Saturday

Related Verses
1 John 1:7
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.

1 John 2:28-29
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that if He is manifested, we may have boldness and not be put to shame from Him at His coming.
29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also has been begotten of Him.

1 John 3:11, 14, 16-18, 23-24
11 For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. He who does not love abides in death.
16 In this we know love, that He laid down His life on our behalf, and we ought to lay down our lives on behalf of the brothers.
17 But whoever has the livelihood of the world and sees that his brother has need and shuts up his affections from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 Little children, let us not love in word nor in tongue but in deed and truthfulness.
23 And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, even as He gave a commandment to us.
24 And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.

Eph. 5:9
9 (For the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

Related Reading
It is rather difficult to point out the difference between truth and light. In our experience we may often realize God as truth to us, as our reality. But sometimes when we get into God’s presence, we sense that we are in the light. At such times, we are not only experiencing reality, but we are in the very light itself. Thus, the experience of light is deeper than the experience of truth. 

We should not simply be according to reality and by grace but in love and under light. Walking in love and in light is deeper and more tender than living according to reality and by grace. 

After commanding us to walk as children of light, Paul inserts…a parenthetical statement [in Ephesians 5:9] regarding the fruit of the light…Goodness is the nature of the fruit of the light; righteousness is the way or the procedure by which the fruit of the light is produced; and the truth is the reality, the real expression of the fruit of the light. This expression is God Himself. The fruit of the light must be good in nature, righteous in procedure, and real in expression, that God may be expressed as the reality of our daily walk. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 414) 

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It is significant that in speaking of the fruit of the light, Paul mentions only three things: goodness, righteousness, and truth…The reason…is that the fruit of the light in goodness, righteousness, and truth is related to the Triune God. Goodness refers to the nature of the fruit of light. The Lord Jesus once indicated that the only One who is good is God Himself (Matt. 19:17). Hence, goodness here denotes God the Father. God the Father as goodness is the nature of the fruit of the light. 

Notice that here Paul speaks not of the work of the light or of the conduct of the light but of the fruit of the light. Fruit is a matter of life with its nature. The nature of the fruit of the light is God the Father. 

Righteousness is the procedure by which the fruit of the light is produced. In the Godhead, the Son, Christ, is our righteousness. He came to earth to produce certain things according to God’s procedure, which is always righteous. Righteousness is God’s way, God’s procedure. Christ came to accomplish God’s purpose according to His righteous procedure. Therefore, the second aspect of the fruit of the light refers to God the Son. 

The truth is the expression of the fruit of the light. This fruit must be real; that is, it must be the expression of God, the shining of the hidden light. No doubt, this truth refers to the Spirit of reality, the third of the Triune God. Therefore, the Father as the goodness, the Son as the righteousness, and the Spirit as the truth, the reality, are all related to the fruit of the light. 

Ephesians 5:9 is the definition of walking as children of light [v. 8]. If we walk as the children of light, we will bear the fruit described in verse 9. The fruit we bear by walking as the children of the light must be in goodness, in righteousness, and in truth. The proof that we are walking as children of light is seen in the bearing of such fruit. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 414-415) 

The divine light…is the nature of God’s expression. Thus, it is an expressive attribute of God. Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In the millennium the light of the sun and the moon will be intensified (Isa. 30:26). But in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth there will be no need of the sun nor of the moon. The sun and the moon will be in the new heaven and new earth, but they will not be needed in the New Jerusalem, for God, the divine light, will shine much more brightly. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 76) 

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msgs. 7, 9

Further Reading:
Life-study of Ephesians, msg. 50

Hymn: #13
1 Thou art love and Thou art light, Lord,
In the Son as life Thou art;
Love expressing, light illum’ning,
Thou dost life to us impart.
 
Thou art love! Thou art light!
In the Son as life Thou art;
Love expressing, light illum’ning
Thou dost life to us impart.

2 Love bespeaks Thy very being,
What Thou dost is shown by light;
Love is inward, light is outward,
Love accompanies the light.

3 Love by grace is manifested,
And the light by truth is shown;
By Thy love we may enjoy Thee;
By Thy light Thou, Lord, art known.

4 Thru Thy love, which led to Calvary,
We receive the life of God;
Light our understanding opens,
That we may apply the blood.

5 Thru Thy love, as life Thou enter’st
Fellowship with Thee to give;
Thru Thy light we take Thy cleansing
And in fellowship may live.

6 By the light and blood which cleanses,
The anointing we shall know;
Then the life of love Thine essence,
More and more in us will flow.

7 By Thy love we are Thy children,
Abba Father calling Thee;
Light disperses all our darkness,
Till, like Him, Thy Son, we see.
 
O what grace! O what truth!
Love is seen and light is shown!
We would praise Thee never ceasing,
Thou by love and light art known!