“In your light we see light.” (Psalm 36:9b)

God is Light

We often hear that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). This is a foundational truth in Christian theology. We have hardly begun to penetrate the depths of this profound revelation.

But the scriptures also clearly state that “God is light” (1 John 1:5). This powerful metaphor is used throughout the Bible to portray God’s truth, character, and work. Even though all images and metaphors have inherent limitations they are helpful in pointing us to and connecting us with God.[1]

As light, God is the “true and uncreated light in whom there [is] neither shadow or turning.”[2] “God is light” is symbolic, but it is also archetypal: God is “uncreated light, the light that illumin[ates] every other light, himself the ultimate source of every illumination in the universe.”[3]

Christ as the Light of the World

In Christian theology, Jesus is “the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5). He “gives light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). As the incarnation of God in human flesh, his life “is the light of all people.” (John 1:4).

The early church incorporated the title “Son of God” to underscore Jesus’ unique participation in deity. To do this, the early church had to purge the phrase of its undesirable connotations that arose from its connection to pagan gods and Roman emperors. Furthermore, the title could easily be interpreted as implying subordination, that is, that Jesus is not equal to the Father.

The image of “light” did not carry such baggage. In the Nicene Creed, the title “only Son of God” is further defined: “God from God, light from light.” The image of light coming from light does not readily imply subordination. By using the metaphor of the sun and its radiance, Athanasius was able to devise a powerful argument against the Arians, who denied the full deity of Jesus.

It is conceptually impossible to imagine the light of the sun without its radiance. Thus, Athanasius argued: “Will anyone dare to say that the radiance of the sun is unlike the sun and alien to it? … Of course the light and the radiance are one, and the one is made evident in the other, and the radiance is in the sun, in such a way that anyone who sees the one sees the other as well.”[4] Church historian Jaroslav Pelikan comments on Athanasius’ rhetoric:

Although the Arians were willing to admit that now Christ was the light and radiance of the Father, they claimed that once, before the generation and creation of the Son, God the light had no radiance or ray. Athanasius’ rhetorical reply to his claim was: “He who is God, was he ever not rational [alogos]? He who is light, was he ever not radiant?”[5]

Athanasius’ argument found further support in the fact that Hebrews describes Jesus as “the radiance of God’s glory” (Hebrews 1:3). The consensus of the early church is evident in that one of the earliest known Christian hymns, the Phos hilaron (lit. “hilarious light”), hails Jesus as the radiant light of the everlasting Father.

Christ’s Objective Work

Because of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, the light of Christ now pervades the cosmos. No one is exempt from its radiance. It “enlightens every person” (John 1:9).

The metaphor of light provides a helpful way to understand how Christ’s light shines but remains hidden to some. Not every person responds positively to the light. The tragic fact is that even though “the light has come into the world” people continue to “love darkness rather than light” (John 3:19). The light shines in the moral darkness of spiritual blindness. We love our shadows and our illusions, and therefore, we run from the light.

Pelikan describes how the objective reality of Christ’s work is resisted:

The victory of darkness over light at sunrise was no illusion, but was objectively true. Its objective truth did not depend upon whether men acknowledge it or not. There would always be some who would deliberately turn away from the sunlight and wander about in dark places, seeing what was not there and not seeing what was there. So also men turned away from God and lived in the darkness of their own mistaken notions, imagining what was not true.[6]

No matter how bright the light shines, people can still shut their eyes to its brilliance.[7]     

Children of Light and Children of Darkness

Those unable to see the light perceive only darkness. Though the world objectively participates in the reality of God’s light, the subjective experience of the sinner is that the world is dark.

If the Christian vision is true, then the “sinner’s interpretation of light and darkness in the world [is], of course, a reversal of reality. In fact, the light [is] real and the darkness [is] an illusion.”[8]

The ability to perceive the light and walk in its radiance distinguishes the “children of light” from the “children of darkness” (John 12:36; Ephesian 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5). The children of light seek to intentionally live in the light of Christ. With “the eyes of the heart enlightened,” they desire to “walk in the light” (Ephesians 1:18; 1 John 1:7). The “children of darkness” are like those who close their eyes when the sun is shining. Because of this, they “stumble and fall just as though the darkness were real.”[9]

The children of light reflect, though poorly and palely, the light of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). By reflecting God’s light in Christ they become “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). The radiant light of believers points beyond itself to the light of God in Christ.

Summary

The ancient psalmist declared, “In God’s light we see light” (Psalm 36:9b). Now, because of Jesus, the light of God shines brightly. It is most perceptible in the beginnings of new creation found in the transformed and transforming lives of the children of the light – people who intentionally seek to escape the darkness by following the light of Christ.

Because of this new revelation in Christ, we can read Paul’s comments in 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 as a Christ-centered, new-creation-oriented expansion of Psalm 36:9:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6)

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© Richard J. Vincent, 2007