1 Enoch 58:5

Pseudepigrapha

1 And I began to speak the third Parable concerning the righteous and elect. 2 Blessed are you, righteous and elect, for glorious shall be your destiny. 3 The righteous will be in the light of the sun, and the elect in the light of eternal life; their days shall be endless, and the days of the holy beyond count. 4 They shall seek the light and find righteousness with the Lord of Spirits; there shall be peace for the righteous in the name of the Eternal Lord. 5 After this, it shall be said to the holy in heaven that they should seek out the secrets of righteousness, the heritage of faith; for it has become as bright as the sun upon earth, and the darkness has passed. 6 There shall be a light that never ends, and they shall not experience a limit of days, for the darkness will have been destroyed, and the light established before the Lord of Spirits; the light of uprightness established forever before the Lord of Spirits.

Colossians 1:12

New Testament

7 You learned the gospel from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave—a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf— 8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, have not ceased praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may live worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects—bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

 Notes and References

"... We have alluded to the importance of light in the image of the resurrected righteous as shining like the stars. Reference to eternal light is frequent in references to the destiny of the righteous (1 Enoch 58:3; 92:4; 108:12-13; Psalms of Solomon 3:12; 2 Enoch 65:8; 1QS 4:8). When they are said to wear garments of glory (1 Enoch 62:15-16) and to sit on thrones of glory (1 Enoch 108:12), it should be remembered that this glory is both the visible splendour of shining light and the honour which God will give them, by contrast with the dishonour they have suffered in this life. The light in which the righteous will dwell contrasts with the darkness that is the fate of the wicked (e. g. 1 Enoch 108:14). We have treated here the most common images which portray the resurrection of the dead and their transformation, in the case of the righteous, into incorruptible and immortal life. Many other images occur which portray the circumstances and character of life in the age to come, such as the descriptions of Paradise and the New Jerusalem, and those of the punishments in Gehenna ..."

Bauckham, Richard The Jewish World around the New Testament: Collected Essays (p. 255) Mohr Siebeck, 2008

 User Comments

Do you have questions or comments about these texts? Please submit them here.