"Light" In the Gospel of
John
John 3:19-21
Excerpt
God’s *holiness is expressed in terms of light, e.g. in 1 Tim. 6:16, where he is said to dwell ‘in unapproachable light’; cf. 1 Jn. 1:5, where it is said that ‘God is light’, and other passages in that Epistle where the implications of this for the believer are worked out. The same thought is seen in the typically Heb. expression ‘children of light’ which is twice used by Paul (Eph. 5:8; cf. 1 Thes. 5:5; Jn. 12:36).In John’s Gospel the term light refers not so much to God’s holiness as to the revelation of his love in Christ and the penetration of that love into lives darkened by sin. So Christ refers to himself as ‘the light of the world’ (Jn. 8:12; 9:5; cf. 12:46), and in the Sermon on the Mount applies this term to his disciples (Mt. 5:14-16). Similarly Paul can refer to ‘the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ’ and to God himself who ‘has shone in our hearts’ (2 Cor. 4:4-6).
Ellis, E. E. “Light.” Ed. D. R. W. Wood et al. New Bible Dictionary 1996 : 691. Print.
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