10 Key Bible Verses on Light

This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series.

All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible.

1. Genesis 1:3–4

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. Read More

And God said. In Gen. 1 the absolute power of God is conveyed by the fact that he merely speaks and things are created. Light is the first of God’s creative works, which God speaks into existence. the light was good (Gen. 1: 4). Everything that God brings into being is good. This becomes an important refrain throughout the chapter (see Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). God called the light Day (Gen.1:5). The focus in Gen. 1:5 is on how God has ordered time on a weekly cycle; thus, “let there be light” may indicate the dawning of a new day. God is pictured working for six days and resting on the Sabbath, which is a model for human activity. Day 4 develops this idea further: the lights are placed in the heavens for signs and seasons, for the purpose of marking days and years and the seasons of the great festivals such as Passover. This sense of time being structured is further emphasized throughout the chapter as each stage of God’s ordering and filling is separated by evening and morning into specific days.

2. John 1:4–5

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. Read More

The prologue of John’s gospel introduces many of the major themes developed later in the Gospel, such as Jesus as the life (Gen.1:4), the light (Gen. 1:5–9), and the truth (Gen. 1:14, 16–17); believers as God’s children (Gen. 1:12–13); and the world’s rejection of Jesus (Gen. 1:10–11).

The references to life, light, and darkness continue to draw on Genesis motifs (cf. Gen. 1:3–5, 14–18, 20–31; 2:7; 3:20; cf. also Isa. 9:2; 42:6–7; 49:6; 60:1–5; Mal. 4:2; Luke 1:78–79). Against this background, Jesus as the “light” brings to this dark world true knowledge, moral purity, and the light that shows the very presence of God (cf. John 8:12; 1 John 1:5).

3. 1 John 1:5

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Read More

God’s Nature and Human Sin. “God is light” (1 John 1:5) reflects an OT background where “light” symbolizes both knowledge and purity (see notes on John 1:4–5; 8:12). All of John’s writing flows from the reality of God in his spiritual perfection, moral excellence, and utter transcendence—his light (see 1 Tim. 6:16). This will contrast sharply with errant humans protesting their innocence (1 John 1:6, 8, 10).

4. James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Read More

There is nothing in this world that is truly good that has any other origin than from above, namely heaven, descending from the Father of lights, which refers to God as creator of the heavenly “lights” (Ps. 74:16; Ps. 136:7–9)—a prime example of his good gifts. God is unchanging in his character and therefore in his giving of good, unlike the variation of the night changing to day or the shifting shadow caused by the sun or moon.

5. Isaiah 42:6–7

I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
     I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
     a light for the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
     to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness. Read More

The servant is a covenant for the people (Isa. 49:8), i.e., he represents the people in God’s covenant. He will become a light for the nations (Isa. 49:6), bringing the knowledge of God to them; this probably lies behind Jesus’s saying in John 8:12. to open the eyes . . . to bring out. This is the purpose of God’s grace for his people, using liberation from Babylonian exile as an image for spiritual liberation.

6. John 8:12

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Read More

I am. Jesus is the light of the world (see John 3:19–21; John 12:35–36, 46). Jesus fulfills OT promises of the coming of the “light” of salvation and the “light” of God (e.g., Ex. 25:37; Lev. 24:2; Ps. 27:1; Isa. 9:2; 42:6; 49:6; John 9:5; Acts 13:47; 26:18, 23; Eph. 5:8–14; 1 John 1:5–7).

7. Matthew 5:14–16

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Read More

light of the world. Jesus’s disciples have the kingdom life within them as a living testimony to those in the world who do not yet have the light.

The typical lamp in a Jewish home was fairly small and was placed on a stand to give maximum illumination.

The world will see the light of the kingdom through the good works done by Jesus’s disciples (and believers today), with the result that the Father who is in heaven will be glorified.

8. Proverbs 13:9

The light of the righteous rejoices,
     but the lamp of the wicked will be put out. Read More

The images of light and lamp refer to a person’s joy, energy, and visible success in life, all of which cause the righteous to rejoice, but for the wicked this will be put out. This may also imply the actual end of life and the lack of a future for the wicked (Prov. 24:20).

9. Romans 13:12

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Read More

Salvation is viewed as a future reality here, and it draws nearer every day. the day is at hand. The nearness of the end summons Christians to put off all evil works and to live in the light.

10. Revelation 21:22–24

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Read More

its temple is the Lord God . . . and the Lamb. Jesus himself is the tent and temple in which God lives among his people (John 1:14; 2:19–21). Because the Lamb is in her midst, the church is “a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).

Language echoing Isa. 60:19–20 identifies God the Father as the source, and Christ as the mediator, of the bride’s radiant light (her truth and purity).

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