Tuesday, February 21, 2006
1 John 1:5 5 And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.
Have you ever tried to describe a person in one word or less? John he is nice. Jane she is ok. But does that really speak of their character?
Here John describes God in ways that no one else in the New Testament really does. God is Word. God is Light. God is Spirit. These 3 words that John uses are going to form the framework, so to speak, of the rest of the letter. In verse 5, he tackles the first major idea and its outworking.
John describes God as light. What does light do? What are some characteristics of light?
In the jewish mindset, which John probably had in mind, of God being light, was to describe Him in three different ways. The first of which would be to describe His physical attribute of absolute, physical glory. Whatever light can be in its purest form, doesn’t compare to the glory which God is in His very being.
It also has to do with His truth, intellectually. By being light, there is nothing that is not known to Him. We can hide ourselves and think that in the darkest corner that we are safe from His eyes, but the reality is that since He is light, and because of that He knows all things and there is nothing that is hidden from Him.
A third view from the Old Testament view of light is that of His holiness. Oh, how we have lost this one today. God is holy. Nothing that is unholy and impure can stand in His presence. His holiness is an often overlooked aspect of who God is. His love is holy. His justice is holy. His mercy and grace are holy.
You (and I) are not.
Just as being under a light can burn, so too can being under the glare of His light, which gives light to our sin and convicts us of unrighteousness is revealed. The revelation of our own un-holiness is what is at the center of John’s message that was given. God is light—not us, as the Gnostics would have us believe. We are not little gods, searching for our own truth.
More to come later,
Soli Deo Gloria
Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1.3
Have you ever tried to describe a person in one word or less? John he is nice. Jane she is ok. But does that really speak of their character?
Here John describes God in ways that no one else in the New Testament really does. God is Word. God is Light. God is Spirit. These 3 words that John uses are going to form the framework, so to speak, of the rest of the letter. In verse 5, he tackles the first major idea and its outworking.
John describes God as light. What does light do? What are some characteristics of light?
In the jewish mindset, which John probably had in mind, of God being light, was to describe Him in three different ways. The first of which would be to describe His physical attribute of absolute, physical glory. Whatever light can be in its purest form, doesn’t compare to the glory which God is in His very being.
It also has to do with His truth, intellectually. By being light, there is nothing that is not known to Him. We can hide ourselves and think that in the darkest corner that we are safe from His eyes, but the reality is that since He is light, and because of that He knows all things and there is nothing that is hidden from Him.
A third view from the Old Testament view of light is that of His holiness. Oh, how we have lost this one today. God is holy. Nothing that is unholy and impure can stand in His presence. His holiness is an often overlooked aspect of who God is. His love is holy. His justice is holy. His mercy and grace are holy.
You (and I) are not.
Just as being under a light can burn, so too can being under the glare of His light, which gives light to our sin and convicts us of unrighteousness is revealed. The revelation of our own un-holiness is what is at the center of John’s message that was given. God is light—not us, as the Gnostics would have us believe. We are not little gods, searching for our own truth.
More to come later,
Soli Deo Gloria
Aaron “Tree” Landis
Psalm 1.3
posted by Aaron L. at 9:18 AM | 
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