Meaning of Colors
Also See:
| Dream Colors |
The Scripture Speaks to Christians
Definitions of divine truth must come from the Word of God. Only scripture
is the legitimate source for revelation of the meaning of Creation. If
we want to understand the meaning of colors or anything else in creation,
we must consult the infallible Word of God. The Canon of Scripture (the
Bible) is the source of definition of colors. The meaning of each color
is defined by the Word of God.
Purpose of Colors in Scripture
On the first day of the Re-Creation of the Earth to get it ready for man
in the Appeal Trial of Satan, light was the first thing created. That light
divided the darkness. The light was both real and symbolic. The real nature
of light had physical properties. The academic discipline of physics has
discovered many of the characteristics of that created light. The light
has been found to have a visible and an invisible spectrum. Quantum mechanics
even deals with the fundamental components of the particle structure of
light energy; so that this light is perceived as a basic building block
of atoms. So light is the basis for all physical creation.
It is the visible spectrum of light, however, that is the part of the
everyday vocabulary of most people. The seven colors of the rainbow paint
our world with beauty. The shades and combinations of the seven basic colors
yield thousands of colors to thrill and characterize our world. The question
we must ask is, "If God created seven colors, what do they mean?" To get
that answer, the scripture must be examined.
Light Production
Our first clue of the meaning of colors is found
in the first reference to light in the scripture.
God decreed, "Light be coming into existence,
and there was light." (Gen. 1:3)
The first thing God created was light. This light
was physical light with both a visible and an invisible spectrum. This
light was the basic building block of all physical creation. In the next
verse, "God saw the light and proclaimed it as good." This means that light
is divine good production - something that God did that had intrinsic value.
God's production has intrinsic value, and we call it divine good. The light
also divided the darkness; so here is a contrast between light and darkness.
They are distinct, separate, not the same. Light stands out as divine good
production.
So, from the beginning light was production which
manifested the glory of the Creator. The light divided the darkness, but
the light could not be divided. The light had a visible spectrum which
consisted of seven colors. Each one of those colors was a part of the production
of the light. The seven colors represent a complete category as deduced
from the meaning of the number,
seven, from the seven days of re-creation.
Types of Colors
Colors in scripture fall into various categories.
These include:
Visible Light Spectrum
Colors in Nature
Artificial Colors
Patterns
The Colors in Nature are the colors of the objects
and scenes in nature. The colors include the color of objects, such
as wood, apples, oranges, and rocks, as well as scenes, such as the sky,
the ocean, the corn field. So when a scene is described in the Bible,
colors may be obvious even though they are not specified. Why are
these colors mentioned as a separate category from the Visible Light Spectrum?
It isn't because light is not the way we see them, but rather that nature
combines colors in various ways that are not the pure colors of the rainbow.
Pigments and compounds may be mixed together in various ways to produce
colors that are difficult to classify as one of colors of the rainbow.
The Artificial Colors are man-made. They
are the paints and dyes of the ancient world. The Egyptians and Phoenicians
discovered all kinds of ingenious ways of making dyes to color fabrics.
Blue, purple, and crimson were among the famous dyes. The Assyrians
used paint (especially vermilion) in their art.
Color Patterns are yet another factor for consideration.
The Pattern of a color may change the meaning significantly. For
example a spotted (or blemished) garment is not pure. A spot represents
an impurity (Ephesians 5:27; 1 Timothy 6:14; 1 Peter 1:19; 2 Peter 3:14).
A wrinkle may represent human good, but it is another example of an impurity.
Multiples of horizontal bands represent multiplication. Those
who expose faults in others may multiply, or magnify, the perceived faults.
Shimei did this to David (2 Sam. 16:7) as David was receiving installment
discipline from God during the Absalom rebellion. Vertical stripes
may represent slicing, e.g. slicing cheese or carving meat. Some
of the common patterns include:
|
PATTERN
|
SYMBOL
|
EXAMPLES
|
| Chaff |
Deterioration and dead works |
Exodus
15:7; Psalm 1:4; Malachi 4:1; Matthew 3:12; 1 Cor. 3:12 |
| Chain |
Bondage and slavery |
2
Chronicles 33:11; Psalm 107:10; Ecclesiastes 7:26 |
| Cross, or X |
Crucifixion, or capital punishment |
Luke
9:23; Acts 5:30; Ephesians 5:25; Philippians 2:8; 1 Peter 2:24 |
| Diagonal |
Plow, Wedge |
Pushing aside |
| Fork |
Separation in the path, or division |
Genesis
32:7; 49:27; 1 Kings 16:21; Isaiah 34:17; 1 Cor. 7:33-34 |
| Horizontal Bands |
Multiplication |
Exposure of flaws, faults; witness (Shimei, 2
Sam. 16:7) |
| Island |
Isolation or separation |
Isaiah
49:1; Acts 28:1; Revelation 1:9 |
| Pentagram, 5-pointed star |
Giant, e.g. Baal |
2
Sa. 21:20-22; Isa. 14:12-13; Rev. 12:4 |
| Pit |
Intensified discipline, the grave, sin
unto death |
Job
9:31; 33:18, 22-24, 28-30; Gen. 37:23-24; Psa. 7:15; 40:2; Prov. 23:27;
Isa. 36:6; Jer. 18:22; 2 Pet. 2:4 |
| Plaid, Mesh, Net |
Judgment; a trap |
Net (Psalm
9:15; 10:9; 25:15; 31:4; 57:6; Ex 12:4; Job 19:5), Sieve (Isa.
30:28; Am. 9:9), Sifting (Luke
22:31) |
| Ring, Circle |
A covenant |
Gen.
41:42; Esther 8:8; Dan. 6:17; Luke 15:22 |
| Spot, blemish |
Impurity, defilement, guilt, suffering |
Lev.
13:2, 4, 19, 23-28, 38-39; 14:56-57; Job 31:7; Eph. 5:27; 1 Tim. 6:14;
Ja. 1:27; 1 Pet. 1:19; 2 Pet. 3:14 |
| Square |
Solid foundation, Tabernacle furniture was square or rectangular |
Exodus
27:1; 28:15-16; 30:1-2; 37:25; 38:1; 39:8-9; Rev. 21:16 |
| Star |
Great and sudden brilliance |
Rev.
2:28; 22:16, 2 Pet. 1:19; Nu. 24:17; Matt. 2:2 |
| Triangle |
Fire
triangle; fire testing metabolization; corporate; production; sexual
love/fire. |
Brazen
Altar, Ex. 27:1-5; John the Baptist, John 5:35; gold, silver, precious
stones, 1 Cor. 3:12-13; sexual heat 7:9 |
| Trident |
Fruit bearing (good or bad) |
Good Psa.
1:3; Prov. 11:30; Jn 15:1-8; Bad Prov.
1:30-31; Jer. 6:19; 12:1-2; 32:19; Matt. 7:17-19 |
| Vertical Stripes |
Slice off, cleave |
Carving meat (Isaiah
9:20) |
| Wrinkle |
Human Good |
Eph.
5:27 |
LIGHT AND DARKNESS
White Light
Visible light is clear, transparent. It is the medium
for sight. Even though it contains seven colors, a light beam appears white.
The color white is produced by an object that reflects all the light that
hits it. The reflected light is the same as the incoming light - i.e. none
of the seven colors of light are absorbed. We consider white a color. It
is the composite of all the colors of light.
In the Tabernacle of the Exodus generation, white
was the color of the surrounding wall of linen. The eight-foot high wall
of linen kept the people out, separated the Tabernacle from the world,
and controlled the perimeter to afford only one port of access, the Gate.
The curtain of the Gate was made of "blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen
(white)" (Exodus 27:16). Isaiah defines the meaning of this white:
Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white
as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
Thus, white means pure. White is contrasted with
red, the color of sins. White is the result of purification of sins which
happens for the believer at the moment of salvation based upon the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid for the sins. The purity of salvation
is represented as white clothing (Matt. 17:2; Mark 9:3; Luke 9:29; Rev.
7:14, 19:14). The white clothing of salvation is symbolized by a robe of
righteousness in Isaiah 61:10. The righteousness of God is pure.
White is used to describe to the color of ripened grain in contrast
to green before the ripening.
“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?
Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they
are white for harvest. (John 4:35, NAS)
The grain that has reached maturity, ripe, and ready to be harvested.
Here the Lord Jesus Christ is using an agricultural analogy to unbelievers
who are currently positive but have yet to hear the gospel. When
they hear the gospel, they will be evangelized and sanctified. So,
the Lord who knows their heart sees them as if they were already saved;
and they will be shortly. White in this verse represents positional
sanctification, although it is yet future. Although positional sanctification
is the issue here, the grain had reached maturity and the ripening process
is analogous to experiential sanctification. This is also an example
of how the words for the color, white, in the scripture have a broad range
of meanings just as they do today (e.g. white wine).
Something else that is pure and can never be adulterated
is God's love. I Corinthians 13 is a description of love which clearly
reveals this. The command for a husband to love his wife in Ephesians 5:25-26
also demonstrates that love must be pure.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just
as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; 26 that He
might sanctify her and purify her by the washing of water by the word,
White in the body may symbolize purity, such as the
whites of the eyes and the teeth. However, white in the body is generally
not good. It represents infection, welt, bloodless, and therefore
lifeless (Exodus
4:6; Leviticus 13:18-20; Job 7:5).
WHITE means Pure (Isa. 1:18); God's righteousness
(Isa. 61:10); sanctification (John 4:35); love (Eph. 5:25-26; 1 Cor. 13).
Darkness - Black
Since darkness is contrasted with light in Genesis
1:4, there is obviously symbolic meaning attached to darkness. Black darkness
is used to described the second death, the final judgment of the cosmic
evangelist (2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13). Black darkness is associated with death
of a baby (Job 3:3-11). And it is the darkness of skin that is burned
(SOS 1:5-6) or diseased (Job 30:30). Thus, black refers to death.
Darkness (which obviously has the characteristic
color, black) refers to Satan's Cosmic System, cosmos diabolicus,
the world. The world is separated from the light (John 1:5). Rejection
of the light, thinking like a Gentile unbeliever, is described as darkness
in the understanding (Eph. 4:18). The world system is characterized by
the love of money (monetary reversionism), which will be judged symbolically
by one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse (the rider on the black horse)
(Rev. 6:5).
BLACK means Death (2 Peter 2:17; Jude 13; Job
3:3-11); the world (John 1:5; Rev. 6:5).
| Meaning of Bible Colors Summary |
References
1. C. F. Keil and F. Delitzch (James Martin, Translator), Commentary
on the Old Testament, Vol. I, ISBN 0-8028-8035-5 (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Eerdmans Publishing Co.), 1978.
2. Merrill Unger, R. K. Harrison ed. The New Unger's Bible
Dictionary, (Chicago: Moody Press, Chicago, IL 60610), 1988.
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