Darkness and Light

Text: Ephesians 5:8-14

We should LIVE DIFFERENTLY FROM THE PAGAN WORLD AROUND US. Paul uses another metaphor to illustrate the greatness of the difference between pagans and Christians. Darkness and light. And what a contrast!

1 The Great Contrast.  8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.

I said that this was a metaphor. It is, but yet at the same time, Paul is not saying that pagans are LIKE darkness, and Christians are LIKE night. He is a being much more assertive than that. He says that pagans ARE darkness, (as these believers once were) and Christians ARE light. That a pagan is darkness, and a Christian is light refers to their state of being, to their condition. 

There’s something else we should note though and that is to ask where does this ‘light’ come from?  The light that we are referring to here, came from Christ. So Paul writes, but now are ye light in the Lord: We have NO natural light of our own. cf Ephesians 4:17-18  So the light that Christians have, is His light, light from Christ and him alone. 2 Corinthians 4:6.  We are merely imperfect REFLECTORS of his light. John helps us to see this clearly in John’s epistle to the church, 1 John 1:7 

2 Walking in the Light.

Now, when we have this divine light, it will have a profound effect in how we live. Paul calls this ‘walking in the light.’ Let’s see what effect, practically speaking, the light of Christ will have in the way a Christian lives, his or her ‘Christian walk.’

• Light grows fruit. 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;). Light is always needed for fruit to grow, – only mushrooms grow in the dark! The Christian must surely see the fruits, the outward effects of his or her conversion as their walk with God progresses. Jesus said, John 15:8 The indwelling Holy Spirit cultivates these fruits, and three of them are mentioned here:
  • Goodness. ἀγαθωσύνη (agathōsynē) One commentator expands this as ‘a generous spirit!’ It is the opposite of ‘malice’ in Chapter 4:31
  • Righteousness. δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē) This follows on from goodness, – the joy that we have in doing what is right in the sight of God. Walking a straight path.
  • Truth. ἀλήθεια (alētheia) Christian integrity, and reliability, which contrasts with the pagan vices of sham and falseness and hypocrisy, – those dark attributes that characterise the old way of life in which the Ephesians once lived. 
• Light discriminates. 10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. Discrimination is not a bad word, despite the local NI connotations. We are to discriminate, to know what is good and what is bad, what is darkness and what is light – we are to have Christian discernment. Light is needed for that discernment process. To exercise discernment, we need to hold everything that we say or do up to the light – to the light of God, to seek guidance from the Lord, found in His inspired word. Hebrews 4:12 
• Light destroys darkness.   It does this in two ways…
  • Negatively, by exposing what is happening in the very darkest of places. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.. The world is full of evil. We must keep pressure on those who make decisions, but the only real way to deal with the wickedness of this world is by exposing it to the light of God. Remember though that one of the very darkest places is deep in the human heart. Mark 7:21   It is there that we need the light of God most.  
  • Positively, by bringing welcome healing. Light not only exposes what happens in dark places, but it dispels darkness.    13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Of course exposure to the light will bring evil things to light, but light also has curative properties. It shines in the darkness, and brings with it the word of God, which points us to Christ and to his forgiveness for sin. So Christ’s light reproves, convicts of sin, and that brings us closer to confession of sin and ultimate forgiveness in Christ.  

Note the reference to children again here. We are to walk as ‘children of light.’ We have already learned that we are the children of God, – not by natural birth, but by the new birth, we are adopted into God’s family, we are his children, we are ‘dear’ children, in V1, and when we are compromised by association with the pagan lifestyles of the world around us, we are ‘disobedient children’ (V6) – who will incur God’s anger and his discipline. But now we are told that our walk, – our lifestyle is to reflect that we are children of light. READ Matthew 5:14.  Finally,

3 Christ’s Light Cannot Be Extinguished.  14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

In this final verse of our passage, Paul is directly quoting scripture from the OT. But what passage is he quoting from? Most likely Isaiah 60:1-2? That passage in Isaiah relates to the return of the Jewish exiles, following their captivity in Babylon. It is about freedom from captivity, – and Jesus came to set the captives free, Luke 4:18, So is Paul referring to our conversion in Christ? To our spiritual awakening, and deliverance.  Or, as some think, is this a reference to our future resurrection? Having been convicted of our sin by the entrance of the Word, bringing light into our darkness, having been brought out of darkness into God’s marvellous light, and been delivered from sin, we await a glorious day, when the dead shall be raised, and we shall dwell in the light of Christ for ever and ever. Speaking of our eternal home, READ Revelation 22:4-6  Either interpretation is fine, – or even both. The light of Christ cannot be extinguished!

What have we learned? That the gulf between the Christian lifestyle and the pagan life is as vast, as contrasting, as darkness and light. Christians are to walk, to live in the light of God, in ways that will please him, knowing that their reflection of Christ’s light will have an effect both on our own lives, as we become more fruitful for Him and in the world around us as that reflected light penetrates into the darkness, exposing evil and bringing conviction and conversion. Finally we learned that the light of Christ will never go out, and we who are living in that light here, will enjoy its radiance for ever and ever. 

© Bob McEvoy – 2024