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Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

1 Kings 8:12

 

who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:16

 

The Claim: 1 Kings says God dwells in the darkness while 1 Timothy says God dwells in the light. Those are two complete opposites, and thereby a contradiction.

 

The Explanation: Both passages could use some more context, so let’s start there. We’ll look at 1 Kings first.

 

And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

1 Kings 8:10-13

 

So what’s happening here is that God is appearing as a dark cloud. This has happened in many places in the Old Testament, such as Exodus 16:10. Now let’s look closer at 1 Timothy.

 

Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time – he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:12-16

 

Now, 1 Timothy is referring eternal life, and this theme of the current earthly life vs. eternal life is continued in verses 17-19. Thereby, the unapproachable light here is referring to God’s dwelling place in heaven. In both 1 Kings and 1 Timothy, there is a consistent theme here of God being unapproachable in all His glory. In 1 Kings, the priests couldn’t stand to minister, and in other places of the Old Testament. For example, when 250 men thought they were holy and could enter God’s presence, but yet, they were not holy and were consumed by God (Numbers 16:1-35). Consistency in being unapproachable due to God’s holiness compared to our sin means there’s no contradiction here.

 

There is another theme going on here with the light/darkness difference, which is the theme of earth vs. heaven. In 1 Kings, God appeared on earth as a cloud and dwelling in darkness, whereas 1 Timothy is referring to heaven and God dwelling in light. The darkness of earth comes from the sin of the people (we live in a fallen world), and in heaven there will be no sin and the glory of God will be the source of light (Revelation 21:23). Therefore, it would make sense to expect a reference to darkness when God appears on earth in a pillar of cloud, and a reference to light when talking about God’s dwelling place in heaven.