Ontology of Light

Paul says that everything that is in the light, everything that becomes visible, is light (Ephesians 5).

He is writing about the light of the Father, Jesus, or the Spirit. If we are in that light, we ourselves become lights.

But the claim is strictly true: Everything that the light shines on becomes a reflector of light, that being the only way it can become visible at all. Everything that receives light becomes a lamp, and, conversely, if something doesn’t receive light, it is not a light.

This is the sense in which the king is the “lamp” of Israel. He is the lamp, the scope of his light is his realm; the brighter his light shines, the greater his realm, as more and more is illuminated. And the king is a lamp because in his light the people not only see light but become light.