Ephesians 5:8 “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.”
We have seen thus far that the two conditions of human spirit is either spiritual life or spiritual death. There is a further aspect to the spiritual condition of men however, which is the aspect of spiritual light and spiritual darkness. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit introduces us to the concept of the spirits of men being either light or darkness, for in this passage the apostle Paul is referring to the spirits of men. And so we see that the spirits of men are either light or they are darkness and there is no other state that exists for the spirit of man, for men do not exist in a state where one part of their spirit’s are light while another part is darkness. It is either one or the other. Obviously we can see from this passage that the spirits of unbelievers are darkness while the spirits of believers are light. I want you to notice that in this passage the Holy Spirit does not refer to unbelievers as those who are walking in darkness, but rather He calls them darkness itself. In the same passage the Holy Spirit also calls believers light in the Lord. And so we see that the spirits of unbelievers are darkness, while the spirits of believers are light.
2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit reinforces the truth about the condition of the spirits of men, for He calls the unbeliever darkness and He calls the believer light. It is in their spirits that men are either light or darkness. Notice in this passage that the Holy Spirit contrasts light and darkness and then asks the question, what communion has light with darkness? The obvious answer is, none. And so the point is very clear that believers cannot fellowship on any meaningful level with unbelievers, for in the spirit they are complete opposites.
Matthew 6:22-23 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. (23) But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord Jesus is teaching us about the condition of the spirits of men. In His teaching the Lord uses the function of the natural body to convey a spiritual truth to us. When the Lord says that the lamp of the body is the eye, we can fully understand that concept, for when our eyes are open we can clearly see everything that is around us. However if our eyes are closed then we can no longer see anything around us. And so in that manner the eye of the body can be described as the lamp of the body. The Lord then goes on in His teaching to speak about the one who has a good eye having their whole bodies being filled with light. We know that good eyesight doesn’t fill the human body with light. So what is the Lord referring to when He makes that statement? It is at this point that the Lord takes the teaching out of the natural into the realm of the spirit. Scripture refers to the spirit of man as being the lamp of the Lord (Proverbs 20:27). And so the lamp that our Lord is referring to is the spirit and not the physical eye. In other words the Lord is saying that when the spirit is good then the whole body of the man will be filled with light. The light that the Lord is referring to is the spirit of the man. The Lord then goes on to say that when the spirit (eye) is bad then the whole body will be filled with darkness. Again the darkness that the Lord is referring to is the spirit of the man. And so the Lord tells us that if the spirit of the individual which God created to be light, is in fact darkness, then He declares that the darkness of that individual is indeed great.
Michael E.B. Maher
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