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When a believer is regenerated, receives the Holy Spirit, obtains God’s eternal life, and is renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is transferred out of the authority of the darkness of Satan into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, out of Adam into Christ, from law to grace, and out of the evil and crooked age into Christ and the church.
Before they received God’s salvation, the believers were in a number of pitiful realms. At that time they were sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death (Luke 1:79). They were under the authority of Satan, being ruled and controlled by him, and they were also lying under his hand, being manipulated and slaughtered by him as he willed (Acts 26:18; 1 John 5:19). Constituted sinners in Adam (Rom. 5:19), they were condemned by God (Rom. 5:18). Being dead (1 Cor. 15:22), they were powerless in doing good and insensitive in committing sins. Under the law they were exposed, condemned (Rom. 3:19; 5:20a), cursed (Gal. 3:10), and enslaved (Gal. 4:7). They were in a crooked and perverted generation (Phil. 2:15) and in an evil religious age (Gal. 1:4; Acts 2:40b), unable to know the grace of the gospel of Christ. Therefore, how much they needed to be transferred out of these pitiful and tragic realms that they might enter into an entirely new sphere.
It is of God who calls them that the believers are transferred out of darkness into light (1 Pet. 2:9). God has called and delivered them out of Satan’s death-realm of darkness into His life-realm of light. It is also of God that the believers are delivered out of the authority of darkness and are transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13). God has delivered them out of the authority of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, and has transferred them into the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of the Son of His love, that they may be qualified to partake of Christ as their portion. It is also of God that the believers are no longer in Adam but in Christ, for it is God who has put them in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30a), transferring them out of Adam into Christ. It is of God’s eternal will that the believers have been rescued out of the present evil age, the religious age (Gal. 1:4). In His eternal economy God has arranged that Christ should give Himself for man’s sins to rescue man out of the present evil age, the religious age, that man may enter into Christ and the church. Therefore, it is of God that the believers have been transferred out of these pitiful and tragic realms.
It is of Christ that the believers have been transferred from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God (Acts 26:17-18). As the light of the world (John 8:12), Christ shined on those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death (Matt. 4:16). He also sent His messengers into the midst of the fallen people, that their eyes might be opened that they might turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God. It is also of Christ that the believers have been transferred from law to grace. Grace came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). When Christ came, grace also came. Grace is Christ (compare Gal. 2:20 and 1 Cor. 15:10b), that is, it is God in Christ becoming our life, our life power, and everything for us to enjoy. It is also of Christ that the believers have been delivered out of the religious age, which is evil and crooked, into Christ and the church. Christ gave Himself for man’s sins that He might rescue man from the present evil age, that is, the religious world (Gal. 1:4). Moreover, as the good Shepherd, He led out the sheep that were in the fold (denoting the Jewish believers) with the other sheep (denoting the Gentile believers), forming them into one flock (signifying the one church) under one Shepherd, who is Christ Himself (John 10:11, 16). Therefore, it is of Christ that the believers have been transferred out of darkness, out of the authority of Satan, out of the law, and out of the evil, crooked age.
Both Acts 26:18 and 1 Peter 2:9 point out that God has transferred His believers out of darkness into light. Darkness is a sign of sin and death; light is a sign of righteousness and life. Formerly, we were fallen into darkness; we lived, walked, and behaved ourselves in darkness (Matt. 4:16). Because of God’s salvation, however, we have been transferred out of darkness into light.
As a result of being transferred, the believers have been moved not only out of darkness into light, but even more from the authority of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). In his fall man fell away from the presence of God into the authority of Satan and became a child of the devil (1 John 3:8a, 10; John 8:44) with the satanic life and nature. Today the whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19), and the people of the world are being manipulated and slaughtered by Satan as he wills. Because of God’s deliverance, however, we have been transferred out of the authority of Satan that we may turn to God. Now we are no longer under the power of Satan but under the authority of God.
As a result of being transferred, the believers also have been delivered out of the authority of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1:13). God is light, and Satan is darkness. Hence, the authority of darkness denotes the authority of Satan. Satan’s authority of darkness is the authority of evil in the air, in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). Matthew 12:26 indicates that Satan has his kingdom. The authority of evil, of rebellion, in the heavenlies is the kingdom of Satan, the authority of darkness. The kingdom of Satan is a system. Not everything in this system is evil in the eyes of men. On the contrary, many things, such as knowledge and philosophy, are considered good by men. However, after speaking of the authority of darkness in Colossians 1, Paul goes on to mention ordinances, observances, philosophies, and the elements of the world, indicating that they are different aspects of the satanic authority. Satan uses different aspects of his authority to control people, to lord it over them, and to keep them under his rule.
Through the death of Christ on the cross God has dealt with Satan’s authority over us by destroying his power, that we may be delivered out of the authority of darkness and be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love. The kingdom of God’s beloved Son is the authority of Christ (Rev. 11:15; 12:10). The Son of the Father’s love is the object of the Father’s love to be the embodiment of life to us in the divine love with the authority in resurrection. This is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. When we are transferred into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son, we are restricted and ruled in His divine love with the authority in resurrection. In our experience, as we love the Lord Jesus, we are conscious of a sweet sense of love, and we realize that we also are the objects of the divine love. As objects of this divine love, we spontaneously come under a certain control or ruling, no longer free to do whatever we wish according to the desire in our heart. This rule is not harsh; rather, it is sweet and pleasant. We are restricted and ruled in such a sweet way. This is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. Now we have been delivered out of the authority of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
By being transferred the believers have been moved out of Adam into Christ. In the eyes of God there are only two men on the earth: Adam and Christ. Adam is the first man, and he is also the initial man; Christ is the second Man, and He is also the last Man (1 Cor. 15:45, 47). Originally, we were all in Adam, being constituted sinners (Rom. 5:19), condemned (Rom. 5:18), and dead (1 Cor. 15:22). By His salvation, however, God has transferred us out of Adam into Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Now in Christ we have been constituted righteous (Rom. 5:19) and justified unto life (Rom. 5:18). In Him we also have received every spiritual blessing given by God (Eph. 1:3), such as being selected, predestinated, and redeemed (Eph. 1:4, 5, 7), receiving the sonship (Eph. 1:5), receiving God as our inheritance (Eph. 1:11, 14), and being raised up together with Christ and seated together with Him in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6). This is the result of the believers’ being transferred out of Adam into Christ.
As a result of such a transfer, the believers have been transferred from law to grace (Rom. 6:14). Before they believed in the Lord, they were all living under law. The Jews were under the Mosaic law, and the Gentiles were under their self-made law. However, no one in the world, whether Jew or Gentile, is justified before God by law; on the contrary, everyone is bound, condemned, and cursed under law (Rom. 7:6; Gal. 3:10-11).
God’s purpose in giving the law through Moses was first to expose man’s fallen condition. The law was not in the origination of God’s economy. It was added because of man’s transgressions while God’s economy was proceeding (Gal. 3:19), that all men might have the knowledge of sin, that every mouth might be stopped, and that all the world might become subject to the judgment of God (Rom. 3:19-20). Second, the law was given to guard man unto Christ. Galatians 3:23 says, “But before faith came we were guarded under law, being shut up unto the faith which was about to be revealed.” In God’s economy the law was used as a sheepfold to keep God’s chosen people until Christ came. Third, the law was given to conduct man to Christ. As a child-conductor, the law brings us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). The law was used by God as a custodian, a guardian, a child-conductor, to watch over His chosen people before Christ came, and to escort and conduct them to Christ at the proper time. Now that Christ has come, we should come to Christ and should be no longer under law.
When Christ came, grace also came (John 1:17), because grace is Christ (compare Gal. 2:20 and 1 Cor. 15:10b). On the one hand, Christ died for us, redeeming us from the condemnation of the law; on the other hand, He brought us together with Him into death that we may be delivered from the bondage of law, and He also raised us up together with Him that we may have His life and live under God’s grace. In this grace the processed Triune God has become our life and everything that we may enjoy the Triune God as our life and life supply. This is the result of God’s transferring the believers from law to grace.
Through such a transfer the believers have been transferred out of the evil and crooked age, that is, the religious age, into Christ and the church. Galatians 1:4 says, “Who [Christ] gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” An age is a part of the world as the satanic system. The present evil age here, according to the context of Galatians, refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, the Jewish religion. This is confirmed by 6:14-15, where circumcision is considered a part of the world. The purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us, out of the Jewish religion, the present evil age. This is to release God’s chosen people from the custody of the law, to bring them out of the sheepfold (John 10:1, 3), into the grace of the gospel according to the will of God.
In Acts 2:40 Peter entreated the repenting Jews, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” Peter did not say, “Be saved from God’s condemnation,” or, “Be saved from eternal perdition.” Instead, he said, “Be saved from this crooked generation.” The phrase “this crooked generation” refers to the perverted Jews in that age who rejected God’s Christ (v. 36) and were considered by God as the present evil age. The repenting Jews needed to be saved from that evil age. This indicates that they needed to turn to God not only from their sins but also from their generation, their Jewish society, including their Jewish religion. The result of such a salvation of God is an entrance into a new generation—the church.
John 10 also reveals to us that Christ, as the good Shepherd, entered into the sheepfold to lead His sheep out of the fold and to bring them into the pasture. The sheepfold signifies the law, or Judaism as the religion of the law. Before Christ came, God used Judaism as a sheepfold to keep His sheep. When Christ came, He led His sheep out of the fold into the pasture, that they might feast on His riches. In verse 16 the Lord also said, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also...and there shall be one flock, one shepherd.” “Other sheep” refer to the Gentile believers. “One flock” refers to the one church, the one Body of Christ, including the believing Jews and Gentiles. Christ brings both together into one flock and under one Shepherd. This indicates that He delivers the Jewish and Gentile believers out of the religious fold, the religious world, and transfers them into Christ and the church.
Before receiving God’s salvation, man was in darkness, under the authority of Satan, in Adam, under law, and in the crooked, perverted age and the evil, religious age. Hence, man was in a number of pitiful and tragic conditions. By the salvation of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, however, we have been transferred out of those different conditions into an entirely new sphere. As a result of being transferred, we have been moved out of the realm of darkness, sin, and death into the sphere of light, righteousness, and life; from the authority of Satan to the authority of God; out of the authority of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, being restricted and ruled in His divine love under the authority in resurrection; and out of Adam into Christ. In Adam we were constituted sinners, we were condemned, and we were dead. In Christ, however, we have been constituted righteous and justified unto life; we have been transferred out of the bondage, demand, and curse of the law into the freedom, supply, and blessing of grace; and we have been delivered out of the evil and crooked generation, that is, the religious generation, into Christ and the church.
