"Are you qualified brethren? Let me hear you say it?"
"Uh huh... Amen... Preach it now..."
"I say, Have you been qualified by the Savior?!"
"Amen preacher! We're qualified!"
I am an insider. I've been around enough to learn which signals, fashions, and secret handshakes will get me into the inner chambers. And though I tend not to use it myself, I am fluent enough in the language to act as a translator. But one phrase I've never heard shouted from the pulpit or exclaimed from the pew is "Are you qualified?" Yet Paul uses that very phrase in his letter to the Colossians to summarize our salvation.
"...giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light." Colossians 1:12.
What in the world? It seems even Paul himself considered the word unusual because he only used it one other time though not to describe our salvation. Writing to the Corinthians about his apostolic calling he says, "...[God] has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant..." 2Cor.3:6. The word "competent" here is the same as "qualified" in Colossians 1:2.
At first, the comparison of these two passages seems to offer little insight. But it's the nature of Paul's calling and his overall "fitness" for the office of Apostle that provides a perfect picture of the gospel of grace and what God does to save us.
Consider what kind of man Paul was before his conversion. He was Saul, the brilliant young Pharisee, who in his zeal for Phariseeism persecuted the Church. He served warrants for the arrest of believers; he cast his vote in favor of their execution; he even tried to force some to blaspheme.
Question: would we consider this man qualified to be an Apostle of Christ's Church? Answer: No! Of course not. Not only would we consider him unqualified, we would consider him very much disqualified! Yet Christ called him out of darkness; Christ redeemed him; changed him; gifted and empowered him to be his ambassador to the Gentiles.
Paul's apostleship was all of free, sovereign grace. He was empty, completely devoid of anything that would recommend him for this office or work but Christ filled him; Christ qualified him for the office; Christ made him competent.
And this is what is offered to every sinner in the gospel. This is how God qualifies us for heaven. We come, not simply unqualified for heaven but very much disqualified. But Christ's blood washes us of sin; His perfect righteousness is credited to our account; His Holy Spirit fills us full - He qualifies us in every way! All this of free, sovereign grace - received by faith. Hallelujah - what a Savior!
