ACC ~ 1 John 1 v5

THE ESSENCE OF GOD. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: John is not defining the essence of God, but desiring to declare his majesty, God has adapted something belonging to divinity and used it to suit his purpose. Paul also calls God “unapproachable light.” ADUMBRATIONS.

THE SON IS THE BRIGHTNESS OF THAT LIGHT. ORIGEN: God is light, according to John. The only-begotten Son therefore is the brightness of that light, proceeding from God without separation, as brightness from light, and lightening the whole creation. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 1.2.7.

THIS MESSAGE PROCLAIMED TO YOU. DIDYMUS THE BLIND: John wrote that the proclamation, by which it was stated that God is light, with no shadows in him at all, was made by the Savior himself to his disciples. Now he is sharing it with his readers so that they too might believe the same thing about God. COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN.

IN HIM IS NO DARKNESS. JEROME: When John says that there is no darkness in the light of God, he proves that all the lights of others are stained by some blemish. AGAINST THE PELAGIANS 2.7.

NOT SEEN BY BODILY EYES. AUGUSTINE: God is the light of purified minds, not of these bodily eyes. For then the mind will be able to see that light, which right now it is not yet able to do. LETTERS 92.

THE HEART OF THE MESSAGE. ANDREAS: What is this message? It is that eternal life has appeared to us. For the Father so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, and this is what we proclaim to you—that the Word of God who has come into the world and become a man is both God and light. CATENA.

THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS DOES NOT OVERCOME. BEDE: In this verse John shows the excellence of God’s purity, which we are also called to imitate, as the Lord himself said: “Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” He also proves that the Manichaean belief that the nature of God was overcome by the prince of darkness and corrupted is an absurdity. ON 1 JOHN.

IMPARTING BRIGHTNESS TO YOU. SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN: Let no one deceive you. God is light, and to those who have entered into union with him, he imparts of his own brightness to the extent that they have been purified. DISCOURSES 15.3.

1 Jn