06/01/2025 – Day 336 – 1 John – Chapters 1 – 3 / 1:5 – “God is light” : How rich can commentary be from just one verse?
The first time I read through the Bible in a year over 25 years ago, I thought it was a challenge. Now , that part is easy. The difficult part is posting commentary, even if it is largely coming from excerpt commentary from renowned theologians that have gone before us. To give you an idea, our reading today is about three pages in my bible. My William Barclay covering the same chapters runs 73 small size 5″ x 7″pages. My Matthew Henry commentary runs 8 pages, full size.
Note – In our first cycle, we have an introduction summary to 1 John from Halley’s Bible Handbook. Search on “Day 336” or the date of the post: 04/18/2021.
For today:
God is Light
“And this is the message, which we have heard from him, and which we pass to to you, that God is light, and there is no darkness in him.” 1 John 1:5
I give you excerpts of William Barclay’s commentary of this verse:
“A man’s own character will necessarily be determinedly the character of the god whom he worships; and therefore, John begins by laying down the nature of God, and Father of Jesus Christ whom Christians worship. God, he says, is light, and there is no darkness in him. What does this statement tell us about God?
(i). It tells us that He is splendor and glory. There is nothing so glorious as blaze of light piercing the darkness. To say that God is light tells us of his sheer splendour.
(ii). It tells us that God is self-revealing. Above all things light is seen; and it illumines the darkness round about it. To say that God is light is to say there is nothing secretive or furtive about him. He wishes to be seen and to be known by men.
(iii). It tells us of God’s purity and holiness. There is none of the darkness which cloaks hidden evil in God. That he is light speaks to us of his white purity and stainless holiness.
(iv) It tells us of the guidance of God. It is one of the great functions of light to show the way. The road that is lit is the road that is plain. To say that God is light is to say that he offers his guidance to the footsteps of men.
(v). It tells us of the revealing quality in the presence of God. Light is the great revealer. Flaws and stains which are hidden in the shade are obvious in the light. Light reveals the imperfections in any piece of workmanship or material. So the imperfections in of life are seen in the presence of God. Whittier wrote:
‘ Our thoughts lie open to thy sight; And naked to the glance; Our secret sins are in the light Of thy pure countenance.’
We can never know either the depth to which life has fallen to the height to which it may rise until we see it in the revealing light of God.
(i) Darkness stands for the Christless life. It represents the life that a man lived before he met Christ or the life that he lives if he strays away from Him…
(ii). The dark is hostile to the light. In the prologue to his gospel John writes that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). It is a picture of the darkness seeking to obliterate the light — but unable to overpower it. The dark and the light are natural enemies.
(iii) The darkness stands for the ignorance of life apart from Christ. Jesus summons his friends to walk in the light lest darkness comes upon them, for the man who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going (John 12:35)…
(iv). The darkness stands for the chaos of life without God. God, says Paul, thinking of the first act of creation, commanded his light to shine out of the darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). Without God’s light the world is a chaos, in which life has neither order or sense.
(v). The darkness stands for the immorality of Christless life. It is Paul’s appeal to men that they should cast off the works of darkness (Romans 13:12). Men, because their deeds were evil, loved the darkness rather that the light (John 3:19). The darkness stands for the way that the Christless life is filled with things which seek the shadows because they can’t stand the light.
(vi). The darkness is characteristically unfruitful. Paul speaks of the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11). If growing things are despoiled of the light, their growth is arrested. The darkness is the Christless atmosphere in which no fruit of the Spirit will ever grow.
(vii). The darkness is connected with lovelessness and hate. If a man hates his brother, it is a sign that he walks in darkness (1 John 2: 9-11). Love is sunshine and hatred is the dark.
(viii). The dark is the abode of the enemies of Christ and the final goal of those who will not accept him. The struggle of the Christian and of Christ is against the hostile rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12). Consistent and rebellious sinners are those for whom the mist of darkness is reserved (2 Peter 2:9; Jude 13). The darkness is the life which is separated from God.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
Comment: I never understood references to “God and Jesus”. Jesus (or “Yeshua” in my private prayer) is God! So “God and Jesus” seems to suggest the heresy of Arianism, that Jesus is not coequal and coeternal with the Father. (See Jehovah’s Witness and the Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ and Later Day Saints) ) Secondarily, God is not God the Father’s name. He has many names: “Yahweh” ; “El Shaddai”; “Avinu Malkineau” , but “God” is not one of them.
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Thoughts? Reflections? Questions? Prayer.
Questions for fellowship generation, the lifelong sanctification process:
- What does the text reveal about God’s character?
- How has this reading generated prayer for you and/or us?
- What themes stand out to you in this bible study?
- How does our reading fit into the bigger picture (creation, the fall, restoration, etc.)?
- What verse(s) jumped out at you like never before? Is it explainable at this point?
- Do you have any questions you would like to put before the group as to how to interpret any particular verse(s) in our reading. Let scripture testify to scripture: Share with us where you sense contradiction between passages elsewhere.
- What did you find convicting and inspiring at the same time? Share with us how the Spirit of God is working within you as a messenger, both within and outside of our fellowship group.
- Share with the group how our study is calling or confirming to you a new mission to glorify God in our times.
Always connected through prayer and by His grace!
Love,
Jimmy