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God, Light, and Eternal Photons
Is saying “God is light” merely a metaphor? Or might it give hints into time and eternity?
One of the most well-known definitions of God is found in the first letter of the Apostle John in the first chapter, verse five:
“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (NIV)
This is normally understood as an analogy. Not “God is light,” but “God is like light.” Light is equated with goodness and purity, darkness the opposite. Two things I read recently led me to question that view and consider that God really is light, or at least that light and God are as intertwined and connected so as to essentially be two names for the same entity. Believers equate love as God and see them as essentially one and the same. Perhaps the same can be said of light.
The first was a tract I picked up while attending an Eastern Orthodox service with my grandson over the Christmas holidays. Written by Fr. A James Bernstein, it is titled “Heaven and Hell: The Divine Fire of God’s Love.” Beyond the explanation of the Orthodox theology of hell, which intrigues me, I found their connection of God and light most enlightening, so to speak. It reads:
“Orthodoxy teaches that on a supernatural level, uncreated light, fire, energy, and grace emanate from God’s divine nature. Like God’s love, they existed before the…
