(Chap. 1:1-5.)

(Continued from page 47.)

In verse 5, the apostle who-had been a witness of the earthly life of the Son of God gives us the message which, by word and work, He had communicated to them, making God known to them in His nature and character as Light, without a shade of darkness.

No doubt John gave our Lord's message orally to those to whom he could thus speak, but here he puts it in permanent form that it may be the heritage of all believers. If, then, we have received the message concerning the moral nature and character of God, it becomes us to seek to realize the import of the message.

We may best do this perhaps by considering three statements-" God is spirit," "God is light," and " God is love."

When our Lord tells the woman of Samaria that "God is spirit" (John 4:24), He is teaching her that while the substance of God is immaterial and invisible, it is of the nature of spirit :He is not characterizing the spirit substance in God, not distinguishing it from the spirit substance in other spirit beings. There can be no doubt that the spirit substance of angels is not identical with the spirit substance in God, which is uncreated, un-derived, subsisting from everlasting to everlasting. Not so in angels. In them it is a created substance. But this distinction or difference is not the point in our Saviour's conversation with the Samaritan woman. He is emphasizing the fact that God being of a spirit substance, it is unsuited to worship Him with material things, with shadows. He should be worshiped in spirit and reality.

Returning to our verse, when the apostle says, "God is light," he is not speaking of God's spirit substance merely,, but of His moral nature as well; He is declaring what one of the qualities is by which His moral character is distinguished.

Light and love describe God's character. Light is used here symbolically:a beautiful symbol it is. In the first place, light, constituted as it is of three distinct rays, is in itself a trinity in unity, and suitably symbolizes God as a unity of three distinctions. God is a trinity of one common substance.

But this is not all that light speaks of. The distinctions in the Godhead are distinctions of personal relations. The three Persons constituting the Trinity are not only a trinity of one common spirit substance, but also of one common life, of one common moral nature and character. To say, " God is light," is not only to say the Trinity is of one common spirit substance, but also of a common moral nature, since the distinctions in the Godhead are distinctions of moral relations. The distinctions of Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinctions of individual and personal moral relations. As light is unchangeable, always the same, it beautifully symbolizes God as the unchangeable One, both in substance and moral nature.

Again, light is self-manifesting and therefore symbolizes the capability in God of manifesting Himself," of putting Himself in the light. The second person of the Godhead eternally was its power to manifest itself, whether partially or fully. The partial revelations of God have been by the Word; through His incarnation and earthly life He has fully revealed God-the Father, Son and Holy Spirit-revealed their moral nature. It is in this sense that the Son of God is the light of men. In Him become Man the invisible Father is seen. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father" (Jno. 14:9). God the Spirit is able to make men sensible of His unseen immanence, that He is near even if invisible, but the Son not only manifests His nearness, but makes Himself visible-puts Himself in the light.

Again, as the symbol of what God is, light is transparent, perfectly transparent. It is thus the symbol of intrinsic purity, of God's moral character. To say "God is light," is to say He is holy; not only relatively, but absolutely so. His holiness is essential, intrinsic. This means He is able to preserve Himself as He is. As light is unchangeable, so is God incorruptible, untarnishable; it is impossible for any moral poison to come into His moral nature. No evil, no sin can ever originate or be in Him. What He is in moral nature and character He has ever been and must ever be. He cannot be deceived; "cannot be tempted with evil" (James i:13). "God is light" tells us His moral discernment is absolutely perfect. It is a moral impossibility for God to look complacently upon sin. He cannot behold iniquity (Hab. i:13). If, then, His perceptions are unerring, His moral discernment absolutely perfect, His judgments must be right. He must perfectly resent everything that is contrary to what He is in His own nature. He can never compromise with what, is against or in opposition to His character. That He is light is the assurance and guarantee of all this.

And light is an active agent. It is not a passive thing affected by outside influences.. Darkness may hinder its being seen; but seen or unseen it is ever the same. It is not molded by powers outside itself. It is ceaselessly, uniformly active, symbolizing thus the active energy in God by which He ceaselessly and uniformly asserts or expresses His moral character.

We see, then, that in saying " God is light," the Spirit uses a most appropriate symbol, whether we think of God as a trinity of Persons, or community of spirit substance, or moral nature and character.

In chapter 4 the apostle says, " God is love." If light expresses the divine energy in manifesting the stainless and unstainable purity of God's moral nature, "love " expresses the energy of God in asserting and maintaining the absolute perfection of His goodness. Necessarily these two distinguishing qualities unite in God. If He were not absolutely " light " He could not be absolute goodness; and if He were not absolutely " love "-perfect goodness-He could not be unsullied light.

We return now to the thread of the apostle's argument. He has shown that the Son of God become Man has by word and work, especially by the cross, manifested the life eternal in its fulness and power; and that believers on the Son of God participate in the life thus manifested; that believers now not only share in the life but may know it, and so have the full joy which that knowledge gives. Then he declares the spotless purity of God's moral character as manifested in the Son come from God, that the participators in God's moral nature may apprehend and understand the character of the life and nature in which they share.

This is used to test the reality of the profession as to possessing this divine life-whether the profession be our own or others'. The qualification to test whether the profession is real or not is the knowledge of what God is in His moral nature. But this knowledge must be, not only reliable, but authoritative. It is reliable, because the Son of God Himself has come and made known the truth about God. It is authoritative, because He was sent of God to reveal Him.

Again, the knowledge we possess of God's perfect moral nature is reliable and trustworthy knowledge, because it has been communicated to us by those who were personal witnesses of its revelation in and through the Son of God. These witnesses have borne testimony to what they heard Him declare. It is His revelation that they have announced to us, and were commissioned by Him to make.

Let us notice also the form of the announcement. It is stated both positively and negatively. "God is light" declares what He is positively. The negative statement is, Darkness is not at all in Him. Through the Son of God become Man, God is in the light. Faith knows what He is morally as revealed in His Son. Of this life, through grace, the children of faith partake. C. Crain

(To be continued.)