Can you bring to mind an image of a brilliant shaft of light streaming through a window? It passes easily through glass into your room and shimmers. The beam may illuminate small particles that otherwise could not be seen. If you reach out to grasp the golden rays, light disappears into nothingness in your hand. Yet you detect its enduring presence because of the warmth you feel.
The Science of Light in the Natural Order
Light is baffling. You can walk through it without experiencing any resistance. You can see light appear and disappear before your very eyes. Its touch, except for its warmth, is imperceptible. And it is essential for life and existence.
The ancient Greeks pondered the nature of light. An ancient Greek philosophical school, the Pythagoreans, held that light was emitted from a luminous body to the eye in the form of very fine particles. One the other hand, Empedocles (5th century BC) taught that light is a kind of high-speed, wave-like disturbance. These two rival descriptions of light — wave versus particle — set the stage for the future investigations into its nature.
Now, fast-forward the historical time-line roughly 2000 years to the eighteenth century. Science typically observes and asks, “What is something?” — meaning what is the nature of a thing. “What is light?” It is energy and matter, but science goes further to describe its behavior. In 1704, Sir Isaac Newton, a physicist, described light as a stream of particles or corpuscles. In the mid-1800s, Scottish physicist James Maxwell demonstrated mathematically how light waves are produced.
Still, this did not definitively confirm the nature of light. Some of the best scientific minds of the 20th century investigated the nature of light. Physicists such as Max Planck and Albert Einstein confirmed that light refuses to fit into the categories of either “behaving as a wave” or “behaving as a particle.” Light seemed to belong to a new category of phenomena that exhibited both behaviors. Light was conclusively demonstrated to have properties indicating particle composition, but in other experiments, produced interference patterns characteristic of waves. Later, Quantum Theory postulated that sub atomic particles and hence all matter shares this paradoxical combination of characteristics.
The Genesis of Light
How does Scripture describe light? The description in Genesis responds to “why? Instead of the “what” of scientific inquiry, religion answers, “Why does light exist?” According to Genesis, the creation of the cosmos as we know it begins with God creating light. Note, light is created (Gn 1:3) before the sun, moon, and stars are created (Gn 1:14). Genesis tells us there is purpose and order behind all creation. The purpose of created light is to dispel the darkness. The light is called “day.” Later on, the creation account describes the purpose of the lights in the sky — sun, moon, and stars — as two-fold: to act as “signs” and to mark off the seasons, days, and years.
In a parallel explanation of the creation of the cosmos, the first chapter of the Gospel of John opens by acknowledging the Word or Christ, who is God by Whom every created thing was made. In Christ, the entire natural order finds its origin. Note that Scripture differentiates creation from the Creator. God was present before the beginning of the universe. Light and life, time and matter are created as part of the natural order.
Now that the physical order has been explained, John’s Gospel gradually moves from the natural meaning of light to the use of this reality as a metaphor of grace. Most important is the explanation of the impact of grace on the spiritual soul of man.
Light and Grace in the Supernatural Order
St. John Chrysostom in the 8th century offered a spiritual interpretation of “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (Jn 1:4). He says this phrase refers to the spiritual benefit the Word brings to the nature of man, i.e., light or wisdom to man’s spiritual soul. While the literal interpretation refers to God’s gift of natural reason to man, its spiritual interpretation refers to supernatural graces God gives to increase man’s knowledge and love.
Reading further in John, chapter 1, light begins to sound more and more like grace, especially sanctifying grace. Christ, the source of all grace, is described as “the true light that enlightens every man that comes into the world.” His grace enlightens man’s darkened mind and strengthens the weakened will.
Let’s look more closely at verses 12 and 13 of chapter 1. “But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
Here is a description of the meaning and effectt of sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace imparts a new life, God’s life, to man. Thanks to Jesus Christ, sanctifying grace has the power to make men “the sons of God” — not that the person becomes God, but in the sense that the recipient is better able to know and love as God Himself does. The difference between God and creation remains. This is why the baptized are called adopted sons of God in contrast to the only natural Son of God who is Jesus Christ. Sanctifying grace imparted by the Sacrament of Baptism makes us adopted sons of God. Interestingly, Baptism was called “Illumination” in the early Church, and St. Augustine (4th century) links “Illumination” or Baptism with the light that is created on the first day of Genesis.
If Genesis states God created light, why does 1 John 1:5 read, “God is light”? And why does John 1:9 declare that Christ is the “true light”? The first case, “God is light” seems to be contradictory. How can God be light? Light is created but God is eternal! The explanation is that light is being used as a figure or type to point to grace and to its source, i.e., Divinity Itself. We cannot know what Divinity is in its essence, but we can catch glimmers of what it must be through God’s creation. When St. John states in his first letter that “God is light,” it is because Christ sums up in Himself and alone possesses — in an infinitely more perfect way — all the essential characteristics of light. The second case contrasts the physical with the supernatural in a similar way as when Christ declared Himself to be the “true Manna” (Jn 6:32) or the “true vine” (Jn 15:1). The message here is that Christ has the power to elevate the natural order to the supernatural level.
Every Sunday we profess the Nicene Creed saying, “God from God, light from light, true God from true God.” It again sounds like light is God, but this not the case. This phrase was inserted in 325 AD to counter the Arian heresy. The Arians invented a false relationship between God the Father and God the Son. The Arians agreed that the Son or Jesus was a “god” but not the “true God.” To show that Jesus was inferior to the Father, the Arians likened the glory of the Father to the light of the sun and the glory of the Son to the light of the moon, which is only reflected sunlight. To counter these wrong Arian teachings, the Council of Nicea inserted “light from light” to re-affirm that the Son is equal to the Father. The “Word” shines forth with the light of the sun.
So it makes sense that light is used to explain grace. They share similarities. Both are created. Both share similar physical properties. Light can emit a radiance and brilliance so strong that we must turn our eyes away. After Moses talked with God on Mount Sinai, his face became radiant (Ex 33:29) and likewise, qualities of light are used to describe Christ during His Transfiguration, “His face shone like the sun” (Mt 17:2). We cannot touch either grace or light, but both touch us. The warmth of light can soften and relax; light can transform seeds into food to sustain physical life. Grace can console; grace can convert and transform human souls and sustain their eternal lives. These are but a few examples that help explain why the Gospel writer chose to use the word “light” to convey the divine message of grace and salvation.
Science and religion explain light from two different angles: science asks “What is it?” and religion asks, “Why is it here?” Both disciplines search for truth to offer understanding of the world to their contemporaries and to future generations.
The next time you see shafts of light streaming through clouds after a rainfall or feel the warmth of a beam of light on your face, think of God. Think of His grace and its powerful providence that keeps you and the cosmos in existence. Why not offer God a moment of awe and gratitude?
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange
Sue Reilly owned and ran an editorial business outside Washington DC for approx.15 years. She has a Masters Degree of Theology from Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and is the Director of Religious Education at Queen of Apostles Church in Alexandria, VA.
