(2) In Col 1'^'- soteriology passes into eschatology. Christians have been already delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son ; but ' the inheritance of the saints in light,' of which the P'ather has made them meet to be partakers, has cleai-ly a future as well as a present reference (cf. Ro 13^-, ' the night is far spent, the day is at hand '). In the world to come the inheritance of the saints in light has its counterpart in ' the blackness of darkness' spoken of in 2 P 2'^. Jude ^^ For those who reject the light of the Divine grace, because they prefer the darkness to the light, there is reserved a deeper and impenetrable darkness.
702
LIGHTK^ING
LION
(3) But salvation has a human and ethical side as well as one that is transcendent and Divine ; and this also is set forth under the imagery of light and darkness. "When St. Paul declares that ' the fruit of the light is in all goodness and right- eousnessand truth' (Eph 5'*[RV]), and contraststhat shining fruit with ' the unfruitful works of dark- ness' (v.i^), he is giving to light and darkness a plain moral content. When he asks in another Epistle, ' What communion hath light with dark- ness ? ' (2 Co e''*), the words that precede show that it is the antithesis between righteousness and un- righteousness that is in his thoughts. And when, after comparing the world as it exists at present with the night, and the approaching Parousia with the day, he adds, 'Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light ' (Ro 13^^; cf. 1 Th 5^**), he is summoning his readers to that deliberate and strenuous choice and effort of the will in which all morality consists. Those who in the soteriological sense are already ' sons of light and sons of the day,' and accordingly 'are not of the night nor of darkness' (1 Th 5*), are not on that account exempt from the dangers of the encompassing moral and spiritual gloom or from the duties to which those dangers point. On the contrary, just because they are sons of the light they must gird on the armour of light, and because they are not of the darkness they must watch and be sober (vv.®"^). Similarly in 1 Jn l'^^- the writer calls upon his readers to 'walk in the light as Christ is in the light,' and brands as false those who profess to have fellowship with Him and yet continue to walk in darkness. And if they should ask for a definite test by which the moral life may be judged and its relationship to light or darkness determined, he refers them to the new commandment which the Lord has given (2^'- ; cf. Jn 13*^). ' He that loveth his brother abideth in the light ' (2'<'). ' But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness' (v.^^).
LrrERATURE.— H. Cremer, Bib.-Theol. Lex. of NT Greek^, 1880; B. Weiss, Bib. Theol. of the NT, Eng. tr., 1882-83; G. B. Stevens, The Theology of the NT^, Edinburgh, 1906, p. 370; PRE3, art. 'Erleuchtung' ; art. 'Li<jht' inEBia.nd DCG.
J. C. Lambert.
LIGHTNING (do-rpaTnJ). — Lightning, the visible discharge of atmospheric electricity from one cloud to another, or from a cloud to the earth, is now known to be essentially the same as the electric flashes produced in the laboratory. To the ancients it seemed supernatural. Terrible in its dazzling beauty and power to destroy, it was associated with 'theophanies (Ex 19'6 20^8, Ezk l^^- "), and became one of the categories of .Jewish and Chris- tian apocalyptic (Rev 4' 8* U^^ W«). See Thunder.
James Strahan.
LIKENESS.— See Form.
LINEN (jSwtros, from pa, adj. ^icrcnvos, \lvov). — Linen was a characteristic product of Egypt, where the arts of s))inning and weaving were carried to OTeat perfection. Both in tiiat land and in other lands to which it was imported it was tlie material used for priestly vestments. According to Hero- dotus (ii. 37), the Egyptian priests 'wear linen garments, constantly fresh washed, and they pay particular attention to this. , . . The priests wear linen only.' The Hebrew usage is indicated by the phrase 'the linen garments, even the holy garments' (Lv 16*^); and Vergil {.^n. xii. 120) speaks of Roman j)riests as ' Velati lino, et verbena tempora vincti.' Linen — at least the best kind of it {^v<T(roi, or ' tine linen ') — was too expensive for ordinary wear. It was the clothing of kings and their ministers (Gn 41^^)^ of ^omen of quality (Pr 31^2), of ideal Israel in her royal estate (Ezk W'>- ^^).
These facts explain the references to linen in the imagery of the Revelation. (1) The seven angelic messengers who come out of the heavenly temple are 'arrayed in linen, pure and bright' (15''). In spite of good MS authority (AC) and the dubious parallel in Ezk 28^^ the reading 'arrayed with precious stones' (RV) — 'KLdov for \lvov — is extremely unlikely, and S has Xlvovs. It is true that Xiuov was commonly applied to the flax- plant, but it was also used of linen cloth and garments (II. ix. 661, ^sch. Supp. 121, 132). (2) Eine linen was part of the merchandise of Imperial Rome (Rev 18^'^) ; the city was arrayed in it (v.^^), the old republican simplicity having given place to a wide-spread luxury. (3) It is befitting that the bride of the Lamb arrays herself in fine linen, bright and pure (19^). The added words, 'for the fine linen is the righteous acts (St/catw/xara) of the saints' is perhaps a gloss. It is a happy inspira- tion that makes ' fine linen,' the clothing of priests and princes, the uniform of the armies in heaven that follow Him who is the Faithful and True (v.'^).