katalambanw (καταλαμβάνω)

καταλαμβάνω


Ἰωαννην 1.5 - ...καὶ ἡ σκοτία εν τῃ σκοτία φαίνει, καὶ ἠ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν.

John 1:5 - That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.

Copied directly from greekbible.com:
1) to lay hold of 1a) to lay hold of so as to make one's own, to obtain, attain to, to make one's own, to take into one's self, appropriate 1b) to seize upon, take possession of 1b1) of evils overtaking one, of the last day overtaking the wicked with destruction, of a demon about to torment one 1b2) in a good sense, of Christ by his holy power and influence laying hold of the human mind and will, in order to prompt and govern it 1c) to detect, catch 1d) to lay hold of with the mind 1d1) to understand, perceive, learn, comprehend

As I look at this definition, and one of the reasons I like the idea of studying Greek, is the general essence of character that you could get from a word. Some translations will translate this as "overcome," the KJV translates it "comprehend." But do you realize how this is used to characterize darkness?

Darkness is a captor. It seizes opportunities to oppress. It doesn't just take opportunities to conquer, but takes prisoners. Yet all of a sudden, here comes this thing called LIGHT. Perhaps the forces of darkness were at first confident, gathering weapons and chains so as to oppress, capture and bind the intruder, yet much to their surprise, the light was far too powerful. The 4,000 years of practice and planning had come to nothing!

And when you think about it, this verse is a foreshadow of the rest of the Gospel. Jesus comes in; He heals the sick; He drives out demons; He nourishes people with truth; He gives up Himself so that men may be free from sins; He sends the Holy Spirit. Satan had done everything within His own power to subdue this light, by murder, by oppression, by persecution, by unnatural self-righteousness, and hoped in the end to have taken what would have been just a rather difficult prisoner, but this time He couldn't. People pursued righteousness. Demons fled instantly. People were wholly healed. To assist us, the Holy Spirit was given. When Jesus came, He showed this darkness for what it was; utterly powerless in the presence of God.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Jake