from darkness even; but to have brought into a kingdom too, is a far greater. See then how manifold the gift, that he hath delivered us who lay in the pit; in the second place, that He hath not only delivered us, but also hath translated us into a kingdom. “Who delivered us.” He said not, hath sent us forth, but “delivered”: showing our great misery, and their723 capture of us. Then to show also the ease with which the power of God works, he saith, “And translated us,” just as if one were to lead over a soldier from one position to another. And he said not, “hath led over”; nor yet “hath trans- posed,” for so the whole would be of him who transposed, nothing of him who went over; but he said, “translated”;724 so that it is both of us and of Him. “Into the kingdom of the 720 The whole passage shows that he uses this word merely to imply man’s insufficiency, and not at all to in- troduce the notion of chance as opposed to Divine agency. He constantly uses the word at the end of his Hom- ilies, as well as ἀξιωθῆναι, “to be thought worthy,” to show at once the necessity of good works, and our unwor- thiness after all. 721 [This clause Field restores from several mss. and the Catena. The substantial repetition of it just after is characteristic.—J.A.B.] 722 ἀδίκου, 2 [4] mss. and Sav. marg. St. Chrys. does not, however, read so on the passage. Hom. ix. on Ep. to Romans. 723 i.e. the devils’, αἰχμαλωσίαν. 724 μετέστησε. The word in Heb. xi. 3, is μετετέθη, which agrees with this criticism. 469 Colossians 1:9,10