Commentary on Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians Thessalonians Timothy Titus and Philemon John Calvin (continued)
John Calvin actively, there will still be two ways of expounding it: 1. Whatever manifests is light; 2. That which manifests anything or all things, is light; taking the singular as put for the plural number. There is no difficulty, as Erasmus dreaded, about the article; for the apostles are not in the habit of adhering very strictly to rule about placing every article, and even among elegant writers this mode of using it would be allowable. The context appears to me to shew clearly that this is Paul's meaning. He had exhorted them to reprove the evil works of unbelievers, and thus to drag them out of darkness; and he now adds, that what he enjoins upon them is the proper business of light --- to make manifest It is Light, he says, which makes all things manifest; and hence it followed that they were unworthy of the name, if they did not bring to light what was involved in darkness.
14. Wherefore he saith. Interpreters are at great pains to discover the passage of Scripture which Paul appears to quote, and which is nowhere to be found. I shall state my opinion. He first exhibits Christ as speaking by his ministers; for this is the ordinary message which is every day delivered by preachers of the gospel. What other object do they propose than to raise the dead to life?
hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live'' (John 5:25.)
Let us now attend to the context. ``Unbelievers,'' Paul had said, ``must be reproved, that, being brought forth to the light, they may begin to acknowledge their wickedness.'' He therefore represents Christ as uttering a voice which is constantly heard in the preaching of the gospel,
Arise, thou that sleepest. The allusion, I have no doubt, is to the prophecies which relate to Christ's kingdom; such as that of Isaiah,
shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee'' (Isaiah 60:1.)
Let us therefore endeavor, as far as lies in our power, to rouse the sleeping and dead, that we may bring them to the light of Christ.
And Christ shall give thee light. This does not mean that, when we have risen from death to life, his light begins to shine upon us, as if our performances came before his grace. All that is intended is to show that, when Christ enlightens us, we rise from death to life, --- and thus to confirm the former statement, that unbelievers must be recovered from their blindness, in order to be saved. Instead of {ἐπιφαύσει}, he shall give light, some copies read {ἐφάψεται}, he shall touch; but this reading is an evident blunder, and may be dismissed without any argument. 172
172"The various spellings of the verb, and the change of {φ} into {ψ}, have arisen from inadvertence. This variation is as old as the days of Chrysostom; for he notices it, and decides for the common reading. The verb itself occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, though it is once found in the `Acts of Thomas,' section 34. That light from Christ flashes upon the awakened and resuscitated; nay, it awakens and resuscitates them. As it streams upon the dead, it startles them into life. It illuminates every topic on which a sinner needs information, with a pure, steady, and mellowed radiance.'' --- Eadie.