1 Thessalonians 5:5

(παντες) γαρ in all uncials except (probably) K, and all versions.

υιοι ημερας: several latt read filii dei, instead of diei,—a slip easily made in Latin.

D*G and latt read εστε (bis) for εσμεν.

5. πάντες γὰρ ὑμεῖς υἱοὶ φωτός ἐστε καὶ υἱοὶ ἡμέρας: for you are all sons of light and sons of day. More than a denial of ἐστὲ ἐν σκότει: the “son of light” is not merely “in the light,” he is “of the light,” possessed by it and of its nature; he “is light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8 : cf. Ephesians 2:2 f.; Romans 13:11 ff.; Luke 16:8; John 12:36; 1 Peter 1:14; 2 Peter 1:19). In Hebrew idiom, one is “a son” of anything that determines or distinguishes his character; cf. “sons of Belial,” “sons of the resurrection,” &c. “Light” is the pervading element of the Christian’s life; “day” is the sphere in which the light-possessed men move; it culminates in “the day of the Lord.” This figure is even more familiar with St John than with St Paul. Christ applies it to His own person as well as His doctrine (John 8:12; John 9:5; cf. Psalms 36:9). The metaphor signifies (1) moral purity (see 1 Thessalonians 5:7 f.), (2) saving effect (see Psalms 27:1; Isaiah 60:1 ff.; John 8:12; John 11:9; 2 Corinthians 4:6, &c.), (3) mental enlightenment (Ephesians 1:17 f. &c.).

Πάντες … ὑμεῖς (cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:27): the Apostles know of no exception; there are weak and faulty individuals in this Church (see 1 Thessalonians 5:14), but all are claimed as true Christians and counted upon for the maintenance of the watchful hope which becomes the sons of light and day. Note the sustained emphasis on ὑμεῖς, ὑμᾶς, ὑμεῖς in 1 Thessalonians 5:4 f., by contrast to αὐτοῖς in 1 Thessalonians 5:3.

Οὐκ ἐσμὲν νυκτὸς οὐδὲ σκότους. We are not of night nor of darkness. This sentence forms the negative counterpart of the last, and translates its Hebrew idiom (“sons of light,” &c.) into the Greek genitive of characteristic. At the same time it looks forward, and belongs strictly to 1 Thessalonians 5:6 instead of 1 Thessalonians 5:5. It exchanges the 2nd person of the previous context for the 1st, in which the exhortation continues through 1 Thessalonians 5:6-10. This transition is a feature of St Paul’s hortatory manner: he identifies his readers with himself as he proceeds, drawing them along with him into the trials and hopes common to the Christian life (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:14). The same silent and almost unconscious change of grammatical person is observed in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 f., 1 Thessalonians 3:2 f., 1 Thessalonians 4:6 f., 1 Chronicles 4:13 f.

Night, in contrast with day, is the period, and the state, of ignorance and estrangement from God (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:5; Romans 13:12 f.); while “darkness” is the element or empire of “night,” the evil condition in which “the rest” (1 Thessalonians 5:6) live and act, and find their doom (cf. Ephesians 4:18; Ephesians 5:8; Colossians 1:13; 2 Corinthians 4:4; John 12:35; Matthew 25:30).