Writing 5 Rachna Shah
The Light of Our Life:
A Comparison of Light and Darkness in Genesis 1:1–19 and John 1:1–9
Traditionally, light and darkness are considered to represent good and evil. But where do these symbolic assumptions come from? One major source is Judeo-Christian origin stories, scriptures which use these metaphors to establish religious creeds for their respective communities. Two significant examples are Genesis 1 of the Old Testament and John 1 of the New Testament, verses that prominently feature images of light and darkness to characterize both spaces and persons. Through the opposition of of light and dark, these narratives reveal that light is both divine in its nature and in its effects; together, they assert
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In Genesis, on the fourth day of creation, God makes lights in the sky to "give light on the earth". The first day’s light is absolute light (from the Hebrew or); the fourth day’s lights are luminous bodies (from the Hebrew maor). The Hebrew prefix 'ma' implies a power acting upon 'or' to produce 'maor'; n this way, ‘or’ can be considered as God acting upon light to produce lights. Light can thus be viewed as the comprehensive force of day one and lights of day four as the form which it takes in relation to Earth. It is important to recognize that there are a greater number of purposes and usages of the lights than the initial light. Lights are signs of seasons and years, rather than just day and night; they aid man by providing cycles for agriculture and signs for navigation. The two main types of lights are the sun and the moon, respectively designated as a greater and a lesser light. One reason the moon may be lesser is because its surface reflects the light of the sun rather than creating light within itself, like the sun. The notion of a greater light and a lesser light is similarly expressed in John 1. Jesus, as the son of God, is the ‘true’ - meaning perfect and ideal - light. John was a witness to the light, not the light itself, suggesting his figure as a lesser light reflecting the light of Jesus and of God. From the roles of the light and lights in Genesis 1 and …show more content…
Moreover, God does not destroy darkness. He goes so far as to name it (as Night), allowing for it to co-exist and rotate with light (Day) in a rhythmic cycle. In this way, light and dark can be considered as complementary. Light represents a new day and newness and human activity and life, but dark is not an outwardly malignant force. On the other hand, in John 1, light and darkness are viewed as enemies. Light is the universal divine manifestation of God. It connotes truth, knowledge, and spiritual purity. Darkness describes the sin and ignorance of man, thus deriving from God’s creations rather than being a force that preceded God as in Genesis 1. The phrase "the darkness has not overcome [the light]” suggests light and darkness as opposing forces. "Overcome" (John 1:5) is "apprehended", "extinguish", and "suppress" in alternate translations of the verse. This leads the phrase to express that darkness is currently winning over light, and perhaps even that light is being overpowered by and vanishing into the darkness. Given that light represents God, light being overcome by darkness represents God being overcome by a force that preceded him. The phrase “through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3) implies that darkness was not made and falls out of God’s scope of control. God
It is perhaps the most difficult intellectual challenge to a Christian how God and evil can both exist. Many of the greatest minds of the Christian church and intellects such as Augustine and Thomas Aquinas spent their entire lives trying to solve this problem, and were unsuccessful (Erickson, 2009, p.439). However, this dilemma is not only an intellectual challenge, but it is emotional. Man feels it, lives it. Failing to identify the religious form of the problem of evil will appear insensitive; failure to address the theological form will seem intellectually insulting. This conundrum will never be completely met during our earthly life, but there are many biblical and philosophical resources that help mitigate it.
In Book One, Reuven has the perception of a young and innocent child; he is ignorant and unworldly. However, when he learns about his possible blindness in the second chapter, his perception begins to expand. “I couldn't imagine what it was like to know that no matter whether my eyes were opened or closed it made no difference, everything was still dark.” (53) Reuven's thoughts make an allusion to the Book of Genesis, which connects light to goodness and darkness to badness: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hove...
This verse is saying that unseen evil forces cannot bother believers after they have shielded themselves with the knowledge of divine love and light. The covering of God’s light protects His people with Divine purity of love.
Baldwin's use of the symbols light and darkness seem at first stereotypical. Light is the good while dark is the bad, but after several uses it is clear that the author has a more complex idea. The first reference to light occurs while the narrator is thinking over the recently learned news that Sonny has been jailed. "I didn't want to believe that I'd ever see m...
… by that union of change and performance which we call Rhythm” (39). If you have the love of God in your heart, you will have a love for humans and your actions will change. Everything about a person will change once the love of God is in them, one will automatically want to change for the better for God. John 1:12 says “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” Love and power comes when Christ is received. God defeated darkness a long time ago when he gave up
There is a distinct symbolism of light in this novel. While growing up Equality 7-2521 wanted to be assigned to the House of Scholars, but instead was made a street sweeper. While doing his daily job he discovers a tunnel from the Unmentionable times. He ran away to his secret tunnel every night where he rediscovers the light bulb. His invention represents his curiosity and the beginning of his individualism. Light is used again when giving Liberty 5-3000 a private name of “The Golden One” and his final name “Prometheus” at the end of the novel. Prometheus is the Greek God that brought fire to men from the Gods. Equality 7-2521 feels the name fitting for himself because of his rediscovery of the light bulb.
... light that seems to be coming from the opposite direction. On the right, Adam holds onto a branch from a tree trunk that is adorned with a serpent and a grapevine, symbolizing the temptation of sin. The serpent is tightly wrapped around the trunk and his heading towards the top. The serpent is barely noticeable, but balances out the tree trunk with the sculpture in order to create a more organized structure.
It can be argued that the theme of light VS darkness is used to good
Good and evil operate and work in different environments. In the book Beowulf, light and darkness are the environments used by good and evil. Although the author shows the power of darkness, he also exhibits light’s eventual victory in Beowulf’s battle with Grendel, in Beowulf’s first skirmish with Grendel’s mom, and with the imagery created at the beginning and end of each
Let not light see my black and deep desires" (1. 4. l50-51). When words like
Ancient Greek creation story, the earth began with darkness and nothingness- a void, or Chaos, as known to the Greeks (Genesis 1:2; Tripp 159). This Chaos was the bearer (meaning that he gave birth to) of Ge/Gaia (Earth), Tartarus (underworld), Eros (love and sex), Erebus (darkness), and Nyx (night) (Tripp 159). In the Christian creation story, God is the parallel to the Greek Chaos in that he invents the same things (with the exception of an underworld; the creation of Adam and Eve and their later reproduction could be comparable to Eros) as Chaos bore (Genesis 1:1-18).
He could only see by the light of a candle. Light also represents discovery. Not only does it represent discovery in this book, but also in life. When you discover something everyone knows the saying is a light bulb in your head going off. Equality 7-2521 and the golden one find a new discovery of light. They called it the power of light and we call it electricity. See, they discovered an old invention to use but a very new invention to them. This is so important because this discovery is what brings the climax of the story. The discovery of light is what brings pain to Equality 7-2521 and the Golden One at first when they are lashed, but in the end their discovery brought them to a house full of new and exciting things to them. Light made this story and light makes the world go
As the first book of the Old Testament convey, Genesis, and its Greek meaning “in the beginning,” life originated with God in the Garden of Eden. Accor...
Representing knowledge, the light is too brilliant for him to see and comprhend. He must be re-educated. "First he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of the men and other objects? then the objects themselves" (Jacobus 317). He learns that the reflections are truer than shadows and the objects truer than reflections. He must deal with a new reality that does not exist within the cave.
Genesis 1 is titled “The Beginning” discussing how the earth was formed. The very first paragraph discusses God creating the heavens and the earth. This includes the whole frame and furniture of the universe. As Christians, their duty is to keep heaven in their eyes and the earth under their feet. The earth was made empty and formless. God decided the earth was so shapeless that he needed to create light and darkness to separate day from night. God saw that the light was good and would call the light “day”, and the darkness would represent “night”. Light was seen as the great beauty and blessing of the universe. The light was made purely by the word of God’s power. God saw the light as good, exactly how he designed it. Light was fit to answer the end for which he designed it. He had simply said, let there be light and it was done, there was light. This is how the separation of day and night was created by God, never allowing them to be joined together.