The Unbearable Lightness

for you are all sons of light and sons of day 1 Thessalonians 5:5 NASB

Light – The Greek word for light is phos.  We have so many English words that come from this Greek heritage.  Phosphorous, photograph, photon.  The early Greeks saw the divine structure of the world in terms of light and dark.  This theme was particularly developed in Plato.  He taught that men of reason would come to the light, an internal place of illumination where they would see the world as it really is, a shadowy place of the mixture of dark and light.  Seeing true reality would encourage men to emulate the light and be drawn out of this world into a world where the divine light within each man would shine forth.  We hear much of the same religious philosophy today in New Age thinking.  It is really as old as Plato, or even older.

The Bible rejects all such speculation.  There is a good reason why God first creates light. Light has no ontological priority.  It doesn’t exist until God calls it into existence.  From the beginning we see that God is sovereign over light.  All of the cults that worshipped the sun, moon and stars (and still do in astrology today) are shown to be worshiping what is created, not the Creator.  All the philosophy of “illumination” that doesn’t begin with the sovereignty of the Creator is still in the dark.  Light belongs to God.

The Bible does use light in a positive sense.  Wisdom is light to the soul.  The Law of God is light to those who follow it.  Those who worship God dwell in the light.  But it isn’t until we see the concept in the New Testament that we discover its full metaphorical usage.  Yeshua announces that He is the “light of the world.”  John tells us that God is light and that the light came into the world but the world preferred darkness.  Paul reminds us that the hidden deeds of men will be brought into the light.  We are told that fellowship with God is walking in the light. God’s truth brings light.  Light becomes the symbol for openness, harmony, community, obedience and redemption.

Someone once told me that character is what you are when the lights are turned off.  In this verse, Paul is reminding us that the light of God is never off.  Our darkest secrets, our hidden past, all those things that we would like to keep inside the closet, God knows them as though they were in bright daylight.  And He doesn’t care!  Before we realized that God was ready to turn our back alleys into open highways, we tried to hide in the dark.  But God doesn’t care how horrible we think those dark parts of our life are.  He wants to flood light into our lives and show us that His Son has been there all the time, waiting to lead us out of the dungeon.

Today, when the sun rises and the light nourishes the earth, remember that the Son also shines, constantly, nourishing the place where you grow.

Topical Index: light, phos, 1 Thessalonians 5:5