Genesis 1:1-2:3 Verse 3. The word of God then went forth to the primary material of the world, now filled with creative powers of vitality, to call into being, out of the germs of organization and life which it contained, and in the order pre-ordained by His wisdom, those creatures of the world, which proclaim, as they live and move, the glory of their Creator (Ps 8). The work of creation commences with the words, "and God said." The words which God speaks are existing things. "He speaks, and it is done; He commands, and it stands fast." These words are deeds of the essential Word, the lo'gos, by which "all things were made." Speaking is the revelation of thought; the creation, the realization of the thoughts of God, a freely accomplished act of the absolute Spirit, and not an emanation of creatures from the divine essence. The first thing created by the divine Word was "light," the elementary light, or light-material, in distinction from the "lights," or light-bearers, bodies of light, as the sun, moon, and stars, created on the fourth day, are called. It is now a generally accepted truth of natural science, that the light does not spring from the sun and stars, but that the sun itself is a dark body, and the light proceeds from an atmosphere which surrounds it. Light was the first thing called forth, and separated from the dark chaos by the creative mandate, "Let there be," - the first radiation of the life breathed into it by the Spirit of God, inasmuch as it is the fundamental condition of all organic life in the world, and without light and the warmth which flows from it no plant or animal could thrive. Verse 4. The expression in v. 4, "God saw the light that it was good," for "God saw that the light was good," according to a frequently recurring antiptosis (cf. Gen 6:2; 12:14; 13:10), is not an anthropomorphism at variance with enlightened thoughts of God; for man's seeing has its type in God's, and God's seeing is not a mere expression of the delight of the eye or of pleasure in His work, but is of the deepest significance to every created thing, being the seal of the perfection which God has impressed upon it, and by which its continuance before God and through God is determined. The creation of light, however, was no annihilation of darkness, no transformation of the dark material of the world into pure light, but a separation of the light from the primary matter, a separation which established and determined that interchange of light and darkness, which produces the distinction between day and night. Verse 5. Hence it is said in v. 5, "God called the light Day, and the darkness Night;" for, as Augustine observes, "all light is not day, nor all darkness night; but light and darkness alternating in a regular order constitute day and night." None but superficial thinkers can take offence at the idea of created things receiving names from God. The name of a thing is the expression of its nature. If the name be given by man, it fixes in a word the impression which it makes upon the human mind; but when given by God, it expresses the reality, what the thing is in God's creation, and the place assigned it there by the side of other things. "Thus evening was and morning was one day." 'echaad (one), like ehi's and unus, is used at the commencement of a numerical series for the ordinal primus (cf. Gen 2:11; 4:19; 8:5,15). Like the numbers of the days which follow, it is without the article, to show that the different days arose from the constant recurrence of evening and morning. It is not till the sixth and last day that the article is employed (v. 31), to indicate the termination of the work of creation upon that day. It is to be observed, that the days of creation are bounded by the coming of evening and morning. The first day did not consist of the primeval darkness and the origination of light, but was formed after the creation of the light by the first interchange of evening and morning. The first evening was not the gloom, which possibly preceded the full burst of light as it came forth from the primary darkness, and intervened between the darkness and full, broad daylight. It was not till after the light had been created, and the separation of the light from the darkness had taken place, that evening came, and after the evening the morning; and this coming of evening (lit., the obscure) and morning (the breaking) formed one, or the first day. It follows from this, that the days of creation are not reckoned from evening to evening, but from morning to morning. The first day does not fully terminate till the light returns after the darkness of night; it is not till the break of the new morning that the first interchange of light and darkness is completed, and a heemeronu'ktion has passed. The rendering, "out of evening and morning there came one day," is at variance with grammar, as well as with the actual fact. With grammar, because such a thought would require 'echaad l*[SUP]a[/SUP]yowm; and with fact, because the time from evening to morning does not constitute a day, but the close of a day. The first day commenced at the moment when God caused the light to break forth from the darkness; but this light did not become a day, until the evening had come, and the darkness which set in with the evening had given place the next morning to the break of day. Again, neither the words 'rb wyhy bqr wyhy, nor the expression bqr 'rb, evening-morning (= day), in Dan 8:14, corresponds to the Greek nuchthee'meron, for morning is not equivalent to day, nor evening to night. The reckoning of days from evening to evening in the Mosaic law (Lev 23:32), and by many ancient tribes (the pre-Mohammedan Arabs, the Athenians, Gauls, and Germans), arose not from the days of creation, but from the custom of regulating seasons by the changes of the moon. But if the days of creation are regulated by the recurring interchange of light and darkness, they must be regarded not as periods of time of incalculable duration, of years or thousands of years, but as simple earthly days. It is true the morning and evening of the first three days were not produced by the rising and setting of the sun, since the sun was not yet created; but the constantly recurring interchange of light and darkness, which produced day and night upon the earth, cannot for a moment be understood as denoting that the light called forth from the darkness of chaos returned to that darkness again, and thus periodically burst forth and disappeared. The only way in which we can represent it to ourselves, is by supposing that the light called forth by the creative mandate, "Let there be," was separated from the dark mass of the earth, and concentrated outside or above the globe, so that the interchange of light and darkness took place as soon as the dark chaotic mass began to rotate, and to assume in the process of creation the form of a spherical body. The time occupied in the first rotations of the earth upon its axis cannot, indeed, be measured by our hour-glass; but even if they were slower at first, and did not attain their present velocity till the completion of our solar system, this would make no essential difference between the first three days and the last three, which were regulated by the rising and setting of the sun. (from Keil and Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament: New Updated Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1996 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.) Genesis 1:3-5 1:3-5. light. The people of the ancient world did not believe that all light came from the sun. There was no knowledge that the moon simply reflected the light of the sun. Moreover, there is no hint in the text that “daylight†was caused by sunlight. The sun, moon and stars were all seen as bearers of light, but daylight was present even when the sun was behind a cloud or eclipsed. It made its appearance before the sun rose, and remained after the sun set. (from IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Copyright © 2000 by John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.) Genesis 1:3-5 Day one (vv. 3-5). God commanded the light to shine and then separated the light from the darkness. But how could there be light when the light-bearers aren't mentioned until the fourth day? (vv. 14-19) Since we aren't told that this light came from any of the luminaries God created, it probably came from God Himself who is light (John 1:5) and wears light as a garment (Ps 104:2; Hab 3:3-4). The eternal city will enjoy endless light without the help of the sun or moon (Rev 22:5), so why couldn't there be light at the beginning of time before the luminaries were made? Life as we know it could not exist without the light of the sun. Paul saw in this creative act the work of God in the new creation, the salvation of the lost. "For it is the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6, NKJV). "In Him [Jesus] was life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). In Scripture, light is associated with Christ (8:12), the Word of God (Ps 119:105,130), God's people (Matt 5:14-16; Eph 5:8), and God's blessing (Prov 4:18), while darkness is associated with Satan (Luke 23:53; Eph 6:12), sin (Matt 6:22-23; John 3:19-21), death (Job 3:4-6,9), spiritual ignorance (John 1:5), and divine judgment (Matt 8:12). This explains why God separated the light from the darkness, for the two have nothing in common. God's people are to "walk in the light" (1 John 1:5-10), for "what communion has light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14-16; Eph 5:1-14) From the very first day of Creation, God established the principle of separation. Not only did He separate the light from the darkness (Gen 1:4) and the day from the night (v. 14), but later He also separated the waters above from the waters beneath (vv. 6-8), and the land from the waters (vv. 9-10). Through Moses, God commanded the people of Israel to remain separated from the nations around them (Ex 34:10-17; Deut 7:1-11); and when they violated this commandment, they suffered. God's people today need to be careful in their walk (Ps 1:1) and not be defiled by the world (Rom 12:1-2; James 1:7; 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17). Since God is the Creator, He has the right to call things whatever He pleases; and thus we have "day" and "night." The word "day" can refer to the portion of time when the sun is visible as well as to the whole period of twenty-four hours composed of "evening and morning" (Gen 1:5). Sometimes biblical writers used "day" to describe a longer period of time in which God accomplishes some special purpose, such as "the day of the Lord" (Isa 2:12) or "the day of judgment" (Matt 10:15). When we speak about spiritual things, it's important that we use God's dictionary as well as His vocabulary. Words carry meanings and giving the wrong meaning to a word could lead to serious trouble. It would be fatal to a patient if a physician confused "arsenic" with "aspirin," so medical people are very careful to use accurate terminology. The "Christian vocabulary" is even more important because eternal death could be the consequence of confusion. The Bible explains and illustrates words like sin, grace, forgiveness, justification, and faith; and to change their meanings is to replace God's truth with lies. "Woe to them who call evil, good, and good, evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isa 5:20). (from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)
Light and Darkness (John 8:12-20) This second great I AM statement certainly fits into the context of the first eleven verses of John 8. Perhaps the sun was then appearing (John 8:2) so that Jesus was comparing Himself to the rising sun. But this would mean He was once again claiming to be God, for to the Jew, the sun was a symbol of Jehovah God (Ps 84:11; Mal 4:2). There is, for our universe, only one sun; and it is the center and the source of life. So there is but one God who is the center of all and the source of all life (John 1:4). "God is light" (1 John 1:5); and wherever the light shines, it reveals man's wickedness (Eph 5:8-14). Our Lord's I AM statement was also related to the Feast of Tabernacles, during which the huge candelabra were lighted in the temple at night to remind the people of the pillar of fire that had guided Israel in their wilderness journey. In fact, John has combined three "wilderness images": the manna (John 6), the water from the rock (John 7), and the pillar of fire (John 8). To "follow" the Lord Jesus means to believe on Him, to trust Him; and the results are life and light for the believer. The unsaved are walking in, darkness because they love darkness (John 3:17 ff). One of the major messages in this Gospel is that the spiritual light is now shining, but people cannot comprehend it and they try to put it out (John 1:4-5). (from The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright © 1989 by Chariot Victor Publishing, and imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved. Used by permission.) John 8:12 8:12. Jewish literature was generous with the title "light of the world," applying it to Israel, Jerusalem, the patriarchs, the *Messiah, God, famous rabbis and the law (cf. 1:4-5); but always it refers to something of ultimate significance. One of the most spectacular celebrations of the Feast of Tabernacles involved torches that lit up the city; this feast, along with Hanukkah (10:22), was thus known for splendid lighting. That Jesus offers his light to the whole world, to all the nations, may suggest an allusion to Isa 42:6. Walking in darkness (cf. John 9:4; 11:9) is a natural metaphor for stumbling (Isa 59:10; Jer 13:16), falling from the right way (Jer 18:15; Mal 2:8) or being destroyed (Ps 27:2; Jer 20:11). (from IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament by Craig S. Keener Copyright © 1993 by Craig S. Keener. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.) John 8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. As the former references to water (John 4:10,13-14; and John 7:37, etc.) and to bread (John 6:27, etc.) were occasioned by outward occurrences, so possibly may this reference to light have been. For, in "the treasury," where it was spoken (see John 8:20), stood two colossal golden lampstands, on which hung a multitude of lamps, lighted after the evening sacrifice (probably every evening) during the feast of Tabernacles, diffusing their brilliancy, it is said, over all the city. Around these the people danced with great rejoicing. Now, as amidst the festivities of the water from Siloam, Jesus cried, saying, "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink," so now, amidst the blaze and joyousness of this illumination, He proclaims, "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD" - plainly in the most absolute sense. For though He gives His disciples the same title (see the note at John 5:14), they are only "light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8); and though He calls the Baptist "the burning and shining light" (or 'lamp' of his day-see the note at John 5:35), yet "he was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light: That was THE TRUE LIGHT which, coming into the world, lighteth every man" (John 1:8-9). Under this magnificent title Messiah was promised of old, Isa 42:6; Mal 4:2, etc. He that followeth me - as one does a light going before him, and as the Israelites did the pillar of bright cloud in the wilderness, Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life - the light as of a new world, the light of a newly awakened spiritual and eternal life. (from Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1997, 2003, 2005, 2006 Inc. All rights reserved.)
As a conclusion, on my part, even if I don't think that Gn 1:3 talks about Jesus' creation, I like the connection you made. It all depends on how you interpret the Genesis account of the Creation. 2 Cor 4:6 - NASU "For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Aren't light and darkness in the Genesis account of the Creation also believed to mean that darkness is ignorance of God's purpose and light the "disclosure", therefore the knowledge, of it as it unfolds before the eyes of the "armies of heaven" ?
So is Jesus the light in Gen 1:3? I too appreciate the direction you went with this, it was an interesting perspective to follow. Here though is why he cannot be the light in Gen 1:3. Genesis follows a series of steps. We know these steps are accurate because they were given to us by God. Your perspective is partially plausible because light is the first creation in the series of steps, as well as Jesus is the first creation by Jehovah, hence it's easy to make an argument as you have in the post. Now if we follow your argument then we must conclude that darkness is sin. Since sin didn't happen until after the 6th day was complete, and during the 7th rest day, then we can easily see that the darkness being spoken of about in the first steps of creation could NOT be sin, or Satan. For example Genesis 1:3-4 says“. . .And God proceeded to say: “Let light come to be.†Then there came to be light. 4 After that God saw that the light was good, and God brought about a division between the light and the darkness.. . .†If we continue to look at this symbolically as you have suggested then darkness, or sin, would exist immediately on the first step, or day. We must also realize that had sin never occurred, there would still have been these steps that had taken place describing the physical creation of the universe and all in it.