SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:5
¶ Y esta es la Promesa que oímos de él, y os la anunciamos: Que Dios es luz, y en él no hay tinieblas.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 John 1:5
Verse 5. This then is the message] This is the grand principle on which all depends, which we have heard of apÆ autou, FROM him; for neither Moses nor the prophets ever gave that full instruction concerning God and communion with him which Jesus Christ has given, for the only-begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father, has alone declared the fullness of the truth, and the extent of the blessings, which believers on him are to receive. See John i. 18. God is light] The source of wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness; and in him is no darkness at all - no ignorance, no imperfection, no sinfulness, no misery. And from him wisdom, knowledge, holiness, and happiness are received by every believing soul. This is the grand message of the Gospel, the great principle on which the happiness of man depends.
LIGHT implies every essential excellence, especially wisdom, holiness, and happiness. DARKNESS implies all imperfection, and principally ignorance, sinfulness, and misery. LIGHT is the purest, the most subtile, the most useful, and the most diffusive of all God's creatures; it is, therefore, a very proper emblem of the purity, perfection, and goodness of the Divine nature. God is to human soul, what the light is to the world; without the latter all would be dismal and uncomfortable, and terror and death would universally prevail: and without an indwelling God what is religion? Without his all-penetrating and diffusive light, what is the soul of man? Religion would be an empty science, a dead letter, a system unauthoritated and uninfluencing, and the soul a trackless wilderness, a howling waste, full of evil, of terror and dismay, and ever racked with realizing anticipations of future, successive, permanent, substantial, and endless misery. No wonder the apostle lays this down as a first and grand principle, stating it to be the essential message which he had received from Christ to deliver to the world.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 5. This then is the message , &c.] Of God by his Son the Word, or from Christ by his apostles. The Syriac version renders it, “this is the Gospel”; which is good news from a far country, a message sent from the King of kings to sinful men: or this is the annunciation, or declaration; that is, the thing declared, or showed. Some render it, “this is the promise”, that whereas God is light, such who walk in the light shall have communion with him, and others shall not: which we have heard of him ; of Christ, who has declared him, that he is light without any mixture of darkness; that is a pure Spirit, and must be worshipped in a spiritual way; and that only spiritual worshippers are such as he seeks, and admits to communion with him. Moreover, they might hear and learn this of Christ, by his telling them that he himself was light, who is the image of the invisible God, insomuch, that he that has seen the Son, has seen the Father also. Wherefore, if the one is light, the other must be likewise; nor is there any coming to the Father, and enjoying communion with him, but through Christ; all which our Lord told his disciples. The Ethiopic version reads, “which ye have heard”, very wrongly; for the words regard the apostles, who made a faithful declaration of the message they heard, and had from Christ, which is as follows: and declare unto you that God is light ; that is, God the Father, as distinguished from “him”, Christ, of whom they had heard this message, and from Jesus Christ his Son, ( 1 John 1:7), what is declared of him, agreeably to the report of Christ, is, that he is “light”; that is, as light is opposed to the darkness of sin; he is pure and holy in his nature and works, and of such pure eyes as not to behold iniquity; and so perfectly holy, that angels cover their times before him, when they speak of his holiness: and as light is opposed to the darkness of ignorance, he is wise and knowing; he knows himself, his own nature, being, and perfections, his Son and Spirit, and their distinct modes of subsisting; he sees clearly all things in himself, all things he could do, or has determined shall be done; he has perfect knowledge of all creatures and things, and the darkness and the light are alike unto him, nor can the former hide from him: he is knowable, and to be discerned; he is clothed with light, and dwells in it; he may be known by the works of creation and providence; even the invisible things of him, his eternal power and Godhead, may be clearly seen and understood by them, and especially in his word, and most clearly in his Son; it is owing to the darkness of men, and not to any in and about God, who is light, that he is so little known as he is: and, like the light, he illuminates others; he is the Father of lights, the author and giver of all light; of the light of reason to men in general; and of grace here, and glory hereafter, to his own people, which are both signified by light; in whose light they see light; and he refreshes and delights their souls with the light of his countenance now, and with his glorious presence in the other world: and in him is no darkness at all ; no darkness of sin; nothing is more contrary to him, or more distant from him: nor any darkness of error and ignorance; what is unknown to men, as the times and seasons; what angels were ignorant of, and even Christ, as man, as the day and hour of Jerusalem's destruction, were known to the Father; in him is no ignorance of anything whatever; nor is there any variableness or shadow of turning in him, as there is in the luminous body of the sun; but God is always the same pure and holy, wise and knowing Being. It is usual with the Cabalistic Jews f5 , to call the supreme Being rwa , light the most simple light, hidden light, and infinite light, with respect to his nature, glory, and majesty, and with regard also to his grace and mercy, justice and judgment; though, as R. Sangart says f6 , this is to be understood of him figuratively.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 5-10 - A message from the Lord Jesus, the Word of life, the eternal Word, we should all gladly receive. The great God should be represented to thi dark world, as pure and perfect light. As this is the nature of God his doctrines and precepts must be such. And as his perfect happines cannot be separated from his perfect holiness, so our happiness will be in proportion to our being made holy. To walk in darkness, is to liv and act against religion. God holds no heavenly fellowship of intercourse with unholy souls. There is no truth in their profession their practice shows its folly and falsehood. The eternal Life, the eternal Son, put on flesh and blood, and died to wash us from our sin in his own blood, and procures for us the sacred influences by whic sin is to be subdued more and more, till it is quite done away. Whil the necessity of a holy walk is insisted upon, as the effect an evidence of the knowledge of God in Christ Jesus, the opposite error of self-righteous pride is guarded against with equal care. All who wal near to God, in holiness and righteousness, are sensible that their best days and duties are mixed with sin. God has given testimony to the sinfulness of the world, by providing a sufficient, effectual Sacrific for sin, needed in all ages; and the sinfulness of believers themselve is shown, by requiring them continually to confess their sins, and to apply by faith to the blood of that Sacrifice. Let us plead guilt before God, be humble, and willing to know the worst of our case. Le us honestly confess all our sins in their full extent, relying wholl on his mercy and truth through the righteousness of Christ, for a fre and full forgiveness, and our deliverance from the power and practic of sin __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 αυτη 3778 εστιν 2076 5748 η 3588 {1: επαγγελια 1860 } {2: αγγελια 31 } ην 3739 ακηκοαμεν 191 5754 απ 575 αυτου 846 και 2532 αναγγελλομεν 312 5719 υμιν 5213 οτι 3754 ο 3588 θεος 2316 φως 5457 εστιν 2076 5748 και 2532 σκοτια 4653 εν 1722 αυτω 846 ουκ 3756 εστιν 2076 5748 ουδεμια 3762
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. This then is (kai auth estin). Rev., correctly and literally, and this. According to the proper reading the verb stands first in order (estin auth), with emphasis, not merely as a copula, but in the sense "there exists this as the message." For a similar use of the substantive verb, see v. 16,17; ii. 15; John viii. 50.
Message (epaggelia). This word, however, is invariably used in the New Testament in the sense of promise. The best texts read ajggelia, message, which occurs only at iii. 11; and the corresponding verb, ajggellw, only at John x. 18.
We have heard of Him (ajkhkoamen ajp' aujtou). A form of expression not found elsewhere in John, who commonly uses par' aujtou. See on John vi. 46 The phrase here points to the ultimate and not necessarily the immediate source of the message. Not only John, but others in earlier times had heard this message. Compare 1 Pet. i. 10, 11
