John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 5. Ye are all children of light , etc.] 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, etc. 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.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-5 - It is needless or useless to ask about the particular time of Christ' coming. Christ did not reveal this to the apostles. There are times an seasons for us to work in, and these are our duty and interest to know and observe; but as to the time when we must give up our account, we know it not, nor is it needful that we should. The coming of Chris will be a great surprise to men. Our Lord himself said so. As the hou of death is the same to each person that the judgment will be to mankind in general, so the same remarks answer for both. Christ' coming will be terrible to the ungodly. Their destruction will overtak them while they dream of happiness, and please themselves with vai amusements. There will be no means to escape the terror or the punishment of that day. This day will be a happy day to the righteous They are not in darkness; they are the children of the light. It is the happy condition of all true Christians. But how many are speaking peac and safety to themselves, over whose heads utter destruction i hovering! Let us endeavour to awaken ourselves and each other, an guard against our spiritual enemies.
Greek Textus Receptus
παντες 3956 A-NPM υμεις 5210 P-2NP υιοι 5207 N-NPM φωτος 5457 N-GSN εστε 2075 5748 V-PXI-2P και 2532 CONJ υιοι 5207 N-NPM ημερας 2250 N-GSF ουκ 3756 PRT-N εσμεν 2070 5748 V-PXI-1P νυκτος 3571 N-GSF ουδε 3761 ADV σκοτους 4655 N-GSN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
5. 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 (uioi fwtov). More correctly, sons of light. See on Mark iii. 17, and comp. Luke xvi. 8; John xii. 36; Eph. v. 8; Colossians i. 12. The Christian condition is habitually associated in N.T. with light: see Matt. v. 14, 16; John iii. 21; viii. 12; Acts xxvi. 18; 1 Pet. ii. 9; 1 John i. 7. The contrary condition with darkness: see John iii. 19, 20; Ephesians v. 8; 1 Pet. ii. 9; Matt. iv. 16; vi. 23, etc.
Of the night - of darkness (nuktov - skotouv). 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.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
5:5 {Sons of light} (huioi fwtos), {sons of day} (huioi hemeras). 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 nuktos (night) and skotous (darkness), predicate genitives.
