Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Thessalonians 5:5
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
5. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day ] More correctly, For you are all sons of light and sons of day. This confirms positively what was stated by way of denial in 1Th 5:4. Those cannot be “in darkness” who are “sons of light.” Light is their native element and abode.
By a common Hebrew idiom, a man is said to be a son of any influence that determines or dominates his character. So there are “sons of Belial” (worthlessness) in the O. T.; and Christ speaks of “sons of thunder,” “sons of the Resurrection,” &c.
Light is a favourite figure with St Paul: see Rom 13:11-14; Eph 5:8-14; Col 1:12. St John employs it still more frequently; in his Gospel, Christ applies it with emphasis to His Person as well as to His doctrine: “ I am the light of the world” (Joh 1:49; Joh 8:12), &c. Both conceptions meet in the words of Psa 36:9, addressed to God: “In Thy light shall we see light.” This natural and beautiful metaphor describes the truth revealed by God to men (1) in its moral purity, as opposed to the darkness of sin (see 1Th 5:7-8; comp. Rom 13:12-13, Joh 3:19, 1Jn 1:5-7); but especially (2) in its saving effect, as the bringer of life, deliverance and joy (Psa 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation;” Isa 40:1-3; Joh 8:12 ; 2Co 4:6; &c). These two meanings are united in St Paul’s conception. (3) The thought of mental enlightenment also accompanies the figure (see e.g. Eph 1:17-18).
“Day” is here not a mere synonym for “light” in general; it takes up again the “day of the Lord” of 1Th 5:2 ; 1Th 5:4. Now receiving the light of Christ’s truth and assimilated to it, the sons of light will be ready for “that day.” Christ’s advent will be to them like sunrise after long twilight. It is their birthday, the time of their full redemption and revelation. “The day of the Lord” claims them for its own, “sons of day,” being “sons of God” and “the resurrection” (Luk 20:34-36). See 2Th 1:7; Rom 8:18-24; Col 3:4.
This the Apostle assumes of “all” his readers; for he counts upon them all maintaining the watchful hope that befits the sons of light.
we are not of the night, nor of darkness ] The Apostle passes from the second person to the first (comp. ch. 1Th 3:3-4); he associates himself with his readers in this repudiation of night and darkness.
Night, as the opposite of “day,” is the period, or the state, of ignorance and estrangement from God, which for believers in Christ has passed away. And yet in contrast with the full light which will burst forth on “the day of the Lord,” the present hour is even for them one of comparative darkness and obscuration: see Rom 13:12; Col 3:1-4; 1Jn 3:2. Darkness is the element and empire of night; the condition in which “the rest” (1Th 5:6) live and have their being. Such darkness involves, along with ignorance of God, moral debasement (see 1Th 5:7, and ch. 1Th 4:5) and insensibility (2Th 2:11-12; Rom 1:30; Mat 24:38-40); hence exposure to surprise and ruin ( 1Th 5:2-3).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye are all the children of light – All who are Christians. The phrase children of light is a Hebraism, meaning that they were the enlightened children of God.
And the children of the day – Who live as if light always shone round about them. The meaning is, that in reference to the coming of the Lord they are as people would be in reference to the coming of a thief, if there were no night and no necessity of slumber. They would always be wakeful and active, and it would be impossible to come upon them by surprise. Christians are always to be wakeful and vigilant; they are so to expect the coming of the Redeemer, that he will not find them off their guard, and will not come upon them by surprise.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Th 5:5
Ye are all children of the light
I.
What it is to be of the night and darkness. This is a fitting symbol of a soul away from God, blind in understanding and heart and will. There is implied in it–
1. Ignorance of God.
2. Wickedness. Men love darkness rather than light, etc.
3. Misery. Days of sorrow are days of darkness.
II. What it is to be children of light and of the day. Theirs is a state of–
1. Knowledge. They are enlightened, having turned the eye of their heart to Him who is the Light of the world.
2. Holiness. As God is clothed with light as with a garment, so are His people clothed even now with the white robe.
3. Happiness. Joy cometh in the morning.
4. Future glory. In Gods light they shall see light. Conclusion: This being the state of Christs people, it cannot be that the day should overtake them as a thief; that day loved and longed for can never come upon them as something unwelcome. (J. Hutchison, D. D.)
Children of the night and darkness
A colonial governor who was about to return to England offered to use his influence with the home government and procure any favour the colonists might desire. The unanimous reply was as startling as the demand for the head of John the Baptist. Tell them to tear down the lighthouses, they are ruining the colony. The people were wreckers. (W. C. Church.)
The children of the day
I. It is evident that all those on whom the true night shines are, in a very important sense, the children of the day. Christendom is the domain of light as contrasted with the early world or the regions beyond. Its very dimmest parts are luminous in comparison with any portion of the world to which the rays of the gospel have not penetrated. None can dwell where the gospel is known without deriving from it great accessions of knowledge on most important and essential questions. What elsewhere is conjecture, surmise, hope, there is certainty. What heathen sages, by the reflection and research of a life, laboured to make probable, the Christian child learns at its mothers knee, and grows up to know and believe with an implicit and unwavering confidence, yea, and many things besides, which the efforts of natural reason were never able so much as to excogitate even into the rudest sketch or outline.
II. But there is a higher sense in which we are the children of the day, as we are baptized into the body of Christ, and made to partake of the privileges of the church. And this also is happily true of most of us; sad to think, that in a land that calls itself Christian, it should be untrue of any. The ancient fathers often called baptism illumination; because it introduced and pledged to its recipients the enlightening influences of the Holy Spirit.
III. There is still another form and grade of illumination, by virtue of which the partakers of it are made in a still higher and more glorious sense the children of the light and of the day. This is that illumination which reaches the heart and the life, and brings them under the practical control of the truth which it communicates. This is the end and design of all inferior illumination. A spiritual illumination, one that takes hold upon the moral and active powers of our nature, quickens the conscience, controls the will, hallows the affections, gives truth supremacy and dominion, and stamps the visible impress of every revelation it makes upon the character and practice, is the illumination that makes us children of the day in the only sufficient sense, and thereupon heirs of salvation. (R. A. Hallam, D. D.)
Children of life and light
I looked from my window this morning across the fields. I noticed a dwelling house whose roof was exposed to the early and cheerful sun. There had been a storm in the night, and snow covered the roof. In an hour the warmth of the sun had melted it, save where the shadow of the chimney fell. That long, dark shade kept firm grasp of the iciness. It gave me a morning lesson, like a text from Scripture. The ice of our lives lingers only where the shadow is. If we have no Christly warmth, it is because we live in the dark. If our love is chilled and our nature sluggish, there is something between us and the light. What then? We must go forth from shadows. The sun shines and its beams are full of life. If we walk in this life the ice will melt, and instead of deathly conditions, we shall become rivers of living water. An army officer was called to the French and Indian war a century and a half ago. He left a wife and five children at home. A fearful throat ailment carried every child in a few weeks to the grave. The wife sat alone and desolate at home. What did she say? I must not stay indoors and weep; I will go into the sunshine. And her neighbours daily said, Madame Binge is in the sunlight again. And this legend of her is told till this day. Christ is the Sun. Shadows do not belong to us. They savour of death. The one aim of God is to make us children of life and light; then follows holy fellowship and hallowed communion. (A. Caldwell.)
Judged by the light we give
In Connecticut recently, the parents of a young lady in a school at Bridgeport sent to her a collection of beetles from Cuba. Among them were two or three specimens known as Elater Noctilucus, or fire beetle of the West Indies. They measure about an inch in length. On each side of the thorax is a large, oval, velvety black spot, like an eye, and some of them have in place of the oval spot two translucent, opal-like spots on the sides of the thorax, and from these at night the insect throws at will a strong light, resembling two tiny electric lamps in full glow. The light from one insect is sufficiently strong to enable one to read fine print with ease. When agitated the insect also gives out a similar light from the tissue between the segments on the under side of the body. The beetles were taken to a photographic artist in the city, who found that the light emitted from them, though of a greenish hue, contained abundant actinic rays by which, with a sensitive plate, he could obtain negatives. After a few experiments he succeeded in taking a picture of one of the beetles by no light but that emitted by the beetle itself. It is too often forgotten that pictures of human character are taken in the same way; every man is judged by the light he gives.
Children of light
We may learn a lesson on this subject from an article in common use–our coals. Long, long ages ago our earth was filled with immense forests of fern trees. It was sunlight that made them grow. Sunlight was bottled up in those ferns. After a while those ferns became our coal beds, and coals are really bottled up sunlight. We put the coals inside the grate, we apply a match, we release the bottled up sunlight, and the light and heat previously latent in the coals warm and cheer us during the dark, cold days of winter. These coals may be described as children of light. The light so played upon them thousand of ages ago that it got into their very nature, so that they only require a little stimulus to pour forth floods of radiance and warmth. And if we believe and walk in Gods light when it visits us, we shall become children of light; the light will get into our inmost natures, so that we shall become fountains of light. (Free Methodist Magazine.)
Light and liberty
Going to Helena I saw piles of boxes and goods on the landing, and I said to the superintendent, Do the slaves buy as much as their masters used to do for them? A great deal more. And what things do they buy? Looking glasses and candles. Looking glasses, of course; candles, however! said
I. What do they want with candles? In the old slave times, a slave was never allowed a light in his cabin unless it were a fire, and the candles became in their sight the signal of liberty, and the moment they were free they said, Give us light. (H. W. Beecher.)
Light within diffuses radiance without
1. In reducing chaos to the order of a well-constituted world the first work of God was the creation of light. And God saw the light that it was good, etc.
(1) Light is indeed an admirable production of the Creator. It imparts beauty to all that delights the eye of man; since, in the absence of light, beauty could have no existence. It brings to the eye all the knowledge and pleasure we derive from a survey of the Divine workmanship, the works of art and the face of man. Its properties are astonishing. It requires only a few minutes to come from the sun, whence, falling in parallel rays, it illumines the face of the earth in the twinkling of an eye. And how admirable its influence in conveying warmth and activity to all things.
(2) It is no wonder that it should be used as an emblem of all that is excellent in the spiritual world.
(a) As revealing the figure, position, and qualities of things light is an emblem of truth, which assigns to everything its real attributes.
(b) Of knowledge, which apprehends and forms a just estimate of things.
(c) Of moral purity, as preserving its own essence without being contaminated with the objects it approaches.
(d) Of true piety, as conveying life and health.
(e) Of the happiness attendant on true goodness, as imparting gladness.
(f) Of God Him self, who is the Father of lights, in whom is no darkness at all.
2. Darkness is the absence of light, and in an ordinary sense its opposite. Here it had precedence of light, and still retains a periodical influence, contributing to the well-being of the universe. But though useful in the physical world, morally darkness is emblematical of all that is evil.
(1) As concealing objects around us, and precluding the right apprehension of them, it is the emblem of ignorance and error.
(2) As favouring the machinations of the wicked and shrouding them from detection it is a metaphor for sin which hates the light.
(3) As associated with danger and terror it intimates the peril and punishment of guilt.
(4) The grand enemy of all goodness, as the deceiver, defiler and destroyer of men is the prince of darkness and his kingdom the kingdom of darkness. The children of light are distinguished–
I. By the knowledge of the truth.
1. As in the material world darkness preceded light and was only banished by Divine command, so ignorance precedes the light of saving knowledge. This was exemplified in the case of the Thessalonians and other Gentiles Having their understanding darkened as to God, duty, destiny. The Jews were better off; but theirs was only a light shining in a dark place. But when the Sun of Righteousness arose it scattered the gross darkness of heathenism and the shadowy emblems of Judaism.
2. But in order to enjoy the light we must have an eye to see, since if that organ be covered with a scale or be injured light will fail of its purpose. Pride and prejudice are a film to quench the intellectual eye in reference to Divine things. For the things of this world man retains the light of intelligence, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
3. The eyes of the children of light have been opened. That which was formerly rejected as fantastical or unimportant has become the one thing needful. Instructed by the Word and Spirit of God light shines within and around; they see the glory of God in the person and work of Christ. The path of life lies open, and perceiving both its difficulties and encouragements they walk on in safety. The love of the truth characterizes them as children of the light. He that doeth the truth cometh to the light, etc.
II. By holiness, in opposition to what is offensive to God.
1. Sins of the life are called works of darkness, and sins of the affection are similarly characterized (1Jn 2:9-11). The darkness of ignorance is naturally associated with vice, and the blindness of the understanding with that of the heart. If the eye be single, etc. If the guide be blind the other faculties placed under his direction will stumble continually; and the guide himself partaker in pravity is led astray by the perverseness of those whom it is his duty to govern. If the mind through prejudice, passion, the allurements of the world, embraces error for truth, good for evil, what can be expected but that, betrayed by its counsellors, it should advance on the road to ruin. And men manifestly walk in darkness. How else can they barter immortality for the shadows of time.
2. The children of the light, however, have the eyes of their understanding enlightened. Gods Word is a light to their feet, etc. The planets, irradiated by the sun, maybe called children of light; so should the believer, irradiated by Christ, let his light shine.
III. By usefulness in opposition to the influence of the workers of iniquity.
1. Error serves only to deceive–sin only to beguile and destroy; and every one who promotes the one or the other injures his fellows. Their influence is as the lengthened night of the Polar regions spreading sterility over the earth, and destroying life.
2. But the children of light diffuse a salutary influence. Not only are they blameless and harmless, they shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life. Such come to be esteemed sure guides. They are as a pilot skilled in the perilous passes of his own rocky course, whose vessel breaks the way, leaving a luminous track, by which the fleet may steer its course in safety.
IV. By a blessedness peculiar to themselves. We all appreciate the advantages of light, and pity those who are deprived of them. But if to one born blind it were an inexpressible happiness to obtain sight should not a purer joy pervade him who is made to behold the imperishable beauties of the spiritual world. (H. Grey, D. D.)
Vigilance and sobriety
The text is for the Lords people; and as they have great privileges to enjoy, so they have great duties to perform, and that, too, distinct from others.
I. Two classes are spoken of in contrast.
1. The children of the night and of darkness. Of ignorance, unbelief, and wrath. They are in the regions of moral rebellion and imminent danger.
2. The children of day and of light. Illumed by the Word and the Spirit of God. Transformed; brought out of spiritual Egypt, and translated into the Divine kingdom. They are now of Gods family–sons and heirs. Hence they have heavenly light within them–knowledge, love, and holiness. Their path is light itself, and it leads to the inheritance of the saints in light. So that while they are on earth, they are the lights of the world.
II. The course of the children of the day. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others.
1. That which they are to avoid. Moral sleep, soul lethargy, conscience slumbering, spiritual drowsiness. This is a state of helplessness, vague and illusory dreams, wasted opportunities, real perils.
2. That which they are to attend to. Watchfulness against the snares of the world, the stratagems of Satan, and the deceitfulness of the heart. As the sentinel at his post; as the mariner on stormy ocean looking for day; as the wise virgins waiting with their lamps burning, so all Christians are exhorted to do.
3. That which they are to be, sober. Physical sobriety–avoiding revelling, banquetting, intemperance, and all tendencies to them, avoiding the very appearance of evil. Mental sobriety–walking in humility and self-abasement, not intoxicated with vanity, nor the praises of men. Social sobriety–avoiding foolish excitements and a vapid and silly conversation. Moral sobriety–seeking even lawful things with moderation, such as the increase of riches and innocent pleasures. Such sobriety includes a well-balanced mind, a serious spirit, and a becoming walk before God and men, and is real, entire, and constant.
III. The motives by which this course is urged.
1. The enemies and perils which surround us. An evil world; a malignant devil; a weak nature, liable to err, and leaning to sin.
2. The sad results which may ensue. Spiritual declension; open apostacy; personal degradation; unutterable misery. Application: The text to be prayerfully considered and solemnly pondered–
(1) In the light of our Christian profession;
(2) In connection with our peace and happiness;
(3) With our usefulness and honour;
(4) With our final acceptance and salvation. (J. Burns, D. D.)
The relation of Christianity to intellectual culture
The text is a declaration of the relation of Christianity to all enlightening agencies. Christians are born of light and day. They walk in the light and are in kinship with all illuminating agencies.
I. The nature and methods of religion necessitate mental culture. It does not and cannot rely upon force or fashion or gain or favour for its propagation in the world. The instances where a Church, secularized by an alliance with temporal power, has endeavoured to use these agencies, illustrate the apostacy of that Church rather than the character of Christianity.
1. Christianity is a spiritual light and force. It is a revelation. Like a newly discovered truth in science or a new invention, it must be tested. And so it appeals to the thought of the world. It is the light of the world. It ignores blind force. Jesus says, My kingdom is not of this world, etc.
2. It does battle in the domain of thought, conscience and the affections. In no other way can it secure the conquest of the human will. It recognizes the integrity and dignity of each individual.
3. It believes in one God, the author both of nature and revelation. To its faith every truth of science, every fact of nature is a revelation. If they seem to disagree with the Bible it is stimulated to further research. It is, therefore, the friend of all science and all scientific investigation. Most great scientists have been Christians.
II. The presence of the Gospel a stimulus to mental activity. It is no accident, but in the nature of things that progress, discovery, civilization, wealth and power go hand in hand with a pure Christianity.
1. The great ideas of religion stimulate mental activity. The law of mental development is this: thrust a fact or great idea before a mind, and as the mind contemplates it, in many lights, new ideas are born and the mind expands, enlarges, strengthens. So you teach children in the schools. You give them a fact of physics or history, and as their minds contemplate it they grow. Given the thought, steam possesses an expansive force, and engines are constructed. Show Columbus a carved stick that drifted in from the Western ocean, and a new continent is discovered. A falling apple observed, leads to the discovery of gravitation. Now, by the same law, project upon the mind thought of God, immortality, sin, redemption, judgment, etc., and that mind will wake up to an activity of thought that will make it wiser. It will study conscience, law, evidences, life, responsibility, till it becomes educated.
2. Christianity lifts man into a position that justifies him in trying to become a thinker. If a man lives on the borders of a desert thought to be worthless, he will never explore it. But let him know its mineral wealth and he will soon know it. So with the future. Let the soul have no knowledge of God and righteousness, and it will not awake; but let it contemplate itself as an heir of glory, and how it will wake up. Ask a slave to study kingcraft, and he tells you he has no use for it; but you ask an heir apparent with different result. So the Christian studies Gods ways and Word.
III. Facts confirm these propositions. Christianity has ever been the friend of liberal thought and learning. It originated our educational institutions, and maintains a good many of them. What phenomena are presented in Sunday schools, the Christian press and pulpit! (C. N. Sims, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. Ye are all the children of light] Ye are children of God, and enjoy both his light and life. Ye are Christians-ye belong to him who has brought life and immortality to light by his Gospel. This dispensation, under which ye are, has illustrated all the preceding dispensations; in its light all is become luminous; and ye, who walked formerly in heathen ignorance, or in the darkness of Jewish prejudices, are now light in the Lord, because ye have believed in him who is the light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory and splendour of his people Israel.
We are not of the night, nor of darkness.] Our actions are such as we are not afraid to expose to the fullest and clearest light. Sinners hate the light; they are enemies to knowledge; they love darkness; they will not receive instructions; and their deeds are such as cannot bear the light.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And because the night is the time of darkness, and the day of light, he therefore hereby describes their present state:
1. Positively: Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day; which is a Hebraism: Ye are partakers of a spiritual light, and this light is not the darker light of nature, or the light of prophecy, which the Jews had, compared to a lamp, 2Pe 1:19; but ye are children of the day, as the time of the gospel is called day, Rom 13:12; 2Co 6:2.
2. Negatively: We are not of the night, nor of darkness; your state is exceedingly different from other Gentiles, and from what it once was, as the light is from darkness, and day from night: not as if there was no ignorance remaining in them, for the best men see but through a glass, darkly, 1Co 13:12; but the apostle compares them with their former estate when they were Gentiles, and with the Jews under the law; and with respect to their state in Christ, they were not children of the night, or, as to their state, of the night, but children of light, and of the day.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. The oldest manuscripts read,”FOR ye are all,”c. Ye have no reason for fear, or for being taken by surprise, by thecoming of the day of the Lord: “For ye are all sons (sothe Greek) of light and sons of day” a Hebrewidiom, implying that as sons resemble their fathers, so youare in character light (intellectually and morally illuminatedin a spiritual point of view), Luk 16:8;Joh 12:36.
are not ofthat is,belong not to night nor darkness. The change of person from”ye” to “we” implies this: Ye are sons oflight because ye are Christians; and we, Christians, are notof night nor darkness.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye are all children of light,…. Or enlightened persons, whose understandings were enlightened by the spirit of God, to see their lost state by nature, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, the insufficiency of their righteousness to justify them before God, the fulness, suitableness, and excellency of Christ’s righteousness, the way of salvation by Christ, and that it is all of grace from first to last; to understand in some measure the Scriptures of truth, and the mysteries of the Gospel; to have knowledge of some things that are yet to be done on earth, as the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles, the conversion of the Jews, the destruction of antichrist, the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the change of living saints, and the rapture of both up into the air to meet Christ, the burning of the world, and the new heavens and new earth, where Christ and his saints will dwell; as also to have some glimpse of the heavenly glory, of the unseen joys, and invisible realities of the other world: and this the apostle says of them all, in a judgment of charity, as being under a profession of the grace of God, and in a church state, and nothing appearing against them why such a character did not belong to them:
and the children of the day; of the Gospel day, in distinction from the night of Jewish darkness; and of the day of grace which was come upon their souls, in opposition to the night of ignorance and infidelity, which was past; and of the everlasting day of glory, being heirs of, and having a right unto, and a meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light:
we are not of the night, nor of darkness; that is not the children of darkness, as the Syriac and Arabic versions read; and the former changes the person, and reads, “ye are not the children of the night”, c. of the night of the legal dispensation, or of Gentile ignorance or of a state of natural darkness, in unregeneracy and was no need to write unto them concerning the time and season of Christ’s coming, and lays a foundation for the following exhortations.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Sons of light ( ),
sons of day ( ). Chiefly a translation Hebraism (Deissmann, Bible Studies, pp. 161ff.). Cf. words of Jesus in Lu 16:8 and Paul in Eph 5:9. He repeats the same idea in turning from “ye” to “we” and using (night) and (darkness), predicate genitives.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye are all. In the text gar for should be inserted after pantev all. Ye are not in darkness for ye are sons of light.
Children of light [ ] . More correctly, sons of light. See on Mr 3:17, and comp. Luk 16:8; Joh 12:36; Eph 5:8; Col 1:12. The Christian condition is habitually associated in N. T. with light : see Mt 5:14, 16; Joh 3:21; Joh 8:12; Act 26:18; 1Pe 2:9; 1Jo 1:7. The contrary condition with darkness : see Joh 3:19, 20; Eph 5:8; 1Pe 2:9; Mt 4:16; Mt 6:23, etc.
Of the night – of darkness [ – ] . The genitive marks an advance of thought from ejn skotei in darkness, ver. 4. En indicates the element in which one is. The genitive, of darkness, points to nature and origin. To belong to darkness is more than to be in darkness.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Ye are all the children of light” (pantes gar humeis huoi photos este) “For you all are heirs of light”; In the restrictive and definitive sense, of the persons addressed, the children of light, as a “ye assembly” referred to the church at Thessalonica, and those of like kind, then and thereafter, 1Th 1:1; 1Th 2:14; Mat 5:13-16.
2) “And the children of the day” (kai huoi hemeras) and heirs (sons or children) of heritage rights, of the day”; or “children, heirs of the faith”; the system of teachings of Christ, which he committed to his church, Mat 28:12-20.
3) “We are not of the night” (ouk esmen nuktos) we are not of (the) night; by nature heirs of night, darkness, alienation from God; Those who walk in the night stumble, Joh 11:10; Those who are of the Church must not bumble and stumble in moral, ethical, or doctrinal
ways.
4) “Nor of darkness” (oude skotous) “nor even or not indeed of darkness”; Our Lord challenged His Church in the Sermon on the Mount, “If the light in you becomes darkness, how great is that darkness!” Mat 6:23. Those following Jesus walk well, for in Him is no darkness at all. 1Jn 1:5; Joh 8:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
SOBRIETYGIVING WIDE BERTH TO SALOONS
1Th 5:5
Sermon preached to men only.
I AM to speak to you this afternoon on the subject of Sobriety, an essential to any success. You will consent that it is one of the most important to every man. Whether you are a total abstainer, a tippler, or intemperate, you know the wisdom of this counsel, Let us watch and be sober.
There was an old preacher who used to introduce the marriage sermon with these words, John, matrimony is a blessing to a few, a curse to many, and an uncertainty to all.
Seeing that truth, we ought to stand upon the platform which declares that total abstinence is a blessing to thousands, a curse to nobody and good for everybody.
Therefore, * * let us watch and be sober. That heathen philosopher was wise who fashioned a goblet which he represented as filled with ruby wine. At its bottom he fixed a serpent coiled for a spring, a pair of gleaming eyes in its head, its mouth open, its fangs raised to strike, to be seen only when one had quaffed off the cup and had come down to the dregs; then, that dreadful head rose up, and those fangs were ready for their work.
Solomon furnished the very suggestion from which such a conception might have come to the artist when he said, Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. And Solomons words are solemnly true. Let us watch and be sober.
SOBRIETY IS ESSENTIAL TO FINANCIAL SUCCESS
The reason why so many men fail is simply this, they do not let drink alone.
The secret of poverty in this country is not the stringency of the times, it is the accursed alcohol. Enough money is put into that every year to give not only the comforts, but the luxuries to every poverty-stricken family in the land. Our whiskey bill in America, under the saloon, ran into billions of dollars, and the tobacco bill, hundreds of millions, annually.
The major part of those bills is paid by the poor of the land, and very much of it by day laborers who, in the sweat of their brow, secure their beer. The tipplers and smokers and chewers put more into these unclean habits than the whole American family pays for bread and meat and woolen goods, and cotton goods, and boots and shoes, and sugar, and molasses and public education, and Christian missions combined; and yet we say, The times are hardthis stringency is awful! No! No! This drink business is the devils provision for poverty. The aforetime saloon was the secret of suffering. Not once in twelve months do I have a man, who lets the liquor alone, ask me for assistance. Scarce a day passes over my head but some patron of this hellish custom puts in at my study and makes a pitiful plea for board and lodging. Ah, truly of such Haggai wrote, when he said, Now therefore; ** Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
Down in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, years ago, they voted a local option which you know is local prohibition. The year before this was brought into effect, the total deposits in the savings banks of that city were $140,000; the first year after it went into effect the total deposits were $586,000. You see the secret of financial success. Therefore, * * let us watch and be sober.
Business has no place today for the drinking man; society is coming less and less to receive him, and, in truth, if you propose to drink, there is no place for you. Your future is a failure. Your financial status is settled already, and it is determined not so much by whether you drink yourself blind. The simple question is whether you drink at all. Tippling is the devils doctrine of temperance; what the Apostle means here is total abstinence, and you know that is essential to the greatest financial success.
SOBRIETY IS ESSENTIAL TO PHYSICAL STRENGTH
There is such a thing as being stimulated into greater strength by the intoxicating cup, but the reaction follows; and by that very drink a greater weakness is fastening itself upon the flesh. When the saloon was here, one fifth of the men that you met were bloated. What did that mean? That a combustion was taking place in their flesh and, as a physician said to me, a little while ago, of a man who died of a liquor-liver, He was burned out.
Did you ever notice what Solomon said on this point? Referring to those that drink, that wise man wrote, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not.
I guess most of you have been to sea, and know what seasickness isall strength gone, stomach upside down; what brains you have left in a whirl, and every fibre of your flesh filled with nausea.
I remember a story I heard of two men who were going to England together. They had had a rough passage. The old vessel had tossed and plowed until she came near to the farther shore. One of them was able to walk a bit and, looking out, he saw what seemed to be the lights of an English port, so he said to his sick companion, Jack, cant you just get up here and look out? I think I see the lights, to which his friend replied, Ugh! theyre coming next.
And when I pass the streets and see men that are so bowled up that they have to hang over a railing somewhere and let the very sickness empty them of alcohol, I am reminded of what Solomon said, Thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
My father-in-law told me a story of one of these who had thrown up everything but his heels and was wiping his eyes when he looked down and saw among other things a poodle dog, who had suddenly appeared on the scene, and he said, I know where I got the crackers; I know where I got the beer, and I know where I got the sausages, but blamed if I know where I got that dog.
Some of those who drink see worse sights than that by as much as serpents are worse than curs.
But all this is only temporal sickness, the sort that passes away in a day or two. But the man who gives himself to the wine cup will soon find that chronic diseases are settling themselves upon him, and that he is really disabled.
Some years ago, I was in the country, and when dinner time came on, we stopped at a farm-house and asked if we could get a lunch there, and they pointed down a little distance and said, That is a hotel, and we went. The reception room to this country hotel was a saloon, and, as the stove was located in that, we went in and sat down to warm. While there, three men, farmers from round about, came for beer, bloated, every one of them; blasted in body; as weakened at forty as men ought to be at seventy-five; strength gone and death drawing on. They were foolish enough to forget that in this country the saloon was then slaying 60,000 to 70,000 a year, and that they were set for destruction. How soon that came no man can tell. If they were moderate, the dying process was the slower, none the less sure. If immoderate, a short period finished the work.
One of the most beautiful men I have ever known, dear to me as a brother, a man who, at the age of thirty was beginning to have a national reputation, died at thirty-two because, in the sprees to which he was subject, he drank one day too much and lay insensible for 72 hours when life went out. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder, and the adders sting is physical destruction.
SOBRIETY IS ESSENTIAL TO MENTAL BALANCE
And I am almost disposed to say that mental balance is essential to sobriety, for certainly the man who is fool enough to be intemperate must have some weakness of mind.
You remember the story of the tipsy old Scotchman to whom a friend said one day, Man James, I am sorry to see you taking to the cup to rob you of your sense. The Scotchman answered with a hiccough, You make a big mistake. It is nae the drink that takes away the sense! Nae, nae; a mons sense hae gone before he takes the drink! But it is absolutely certain that if he is sane before he takes the drink, he cannot remain as sane, when he fails to be sober.
There are men upon whom rest heavy mental strain, that are brought by the devil to imagine that drink brightens their minds. They have a case to plead in court, a political speech to make, some document to write, upon which a vast deal depends; and, not satisfied with what mental power God has provided, they seek to increase their stock by a stimulant. It works well and the devil tells them that they cannot afford to do without it. A second time it succeeds, and a third, and a fourth, and a fortieth, but every time a reaction has come. The tone of the mind has been lowered, and the stimulant is the more a necessity until by and by it takes a quart to arouse the laggard brain; and, even then, the aroused brain is but a poor instrument of thought, for it has been burned out. How long shall Satan work this deception upon man? Are we not able to see in the rags about us what comes of it, and do not the sober men who think longest and think to best effect, who prove to be the only brilliant men of the land, teach us nothing?
Perhaps no man in this country has done such severe thinking, with as little sleep, and with such prodigious results as Thomas A. Edison, the inventor.
Years since Frances Willard asked Edison if he were a total abstainer, and when he replied in the affirmative, she inquired, What made you so? Was it home influence? To which Edison made answer in his blunt way, No, madam, it was because I always felt I had better use for my brains.
In 1859 when that noblest candidate for president, Mr. Lincoln, was campaigning at Leavenworth, Kansas, a reception was given in his honor, but was disgraced by the wine cup. The abolitionist declined to taste in spite of the persuasions of his host, and the example of his associates. The next morning;, when about to leave, the great man took the hand of young Captain Fitch tenderly into his own, and looking eagerly into his eyes, said, My young friend; I noticed you tasted the cup yesterday. Dont put an enemy into your mouth to steal away your brains.
Years ago in Minneapolis, at the Young Mens Democratic Club, punch was served. When Mr. Bryan sat down and saw his wine glass, not waiting for it to be filled with any sort of drink, he deliberately turned it upside down. Doubtless he knew that he had better use for his brains, and I do not believe that he could have made as many speeches and as brilliant ones, as he delivered in his great public ministry, had he been accustomed to touch, even, the intoxicating cup.
At a public dinner given to General Harrison, when he was a candidate for the office of president, one of the guests drank to his health. The General pledged his toast by drinking water. Another gentleman was indiscreet enough to say, at the conclusion of his toast, General Harrison, will you favor me by drinking a glass of wine? to which that noble man answered in a most kindly way, I beg to be excused. But a chorus of voices urged him to join in a glass of wine. Then he rose from his seat and said in a most dignified manner, but with much feeling, I have twice refused to drink the wine cup; though you press the matter ever so much, I will not drink. I made a resolve when I started in life that I would avoid it. That vow I have never broken. I am one in a class of 17 young men who graduated in college together. Sixteen already fill drunkards graves. I owe my health, my happiness and my prosperity to the resolution I have made and kept. It is useless for you to urge me now to take to the intoxicating cup.
He understood what every man ought to see, that sobriety is essential to mental balance.
IT IS ALSO ESSENTIAL TO MORAL CLEANLINESS
You know that the fact of the stimulant in the intoxicating cup is lust of thought, if not lechery in act. When, with certain gentlemen elsewhere referred to, I went through the slums of the city of Chicago, I was impressed with the means employed by fallen women to secure associates in sin. The first request made was, Let us drink. They understood, as you know, that the man who is stimulated by liquor is no longer master of himself, but a subject for the seduction of those whose sins are scarlet. A few years ago you could go into any city of this country and see the alliances between the saloon and the houses of scarlet women. In Chicago, in half the cases, they were in the same building; saloon on the first floor, brothels on the floors above, or in the building at the side connected by doors. Some of you are praying to be delivered from the sins of lust. Your prayers are folly unless you first have the mastery at the point of strong drink; and that means that you shall let Jesus Christ save you from the sin that suggests both.
SOBRIETY IS ESSENTIAL TO DOMESTIC HAPPINESS
One of the first blots of drinking moderately, or to excess, is seen in degenerate children. Dr. Henderson, in his book, The Social Spirit in America, has quoted from one of the most thorough and impartial students of sociology these words, The poisonous drinks and drugs, which are consumed by modern people, destroy vitality, arouse and stimulate selfish passions, loose dangerous beasts that make their lair in every human being, and turn home into purgatory. From such degenerate descendants come those who, if they remain exposed to the same influences, rapidly descend to the lowest degrees of degeneracy, dwarfishness, and idiocy.
I think the saddest result I have ever seen from an intemperate life was an insane child. The bloat of the fathers body was in the functional structure of the daughters brain, and when I saw her last she was raving mad.
Pauperism, the result of strong drink, renders domestic happiness impossible. How can a home be happy, when the mother is pinched and starved, the children hungry and cold?
I went, one day, into a home in Chicago where there lay a sick wife and a dead baby, and the disconsolate woman said to me, as I talked to her, This child could have lived had not my husband been drunk when it was born. But his abuse of me in the hour of labor effected its death, and as I look upon its cold, white face, I wish that I might be at peace with it.
Good woman she was; but her poverty her stricken house, her disturbed mind, her sick body, all her unhappy surroundings came as an offering from the neighboring saloon, and I said to myself, It were better to sleep in death.
It seems to me that men who drink and know the distress of home experience in such results, might learn something from the story of him of whom I read a while ago. He was accustomed to drink and on one occasion went away with a number of his associates to fish, and of course they loaded their wagon with many kinds of kegs and bottles. After the first day or two this fellow was unconscious, so drunk that he understood nothing, and his associates thought it would be a good joke to hitch up the wagon and drive to town and let him come to himself, and see that he was alone, and after a little counsel they set about it.
The wife heard of their return and knew that her husband had not come with them, so she set out to find him, if possible. At the break of the morn she sat beside the stupid man she had sworn to love. When he opened his eyes he was astonished at her presence and said, Wife, where am I? How came you here? She told him. How long have I been drunk? Two or three days. I am thirsty, will you bring me a drink? She took an old cup and went to a spring hard by and brought some sparkling water. When he had quaffed it, he passed it back and said, Wife, I drank your tears then. I saw them fall into the water as you held it there; and I have been drinking your tears for a long time, and by what little manhood is left, and by the grace of that God who has promised to help, I will drink your tears no more while I live. He was true to his pledge, and that house which had been a hell was in twelve months like a little Heaven.
Is it not time that some of you ceased drinking the tears of your wives, your children, your firmest friends?
SOBRIETY IS ESSENTIAL TO THE SALVATION OF THE SOUL
Mr. Moody said, There are men who are selling out Heaven for strong drink. Of course they are, for men who drink at all are doing so at the expense of their souls, and the Scriptures were never more explicit upon any point than this. The drunkard shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. If you propose to have your cups, you cannot keep your character. If you propose to remain with your strong drinks, you lose your soul. You understand that, and you need not be excusing yourself by saying, We are not drunkards as yet. We are temperate, for has it never occurred to you that the drinking of the temperate man is much more a sin in Gods sight than the drinking of a drunkard. The temperate man professes to be able to control himself, the drunkard has lost self-control. He cannot quit if he will, and God may pity him, but how can we expect a sympathy from God when we deliberately do that which we could easily let alone.
One day a man entered a barroom of a village tavern and asked for drink. No, said the barkeeper, you have had delirium tremens once, and I cannot sell you any. Instantly two young men took his place and the barkeeper poured out the accursed cup. Then the first, flushed with the indignation he felt, faced the landlord, said, Do not that devils work. Six years ago at the age of these fellows, I stood where they now are. I was but 22 years old then, but never youth had fairer prospects. Now at 28 I am a wreck, bloated in body, unbalanced in mind, and destroyed in soul. In this room I formed the habit that has wrought this ruin. Oh, sell me a few glasses more and let me finish the work and be gone! For me there is no hope, so to sell me liquor is not so much of a sin, but these young men can be saved, and you have no right to destroy them. I plead with you, in Gods Name, that you do not that which will cost them their soul and bring you to further condemnation by the righteous Judge!
Yes, sir, I think it would be unquestionably a greater sin for me to drink than for the worst drunkard in this town; for I can control myself, and I would be a fool as well as a vicious sinner in Gods sight to accept Satans suggestion, when I am strong enough to withstand it. And so I say to you, this afternoon, unless you are willing to lose your soul, you must give wide berth to saloons! And I say unto you this afternoon, if you will, you can be saved, whether you are degraded by drink, or just beginning to yield to that devilish temptation. Christ is able. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
One Sunday night in the service here a man stood up, who was a physical, mental and spiritual wreck, and he said to Gods people, Pray for me. He had the courage of his convictions and remained for further conversation and prayer. That night he was saved. Two weeks later he came back and gave his testimony to the glory of God, four weeks after his family returned to him and this afternoon he is present, a man of honorable employment. His mind is coming back to its perfect poise, his body is recovering the bloat, and his soul is safe for time, and hopes in the promise of eternity.
One Christmas night in the Union Mission, I went down and spoke to a man half drunk. Rum had reduced his clothing to rags. The bottle had bloated his body. Strong drink had largely destroyed his moral sensibilities, and though he was but half sober, I said, If you will, Christ can save tonight. He answered, I will. A week later on a Sunday afternoon, when the sermon was finished, I went to my room, and who should I see but that same man, but so transformed that I scarcely knew him, and he said, By the grace of God, Mr. Riley, I have not even desired to drink since that Saturday night, and though I have not steady employment, I have been able every day since to make an honest living. Oh, young man, just commencing this evil course, wont you come to Christ this afternoon and cease from it for ever? Oh, men degraded by drink, out of whose hearts every hope is well-nigh destroyed; men who cannot so much as lift themselves up to seek the Son of God, wont you listen to the Gospel and learn that the Son of Man is come to seek and to save you. And your part is what Peter did when perishing, simply to say, Lord, save me! He will respond, and this Sunday afternoon shall be a happy day, a day to be for ever remembered as the blessed one when you were born again, and born from above.
When the steamer, Central America, went down in New York, the greatest excitement reigned in that city. Many were drowned, some few were hanging to floating spars, and the life-saving vessels were out in search.
A second day after she sank, one of these life-savers was seen coming to shore, and the eager watchers waited until the captain stood in the bowsprit and shouted, Three men saved. That is not the message I want to go up to Heaven this afternoon to be repeated in the celestial streets. This is the message I want the Heavenly host to hear, Fifty more saved; a hundred, if there be present so many, who know not the salvation of the Son of God.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
Text (1Th. 5:5)
5 for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness;
Translation and Paraphrase
5.
(But you cannot be in such darkness,) for you are all sons of (the) light (seeing how the Lord has shined upon us), and sons of (the) day. We (Christians) are not (sons) of (the) night nor of darkness.
Notes (1Th. 5:5)
1.
Thieves and evil doers work at night, because they are evil. They hope that the darkness will cover their activities. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. Joh. 3:20-21.
2.
Christians are children of the light and of the day. The light of Christ has shined upon them. They have come to the light, and put away sinful things, for these are the works of darkness, Therefore God has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2Co. 4:6.
3.
When we are out of the darkness and in the light, we have such comforting assurance. We know our sins are forgiven. We know there is a life to come. We know that we have eternal life. 1Jn. 5:13.
4.
Jesus said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. Joh. 8:12. Compare 1Jn. 1:5-6.
5.
Eph. 5:8 : For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.
6.
Rom. 13:12 : The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
7.
Paul makes a shift in this verse, so as to include himself with the children of light: First, Ye are; Then, We are.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) Ye are all.St. Paul recognises no exceptions, no inner distinctions, among the members of the Church: all stand alike so far as grace, privileges, and duties are concerned. The following exhortation shows that it was a matter of each mans free will whether he would sustain his character as a child of light or not.
Children of light.The expression is an enthusiastic Hebrew poetical turn for intimate vital connection with anything; thus, e.g., children of this world (Luk. 16:8; Luk. 20:34) = mere products of this age, with a family likeness for other worldly people; the son of peace (Luk. 10:6)=a person with whom peace has a natural affinity, to whom the peace pronounced will cleave naturally. So children of the light are persons to whom darkness is an alien thing, whose natures have a kinship, an intuitive responsiveness for whatever may be called light. To such persons the light, the day, can never come as an unwelcome, startling apparition.
We.Notice St. Pauls courtesy again: he suddenly includes himself in his exhortation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Children Rather, sons of light of the day That is, of a true spiritual light and day.
Night darkness The darkness of the advent night would be destructive to none were they not sons of a deeper darkness of soul. But of that deeper darkness you are not sons, and so will not be overtaken or destroyed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For you are all sons of light, and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.’
In contrast to those who are in darkness, Christians are ‘sons of light’ and ‘sons of the day’. To be sons of light means that light characterises us, that we are those who believe in the Light (Joh 12:36), who come to the light that it may reveal what is right and wrong within (Joh 3:21; 1Jn 1:7) and who reveal and enjoy light in our lives (Mat 5:14-16). For ‘the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth’ (Eph 5:9 compare Php 2:16; Luk 16:8). ‘Sons of the day’ stresses a contrast with those who are in the night, and therefore asleep. The change to ‘we’ stresses that this is true of all Christians, not just of the Thessalonians.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Th 5:5. Ye are all the children of light, Having compared our Lord’s sudden and unexpected appearance to the coming of a thief in the night, he takes up the comparison again, 1Th 5:4 and pursues it to 1Th 5:10 calling holy and righteous men the children of the day, and of the light, and idolatrous and wicked persons, ignorant of the truth, children of the night, and of darkness. This comparison is frequently touched upon in the Holy Scriptures, as well as in the heathen poets, with the greatest justness and beauty. Wicked men are represented as skulking about in the night, like birds of prey, or like bats and moles, whose eyes cannot bear the light, Job 24:13-18. Mat 8:12. On the other hand, good men fear not the light, as their deeds will bear examination. This was the state from which the converts among the idolatrous Gentiles had happily and most remarkably emerged. See Rom 13:12-14. Eph 5:7-8. Col 1:12-13.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Th 5:5 , first positively, and then negatively with a general reference to all Christians.
] sons of the light , and , sons of the day , are Hebraisms: being a concrete mode of expression, in order to represent “belonging to.” Comp. Eph 2:2-3 ; Eph 5:8 ; Luk 16:8 ; 1Pe 1:14 , and other passages. See Winer, p. 213 [E. T. 298], is here used as a synonym for . The transition from the notion of the day of the Lord to the notion of day generally, in contrast to the darkness, was so much the more natural, inasmuch as the day of the Lord is according to its nature light , before which no darkness can exist, or rather by which every impurity of the darkness will be discovered and judged. An entirely similar transition from the to generally is found in Rom 13:12-13 .
, Estius, Pelt, Schott, and others incorrectly again supply ; for , with the simple genitive, is the genuine Greek mode of expressing the idea of a possessive relation. See Khner, II. p. 167; Bernhardy, Syntax , p. 165.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Ver. 5. We are not of the night, &c. ] Alexander willed that the Grecians and barbarians should no longer be distinguished by their garments, but by their manners (Qu. Curtius); so should the children of light and of darkness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5 .] You (a) and all we Christians (b) have no reason to fear, and no excuse for being surprised by, the DAY of the Lord; for we are sons of light and the day (Hebraisms, see reff.: signifying that we belong to , having our origin from, the light and the day), and are not of (do not supply ‘ sons ’ the genitives are in regular construction after , signifying possession we belong not to ) night nor darkness . See, on the day of the Lord as connected with darkness and light, Amo 5:18 ff. There, its aspect to the ungodly is treated of: here, its aspect to Christians.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Th 5:5 . The present age is utter night ( ), as contemporary rabbis taught; the age to come is all day. Meantime faith is to be held fast through this night ( cf. passages quoted in Schlatter’s die Sprache u. Heimat des vierten Evangelisten , 17, 18). . . is a stronger and Semitic way of expressing the thought of “belonging to” ( cf. 1Th 5:8 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
children. App-108.
light. App-130.
nor. Greek. oude.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5.] You (a) and all we Christians (b) have no reason to fear, and no excuse for being surprised by, the DAY of the Lord; for we are sons of light and the day (Hebraisms, see reff.: signifying that we belong to, having our origin from, the light and the day), and are not of (do not supply sons-the genitives are in regular construction after , signifying possession-we belong not to) night nor darkness. See, on the day of the Lord as connected with darkness and light, Amo 5:18 ff. There, its aspect to the ungodly is treated of:-here, its aspect to Christians.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Th 5:5
for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day:-The light which blesses men is all concentrated in Jesus Christ. As the light imparts new possibilities of life to those who otherwise are hopelessly in trespasses and sins, so the light of Christ enters into the heart through faith and produces a high spiritual order ip the life that is thus begotten and sustained, as the apostle says, by the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. . . . Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2Co 4:4-6.)
we are not of the night, nor of darkness;-To the sons of the day, who knowing and practicing the truth as it is in Christ, there is no night of darkness. They are always in the light. [Paul recognizes no exceptions, no inner distinctions, among the members of the church; all stand alike so far as grace, privileges, and duties are concerned. The following exhortation shows that it was a matter of each mans free will whether he would sustain his character as a child of light or not.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Luk 16:8, Joh 12:36, Act 26:18, Eph 5:8
Reciprocal: Gen 1:5 – and Lev 11:16 – General Pro 2:13 – walk Isa 2:5 – come ye Isa 49:9 – to them Mat 5:14 – the light Mar 13:33 – General Luk 1:79 – give Luk 4:18 – and Luk 12:38 – General Joh 12:35 – Walk Act 2:15 – seeing Rom 13:11 – it is Rom 13:12 – works Phi 1:7 – it is 1Th 5:8 – who 1Jo 2:8 – the darkness Rev 3:3 – I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Th 5:5. Light and day are figurative names for the truth, and are opposite night and darkness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Th 5:5. For all ye are sons of light and sons of day. As the children of this world are those who wholly belong to it; as the son of perdition is the man of whom perdition is the most striking feature, who is bound over to perdition, as that with which he is identified; so the children of the light are those who are produced by the light, who belong to it, and live in it as their element. They are what they are because they have accepted Christ as the Light, and have learned from Him the truth about God, sin, life, and all that concerns them. They have gladly faced what is thus revealed to them, and desire to act upon it.
Not of night nor of darkness. They who are of darkness make nothing of the light which shines in the first day of the Lord, of the truth disclosed by His first coming. They have not comprehended that light, have not set their faces to it, and let it become life to them.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness;