1. God. — The fundamental passage here is 1 Jn P, ' God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.' The conception of God as light is familiar, as has been seen, not only to the OT but to all ancient religious thought. But in the Christian view the physical conceptions of light and darkness which cling to the ethnic and even to the Hebrew theo- logies entirely disappear, and purely spiritual con- ceptions take their place. In this passage, as the context shows (cf. vv.^"i"), 'light' stands for holi- ness and 'darkness' for sin. In 1 Ti 6'^ again, where God is represented as dwelling in the light wliich no man can approach unto, the metaphor of light is transferred from God Himself to His dwelling-place, with reference probably to Ex 3318-23 . jj^t; (-jjg jf{ga_ conveyed is that of a holiness that is absolute in its separateness from all human imperfection (cf. vv.^"'^). In Ja P'' God is called ' the Father of lights, with whom can be no varia- tion, neither shadow that is cast by turning.' And here also the idea of this light without shadow or eclipse is used to emphasize the fact, previously referred to, of the essential holiness of One Avho cannot be tempted with evil and who Himself tempteth no man (v.^^).
The darkness against which God's holy light shines is sometimes represented impersonally (Eph 58, 1 Til 55, 1 P 29). But in Col l^^ g^, paul gives thanks to the Father ' who delivered us out of the power of darkness ' (cf. Lk 22^^) ; and the word for power (i^ovaia) suggests the tyranny of an alien authority. This is confirmed when in Eph 6^- we find the Apostle speaking of the ' world-rulers of this darkness, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.' When we read in 2 Co IP^, ' Even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light,' the evident suggestion is that Satan's true form is that of a prince of darkness, not an angel of light. In Ac 26'^ there is a significant parallel- ism between darkness and the power of Satan on the one hand, and light and the redeeming grace of God OH the other ; and in 2 Co 6''*^' there is a
similar parallel between light and darkness and Christ and Belial.
2. Christ.— As applied to God, the metaphor of liglit points to His essential nature ; as applied to Christ, it denotes His special function as the revealer of God to man. In the one case the light is considered in its intrinsic glory ; in the other, as shining forth upon the souls of men. It is in the Fourth Gospel that this conception of Christ as the light of men — a light by which they are at once illumined and judged — is fully worked out (cf. for the illumination Jn I''- » 8'^ \i^^, and for the judgment 1» S'*^'-!). But in 2 Co 46 St. Paul de- clares that God has revealed the light of the know- ledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ, and in Eph 5^ he says of those who were once in darkness that they are now 'light in the Lord.' Similarly in 1 Jn 2^ where the revelatioS of Jesus Christ and His 'new commandment' are in view, the author declares : ' The darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth.' In these passages the reference is to Christ's function as mediating the gracious Divine light to men and thus bringing them knowledge and salvation. P>ut in 1 Co 4^ Ciirist appears as a Judge, who by His coming 'will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts.' In this case, however, the penetrating judicial light of Christ is eschatologically conceived, and is not, as in the Fourth Gospel, a light by which men are already judged when they love the darkness rather than the light.
3. Salvation and the Christian life. — It is in this connexion that the metaphors of light and darkness most frequently occur in the relevant NT literature. (I) Christian soteriology has to do with sin and grace ; and these two contrasted moments of human experience find fitting representation in terms of darkness and light. Salvation is fre- quently described as a transition from darkness to light. St. Paul was sent to the Gentiles 'to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light' (Ac 26^8 ; cf. 13«) ; he says of his converts : ' Ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord' (Eph 5^) ; and so elsewhere he addresses them as ' sons of light and sons of the day,' who 'are not of the night nor of darkness' (1 Th 5^). In 2 Co 4** he compares the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, as it shines into the. heart in the face of Jesus Christ, to the creative light shining at God's word out of the darkness, St. Peter contrasts the marvellous light into which God has called His people with the darkness in which they lived formerly (1 P 2") ; while St. John, with a stronger sense perhaps of the progressive nature of the work of sanctification, reminds his ' little children ' that the darkness is passing away before the shining of the true light (1 Jn 2^). The author of Hebrews uses the expression ' en- lightened ' {(puTiadevres) to denote those who have had experience of the Christian salvation (6* 10^'-), by which he implies that before tasting of the heavenly gift they were in a condition of spiritual darkness.