“. . . in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)

Some have suggested that the gospel message is the most important truth in the Bible—and, perhaps, from a temporal human standpoint it may well be. However, there is another, more frequent message throughout all of Scripture here summarized by John: “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).

In the Bible, God’s “light” is clearly focused on intellectual and moral holiness. That unique holy nature both drives and limits the revelation of Himself to His creation.

In the intellectual sense, God is the source of all truth (Psalm 119:130; Psalm 36:9). The holiness of God requires truth, and because of His holiness God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Whenever God reveals anything, He must reveal the truth about Himself and His nature.

The opposite of truth, even though it may contain some truth, is the active agent that opposes God’s truth as it is revealed to His creation.

Lies (darkness) oppose the revelation of that truth:

• In the created “things” (universe)
• In the written Word (Scripture)
• In the “new” creation (salvation)

The incarnate Creator God must reveal truth and cannot “be” untruth. When God speaks, He must speak truth. When God acts, He must “do” truth. God’s holiness demands that the creation not distort anything about God—or about the creation itself.

God could not create a lie—He could not make anything that would inexorably lead us to a wrong conclusion. God could not create processes that would counter His own nature—or that would lead us to conclude something untrue about Him. HMM III