Light, Truth, and Grace

During the BYU Devotional on July 7, 2009, Professor Richard Draper expounded on 'light and truth' from an earlier presentation given at the 2004 Sperry Symposium.

Richard Draper, a BYU religious education professor, states that obedience is an essential step on the path to discovering light, truth and understanding and as people are obedient to God’s will, they will have a greater capacity to think, understand and learn. “God is the one that sets the bounds that make cognition possible,” he said. “This is the way the Lord has designed it,”

Quoting an oft-cited scripture at BYU, Draper said, “The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth.” Then he defined the word “glory” in the scriptural context, saying it means more than mere luminosity. Light is in all things, gives life to all things, and is the law by which all things are governed, et glory is twofolyd. It is both light and truth.

Without light, a fullness of truth could never be gained. Light is the expanding agent to comprehension and full understanding. To receive the larger capacity of truth, light is essential. The main source of the doctrine came from several verses in the Doctrine and Covenants, mostly found in Section 93.

Light, Truth, and Grace: Three Themes of Salvation (D&C 93)
by Richard D. Draper
(Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants)
(excerpt)
Light and the Process of Salvation

Radiance in the normative sense is related to light. But what is light? A careful look at the way the term is used in the scriptures suggests that it is more than mere luminosity. We get a glimpse of the breadth of meaning ascribed to the word when the Lord states, "The light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings" (D&C 88:11). This phrase defines light not only as something that makes vision possible but also as that force which activates and stimulates the intellect. Further, light "is in all things," gives "life to all things," and "is the law by which all things are governed " (D&C 88:13). Thus, a more full definition would make light an ever-present, life- and law-giving power that manifests itself, among other ways, as natural light, intellectual activity, and the living energy in all things. The scriptures declare that this "light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space" and that it is "the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things" (D&C 88:12-13).

These scriptures suggest that the term light is used to describe that aspect of the nature of God which radiates out from Him, expanding with His work and will, enlightening, organizing, capacitating, and quickening as it does.

In sum, light is the ever-present, life- and law-giving, intellectually and spiritually quickening aspect of the power of God. Perhaps the best definition would be living and capacitating energy. Thus, a scripture states, "That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day" (D&C 50:24). This scripture suggests that the continual reception of this living energy endows one with ability. Thus, the Lord states, "If your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things" (D&C 88:67). As we increase in light, we increase in ability until we are able to comprehend all things.