In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
Introduction
The simplified over-arching main point here in this section is that Jesus Christ is the life and light. Life and light come from Jesus Christ. He is the reason we have those things. Without Christ all is darkness. Jesus Christ is the source of light – He is not a lesser light like the moon which reflects the light of the sun – He is the source of light – He radiates light – He is the light by which all else has light. In verse one we saw how Jesus Christ was the Word, and was with God and was God. Here now, John tells us that the Word is the light. John here continues to set the table for us in this prologue as both life and light are two great themes of this gospel.
While both life and light are mentioned here, the dominant theme is light, and so that will be the main focus of the message today. There are four things about the light that we see here in the text, 1) The Light Shines on Men, 2) The Light Shines in Darkness, 3) The Light has a Witness, and 4) The Light is the True Light.
The Light Shines on Men
Natural Revelation, v. 4
In verse 1 and 2 we saw the eternality and the deity of the Word, in verse 3 we saw the activity of the Word in creation, and now in verse 4 we see that in the Word is life, and that life is the light of men. So what we have here is the continuation of this Genesis 1 creation theme, and so when verse 4 tells us that the life is the light of men, it is most prominently speaking about general or natural revelation given to every person. As Romans 1:19-20 puts it, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” So there is a natural light of truth that shines on every person – they can look at creation and know that there is a God, there are certain moral laws written on their hearts that they know to be true. Yet, sinners in their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Calvin says that not only is this speaking to general revelation, but in so doing also shows us the natural light of reasoning that mankind has been given that distinguishes, or is one of the distinctions, between humans and animals. Animals have not been given this light of reasoning or general revelation. Animals do not have the capacity to reason, they operate upon instincts. It is not animals or other creatures, but mankind who has been given this light. I think that is what John is getting at since he singles out mankind in verse 4, and doesn’t say that the life was the light of creation, but rather that the life was the light of men.
As much as this raises mankind above animals who operate on instinct and not reason, natural light is not sufficient for salvation, it is only sufficient to condemn, just as we see in Romans 1. This is why the light had to come into the world and the word had to become flesh – to bring about the light of salvation in Jesus Christ! It is not enough just to believe that there is a god and just be some generic deist – demons are deists. Demons aren’t even just generic deists who believe that there is a god – but they believe in the God of the Bible. They know He is the only true God. This is why, apologetically, we don’t just want to get people to believe that God is real – they already know that – they need to bow the knee to Jesus Christ.
So we see that mankind is distinct from the rest of creation in that they are created as moral agents with reasoning capacities and general light to see plainly that there is a creator.
Now, I want to look at the middle part of verse 9 because it carries a similar theme to verse 4 here. “The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” “Which gives light to everyone.” So John there in verse 9 is again speaking to general revelation, not a universal salvation, and not, as some false teaching would say, that there is divinity in every person. The apostle is saying here, that true light, that gives light to everyone as we saw in verse 4, is now coming into the world.
I will just say this, that last part of verse 9 where it says the true light “was coming into the world,” – is a direct reference to the incarnation of the Word – as we see very clearly in the following verses. That’s what he means by “coming into the world.”
Here’s another contextual reason why we know verse 9 isn’t speaking to a universal salvation type of thing and instead is speaking of a general revelation: As verse 9 deals with the objective reality of the incarnation of the true light, Jesus Christ, who shines on all men – we will see that in verse 10-13, by the incarnation and coming into the world, the light so divides and makes distinctions between men, as some flee the light, because they hate it, don’t know it, and don’t receive it; and others come to the light, believing in him, receiving him, and are made children of God. So anyone who says verse 9 speaks of a universal salvation needs to keep reading through verses 10-13 where the light divides people into those who receive him and those who do not receive him.
The Light Shines in the Darkness, v. 5
There are several different ways in which the light shines in the darkness – or really there are different types of darkness in which the light shines that we can understand here.
The Light Shines in the Darkness of Creation
The first thing, continuing with the Genesis 1 creation theme of the first three verses, is that we are drawn back to the creation account to see how the light first shone in the darkness in creation. We are brought back to creation where darkness cloaked the earth, and God speaks, and by the power of His Word – there is light! The light shines in the darkness.
The Light Shines in Metaphysical or Supernatural Darkness
The Biblical worldview teaches that the Spiritual realm is real. Though we don’t see it so clearly in our culture as it is in certain parts of the world, demonic oppression and darkness is real. Jesus is the only light and truth that pierces through that darkness and saves sinners from it.
The Light Shines into our Spiritually Darkened Hearts (sin) and Minds (unconverted mind)
The Light Shines into the Darkness of Death and the Grave
Try as it may the darkness has not and will not overcome the light. In creation the darkness immediately obeyed when God said “let there be light!” The demons have no power against Christ – not in Jesus’ day, or in our day! When the converting light of Christ directs its light upon our darkened hearts and minds, there is no possibility that Christ will not have that which He sets His rays upon. Think of the blinding light of Paul’s conversion. As dark as the sin of his heart was, it was no match for the converting light of Christ! When death and the grave tried to put out the light of the world, the light went into the ground and burst it’s way up out of that darkness rendering the darkness of death powerless and the the shadows of the grave empty! The darkness has not overcome the light. The grave is not a dark place for a Christian to go, because to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ – the true light.
The Darkness does not Understand it
Now, some of you, if you are using a different translation like the NASB or the KJV have verse 5 phrased quite differently. That is because the Greek word that the ESV translates into “overcome” has mainly two possible translations. One is obviously “overcome” as it is here. But it could also be rightly translated as “understand” or “comprehend” – as the KJV and NASB have it – “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” All but one commentator that I consulted, preferred this translation to the ESV’s, some more passionately than others. Though I can’t give an original opinion, being that I don’t speak the original language, I am persuaded to lean towards “comprehend” to be the better translation, actually, based on the context of this passage. It seems to flow quite well considering the way John takes the passage in verses 10, 11.
However, it could be that John meant to use this word knowing it had this double layer of meaning, to convey both of these ideas, as they would both be true statements. So we can enjoy both understandings as true things.
The Light has a Witness, v. 6-8
In verse 6-8 the evangelist switches from speaking about the Word to speaking about the witness – who is John – referring to John the Baptist.
John the Baptist was really the last of the Old Testament prophets heralding the coming of the Messiah. We will see more about John the baptist later on in chapter 1, but we have the foundation being laid here for him. John came to bear witness about the light.
A. W. Pink says that the fact John had to bear witness about the light shows the blindness of mankind. They shouldn’t have to be told that the light is shining in the darkness – they should be able to see it – but mankind is blind – thus they need to be told – they cannot see light; they are blinded by sin and darkness. Thus faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
Think for a moment about the significance that John bore witness to Jesus Christ. To “bear witness” to Jesus Christ is very important to John’s gospel. It’s based on the law given in the Old Testament (and repeated in the new) that a matter is to be established on the basis of 2-3 witnesses. The gospel writer cites multiple independent lines of witness throughout his gospel to establish the truth of the testimony that Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ. The Baptist is our first witness to the stand here.
To witness is to speak of what you know, and have seen and experienced. John did not come to speculate, but to witness. How might this inform the way we witness?
The Light is the True Light
In the Old Testament you had all kinds of ceremonies or rituals that were given to Israel to do. You had all the laws concerning the sacrificial system; you had the temple, and all of its regulations; and those things are what we call shadows – because they are shadows of the substance that was to come. Jesus Christ is the true light. All of those things were not the true light, they were utterly insufficient to save and atone for sins, and they all pointed forward to Jesus Christ who is our true sacrifice and temple, and so on.
You have today a very dangerous Hebrew roots movement going around where people are reinstituting various ceremonies and rituals that have been done away with by Christ. It’s a very dangerous thing. Jesus Christ is the true light – now that we have the substance of which the shadows were empty shells of – to go back to the shadows is to reject Jesus Christ. Why would we go back to the shadows if we have the true light?
Christ is the true light from which the shadows were cast.
Conclusion
We can ask that same question to any of us. Why would we go back to the shadows of our sin, if we have the true light? Whatever sin it is that each of us are tempted with, we have that temptation to go back to the shadows. But why would we do that? We have Jesus Christ – the one who forgives us our sin, the One who is our true life and happiness – and fulfills on all His promises to us, unlike our sin – that breaks every promise of happiness it makes to us. Oh let us not be so foolish to love the dark.
Come out of the Shadows and Darkness of your sin and come to Jesus Christ, the Light.
Let Him Drive Away the Darkness of Sin in your Life. As Christians, as we grow in the faith and in grace and are sanctified, we must by light of Christ drive away the remaining shadows that lurk around the corners of our hearts. We must continually let the light of Christ drive away the darkness of sin in our lives.
The light of Jesus Christ is shining on you today – you have been confronted with the truth of Christ – it has exposed you and your sin. What will you do? Repent of your sin and trust in Christ? Or will you hate the light, and hide in the shadows of the darkness, only to be exposed on judgment day?
“In him was life” yet He gave up His life, so that we might have life, yet the darkness of death did not overcome the light and life, He rose again, and shines today and forever, never to be put out.
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