In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
John has just said that the Word was with God and made all things. Now he tells us what the Word holds in Himself: life — and that life reaches men as light. Two questions follow. What life is this? And why does John move from life straight to light?
Life That Belongs to Him
John does not say that someone gave the Word life. He says life was in Him.
"In Him was life" — life that no one gave Him, life that is His own by nature, life with no beginning. "He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). He is the Fountain of life. He is the Source of life.
Because "in the beginning was the Word," there is no point at which this life started.
Life was always in Him, the Word. There was never a time when He did not exist — "in the beginning was the Word." So there was never a time when life was not in Him. Who could imagine the Word — the One who expresses God — without life?
Not the Same as Created Life
Verse 3 has already covered creation. Verse 4 says something new, and commentators press the difference.
He made all creation, but creation does not exist in Him. In Him was life, and in this He stood in relation to one special part of creation — the part God had in His thoughts and purposes. This life was the light of men. It showed itself as a witness to the divine nature, in direct connection with men, as it did with no other creatures at all.
Some read "life" here as life of every kind, plant and animal included. The second half of the verse is what rules that out.
Many take life here in the widest sense, "the Word being the Source of all life to the creature." But everyone admits that the last part of the verse can only mean spiritual life. How could such life be put in the same class as the life of a plant or an animal? Or be said to be in Him? … Life in Him, the Eternal One, is surely eternal life… Only the eternal life could be the light of men.
Never in the Creature
Adam had life. But the Bible never says that life was in him.
Angels were not its sphere, and it was not limited to one chosen nation: "the life was the light of men." Life was not in man, even before he fell. At best, the first man, Adam, became a living soul when God breathed into him. And it is never said, even of a believer, that life is or was in him, though he does have life. He has it only in the Son.
Believers have life, but they do not hold it in themselves. Only One with life in Himself can give it to others.
Life was in Him as part of His very being. The words "In Him was life" (John 1:4) belong with His eternal existence… We have it only as something passed on to us. Only life that is held in one's own right, as part of one's own being, can be given to others.
Why the Life Becomes Light
Light here is not general information about God available everywhere. It is the life in the Word making the unseen God known.
This life was the light of men. The Lord can say, "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life" (John 8:12). The life in the Word was the perfect revelation to man of the invisible God. The light of nature will not reveal the heart of God. The light of reason cannot find out God by searching. It is only the light of the life in the Word become flesh that can declare God.
That leaves no room for any claim to an inner light of our own.
"The life was the light of men." The statement works both ways: nothing else was the light of men. This was the true light. The "light within" is not that, but the power of darkness in the human soul.
Life and Light Together
Without this life, a person has no light at all.
For man there is no spiritual light apart from this life. Without it he is in darkness, and walks in darkness (1 John 2:11).
Where the light does land, life and light come together.
The very beginning of all God's ways of grace with us has been the giving of divine life, along with the nature that cannot be separated from it. Precious truth! We see these two things, life and light, bound up together. Wherever there is life in a soul, there is light.
Summary
- Source. Life is in the Word Himself, with no beginning and no giver — He is the Fountain, not a channel.
- Stream. What we have is given to us; only life held in one's own right can be handed on to others.
- Sphere. This life is aimed at men — not angels, not one nation — and it reaches them as light.
- Standard. Nature, reason and any supposed "light within" cannot show God's heart; the life in the Word alone declares Him.
- Sign. Wherever that life is given, light comes with it — the two are never found apart in a soul.