Light And Light

Quaest. III. Item quaeritur de hoc quod dicit: Non erat ille lux. CONTRA : Ad Ephesios quinto: Eratis aliquando tenebrae, nunc autem lux in Domino: ergo omnes boni sunt lux. Respondet Glossa, quod est lux illuminans et lux illuminata. loannes et alii Sancti non sunt lux illuminans, sed lux illuminata a prima luce. Sed contra hoc est Matthaei quinto: Sic luceat lux vestra coram hominibus; et ad Philippenses secundo: Inter quos lucetis sicut luminaria in mundo. Respondeo: Est lux illuminans effective et dispositive. Lux illuminans effective est lux per essentiam, sic solus Deus est lux illuminans; dispositive est lux per participationem, et sic Sancti, qui illuminant verbo et exemplo. Sanctus Bonaventura, Commentarius In Evangelium Ioannem, Caput I Source: Here, p451

Question 3: Concerning what was said about John the Baptist: 'He was not the light.' 1 Against which, in the fifth chapter of Ephesians: 'You were once in darkness, but now are light in the Lord.' 2 Therefore all good people are light. The gloss replies that there is an illuminating light and an illuminated light. John and the other saints are not the illuminating light but the light illuminated by the first light. But against this in the fifth chapter of Matthew: 'Let your light shine before men,' 3 and in the the second chapter of Philippians: 'Among whom you shine like luminaries in the world.' 4 I reply that illuminating light is so effectively and dispositively. The illuminating light is effectively so by being light in its essence, so that God alone is illuminating light. Light is dispositively so by participation, and so it is with the saints, who illuminate with word and example. Saint Bonaventura, Commentary On The Gospel Of Saint John, Chapter 1 1 Jn 1.8 2 Ephes 5.8 3 Mt 5.16 4 Phil 2.15