Chapter 20.—Of the Words Which
Follow the Separation of Light and Darkness, “And God Saw the
Light that It Was Good.”
Then, we must not pass from this
passage of Scripture without noticing that when God said, “Let
there be light, and there was light,” it was immediately added,
“And God saw the light that it was good.” No such expression
followed the statement that He separated the light from the
darkness, and called the light Day and the darkness Night, lest the
seal of His approval might seem to be set on such darkness, as well
as on the light. For when the darkness was not subject of
disapprobation, as when it was divided by the heavenly bodies from
this light which our eyes discern, the statement that God saw that
it was good is inserted, not before, but after the division is
recorded. “And God set them,” so runs the passage, “in the
firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth, and to rule
over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the
darkness: and God saw that it was good.” For He approved of
both, because both were sinless. But where God said, “Let there
be light, and there was light; and God saw the
light that
it was good;” and the narrative goes on, “and God divided the
light from the darkness! and God called the light Day, and the
darkness He called Night,” there was not in this place subjoined
the statement, “And God saw that it was good,” lest both should
be designated good, while one of them was evil, not by nature, but
by its own fault. And therefore, in this case, the light alone
received the approbation of the Creator, while the angelic
darkness, though it had been ordained, was yet not
approved.