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.