My wife and I have started studying the scriptures and have come across a stumbling block.
In Gen 1:3 it speaks about “light” to separate night from day yet in verse 1:4 it speaks of “lights” again separating day and night, and this time it mentions the greater light to govern the day and lesser to govern the night.
What is the light mentioned in verse 3?
I looked up Strong’s numbers and they are different and even reviewed various commentaries yet no conclusive answer. It has left us with more questions than answers.

Thanks, D____

Good morning D____,
Thank you for your question.
You ask:

“In Gen. 1:3 it speaks about “light” to separate night from day, yet in verse 14 it speaks of “lights” again separating day and night and this time it mentions the greater light to govern the day, and lesser to govern the night. What is the light mentioned in verse 3?”

Here is that whole section of Gen 1 dealing with when light first came to the earth:

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters .
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [ he made] the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18 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.
Gen 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

What He is so kind to reveal to us is that He first created darkness and then “called light out of darkness” on this earth.

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness : I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

For all who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear the word ‘earth’ is actually a revelation of how God is working with mankind who is “out of the ground… dust.”

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

So the wording of Genesis does not deny that God Himself is light first. He actually tells us that he created light:

Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

But we are also told that the light was not yet on “the face of the deep.” ‘The face of the deep’ is a parable of the spiritual sin and spiritual darkness into which we are born, both physically in our mother’s womb and spiritually outside the physical womb. Contrary to all that Babylon teaches, mankind was not shapen in righteousness then fell into sin. Rather Adam was deliberately “marred in the hand of the Potter.”

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

It was all by God’s design, and it is revealed to us in Genesis. “God created the heaven and the earth, but darkness was [ first] on the face of the deep,” and later “light shines out of darkness” upon the ‘earth.’

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psa 139:12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.
Psa 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully [ and] wonderfully made: marvellous [ are] thy works; and [ that] my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, [ and] curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all [ my members] were written, [ which] in continuance were fashioned, when [ as yet there was] none of them.

“The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” So verses one and two are from God’s heavenly perspective while verse 1:14 is from mankind’s earthly perspective. It is no longer ‘the heavens’ but “the firmament of the heavens.” It is not just ‘light,’ it is now a “greater light and a lesser light.” In scriptural terms even the night has a certain amount of light that is reflected from the sun. It is just a “lesser light” which he calls night.

Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [ he made] the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18 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.

There are now “two great lights”, and we begin to distinguish right from wrong. But the creation is not yet complete, and the son of God has not yet been completed. All of this is in preparation of the manifestation of the son of God:

Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

But this first Adam is but a type and a shadow of a later Adam, and all this talk of creation is the same. It “all happened and it is all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made [“in the Potter’s hand”] subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected [ the same] in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

This statement is true for all of God’s Word. It is all for our adomonition, including the fact that the heavens and the earth were in place before God finished His work on this earth. It takes time for the light of heaven to penetrate the darkness that is on the face of the deep. When it finally does do so, there is still much work to be done as we become aware of a greater and a lesser light.
I hope this helps you to see more clearly what the difference between the two lights mentioned in Genesis is all about.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike