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Here we see that our meetness is through the death of Christ, and what a meetness it
is! Here holiness is the positive side of this complete meetness, while unblameableness
and unreproveableness indicate the two negative sides of this meetness. These will
have to be considered more closely when we reach verse 22. A parallel is found in
Eph. 5: 27:--
"That He might present it to Himself a church in glory, not having spot or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
That is the sufficiency, the meetness for which the apostle gives thanks.
This
sufficiency is with a view to a share or a part of the inheritance.
The only other occurrence of meris, "part", in the epistles is in II Cor. 6: 15, "What
part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" The inheritance, kleros, refers to the stone
which was cast into the vessel, the "lot" which decides the inheritance. Both meris and
kleros come together in Acts 8: 21, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in the matter". The
fact that the inheritance is associated with the casting of lots, goes back to Israel's
division of the land of Canaan, and also to the annual practice in the Palestinian villages,
which underlies the words of Psa. 16: 5, 6: "Thou maintainest my lot, the lines are
fallen unto me in pleasant places: yea, I have a goodly heritage." If we turn to Micah 2:
we shall get a little light on this practice. Reading the opening verses we gather that there
had been dishonest practices among the people whereby a man was dispossessed of his
inheritance. The Lord threatens all such with retribution:--
"In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful
lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled; he hath changed the portion of my people,
how hath he removed it from me! Instead of restoring he hath divided our fields.
Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a line by lot in the congregation of the
Lord" (Micah 2: 4, 5).
The land surrounding the village was "common" land, and was appointed every year
by lot. It so happened that some positions would be good, and some bad, and the one
whose lot fell upon the good ground felt specially favoured. David, alluding to this
custom, seems to say that God had seen to it that his lot should fall upon a fair portion,
and his line in pleasant places. As we think of these things and remember that as Gentiles
we were strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, and to us could have been said,
"Thou hast neither part nor lot" in this inheritance, what shall we say when we realize the
inheritance in the light that has been allotted to us in grace? Can we do anything less
than seek to answer the prayer of which this is the happy conclusion, and with all wisdom
seek to be fruitful in all good works, unto all pleasing, seeking to walk worthy of so
gracious a Lord, so wonderful a calling, and so glorious a gospel. As we read Col. 1: 12
we have to say that "our lines are fallen in pleasant places, yea, we have a goodly
heritage:--
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath indeed blessed us."