3. If Christians, however, are to arise and shine, it must be because their light has come. Conse- quentlv revelation is also embraced under the liglit- svmbolism of the Gosj^els. in Mt 4''. Lk 1™ [Is 9^] 2^, where the reference, baseti on OT quotations, is to the redeeming life of Christ. This semi- mystical application, which associates light with the Di\-ine eflluence, runs far back into human history. ' Heaven means both the world of liglit above us and the world of hope within us. and the earliest name of the Divine l>eings is siini>ly •"the bright ones." Such names are more than metaphoi-s. But if they were simply metaphors, they would show how closely the world without is adapted to express and render definite the yearnings and the fears of the world within' (J. WeilgAvood, The
34
LIGHT
LIGHT
3Io red Ideal, pp. 6,7). It is needless to illustrate from ancient thought how light was almost in- variably, if variously, allied to the conception of heaven and the Divine nature, the latter being conceived as radiant and glorious. The gradual evolution of the religious idea slowly j^urihed the symbolism, especially in the deej^er leaches of faith within the later Judaism (notably in the Book of Enoch). The semi-physical element, though not entirely excluded even from the NT idea of glory and spiritual phenomena, came to be subordinated to the moral and mystical. The purity, the noise- less energy, the streaming rays of light, all sug- gested religious qualities to the mind, until the light of God came to be an exj^ression for the healing influence and vitalizing poAver exercised by Him over human life. The light of Christ, the Messiah, was thus His ministry (see Bruce's Galilean Gospel, p. 13 f.). His pei'son formed the creative power in the life of the hunran soul. Through A\ork and word alike. His being operated with quickening ettect upon the responsive hearts of His own people.
This application of the metaphor of light to the Divine revelation in Jesus is developed especially in the Fourth Gospel, where ' light ' is reserved almost exclusively for this purpose. John the Baptist is indeed described once as 'the burning and shining lamp,' in whose light (cf. V- *) the Jews were 'willing to rejoice for a season' (5^, cf. Sir 48^), Avith all a shallow nature's delight in transient impressions (see Martensen's Individual Ethics, p. 385). And Christians are incidentally called ' sons of light' (1236, ^f l^ 16«). But, if John the Baptist is the lamp, Jesus is the Light ; if Chris- tians become sons of light, it is by believing on the Light. It is not Christians but Christ, the in- carnate Logos, Avho is the Light of the world (I'* 8^^ 9^ 12^*^). Already in the ancient mind the supreme God had been frequently defined as the God of light, and the later Judaism had exjiressed its pro- founder consciousness of this truth in the colloca- tion of life and light (e.g. Ps 369, £„ 533) ^nd in the employment of ' light ' as a summary expression not only for cosmic vitality, but for tlie bliss of mankind, chiefly, though not solely, in the future (cf . Volz, Jildische Eschatologie, 328 f. ). In the Fourth Gospel, however, this idea is developed with singular precision and breadth. The Logos- Christ is defined in the Prologue not only as Logos but as Life and Light, the former category being confined to Christ's being as a Divine factor in the creation and in the essence of God (V-'^), as well as to His incarnation (P"*'^^), after which it is dropped. The intervening paragraph (l-^-^^), dealing with the Logos-Christ as a historical phenomenon, is sub- sumed under the category of Light and Life, which afterwards dominates the entire Gospel, except (curiously enough) the closing speeches (14-17), where the symbolism of Light is entirely absent. ' In him was life, and the life was the light of men.' This profound sentence really gives the keynote to the Gospel, in which Christ as the Light represents the essential Truth of God as revealed to human knowledge. The Messiah (e.g. En 48^) and the Logos (as in Philo) had already been hailed as Light. But here the metaphor of light denotes much more than the self-revelation of God in the person of Jesus (Weiss) ; it describes the transcendent life streaming out on men, the absolute nature of God as truth, as the supreme reality for man to believe in, and by his belief to share. In sharp antithesis to this Light is the Darkness, by which the writer symbolizes all that is contrary to God in human life, whether unbelief or disobedience, all that resists the true Life wliich it is the function of the Light to produce in humanity, all the ignorance and wilful rejection of Christ which issue in
practical consequences of confusion and rebellion. Historically, this opposition emerged during Christ's lifetime in tlie Jews' rejection of His mission. But, as the jjresent tense (palvei seems to imply, the truth is general ; the same enmity pervades every age — a conception to which there is a remark- able parallel in the Logos-teaching of Heraclitus (cf. Pfleiderer's Urchrist.'^ ii. 339). This antithesis means more, however, than a metaphysical dualism running through the world. The hostility of men to the Light is described as their own choice and fault (3^^- ^*'), and this conception naturally permeates the entire Gospel. The determinism is apparent rather than real. Whether positive or negative, the attitude of men to God in Christ is run back to their own wills, although the writer makes no attempt to correlate this strictly with Divine prescience. Nor, again, is the conception purely intellectual, though the terminology would seem occasionally to suggest this view. Light and darkness represent moral good and evil as these are presented in the spiritual order introduced by Christ. To love the light (3^^"^^) is not a theoretical attitude, but a practical, equivalent to doing the truth. The light has to be followed (S^\ cf. 1235f-) ; Christ's revelation is an appeal to the reason and conscience of mankind as the controlling princii^le of conduct ; ' the light of life ' is the light which brings life, and life is more than mere intellectual- ism (17^). To walk in or by the light is to have one's character and conduct determined by the influence of Christ, the latter being as indis- pensable to vitality in the moral and religious sjjhere as light is to physical growth (cf. 2 S 23'*, Ps 49^9 5613 etc )_ ggg, further, art. Truth.