What is spiritual darkness?

But the next thing we hear of is darkness, and a darkness which the light as such cannot banish. It shines in it, but is not realized. This is the nature of spiritual darkness, which is not a mere absence of light, but in opposition to it. God is light; but man has his back upon God, and walks in his own shadow. He has not faith in God, and as he learned to distrust Him even in Eden, much more as out of Eden and under the consequences of his sin, which he puts to the discredit of his Maker. Thus everything is distorted, for God is the reason of all things, and if He be unknown, all things fall into confusion. Then we must do what we can for ourselves; self is all that is left us to believe in; a self which has lost all but the wreck of the image of God in which man was created.

Over all another shadow broods, of one "a liar from the beginning," and who has persuaded men to believe his lie. Under him darkness becomes a kingdom, and the power by which he reigns: "the god of this world blinds the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:4).

Here are two things; namely, the god of this world blinding the mind, and seeking to hinder the inshining of the precious, life-giving beams of the light of God's glory; and, on the other hand, God, in His marvellous grace, shining in the heart, to give the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Thus all hinges upon the grand reality of the knowledge of God. Is there light? It is because God is known. Is there darkness? It is because God is not known. No doubt there are various measures in the experience and exhibition of this light: but there is light, because there is the knowledge of God. So also there may be various forms of darkness; some more hideous than others; but there is darkness because God is not known. The knowledge of God is light and life. Ignorance of God is darkness and death. A man may enrich himself with all the treasures of science and literature; but if he does not know God, he is in the darkness of primeval night. But, on the other hand, a man may be profoundly ignorant of all human learning; but if he knows God, he walks in broad day-light.

Natural man if he thinks of the fact that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all, becomes afraid. The light is inaccessible for man. God is not only light Himself, but 1 Timothy 6:16 and other Scriptures also say that He dwells in light, in a light that is inaccessible. That means that no natural man can ever approach God, Whom no man has ever seen nor can see. This speaks not of God Himself but of the sphere in which He dwells. He is light in Himself and He dwells in a light inaccessible. The world in which we live has fallen into spiritual darkness. In the first place this means ignorance of God, distance from God, and no knowledge or relationship with God. This is the state of natural man. They may be enlightened as they think, but as to God man is in darkness. The only way that light came into this world was when the Lord Jesus came as Man on earth.

But I come to Colossians 1. Here we are said to have been delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love. What a change that is! We are brought out from under that cruel oppressive power that rules in the darkness, and by means of the darkness, over poor fallen sinners. Darkness is ignorance of God, and by this the devil keeps his dupes in bondage. But in the power of heavenly light we are brought out of the darkness, and placed under the rule of. the beloved Son of the Father, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Verse 8. Proceeding still in the same admonitory strain, the Apostle now illustrates the contrasted principles or powers of good and evil, as they operate respectively in the old man and the new, under another comparison "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord." Darkness is natural ignorance of God. If we know Him, we are in the light. His children are the children of light, for God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Light, then, is the spiritual atmosphere in which faith lives. But where we live and breathe we are also to exercise the activities of our being. And so it is added: "Walk as children of light." In the Lord the believer is all light; for he stands accepted in Him who is the Light of life. It is by believing in the light that we become the children of light (John 12:36), reflecting in the world what we receive from Him When in her true position, the Church is collectively the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). And if the lustre of that light be turned to dimness, by the departure of the Church from her right standing, still each member of the body is of the light and of the day, and is to trim, without fainting or discouragement, the lamp of his profession; not hiding it, but letting it appear, while we watch patiently until the dawning of the promised day. Men know that our Father is in heaven, when they see us walking in the power of His name.

Man being now a fallen creature is morally the exact opposite of what God is. Hence the Apostle's words to the Ephesian believers: "Ye were once darkness" (Eph. 5:8). Peter, in addressing other believers, says: "He has called you out of darkness into His marvellous light" (1 Peter 2:9). As in the physical sphere, so in the spiritual, darkness and light are the opposite of each other, and cannot in the nature of things intermingle. Man is thus by nature in total ignorance of God; the prince of darkness, having complete control of the mind, filling it with false thoughts of God. Sin, and nothing but sin, marks those who are so deeply alienated.

An everlasting night of darkness must have been the portion of us all had not God intervened in the plenitude of His grace. "Through the tender mercy of our God the dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death" (Luke 1:78-79). John tersely speaks of the Saviour's coming thus: "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). Christ was thus the revelation of God to men for their blessing. The cross could alone adequately declare all that God is; that mighty event has shown for ever His immaculate holiness and love.

Light naturally dispels darkness whenever it shines, but it was not so with the moral and spiritual darkness in which man was because of sin and the influence of the powers of darkness. Man’s ignorance of God persisted in spite of the purest light that had come among them, and this revealed the true nature of man’s ignorance of God. Man had no wish to know God, His ignorance was wilful. The God against whom man had sinned, and from whom he was estranged, was a holy God, and the light that revealed God exposed man, and man did not relish the holiness of God, or care to be seen as he truly was in the light that revealed the divine perfections.

Since the ungodly mind is set against God, the understanding is darkened so that, though naturally intelligent or even brilliant, such people are unable to discern facts that are transparently clear to a believer (v.19). "Alienated from the life of God" describes an estrangement that has in effect broken any sense of relationship of creature to Creator. It is grievous ignorance certainly, but the result of hardness of their own hearts, for ignorance is not merely lack of knowledge but ignoring facts that may be known. For example, people will carefully figure out their tax returns to their advantage, they will plan systematically to make the most of their business circumstances, they will use their minds effectively to organize the best possible situations for themselves; then at the same time tell us that the marvelous organization of all the universe required no mind at all, but just happened to come together! Such is the ignorance of a person set on ignoring God. So the unbelieving mind is set on vanity and the heart is hardened.

There is no doubt, then, of the forbearance in which we are called to walk with one another; nevertheless, we need to beware of turning grace into levity or licentiousness. "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their minds, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." (Ver. 17, 18.) Here he begins with the inner thing. You will find that our tendency is to occupy ourselves and others with something outward. But the apostle goes to the root of the evil walk of the Gentiles. Their minds were vain and empty, as all must be who have not God distinctly and positively and intelligently before them in any matter, whatever it may be. As to these Gentiles, in nothing had they God before them; they were "without God in the world." Consequently, there was nothing but the empty vapouring mind and mouth of man, imagining one thing and expressing another. What was the effect? The understanding was darkened. "They were alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them, because of the blindness of their heart." These are various descriptions, not of the outward walk, but of the root of all the evil fruit they bore. God was not in all their thoughts. They were "alienated from the life of God." How indeed could it be otherwise? The life of God is only found in His Son; and Him, and, consequently, it they had not. Far from having relish, or a just sense of need, they were estranged from good; and this on account of the blindness or hardness of their hearts. Thus far is the evident tracing of what the evil walk of these Gentiles sprang from; the sum and substance is that it arose from their ignorance. And their ignorance was because their hearts were hard, not from mental dullness. What a solemn and practical truth for every soul of man, converted or not! Our conduct flows from our judgment, and our judgment from our affections. Thus, the state of our heart becomes most important in practice. We find here that all the outward man finds its source in the inner man, and the inner man is formed by that which governs the heart.

"If we say" — how often only saying! — "If we say that we have fellowship with Him," it is the fruit of receiving Christ and in Him the gift of life. For eternal life is the basis of true fellowship with the Father and with the Son, the enjoyment of which necessarily leads to our souls' appreciation of its virtues, not only for the Christian walk, but in Christian worship, and in Christian converse with the living God as our Father and with His Son. "If we say we have fellowship with Him" claims that we have entered into the new relationship with God in grace, and that we share His nature, His mind and His affections. This is an immense thing where we need His true grace to stand in the light as well as the love of God. It is "God" here: "the Father" was said where the grace was shown out in fullest volume. But here an utter contradiction to its genuineness appears. "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness": what is this? Walking in darkness is what a man of the world does; it is the description of one who is entirely unrenewed. It means a vast deal more than that a person has fallen into a sin, or got into an unhappy state of soul. Thus it was that the Puritans used to interpret this thing. Though they were truly pious men and worthy of all respect, they were rather narrow-minded, and savoured more of the Old Testament than of the New. They were in spirit under the law, which always dims and deranges spiritual judgment. It is only grace that enlarges the heart and that gives the mind, under the Spirit's guidance, to enter into God's heavenly counsels, and His ways for the earth. They were short in these weighty respects, and were led into that self-occupation which is the inevitable effect of the law upon a saint.