In many TV shows and even kids’ shows, we see the forces of good battling the forces of evil. This dualism of dark versus light seems to permeate to the point that we paint our opponents at times as the darkness–whether they truly are or not. It is thereby not uncommon that people take this good versus evil idea into Christianity. After all, there are the forces of God and those of Satan–right?

While Satan is certainly a factor, the vast majority of the Scriptures do not deal with him. Instead they deal with people and the darkness that indwells each of them, namely sin. Sin is the darkness to be dealt with and it lives in each of us. In addition, the great Serpent known as Satan has already been declared in God’s plan to one day be vanquished and there is no escaping it as there is no escaping His plan.

The one truly holding the reigns is God. Dualisms typically have a balancing aspect of good always having to combat the bad to keep it in check but also recognizing that the bad, the dark, will always be there.

The Scriptures paint things quite differently. The light of God immediately makes the darkness run away like a light turned on in a dark room. The darkness has zero power to encroach. The darkness is powerless in the presence of the light. We see this in the physical world in the nature of light and darkness with light physics. We also see it in the lives of people where the light of the Lord transforms their lives. It is only the remaining indwelling sin from which darkness appears.

There is also the fact that one day, Christ will return and sin will be once and for all vanquished. The world as we know it will end. All the darkness from the curse of sin will be wiped away. The light will have full dominion.

People can doubt a day such as that will come but they would have to overlook the many promises God has made in the past and already brought to fruition. He already has a track record of making a plan and sticking to it. This also shows He has the power to put it into being regardless of what we may do or what even Satan may attempt to do.

So in the end, if you are going to insist on Christianity being a dualism, it would be one very lopsided dualism indeed as God holds all the cards. Sure, from a human, earthly perspective it could appear as if darkness has all the power as we look around at the corruption in the world. Even so, you can also look around and find His light there too.

Another problem with it being a dualism is the simple fact that Satan is a created being. He does not even come close to measuring up to the power of God. God is spirit and can be found throughout His creation and beyond. Satan is a singular being who was a high-seated angel before his fall. He has no power to be all places at once as God can nor is he triune as God. Their very characteristics are quite different, which is another failing point as your typical dualism has gods/beings/forces who/which are opposites of each other and approximately equal in power.

In the end, you can point to similarities between the dark and light of Scripture to the various dualisms of the world but they are not one and the same. There are inherent differences. At best, you could refer to Christianity’s dark versus light as a false dualism.