1 John 1.5b-Darkness is Absent in God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday March 30, 2017
First John: 1 John 1:5b-Darkness is Absent in God
Lesson # 27
1 John 1:5 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. (NASB95)
“In Him there is no darkness at all” not only expresses in a negative sense God’s holiness but also makes explicit what is described by the previous assertion that God is light.
“In Him” is composed of the following: (1) preposition en (ἐν), “in” (2) dative third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (αὐτός), “Him.”
The intensive personal pronoun autos is referring to God the Father since He is the word’s nearest antecedent and is the object of the preposition en which is a marker of a state or condition indicating that the Father exists in the state or condition of having absolutely no darkness in Him, none whatsoever.
“There is no darkness at all” is composed of the following: (1) nominative feminine singular form of the noun skotia (σκοτία), “darkness” (2) emphatic negative adverb ou (οὔ), “no at all” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (4) nominative feminine singular form of the adjective oudeis (οὐδείς), “no at all.”
The verb eimi means “to exist” in an absolute sense and is emphatically negated by the emphatic negative adverb ou which emphatically negates the statement that there is darkness in the character of God or in other words, there is absolutely no sin or evil in His character.
John emphatically declares that there is absolutely no darkness or imperfection in the character and nature of God.
The emphatic negative cardinal number adjective oudeis is employed here in 1 John 1:5 in order to strongly affirm the statement that there is no darkness in the (Triune) God, i.e. no imperfection in His character.
It expresses in unequivocal terms that there is absolutely no darkness or imperfection in the character of the (Triune) God.
By using this word with the emphatic negative adverb ou, John is stating in the strongest terms possible the perfection of God’s character.
The gnomic present of the verb eimi is again used for a general, timeless fact or specifically, a spiritual axiom or an eternal spiritual truth.
Here it is used to express an absolute statement that is true all the time, namely that there is emphatically no darkness, i.e. sin or evil in God’s nature or character.
The noun skotia is employed in a figurative or metaphorical sense referring to sin and evil in contrast to the figure of light which speaks of God’s holiness or the absolute perfection of God’s character.
The word is used to express in emphatic terms that the character of God is devoid of any imperfections.
The noun is employed with a double negative here in 1 John 1:5 to express emphatically that God the Father has absolutely no character imperfections and this is true of the Son and the Spirit as well since they are both deity as well.
The noun skotia along with the double negative affirms in emphatic terms the absolute perfection of God the Father, which is totally untouched by any sin or evil.
As light is the antithesis to darkness, so God’s character and nature is the direct antithesis to sin and evil.
First John 1:5 Now, this is the message, which we have heard from Him so that we are now imparting to each of you, namely that God (the Father) is, as an eternal spiritual truth existing eternally in the state of being light. Indeed, in Him, there is, as an eternal spiritual truth absolutely no darkness, none whatsoever. (My translation)
After this assertion that God is light in 1 John 1:5, the apostle John emphatically declares that there is absolutely no darkness in the Father whatsoever.
He is emphatically declaring that there is absolutely no darkness or imperfection in the character and nature of God.
He is making an emphatic denial that there is any imperfection in the character and nature of God.
John is expressing emphatically that God the Father has absolutely no character imperfections and this is true of the Son and the Spirit as well since they are all deity as well.
He is asserting in emphatic terms that God the Father is totally untouched by any sin or evil.
As light is the antithesis to darkness, so God’s character and nature is the direct antithesis to sin and evil.
Light and darkness are often employed as metaphors in Scripture to describe two opposing armies in the angelic conflict.
Light represents the kingdom of God, led by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Darkness represents the kingdom led by Satan (cf. John 1:4-5; 3:18-21; 12:35-36).
In Scripture, darkness often relates to the absence of divine viewpoint and thus the absence of the presence of God (cf. Acts 26:18; Eph. 5:8; 6:12; Col. 1:13; 1 Thess. 5:4-5; 2 Pet. 2:4; 1 John 1:5; 2:10-11; Jude 6; Jam. 1:17; Rev. 21:22-25).
Darkness in the Bible is associated with evil and the kingdom of darkness.
Now, in 1 John 1:5, John is refuting in emphatic terms the Gnostic teachers by employing the emphatic negative adverb ou since they taught that out of the pleroma, “fulness” of the deity, imperfections and evil have their origin.
The Gnostics stated that God as to His essence is the unfathomable abyss.
Gnosticism stated that the manifestation of God is possible only through self-limitation on His part and from this self-limitation evolved the divine attributes, which were previously hidden in the abyss.
These divine powers, the pleroma became the principles of all further developments of life, which continues to unfold in such a way that its successive grades deteriorate more and more from the purity of God
The Gnostics failed to acknowledge the freedom of choice that human beings possess to either act in dependence upon God or act independently from Him.
They failed to acknowledge the volitional responsibility and accountability that all moral rational creatures, i.e. human beings have toward God as His creatures.
As a result of this particular attitude, the Gnostics either limit the holiness of God or they find the cause of evil in God Himself.
Thus, they fail to make the distinction between holiness and evil, which is monism or they limit the power of God by granting the existence of an eternal evil power that is beyond the control of God, which is dualism.
Gnostic teaching entangled itself in this self-contradiction because it ascribed evil to an eternal self-subsistent nature, namely, deity.
Thus, the eternally subsistent evil of dualism must be God, which it cannot possibly be because if God is inherently evil in His nature, then He no longer is holy and ceases to be God.