“Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3)
October 24, 2022
Light is the first thought of God as His first recorded words are; “Let there be light.” He created the light three days before creating any of the heavenly bodies. The light in Genesis is not a by-product of solar energy. It is rather, the principle of intelligibility in the structure of Creation. The light that God calls into being at the beginning of Genesis is that inner form of meaning that the mind of man, in due course, will be created to discover and investigate.
Light and darkness in the Creation story exist independent of the sun or anything else. Day and night are simply the names of light and darkness: “God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night.”
On Genesis it is not stated of God creating darkness; darkness was, so to speak, already there. Darkness is nothingness; the night is vestigial non-existence. This is why the Bible’s final book tells us, with respect to heaven, “There shall be no night there.” (Revelation 22:5)
It is saddening that the modern world no longer believes in Creation. Instead, it relies on the concept of logic and the existence of the universe is explained as the random result of physical forces. The modern world knows nothing of “why?” but only “how?” The universe, accordingly, defies a “why” and has only a “how?” That is to say, it has no light except physical light. It has no intrinsic intelligibility, because intelligibility, or “sense,” implies knowable structure, or form (morphe).
A “random” world is a world without intelligible structure. Loss of the light does not leave the mind neutral. It leaves the mind in darkness. To repudiate the doctrine of Creation is, logically, to deny God’s first act, the calling forth of the light, which is the principle of truth. And here is where the teaching of Genesis becomes deadly serious, because the denial of the light is not just an individual denial. It is the ultimate denial. To foreswear the light of truth is the death of all knowledge.
The loss of the light does not leave the mind neutral. It leaves the mind in darkness, an existence forever outside of the truth. In this sense, modern man’s predicament is that of Judas Iscariot, of whom the Bible tells us, “Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.” (John 13:30)
Life in the life of humans is off a great value. It is nearly impossible to live without light. No human being can survive the agony and the suffering within the dwelling of only darkness as our nature aches for relief and peace. There cannot be any peace of mind or hope within the in habitat of darkness for we strive for freedom.
Darkness is one of the references of enteral pain and pinshiment.it represents hell and everlasting suffering. This is to say that any human soul is to be punished forever if not cleanse form any sin; and so, we only follow to the path of Light of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
May God guide us in the path of Light, Amen!
Homily in the “All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church” by Father Patrick Henry Reardon