In verse 8 Paul says, “For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord; walk as children of light.” We were once not only dark, but darkness itself. Now we are not only the children of light, but light itself (Matt. 5:14). As light is God, so darkness is the Devil. We were darkness because we were one with the Devil. Now we are light because we are one with God in the Lord.
In this verse Paul exhorts us to “walk as children of light.” As God is light, so we, the children of God, are also the children of light. Because we are now light in the Lord, we should walk as children of light.
In verse 2 Paul tells us to walk in love, and in verse 8 he tells us to walk as children of light. The first seven verses of this chapter cover the matter of love. If we walk in love, we shall keep ourselves from uncleanness. To walk in love is to walk in intimacy with God. An intimate relationship between a daughter and mother may illustrate what it means to walk in love. Certain young women enjoy an intimate love with their mothers. They love whatever their mothers love. Because of the love they have for their mothers, they are not willing to do anything opposed to their mothers’ feeling. Rather, they walk in intimate love toward their mothers. In the same principle, we have an intimate relationship with the Father. As those who have received grace, we may come in the Son to contact the Father. In the Father’s presence we not only enjoy grace, the expression of love, but we also enjoy love itself. We experience this love in a very intimate way. Because we enjoy the love of God in such an intimate way, we do not want to do anything that displeases the Father. The Father hates fornication, uncleanness, and lust. If we walk in love, we shall stay away from such things. Because we love the Father, we shall not do anything to grieve His heart. What a tender, delicate walk this is! This is not simply living by grace; it is walking in love. We should always remember that we are children of God enjoying His love. We are saints separated unto Him and saturated with Him. Therefore, in our daily walk we would always take care of the Father’s feeling, for we live intimately in His tender love.
The difference between love and grace can be illustrated by the relationship between a mother and her child. Sometimes a child may want something from the mother. However, at other times the child simply wants to enjoy the mother’s loving embrace. Receiving something from the mother which expresses the mother’s love is grace. But resting in the loving embrace of the mother is an illustration of love. In the same principle, we have received grace, the expression of the Father’s love. But as we go to the Father in fellowship, we enter into His love, which is the source of grace.
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 truth and by grace, but in love and under light. Walking in love and in light is deeper and more tender than living according to truth and by grace.
After commanding us to walk as children of light, Paul inserts in verse 9 a parenthetical statement regarding the fruit of the light, saying that “the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” Goodness is the nature of the fruit of the light; righteousness is the way or the procedure to produce the fruit of the light; 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 so that God may be expressed as the reality of our daily walk.
It is significant that in speaking of the fruit of the light Paul mentions only three things: goodness, righteousness, and truth. He does not speak of holiness, kindness, or humility. The reason he mentions just three things 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 nor 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.
We have pointed out that the righteousness denotes the way or the procedure of the fruit of the light. 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.
Verse 9 is the definition of walking as children of light. If we walk as the children of light, we shall 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.