Sunday Devotional: 1 John 1:5

And this is the message which we have heard from Him and we proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

John’s first letter starts off with a number of testimonials: we heard, we saw with our eyes, we touched with our hands. He had a tangible relationship with “the word of life”–Jesus Christ. To John, Jesus was not a concept, but a reality. And over the course of the letter, John shares truths, admonitions, and warnings that are based in his knowledge of this person who is God incarnate.

This passage really begins the main meat of the letter, but I wanted to spend some moments dwelling on it because what it says is so important. In the light of everything John will talk about in the succeeding pages of his letter, the first principle, the message, he wants his readers to grasp is from Jesus himself: God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.

The light/dark metaphor is used a lot in what’s known as “Johnannine” literature (usually encompassing John’s Gospel, and at least the first letter of John, if not the second and third). The idea is pretty straight-forward: light = good, dark = bad. You want to be walking in the light (i.e., knowing the truth as revealed and expressed through a relationship with Christ), not walking in the darkness. True enlightenment comes from knowing Jesus. He is able to shed light and bring peace and understanding.

In this passage, I think John is making a very simple statement about God: He is light. That is, He is good, all that He does is good, and every motive and intention behind what He does is good. But more than that. God is not affected by light; He is not a reflective surface from which light radiates more fully than other surfaces. Rather, He is the light. God does not conform to some external standard of goodness; He defines goodness. Whatever we might call good is really only good with respect to God’s standard of goodness. There is no other standard.

To further emphasize this point, John adds that there is no darkness in God at all. That final phrase (one word in the Greek: oudemia) underscores the point. Not simply that there is no darkness in God, but there is no way there could be any darkness in Him. Not even in the furthest recesses of His being. If God is good (i.e., He defines goodness), then this stands to reason.

I want us to take two things away from this verse today. First, that God is, therefore, blameless. You can shake your fist at the heavens when things go wrong, but God can never be accused of wrong-doing. God is incapable of doing evil. I know that sounds odd–if God is almighty, how can he be incapable of doing something? But this is a common misunderstanding of terms like “almighty” and “omnipotent.” These terms will always be restricted by God’s nature and character. This doesn’t make Him less God; it just means we need to better understand our terminology! So, God is never at fault. His works are righteous, and all His deeds are just.

This leads to my second point. If God is good, and there is no evil in Him whatsoever, then whatever He does, He does out of a pure motive, and for an ultimate good that we may never see. Why does God allow sin? Why do good people suffer? Why do the wicked go unpunished? These are great topics for biblical discussion, and I could provide a number of reasons. But ultimately it boils down to this: God is in control, and God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. And this is where real faith comes in. Real faith is trusting in this single truth (God is light), even in the midst of the worst situation. Knowing that no matter how bad things may get, God is in control, and He is light, and in Him there is no darkness.

I hope that gives you comfort this week.