29. Light. Lamp. Candle

From: Concise Bible Dictionary: Appendix By: George A. Morrish

The words φῶς, φέγγος, φωστήρ, λύχνος, and λαυπάς. are all translated ‘light.' Originally φῶς was the light of the sun, and φέγγος, the light of the moon and planets (reflection): so in the N. T. φῶς is used for the light of the sun, Rev. 22:5⁵And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:5), and φέγγος for the light of the moon. Matt. 24:29²⁹Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (Matthew 24:29); Mark 13:24²⁴But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, (Mark 13:24). This latter word occurs but once more, in Luke 11:33³³No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. (Luke 11:33), for the light of a candle or lamp, where however recent editors read φῶς.

Φῶς stands in the first rank and is used for "God is light," 1 John 1:5⁵This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5); for "the light" and the "true light" when Christ appeared on earth, John 1:4-9⁴In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. ⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ⁸He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:4‑9); "the light of the world," chap. 8:12. This word is employed from Matthew to Revelation. It is the true opposite to darkness.

φωστήρ occurs but twice in the N. T., Phi. 2:15; Rev. 21:11¹¹Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; (Revelation 21:11); and in the LXX is found only in Gen. 1:14, 16¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: (Genesis 1:14)
¹⁶And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. (Genesis 1:16), besides two or three times in the Apocrypha―the use being confined to the heavenly luminaries, sun, moon, and stars. This gives a beautiful force to the N. T. passages. In Phi. 3:4-16 is seen the reproduction of the characteristic traits of Christ in His people here, who are set as children of God, to shine as heavenly luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life. In Rev. 21, which from verse 9 to 22:5 carries us on to the display of the church as the bride, the Lamb's wife, in the glory of the kingdom, we find what is true now by the grace of her calling, there brought out in all the perfection of the communicated glory of Christ: "her light (φωστήρ) was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone," which in chap. 4:3 is one of the symbols of divine glory. It is not a question of the light which the heavenly city diffuses, but herself the luminary or diffuser through which the light of the glory is shed down upon the earthly Jerusalem.

λύχνος, besides ‘light,' which it never really means, is rendered ‘candle:' it is properly ‘lamp' ― a hand-lamp fed with oil. The connection of the truth in some passages is better seen by a uniform translation: as, for instance, Luke 8:16¹⁶No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. (Luke 8:16), where the ‘lamp' is used as an illustration of the testimony of the word by Christ. In chap. 11:33 it is applied to those who have come in and seen the light as it shone perfectly in Him, and who are now left in His place, with the single eye (the eye being the ‘lamp' of the body) as the means by which the whole body is "lightsome, having no part dark," and to be so as when the bright shining of a lamp ' gives light. Then in chap. 12:35 the exhortation is that the 'lamp' should be burning. The fitness of this word being used of John the Baptist in John 5:35³⁵He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. (John 5:35), as a ‘lamp,' kindled by another for temporary shining, is lost in the A. V., and the difference between him and Christ obliterated, who is in Himself the light (φῶς), of which John was but witness. Chap. 1:8, 9. Rev. 21:23²³And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (Revelation 21:23) is no exception, for, if the glory of God did lighten (φωτίζω) the heavenly city, the Lamb is the lamp through whom the glory shines, as even now all the rays of it shine concentrated upon His face for faith (2 Cor. 3:18¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)): only thus mediately could the divine glory be ever seen.