According to mainstream science, the moon gets its light from the sun:
The moon shines because its surface reflects light from the sun. And despite the fact that it sometimes seems to shine very brightly, the moon reflects only between 3 and 12 percent of the sunlight that hits it.
This statement is not completely true as it ignoresa judgment by appearances because the moon also reflects light from the earth:
When you look at a crescent moon shortly after sunset or before sunrise, you can sometimes see not only the bright crescent of the moon, but also the rest of the moon as a dark disk. That pale glow on the unlit part of a crescent moon is light reflected from Earth. It’s called earthshine. 1
Light reflected by the moon is always a combination of sun light and earthshine. The amount of earthshine may be negligible to modern science, but for Jesus who must speak the Truth andcreated all things knows the truth about light from the moon, which He created to function as it does, and His description must distinguish light from the moon from sunlight.
An accurate statement about the light from the moon must differentiatecorrectly makes this distinction because it differentiates that light light from the sunlight:
Mark 13:24 (KJV) But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (φέγγος),
Matthew 24:29 (KJV) Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (φέγγος) and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Revelation 22:5 (KJV) And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun (φωτὸς); for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
The word Jesus used is not the normal word used for light. He described the “light” from the moon differently from how the “light” from the sun is described.
The word Jesus used for light from the moon, φέγγος, is unique in the Bible in that itφέγγος is onlydifferent from φῶς used in these two verses. There is there no basis for equating φέγγος with the light from the sun:.
Light from the moon: [G5338 - φέγγος]φέγγος
Light from the sun: [G5457 - φῶς]φῶς
When the disciple heard Jesus say "the moon shall not give her φέγγος" their confusion wouldis not be how the darkening of the sun and its φῶς affected the moon. It would be what does φέγγος ofsaying the moon mean?
Given the current condition of the earth, the darkening of the sun would not mean the elimination of light from the earth: man would continue to generate light until food or cold brought an end to that light. Nevertheless, when the sun is darkened, the moon will also stop reflectinggiving its own light; He is (correctly) stating there is a physical difference between the two types of light from the earth.
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