Walking
in the Light
1
John 1:5 “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and
declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at
all.”
This
then is...
This is the chief message Christ came to deliver, that God is light
and in Him is no darkness at all. Neither Moses nor the prophets ever
gave the fullness of this message (John. 1:16-17). Christ Himself is
the chief manifestation of God’s light to men (John 1:1-9; 3:16-20;
8:12; 12:35-36).
This
then is
(καὶ
αὕτη ἐστὶν)
Rev.,
correctly and literally, and
this.
According to the proper reading the verb stands first in order
ἐστὶν
αὕτη,
with emphasis, not merely as a copula, but in the sense there
exists
this as the message. For a similar use of the substantive verb, see
1Jhn. 5:16,5:17; 2:15; John 8:50.
Message
(ἐπαγγελία)
This
word, however, is invariably used in the New Testament in the sense
of promise.
The best texts read ἀγγελία,
message,
which occurs only at 1Jhn. 3:11; and the corresponding verb,
ἀγγέλλω,
only at John 10:18.
we
have heard... The message that John and the other apostles preached
came from God not from men (Gal. 1:12). God is light. In Scripture,
light and darkness are very familiar symbols. Intellectually, light
refers to biblical truth while darkness refers to error or falsehood.
Morally, light refers to holiness or purity while darkness refers to
sin or wrongdoing.
We
have heard of Him
(ἀκηκόαμεν
ἀπ'
αὐτου)
A
form of expression not found elsewhere in John, who commonly uses
παρ'
αὐτοῦ
. See
on John 6:46. The phrase here points to the ultimate
and not necessarily the immediate
source of the message. Not only John, but others in earlier times had
heard this message. Compare 1Pet. 1:10, 1:11. Ἁπό
points
to the source
παρά
to
the giver.
Thus, John 5:41, I receive not honor from
παρά
men. They are not the bestowers of honor upon me. John 5:44, How can
ye believe which receive honor from
παρά
one another; the honor which men have to give and seek not the honor that cometh from
παρά
God; the honor which God alone bestows.
On the other hand, 1Jhn. 3:22, Whatsoever we ask we receive from
ἀπό
Him, the ultimate source of our gifts. So, Mat. 17:25: Of
ἀπό
whom
do the kings of the earth take custom - of
ἀπό
their own children or of
ἀπό
strangers? What is the legitimate and ultimate source of revenue in
states?
Declare
(ἀναγγέλλομεν)
Compare
the simple verb ἀγγέλλειν
to
bring
tidings,
John 20:18, and only there. Ἀναγγέλλειν
is
to bring the tidings up
to
ἀνά
or back
to him who receives them. Ἀπαγέλλειν
is
to announce tidings as coming from
ἀπό someone, see Mat. 2:8; John 4:51. Καταγγέλλειν
is
to proclaim with
authority,
so as to spread the tidings down
among
κατά
those who hear. See Acts 17:23. Found only in the Acts and in Paul.
God
is light...
God is a person and dwells in the light that no man can approach
unto; whom no man hath seen in all His glory nor can see (1Tim 6:16).
The phrase God is light does not constitute the being of God. It must
be understood in the same sense that we understand God is love, God
is good, God is a Spirit, God is a consuming fire, and other
statements about Him. In the same sense we understand that Jesus is
the way, the truth, and the life, or the door (John 10:9; 14:6).
These expressions don’t do away with the reality and personality of
God and Christ. See John 4:24.
God
is Light
(Θεὸς
φῶς ἐστὶν)
A
statement of the absolute nature of God. Not a
light, nor the
light, with reference to created beings, as the
light
of
men,
the
light
of
the
world,
but simply and absolutely God
is
light,
in His very nature. Compare God
is
spirit,
and see on John 4:24: God
is
love,
1Jhn. 4:8, 4:16. The expression is not a metaphor. All that we are
accustomed to term light
in the domain of the creature, whether with a physical or
metaphysical meaning, is only an effluence of that one and only
primitive Light
which appears in the nature of God Ebrard. Light is immaterial,
diffusive, pure, and glorious. It is the condition of life.
Physically,
it represents glory;
intellectually, truth;
morally, holiness.
As immaterial it corresponds to God as spirit;
as diffusive, to God as love;
as the condition of life, to God as life;
as pure and illuminating, to God as holiness
and truth.
In the Old Testament, light is often the medium of God's visible
revelations to men. It was the first manifestation of God in
creation. The burning lamp passed between the pieces of the parted
victim in God's covenant with Abraham. God went before Israel in a
pillar of fire, descended in fire upon Sinai, and appeared in the
luminons cloud which rested on the mercy-seat in the most holy place.
In classical Greek φῶς
light,
is used metaphorically for delight,
deliverance,
victory,
and is applied to persons as a term of admiring affection, as we say
that one is the
light
of
our
life,
or the delight
of
our
eyes. So, Ulysses, on seeing his son Telemachus, says, thou hast come,
Telemachus, sweet
light
γλυκερὸν
φάος
Homer, Odyssey, xvi., 23. And Electra, greeting her returning
brother, Orestes, O
dearest
light
φίλτατον
φῶς
Sophocles,
Electra, 1223. Occasionally, as by Euripides, of the
light
of
truth
Iphigenia at Tauris, 1046. No modern writer has developed the idea of
God as light with such power and beauty as Dante. His Paradise might
truthfully be called a study of light. Light is the only visible
expression of God. Radiating from Him, it is diffused through the
universe as the principle of life.
The
heretics claimed to be the truly enlightened, walking in the real
light, but John denied that because they do not recognize their sin.
About that basic reality, they were unenlightened.
no
darkness at... With this phrase John forcefully affirms that God is
absolutely perfect, and nothing exists in God’s character that
impinges upon His truth and holiness (Jas. 1:17).
In
Him is no darkness at all
(καὶ
σκοτία οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ
οὐδεμία)
It
is characteristic of John to express the same idea positively and
negatively. See John 1:7, 1:8, 1:20; 3:15, 3:17, 3:20; 4:42; 5:24;
8:35; 10:28; 1Jhn. 1:6, 1:8; 2:4, 2:27; 5:12. According to the Greek
order, the rendering is: And darkness there is not in Him, no, not in
any way. For a similar addition of οὐδείς
not
one,
to a complete sentence, see John 6:63; 11:19; 19:11. On σκοτία
darkness,
see on John 1:5.
darkness
As
the source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and truth, God cannot have
the least degree of ignorance, imperfection, sinfulness, and
darkness. God is to man what the sun is to our world, hence the
importance of the message that God is light and no darkness at all.
Again,
John implies his eyewitness status, having heard of Him, that is,
Jesus. John passes on to the church teaching he first received from
Jesus. Light and darkness here have ethical overtones. John is saying
that God is perfect and good; there is thus no sin or evil in Him.
This will have implications for followers of the God in the following
verses.
Notice
in this, that God is not a Light. He is Light. He is the source of
all Light. Light does away with darkness. There is no darkness at all
where there is God. Light destroys darkness.
We
hear some say that Christians can be possessed of devil spirits. This
cannot be, because Christians have the Light of the world dwelling
inside of them. They are possessed of the Light. This Light does away
with darkness. Devil spirits are of darkness.
You
cannot be possessed of darkness and Light at the same time. Light
does away with darkness. A Christian can be oppressed from without,
but not possessed from within. God does not give light, He is Light.
We Christians give off His Light. Christ in me is the hope of glory.
Jesus
Christ is the Light of the world. If He is in me, I am consumed with
His Light. Christian, let His Light shine forth from you so brightly
that the Father will be glorified in your works. To “declare” is
more than just tell. It means it is so. He (John) is stating a fact.
Simplicity
of God... Simplicity means that God is not complex, compounded, or
divisible in His nature. Simplicity does not deny the three distinct
persons of the Trinity. The three distinct persons all share in the
same essence of God. Neither does this mean that it is easy to
understand all that is to be known of God because.
(1)
sin has a limiting effect upon human understanding. And
(2)
man’s understanding is finite, whereas God is infinite.
Basic
Principles
Since
fellowship is the objective of John’s letter, it was natural for
him to begin with a discussion of this subject. So, in 1:5-2:11 he
will enunciate some fundamental principles which lie at the root of
all genuine fellowship with God. These principles are of immense
practical value to the everyday lives of all Christians. By these
principles believers may test the reality of their personal communion
with God. They may also discern whether they have come to know the
God with whom they commune.
Basic
principles of fellowship
In
the prologue the author asserted that he was writing about things he
had heard, seen, and touched. Here he began with something he had
heard. This
is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you.
By the words from Him, John no doubt meant from the Lord Jesus Christ
whose Incarnation he had just referred to (1Jhn. 1:1-2). The content
of this message, as John expressed it, is that God
is Light; in Him there is no darkness at all.
This
precise statement is not found in the recorded words of Jesus, but
the author was an apostle who heard much more than was written down
cf. John 21:25. There is no reason to think that John did not mean
just what he said. This is a truth he had learned from the Lord.
In
describing God as Light, which John frequently did (John 1:4-5,
1:7-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36, 12:46; Rev. 21:23), he was no
doubt thinking of God as the Revealer of His holiness. Both aspects
of the divine nature figure in the discussion of sin and fellowship
in 1Jhn. 1:6-10. As Light, God both exposes man’s sin and condemns
it. If anyone walks in darkness, he is hiding from the truth which
the Light reveals cf. John 3:19-20. Thus revelatory terms such as the
truth and His Word are prominent in 1Jhn. 1:6, 1:8, 1:10.
It
is important that the message John had heard is the one he directed
to his readers we… declare to you. Some scholars have maintained
that the false assertions which are condemned in 1Jhn. 1:6, 1:8, and
1Jhn. 1:10 are those of the false teachers, or antichrists, about
whom John wrote later. But there is no proof of this. The writer
continued to use the word we throughout as though both he and his
readership were in view. When carefully considered, the kind of
claims which John refuted are precisely the kind which may be made by
Christians who lose touch with spiritual realities and with God. The
effort to find in 1Jhn. 1:6-10 the doctrinal beliefs of heretical
teachers lack adequate exegetical foundation.
