What did Jesus mean when He said "I am the Light of the World" (John 8:12)?

202 After this, we have the doctrine with regard to the Saviour, which is connected with the preceding fact: "I am the light of the world" (v. 12), not yet here the Messiah of the Jews, but the presentation, on the part of God, of light in the world, light which manifested everything, but which remained alone, for the whole world was darkness, far from God, and the heart of man himself darkness. This light manifested the effect of even the law, it shewed where man was, as placed under it. But it was far more; if man followed it, it was "the light of life" (compare chap. 1:4), that which made manifest as the revelation of the divine nature, but that which communicated life to those who received this light. It was an entirely new thing come into the world, God Himself, in the power of grace, become Man; rejected, all was morally judged; but, received by grace, it was the new life, the life eternal, for Christ is eternal life come down from heaven; 1 John 1:1-2. As light and life, it was for us, for it was communicated to us; the new man is created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth, and there is also the renewing of knowledge according to the image of Him who created us. But it was the word of life, and it was a question of receiving that word; and here it is the light in conflict with darkness. All depends, as we shall see, on the Person of Him who speaks.

Our Lord proceeds to expound the great principles as regarded Himself. He declares Himself the Light of the world, and this now connected still with His testimony as from the Father. We have seen elsewhere the force of the life being the light, Jesus being in life the embodier of the full character of the glory (as of the Only Begotten) of the Father, in the circumstances in which it was to be exhibited as Man. It was the perfect idea of God in Man. He that followeth Him, then, shall not walk in darkness. The light will be there before him. All else are in darkness, no matter what they are following. But these shall "walk," have their conversation, "in the light." Observe, it is following, for it regards practice and conversation; but it is the light of life, the living exemplification in the power of life (the will to walk in it marked in the following) in all the practice in which life is exhibited. But the point here is that he has the light of life. We have said that it is in contrast with the law. Now, we have seen that this is positive. If the law shone it was death. But indeed man could not bear it, and the Lord simply, as we have seen, showing Himself abstractedly, would leave us silent and hiding ourselves as sinners. But He is something real and positive in Himself, the light of life; but it involves the life in one to walk in the light of this life; therefore "he that followeth," etc.

Jesus spoke again to them (the interrupters having disappeared). "I am the light of the world." He had just acted as light among those who had appealed to law; He here goes on, but widens the sphere. He says, "I am the light of the world." It is not merely dealing with scribes and Pharisees. Further, "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The life was the light of men, the perfect display and guide of the life He was to His followers. The law never is this — good if a man use it lawfully, but not for a righteous man whose Christ is. So Christ tells the Pharisees who objected that He knew whence He came, and whither He was going: they were in the dark, and knew nothing of it. They were in the unrelieved darkness of the world, they judged after the flesh. Not so Jesus: He did not judge. Yet, if He did, His judgment was true; for He was not alone, but His Father was with Him. And their law bid them bow to two witnesses. But what witnesses? His testimony was so decided, that the reason why they did not then lay hands on Him was simply this — His hour was not yet come. (Verses 12-20)

"Again159 therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall in no wise walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (verse 12). His rejection by the Jews always brings Him out in a still larger character of blessing and glory to others. In our Gospel, however, the Spirit speaks of what He is personally or independently of all circumstances and above all dispensations. He is "the light of the world." His glory, His grace, could not be confined to Israel. He is come to deliver from Satan's power and to give the enjoyment of God and the Father. Hence, whatever be the darkness of men — and it was now profound among the Jews — "He that followeth Me shall in no wise walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The Christian is not only called out of darkness into God's wonderful light, but he becomes light in the Lord, a child of light, and he walks in the light, being brought to God Who is light; and in the light, as John says, we have fellowship one with another, for in him is life as well as light; or, as He says here, His follower has "the light of life." He has Christ, Who is both.159a

The Lord returns to His speech with the multitude, interrupted by the appeal of the scribes and Pharisees, in words which have plain reference to what has just taken place. In that temple which, up to the moment of His final rejection, He was accustomed to speak of as His Father's house, where the Glory of old had tabernacled, and in the treasury in which the gifts of the worshippers were deposited, He openly claims that glory as His own. "I am the Light of the world," He says: "he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." The Sun is indeed rising above the hills of Judea; and the nations far and wide are to enjoy its light. Not only so, but Israel herself is beginning to be seen as part of that world which has been lying in the darkness. Sin and unbelief have shut out from her the glory which was or should have been her own, and now are shutting out the fuller splendor into which that earlier light has broadened. Israel has not vindicated any peculiar claim to that for which she has as a nation had no eyes, no heart. Light is for those that have eyes, and for practical use. So now it is "he that followeth Me": his alone is the blessing; he "shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Christ is the Life which objectively is the Light of men. In His words and acts the manifestation of God, the world in its contradiction of Him was necessarily manifested also. He was the test and touchstone of all, and in His presence every thing stood out in its true character. But thus also Christ received in the heart, the life received, becomes subjectively the light for it. In His light it finds light, and thus in following Him it has the "light of life."

John 8:12. The active opposers of Christ having left the temple, the Lord continues His teaching to the people. The incident of the woman becomes the occasion of manifesting the Lord as the Light which exposes every one that comes into His presence. Now He formally declares that He is the Light of the world. The presence of Christ amidst the darkness of the world was the complete exposure of man and the full revelation of God.

The mass of men, like those who have just left the presence of the Lord, find the light intolerable, and prefer to hide themselves under the cover of darkness, because their deeds are evil. Nevertheless, the Lord can say, "He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life". The perfect life of the Lord was in itself the light that declared the Father (John 1:14, 18). But the Lord's words would further indicate that the one who, in practice, followed the Lord would in himself possess the life, with the light in his soul that is the outcome of the life. To reject Christ was to remain in darkness; to follow Christ was to have the light of life.

The Light of the World. — The woman dismissed, that incident was ended. The Lord then announced Himself to the assembled multitude in a character in which He had not previously appeared. "I am the Light of the world: He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (8:12). "The life was the light of men," our Evangelist had written. And again, "That was the true Light, which lights every man, coming into the world" (1:4, 9). Here the Lord presents Himself in a similar character outside dispensational teaching, yet as indispensable to every human creature, seeing that the individual, who follows Him, shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. He had presented Himself as indispensable to men in chapters 5, 6, and 7. Here He reaffirmed it, but in connection with His being the Light of the world. Men by nature, however great may be their intellectual attainments, are walking in darkness. Only by following the Lord can they have the light of life — i.e. light in connection with spiritual life.

It was just then that Jesus said, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). Who else but the Son of God could utter such words! In Him there was the full knowledge of God, not only for Israel, but for the world; and those who followed Him walked in the light of the revelation that He had brought into the world, and all others walked in darkness, for this is the natural state of man in sin without the knowledge of the true God.

1880 165 In these chapters the Lord is presented to us as the Light in two ways. In chapter 8. He is (and that by His own testimony) the glorious person whom man is responsible to receive and to follow, and by following whom he will get the light of life; but One whose glory he cannot see under the veil of His humiliation, if his conscience be not wrought on by the Holy Spirit. In chapter 9 we are taught the way the Lord works to reveal the glory of His person to a man's heart. In chapter 8. He is the Light presented to man, and rejected. In chapter 9 we have the illumination of a man's heart by the One who in chapter 8 was the Light in His own personal glory and title. The relation of chapter 9 to chapter 8 is that of the work to the person. Consequently in chapter 8. He says, ego eimi to phos tou kosmou; this was part of His personal glory and title: but in chapter 9 it is phos eimi tou kosmou, a certain work predicated about Him, something that He came to do.

It is as if He said, "Not only am I here as the Light offered for your acceptance; if that were all, My mission would be useless, it would only bring out your hatred of the light, and your love of darkness. But it is not all. I am going to work as light in your hearts and consciences, and, by thus working, to reveal Myself to you." Thus the Lord says, "For judgment came I into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind." The Pharisees saw, in one sense; they prided themselves on having the truth, and on their privileges. But there was one thing they were blind to — they did not see the Son of God in that One who was presented to them in humiliation. And when they find themselves in presence of the Light (John 8:1-12), they shrink from it, and retire into the outer darkness; and when He afterwards testified to them of the full glory of His person as the "I am," the only result was that they stoned Him. Thus were they which saw made blind by His presence. And so it must ever be, if we only had Christ as He is presented to us in chapter 8. For blessing to result, it is necessary that He should by the Holy Spirit carry on a definite work in heart and conscience. This is not only typified physically, but exemplified by the case of the blind man. First, as to the physical type: the Lord spits on the ground, makes clay, and puts it on the man's eyes. This in itself only intensifies, if possible, his blindness; but the moment the man washes in the pool of Siloam, all the divine efficacy of the Lord's act comes out. He gets his sight. Thus the presentation of the Lord in humiliation to man only intensifies his blindness (see the Pharisees in both chapters), unless man's conscience is wrought on by the Holy Spirit to see in the humbled Man one "sent" of God to reveal God to man; as he says afterwards, "He is a prophet." "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter," etc. Next, as an example; how is it that he sees in Christ one who represents the mind of God, a prophet, whereas the Pharisees, with the same amount of evidence, reject Him? The man's conscience had been wrought on by the Holy Spirit, quite independently of the power manifested in his external cure. When the Lord put clay on his eyes, and told him to wash them, the mere natural man would have said, "You are mocking me." But there was faith in the man; he would not have obeyed if he had not had faith. A work had taken place in his soul.

"Again therefore Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). He will not confine Himself within the narrow limits of Judaism, but presents Himself as the light of the world, so that in Him life is made available for every man. He is the source of life for "In Him was life," and He is also the giver; and He is the object of all who avail themselves of the light, so that they should not walk in darkness. Poor, puny man, with his boasted intelligence, charges the Son of God with bearing record of Himself; and this but brings out further light on the greatness of His Person. It is true that He had not come to bear witness to Himself; His mission was to speak of the Father who had sent Him; but even if He bore witness to Himself it was a true witness, for He knew what they did not know, from whence He came and whither He was going. He could speak with divine certainty, knowing that He came from the Father and was returning to the Father. How simple the words, but how rich the unfoldings; He had come to tell them of the Father, of His grace and love, and of the divine affection that was the deep joy of His own heart and into which He would lead His own. (May our hearts take in more of these wonderful unfoldings which the Son delighted to make known!)