for all *ye* are sons of light and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness.
Komentarz do tego wersetu
The Verse in Context
After warning that the day of the Lord will come on the world like "a thief in the night" (vv. 2-3), Paul turns sharply to the believers and reminds them that they belong to an entirely different order: "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." The verse draws an absolute moral line between the saints and the world, and grounds Christian conduct in that distinction.
A Distinction Grace Has Made
The first thing the apostle insists upon is that this is no slight or accidental difference. Believers do not merely act differently — they are different by a work of God.
William KellyThe apostle, however, immediately and carefully declares how different is the lot of the faithful... his very aim here, as elsewhere, is to impress this distinction on them ineffaceably. He says, first, that they were not in darkness, that the day should surprise them as a thief; secondly, that they all were sons of light and sons of day. Not only were they unlike the world as in darkness and the objects of the Lord's judgment, but positive sharers of divine nature and blessedness... We are of God, Who is light, and in Whom is no darkness at all.
"Sons of Light" and "Sons of the Day" — Two Sides
Commentators carefully separate the two titles. "Light" speaks of what believers possess now through the truth; "day" looks on to the coming glory of Christ — yet the saint already belongs to it.
MagazinesThe Apostle Paul addressed the Thessalonian believers as sons of the light, i.e., the teaching of Scripture in the power of the Holy Spirit, and sons of the day (i.e., the future glory of Christ). They were not of the night nor of darkness! "The light" is the present value of "the day to come."
James BoydWe are the sons of the day. We have our origin in the light that shall drive the clouds of night from this evil world, when the time comes for Him, in whom all light centres, to show Himself... If outwardly it is night, and darkness all around us, our hearts are in the light of the coming day, and as sons of the day we show forth in the midst of the world's night "the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
What "Night" and "Darkness" Mean
The two negative terms are not synonyms. One points to the absence of Christ in the world's experience; the other to its ignorance of God.
Hamilton SmithBelievers are characterised by having the knowledge of God, and being in the light of the day that is coming. The world is characterised by "night" and "darkness". It is the absence of Christ that makes the night, and the ignorance of God that constitutes the darkness (comp. John 12:35-36, 46; 13:30).
Light Already Shining in the Believer
This title is not a future hope only; it describes what a Christian is from the moment of faith.
W. W. FeredayWhen Christ becomes known to the soul by faith there is a very real and positive shining of God into the heart. This dispels a man's moral darkness once for all. Hence forward he walks in the light of the knowledge of God and His Son. He is "light in the Lord," a "child of light," a "son of the day" (Eph. 5:8; 1 Thess. 5:5)... He puts off the world of darkness, and puts on the armour of light.
Privilege Becomes Responsibility
Paul does not let the truth of verse 5 sit as mere doctrine — verse 6 immediately turns it into practical exhortation. To know what we are demands that we walk accordingly.
William KellyPrivilege known and enjoyed by the believer is the very hinge and incentive of responsibility... if sons of light and of day, sleep — indifference to the will of the Lord — becomes us not, but watchfulness and sobriety, as those who derive their life from Him Who is the one true light, and will bring in the day, as free from excitement as from careless ease. The righteous shall then shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
Summary
- Two classes. Scripture knows only "sons of light" and "sons of darkness"; verse 5 marks the believer's standing on the bright side of that absolute divide.
- Present and future. "Sons of light" describes what we are now in the knowledge of Christ; "sons of day" links us to the coming glory — the day already shapes the believer's heart while the world sleeps in night.
- Not merely behaviour but being. Paul's point is not that Christians do better deeds, but that they are positive sharers of the divine nature, "of God, Who is light."
- Night = absence of Christ; darkness = ignorance of God. This is why the world cannot escape the thief-like coming of the day, while believers cannot be overtaken by it.
- Responsibility flows from privilege. Because we are sons of light and day, sleep and drunkenness do not suit us; watchfulness and sobriety do (v. 6).