KLEROS: “A Place Among Those Who Are Sanctified” – Acts 26:18

“I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

In the original Greek text of the New Testament, the word translated here as “a place” is “kleros.” The King James Version translated it “inheritance,” which is one of its meanings. Kleros is a very important word in both the New Testament and in the Greek version of the Old Testament that the Apostles used in the early church (called the “Septuagint”).  This is the first in a series of lessons exploring the meaning of this term.

Reference books list the main definitions of kleros as “lot, portion, or share.”  It is the word used for casting lots to inquire of the Lord in Acts 1:26.  Peter told the money-loving Simon Magus that he had “no share in this ministry” in Acts 8:21 (“neither part nor lot in this matter”), using the same word “kleros” for “lot” or “share.”  In Colossians 1:12 Paul uses the word for the “inheritance” of the saints, and in 1 Peter 5:3 it uses the same word to call the faithful church the Lord’s “heritage” that has been entrusted to the pastors.  The common theme is our allotted portion or share, designated and revealed by God’s grace to us.

Here, kleros is a place among the true saints. When we experience salvation through Christ, we receive a place at His table, at the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb.  “He brought me to his banquet table, and his banner over me is love.”  (Song of Songs 2:4; see also Isaiah 25:6).  There is a place with your name, designated and reserved for you.

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Learning from Acts – Salvation of the Philippian Jailer

Acts 16:25-28 - About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

Paul was on his second extended missionary journey.  Originally, he planned to revisit the churches in planted on his first tour and assess their progress (Acts 15:36-41).  The churches back then had no means of communicating with each other regularly, and there was no centralized management or control.  Each church had to learn to follow the Holy Spirit’s direction, receiving only occasional visits or letters from Apostles or other leaders.

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Joseph’s brothers: “We are honest men” – Tuesday evening 6.9.2009

Genesis 42:10 - “No, my lord,” they answered.  “Your servants have come to buy food.  We are all the sons of one man.  Your servants are honest men, not spies.” 

Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food during the famine.  They claim to be honest, righteous men, despite their long history of committing murders, immorality, deception, and acts of cruelty.  They show the position of sinners when they come before Christ trying to justify themselves, not recognizing their own sin and need for salvation.  Joseph’s brothers were indebted to him, but they want others to treat them as honorable men – just as unbelievers want God to treat them. 

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