Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 1:4
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
4. In him was life ] He was the well-spring from which every form of life physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, eternal flows. See on Joh 5:26.
Observe how frequently S. John’s thoughts overlap and run into one another. Creation leads on to life, and life leads on to light. Without life creation would be unintelligible; without light all but the lowest forms of life would be impossible.
the light ] Not ‘light,’ but ‘ the Light,’ the one true Light; absolute Truth both intellectual and moral, free from all ignorance and all stain. The Source of life is the Source of light.
the light of men ] Man shares life with all organic creatures; light, or Revelation, is for him alone. The communication of Divine truth before the Fall is specially meant.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In him was life – The evangelist had just affirmed Joh 5:3 that by the Logos or Word the world was originally created. One part of that creation consisted in breathing into man the breath of life, Gen 2:7. God is declared to be life, or the living God, because he is the source or fountain of life. This attribute is here ascribed to Jesus Christ. He not merely made the material worlds, but he also gave life. He was the agent by which the vegetable world became animated; by which brutes live; and by which man became a living soul, or was endowed with immortality. This was a higher proof that the Word was God, than the creation of the material worlds; but there is another sense in which he was life. The new creation, or the renovation of man and his restoration from a state of sin, is often compared with the first creation; and as the Logos was the source of life then, so, in a similar but higher sense, he is the source of life to the soul dead in trespasses and sins, Eph 2:1. And it is probably in reference to this that he is so often called life in the writings of John. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in him self, Joh 5:26; He giveth life unto the world, Joh 6:33; I am the resurrection and the life, Joh 11:25; This is the true God and eternal life, Joh 5:20. See also 1Jo 1:1-2; 1Jo 5:11; Act 3:15; Col 3:4. The meaning is: that he is the source or the fountain of both natural and spiritual life. Of course he has the attributes of God.
The life was the light of men – Light is that by which we see objects distinctly. The light of the sun enables us to discern the form, the distance, the magnitude, and the relation of objects, and prevents the perplexities and dangers which result from a state of darkness. Light is in all languages, therefore, put for knowledge – for whatever enables us to discern our duty, and that saves us from the evils of ignorance and error. Whatsoever doth make manifest is light, Eph 5:13. See Isa 8:20; Isa 9:2. The Messiah was predicted as the light of the world, Isa 9:2, compared with Mat 4:15-16; Isa 60:1. See Joh 8:12; I am the light of the world; Joh 12:35-36, Joh 12:46; I am come a light into the world. The meaning is, that the Logos or Word of God is the instructor or teacher of mankind. This was done before his advent by his direct agency in giving man reason or understanding, and in giving his law, for the law was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator Gal 3:19; after his advent by his personal ministry when on earth, by his Spirit Joh 14:16, Joh 14:26, and by his ministers since, Eph 4:11; 1Co 12:28.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 1:4
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The life which Christ lived was so radiant that it fills our lives with light. It was God-life, without pause or interruption.
I. CHRIST THE TRUE LIFE.
1. A life of the highest knowledge. No man knoweth the Father but the Son. By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many. Any life, to be strong and influential, must have a mighty grasp of the highest truths. The highest knowledge is that of the moral nature of God, the spiritual nature of man, and the true nature of the relations between God and man. This knowledge is threefold in its contents, and is the blended result of the perceptions of the intellect, heart, and conscience. Neither alone can reach it; for to obtain even glimpses of it we must be elevated above the uncertainties of the intellect, the selfishness of the heart, and the bewilderments of conscience. This is life eternal; and Christ possessed it in its fulness, because He had this knowledge in absolute fulness and certainty, and came to bear witness to it, and thus to bridge over the gulf which the greatest geniuses had failed to span.
2. A life of perfect love. Knowledge the most perfect is only one element. Love is the grandest form of life, because it includes all the other virtues, which without it are nothing. Consider the infinite difference between the sentiments we cherish towards Shakespeare and Christ. We admire and wonder in the one case; we admire and worship in the other. The one added immensely to our literature and our knowledge; the other created a new religion and discovered a God of greater goodness than the world had ever known, because the key-note of His life was sacrifice and its crown the cross.
3. A life of perfect doing. The greatest life is that in which the grandest ideas, emotions, and actions are perfectly blended. Such was His life. Human nature is ordinarily so poor, that often the men with large emotional natures have a difficulty in keeping themselves pure, and are not great in ideas, and vice versa. Consider the life that must have been in Christ. Not to insist on the wonderful quantity of work that Christ did! Look at its transcendant quality, the nature of His acts and their motive.
II. THE LIFE OF CHRIST IS THE LIGHT OF MEN, because it is
1. A glorious revelation. His life, composed of the highest knowledge, etc., was a revelation. It is not speculation that can teach us the highest religious truth, but that truth embodied in a life. We live in an age which denies or questions the truths which for nineteen centuries have constituted the hope of the Church. What is God, man, life, destiny? Some are able to answer these questions off-hand by turning to their systems of theology. But men will continue to ask them, unsatisfied with such ready-made, second-hand answers; and the only answers that will carry any sufficient weight of evidence are those obtained by men who understand the life and death of our Lord. He is the light of the world, the revelation of the Father, and of what man may become. But we cannot perceive the light or enter into the revelation if we stand out of personal relation to Him.
2. A great quickening power, like the sun. We know how one human life will act upon another. If we place ourselves in the light of Christs life, we shall soon begin to realize a change in our thoughts, hearts, conscience, and will. (C. Short, M. A.)
The life and the light
Where Christianity is not, there are darkness and death; where Christianity is, there are light and life. Myriads of men testify that some Divine power in Christianity has made them new creatures. These are facts of Christian history, present results of Christian experience. We are not the apologists of a discredited or doubtful cause; we press the arguments on those who oppose. Christianity is a fact that must be accounted for. One branch of the argument is the practical influence of Christ, His fitness and fulness as the life and light of men.
I. THERE IS MATERIAL FOR THE CHRISTIAN ARGUMENT IN THE VERY CONCEPTION AND FORM OF SUCH A STATEMENT.
1. It is one of those profound and pregnant statements characteristic of the Christian writings, and especially of St. John. How is it that these simple chroniclers attained to ideas more spiritual, profound, and luminous than those of the greatest philosophers? Whence these conceptions of Christ, so unique, that no other was ever imagined like Him, and yet so congruous and vital that men confess and worship Him?
2. Not only profoundness, but peculiarity of meaning in this conception of Christ and His work. It might have been written yesterday, in the light of Christian history, so exact and adequate is the representation of the peculiar facts and influence of Christs work.
(1) It roots all the religious powers of Christianity in the person of Christ. The way of life not taught by, but life was in Him. Not that His words gave light, but His life.
(2) The life and light of all men are in Him. Not merely that He lived, but was the fountain whence every stream of life flows; and all the light that shines about our lives and illumines our souls, bringing the life and knowledge of God.
(3) The life was the source of the light. In the worlds darkness, He, the living Mediator, stands an incarnate, luminous manifestation of God; so that whoever looks on Him sees wondrous revelations. Just as all things upon the earths surface are physically enlightened when it turns towards the sun, so are all men spiritually enlightened as they turn towards Him.
II. WHAT LIGHT THE LIFE OF CHRIST THROWS ON THE GREAT PROBLEMS OF LIFE AND DESTINY. We speculate on these problems, and call ourselves theologians; we try to resolve them by practical experiments, and call ourselves moralists. But how perplexed the theology; how uncertain the morality! What human thought has thrown any light upon them? In Christ the only solution of them lies.
1. Has God given us a supernatural revelation of His character and will? It is sufficient to point to Christ. The life is its own light. It is the greatest miracle of history. The impression of perfect goodness is produced by every word and manifested feeling; perfect holiness blends with perfect tenderness into an excellency which has neither defect nor excess. Christs innocence, contrary to ours, was marked by no ignorance. Virtues almost incongruous blend in Him–greatness and gentleness, holiness and pity, strength and sympathy. He is nobler than the greatest man, tenderer than the gentlest woman. He commands not only the homage of the good, but of the wise. His intellectual character is as great as His moral. The very conception of His kingdom is a miracle–a spiritual, holy, catholic kingdom of God, the consummation of which should be the conversion and service of a whole world. Does not this marvellous life solve the problem of Divine manifestation? Who could have invented it? With it before us, to ask for proofs of the truth of Christianity is as reasonable as to ask at noonday for astronomical proofs of the sun.
2. Men are perplexed with the question of human sin. Wherever they are found they are conscious of wrong-doing. Philosophers and poets of all ages recognize it and lament over it; and the religious problem of every age in the face of it is, How Shall a man be just with God? What human philosophy has furnished a solution? What can appease my awakened conscience, the memory of a guilty life? Not a mere general assurance of Gods mercy. I recognize something beside mercy, even an inflexible righteousness. And just in proportion as I believe in that, my hope is disabled. It is only when Christ is offered as the Mediator between a holy God and sinful men that light is thrown on the problem. When He is recognized as having been offered as a propitiation for human guilt, then God is seen to be just, and the justifier of the ungodly. His salvation respects every requirement of the Divine government, and satisfies every demand of our moral nature. How can this salvation be a personal experience? In Christ is the answer. The same cross which honours the Divine law attracts human hearts, and through Him I receive the atonement.
3. Next comes the problem of human character; its degradation, unholiness, selfishness, and shame. What hope is there for mans moral future? Apart from Christ, none. In Him is the only regenerating power to be found.
(1) Through Him we receive the great teaching and gift of the Holy Spirit. With the teaching of holiness, comes a Divine power to enable it. Man wanted moral light, but moral life also. Quickened from death in trespasses and sins, he has the power of spiritual vision given him; he sees the blessed light. But
(2) he has in Christ the ideal of holiness, and after what a perfect and noble life he has to strive. This model we may imitate, and be ever approaching that peerless example.
(3) Christ in His sympathetic brotherhood encourages us not to despair at failure and gives us grace which strengthens.
4. There is the problem of human sorrow. But suffering is relieved from its anathema, exalted into sacrifice, converted into a gospel, and made the minister of the noblest perfection in the human life of Christ.
5. There is the problem of death. But Christ has brought life and immortality to light. Even death becomes a gospel to immortal men; the transition from this darkness to that light, this sinfulness to that holiness, this sorrow to that blessedness. (H. Allen, D. D.)
The life and light of men
I. THE SUBLIME DECLARATION. In its ultimate origin all life is mysterious. It must rest on an eternal life. The Divine life the only true life. In Him life was. In us dependent, continually becoming. The text a contradiction if employed of a mere man. The life in Christ was the life of the Spirit. Reason leads us to the conception of a continually ascending life, vegetable, animal, rational. Revelation adds the spiritual–the life of inspired men, of fellowship with God, of angels of Christ who had the Spirit without measure. His was the life of God–perfect purity, ceaseless activity, infinite love.
II. THE PROCLAMATION. The life was the light of men.
1. In paradise. Man walked in it and saw God face to face.
2. Then followed a long period during which the light shone on chosen men, places, institutions. Light in the midst of gross darkness. The heathen world was full of evil. Some light shined here and there.
3. When the fulness of time came the life was the light of men. Power, gladness, graciousness, adaptation, acceptability of the gospel represented in the analogy of light in darkness. Light calls out energies, helps growth, reveals faces, turns bloom to fruit, and fruit to perfection. Life and light intimately blended.
4. What was wanted then is wanted now; light of men as well as of man; in communities, nations, individual heart and conscience. Light in the household–among dark anxieties, sorrows, desolation. Light in the prospects of mankind–a bright future the outcome of the light of Jesus. Light on the sepulchre–not now a mere sombre monument of fallen pride, but affections memorial written in the language of hope. The life will reappear, and we shall appear with Him and be like Him, and so be ourselves that life and light of men. (R. A. Redford, M. A.)
Christ the life and light of men
I. IN HIM WAS LIFE. God is self-existent. Every being but He had a beginning. Every other being, therefore, must have been created. All life which had a commencement must be derived and not inherent. Christs life was un-derived and inherent. Therefore He was Divine.
II. THE LIFE WAS THE LIGHT OF MEN. John does not declare it to be the life of men; which would be true. Every tribe of animated existence draws its life from God: But man placed above beasts and birds. The difference consists in deriving life from the Word and having the life which was in Him as our enlivening, illuminating principle in us. This light is that which enables man to walk in a wholly different region from the beasts which perish, penetrating the wonders and scanning the boundaries of the universe, while other creatures are limited to a single and insignificant province. This light is the soul: reason, judgment, conscience. If this soul be eclipsed man is morally and spiritually blind. It is a fine testimony to this light when we find it described as the life which was from all eternity in the Word. It gives a majesty to reason and a dignity to conscience when a man realizes that these are part of the life of his Creator. The man who debases them debases no earthborn or perishable thing. The Word endowed human nature with His own life; hanging up in its chambers a lamp, and continually feeding the flame with the flashings of His own eternity. Shall this lamp be substituted now that it has been fractured, its light dimmed, for the Word Himself? Or shall we boast ourselves free from all need of Him just because there glows in us a principle derived from Him? The strangest spectacle is that of a man taking reason and rejecting Christ as his guide, fancying that in directing himself by the shining of his own spirit he shows himself independent of Christ. Man shows his ignorance of creation in putting scorn on redemption. He draws from the Word those very energies by which he would prove himself independent of the Word. The intellectual capacities were Christs shinings into the uncorrupted, even as our pardon, and renewal, and acceptance into the depraved and ruined. What gave virtue to His sacrifice was that the Self-existent died, and that which gave this worth was emphatically our light. Reason still burns brightly, conscience is not quenched, and immortality is assured because the Word who never had a beginning consented to be born; the Word who never can end consented to die. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christ the life and light of men
I. He is ESSENTIALLY LIFE–the Living One, as opposed to dying men.
II. He is the EXEMPLARY LIFE; for all things exist in the Word, which is the idea of all things living.
III. He is the CAUSE AND SOURCE OF NATURAL LIFE to all; the Maker of all things, from whom life has been communicated to all things living; and He is also the sustainer of that life which at the first He imparted; both the giver and the preserver of life to all.
IV. He is the CAUSE AND SOURCE OF SUPERNATURAL LIFE; the grace and the glory of all Gods faithful children; commencing this life by the communication of His grace, and so bestowing upon men faith, hope, and charity; perfecting this life by the communication of His glory, in which we shall enjoy the beatific vision of God. (W. Denton, M. A.)
Christ the life and light of individual men
I have seen one out of whom had gone all heavenly resemblance, and in whom all rudeness, coarseness, profanity, worldly lusts were incarnate. There was no pressure that inclined him downward, to which he did not yield. Had his soul been of stone, it could not have been less responsive to the Divine solicitations. There was not a function in him which was not petrified on its heavenward side; there was not a capacity in him that did not, so far as righteous action goes, lie dead. Well, mark now; one night, while he was lying on his bed, the Lord, in the shadow of the darkness–not violently, but still as the stillness around and above his bed, more dreadful, perhaps, because of the stillness; perhaps more gentle because of it–drew near to this dead soul; breathed on it once, gently took its hand and said, Soul, arise! And that dead soul felt strange currents run through all its frame; felt the thrill of Divine life charge through its veins, until the frozen current melted, ran, became warm, began to throb, and life came into it–life to stand, to move; and that dead soul arose and stood before the Lord, and then full of rapture bowed down and worshipped. And, ever after–for I knew him well–that man lived a life that took knowledge of all Gods mercies, a life as innocent as the birds is that has no beak nor talons, and cannot wound nor strike, but can only sing; yea, as innocent as the little stream that has no deep, dark places in it, into which children can fall, unawares, and be drowned, but which runs clear and cool, shallow and safe–content to minister to the roots of flowers that fringe it, and be drunk up of thirsty cattle and labouring men. So he lived his life, I say, and in him I saw what regeneration meant: what the life that Christ said He was, meant. (W. H. H. Murray.)
Christ the light and life of nature and of grace
If I walk the fields of science and nature gives up one secret after another, and if I then turn to the sublimer mysteries of grace, and study the amazing record of the winning back of this earth from the bondage of corruption, they are not different beings to whom the different investigations prove me debtor. Whilst led by reason across the spreadings of space, and enabled by intellect to take the span and the altitude of the architecture of God, I owe all to the Word just as truly as when I feel myself strengthened to east off evil. As a rational being I owe everything to the Word; as a redeemed being I owe everything to the Word. His the intelligence by which I may count the stars; His the atonement through which I may be furnished for life. His the memory in which I can treasure truth and the righteousness in which I may come before God. His the judgment by which I can weigh conflicting propositions as well as the intercession by which I can be sheltered from wrath. His the imagination by which I can wander through immensity; His the purchasing of the inheritance for outshining all I can conceive. If, then, because of redemption I adore the Word made flesh, shall I not, because endowed with reason, magnify the Word as the Self-existent? If as a redeemed creature I give thanks to the Word that He humbled Himself and became obedient unto the death of the Cross, shall not I as a rational creature pour forth this grateful tribute to the Word: In Him was life, and the life was the light of men? (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Christs influence as the light and life most productive to-day
Never was there a time when there was so much of Christ in the world as now, because the human race was never so largely in a condition to accept the Divine activity, and to be rendered productive by it. As the sun never had such harvests as now, so there never were such harvests of the Sun of Righteousness. As there is more raised in the State of Illinois in a year now than there was in ten thousand years before the prairies were brought into a state of cultivation, so the products of morality and spirituality are more abundant than they ever were before. In proportion as the minds of men are cleared and rendered susceptible to the activity of the Divine mind, human inspiration is increased individual by individual, family by family, nation by nation. (H. W. Beecher.)
The difference between life and light
I. In the SON OF GOD.
II. In THE WORLD
III. In MAN.
IV. In the CHRISTIAN LIFE. (Lange.)
The life a light of men
I. In man: consciousness.
II. FOR man: the works of God as the signs and words of God.
III. RESPECTING man: Christ the light of the life. (Lange.)
Christ was the light and life of men
in that He delivered men from ignorance, unbelief, and vice, and from the ruin and misery which are their invariable attendants; and brought them to the knowledge of Divine things, to faith and holiness, and to that temporal and eternal happiness with which these are inseparably connected. This change He effected
I. BY HIS DOCTRINE, which is of Divine efficacy, not only for enlightening, but for purifying and transforming the soul, and imparting consolation and happiness.
II. BY HIS INCARNATION, LIFE AND DEATH. For these were the clearest revelation of God, the benevolence of His nature, and His paternal love to men, of the Saviour, and His great and glorious work, of the dignity of man, and the certainty of a state of immortal existence beyond death and the grave.
III. BY HIS EXAMPLE. The example
1. Of His holiness, which gave evidence and efficiency to His doctrine.
2. Of His sufferings, and the glory that should follow, in which He is our pattern (2Ti 2:11; Rom 8:17; Rom 8:29).
IV. BY HIS INSTITUTIONS. Shedding down the Holy Ghost upon the apostles, instituting baptism, the Lords Supper, the Christian ministry, public worship, and other religious exercises, which are the most effectual means for banishing ignorance, and unbelief, impiety, and misery from the earth, and for the diffusion and establishment of knowledge and faith, virtue and genuine happiness among men. Thus extensive is the signification, whilst the primary idea is that of felicity, to which He leads men in many ways. (C. G. Tittman, D. D.)
Christs life she light of men
It was not the wisdom of Christs words, nor the splendour of His works that filled those three years and a half with great event; it was He, the life that was in Him; and with all that was stimulating in His discourses, startling in His works of wonder, and harrowing in His sufferings, the life that was in Him would be quite as likely to issue in effects that would be healing, when its creeping forth was a quiet and stealthy one, just as it is the light, not the lightning that best fills the earth with radiance; not the hurricane, but the gentle breath out of the south that stirs air and sea and standing corn into most healthful play, and not the deluge but the rain that drops upon the furrows with most of fertility. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Life in Christ
To know the scope of the Word, we begin with life in its lowest and simplest forms, as it is seen in the Arctic moss or the ooze brought up from the sea-depths by the Challenger. Even in such lower forms the physiologist cannot tell us what life is, nor the microscopist, nor the chemist, nor the wisest philosopher. They can tell us the signs of it, and the laws according to which it is continued or extinguished; but that is about all. From the lowest and simplest we pass upwards, through one order of being after another, till we come to man, in whom life reveals itself so much more marvellously, in sense, intellect, emotion, conscience, will. We mark how different a thing it is in different cases: to the unlettered peasant and the man of profound and various culture; to the playful child and the grey-haired saint, ready to enter the perfect kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. In this passage the term life is not to be restricted to any single province, wide or narrow, physical, moral, spiritual, or eternal, but is to be taken in the whole breadth of its significance. Besides the marvel and mystery of life in its nature and infinitely various forms, there is also its immensity of volume–all that is, all that has been, in air, and earth, and sea. As an illustration of the impossibility of dealing with this aspect of the ease, a single fact may be selected from the microscopic researches of Ehrenberg: one cubic inch of the hardened clay called tripoli he found to contain between forty and fifty thousand millions of the silicious fossil shells of infusoria. In presence of such a fact our minds are utterly helpless to conceive the extent of life even in this little globe that we inhabit. All the life of creation, so vast in its sum, so wonderful and glorious, from the life that lasts only a summer evening to that of the archangel who bows before the eternal throne –all that life, the Evangelist tells us, was in Him. He is the Fount whence it has all proceeded. Being in Him, the outcome was a necessity. If there is life in the vine, it comes out in branch, and leaf, and grape cluster. So with the life that was in the Word: it has come out in the vast and varied life of creation. Because in Him was life, therefore this is a living world, and not a mere material and ponderable ball, or a world of automatons, destitute of understanding and volition. All the life of which we have any knowledge is the out-blossoming and fruiting of the life that was in Him. (J. Culross, D. D.)
Life in Christ
There is a project for turning the great desert of North-Western Africa into an inland sea by cutting through the bank which separates its vast depressed surface from the Atlantic; so that large existing populations may be reached, and new towns and fertile country may fringe the then obliterated wilderness of death with smiling contentment and prosperity. It may be but a scientific romance. But it points to the holy privilege and blessed service of the Christian Church. Our Master says: Speak the words of this life. Cut through the bank of ignorance and prejudice and worldliness and sin, and admit upon the vast spiritual deadness of the world, the rolling tide of a pure and immortal life, that souls and churches and nations may spring up in the freshness of gospel life, and wear the everlasting beauty of Him who has redeemed them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. And lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end. (W. H. Jackson.)
Gods self-revelation through life
I. THIS SCRIPTURE OPENS UP TO US GODS LIVING WAY OF MAKING HIMSELF KNOWN TO US. The Bible is the record and interpretation of a way of creation and life, which leads from the promise of the beginning on and on, with a purpose never given up, and toward a goal never lost from sight, and against all human gravitation downward from its high intent until it completes its course in that one sinless life through which God shines–the true light. God has been present as a living power in mans life, as the educating and redemptive power in Israel, as the grace and truth of life in Jesus Christ.
II. THIS SCRIPTURE DISCLOSES GODS WAY OF ILLUMINING OUR LIVES. Christ entering into human life is its light. He lights up all our history. Other lights of human kindling illumine but portions of our life, and all go out in death. But there is no phase of our nature, no need of our common humanity, no possibility of our love and hope which His life does not purify and irradiate. God with us in our life is alone adequate to human nature. Shall I not trust myself to the life which meets at every point my life? The real gospel thus is Gods life through Christ touching our life and making it new. It has Divine right in the midst of the business of the world. It cannot, without disloyalty, be divorced from common life, sundered from its vital relation to the trade, the politics, and the conduct of men. Jesus Christ brought the kingdom of heaven down to the streets of Capernaum, and what the Church wants is to bring His life through the relations of society around the whole circumference of human life.
III. ONLY THROUGH LIVES IN REAL SYMPATHY WITH GOD AND CHRIST ARE WE TO RECEIVE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Not that the mystery of God in Christ is not to be the subject of theological inquiry, but that we are to learn Christian truth, first and best of all in the school where Jesus came to teach it–the school of real life. Our best light always is the kindling of the life into truth. Through life to knowledge is the Christian way. As God has come home to man through the life of Christ, so are we to draw near unto God through the Christian life. If we will live Christ-like lives doubt not that God will reveal His truth and His goodness through them. (Newman Smyth.)
The joy of living
I. All men desire to live. Life, if it be healthy, is joyful. All lives created of God are happy, for He is happy.
II. This instinct to live is EVIDENCE OF OUR DIVINE ORIGIN AND QUALITY. However stained and defiled, the image within us is not wholly forgetful of its origin. Within us lingers a sentiment which forbids life to despair of itself. Hence out of the fulness and joyfulness of life springs the conception of immortality.
III. We know that all life is of God, that of the bee, the bird, the dog, and other wonderful and fine expressions of life. But finer and more wonderful THE LIFE WHICH HE BREATHES INTO THE SPIRIT OF FALLEN MAN. The new birth is the waking up of dormant faculties, the resurrection of buried powers. Then power comes to the man, spiritual, soul power. The mans life becomes Divine in its harmonies. He begins to grow.
IV. This new life WIDENS THE RANGE OF EXISTENCE.
V. ALL LIFE HATES DEATH. We sympathize with the falling leaf, weep over the dying friend, in spite of all the natural and spiritual knowledge which recognizes in death the gate of life. But what must God feel as He beholds the death of the soul.
VI. THE JOY OF LIVING IS FOUND IN THE PURE AND PROPER GOVERNMENT OF THE LIFE. The life of Christ, therefore, or growth into a life like to the one He lived, is a growth into joy.
VII. ALL HUMAN LIVES THAT ARE NOT SELF-DESTRUCTIVE ARE GROWING TOWARDS HAPPINESS. The old aches cannot always last, or the old pains for ever sting us. So there is a hand somewhere that shall take all weakness up, and wipe all tears away. (W. H. H. Murray.)
Gods living light
There are three words around which we may group our thoughts of Christ.
I. MAN. These words touch and lay bare the distinctive necessity of mans nature. When that nature awakes to the true knowledge of itself it becomes conscious of needing the direction and sustenance of a higher life. We do not attain satisfaction when we seek it on a level with the animal creation, although we belong to it. Nothing is plainer than mans need of God. He must have relation to the inexhaustible and changeless; and if he is to receive a light that can shine on the problems of his own being, that light must be a life.
II. REVELATION. The text reveals the distinctive provision of Christianity. God is the creator of this deep necessity, and He has made it not to mock it, but to satisfy it. God hath given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Christ is exhibited not as some gorgeous pageant to be admired, nor as a carefully filled museum to be wondered at; He is a new communication from the Eternal Father. And the design of the Christian faith is not grasped by us, nor its provision enjoyed until we see all its avenues leading up to the disclosure that our Lord came to give life. The unique life has established itself as the light of men, wise to guide and safe to follow. The distinctive need of man is met by the distinctive power of Christ.
III. USEFULNESS. These words provide us with a Divine test of the value of all churches and Christian work. As the life is mens light, so holding forth the Word of Life is the Christians duty. To this test we must bring our schools, societies, literature, methods, principles. None of them are good unless they serve His purpose, as lamp-stands from which the life of Christ can shine more widely and brightly upon the hearts of men. (W. H. Jackson.)
Life in Christ
I. CHRIST IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE AS HE IS THE CREATOR OF EXISTENCE.
1. This is true in the widest sense.
2. He is Creator, not by delegation, but as Principle.
3. This claim He vindicated in His miracles.
II. CHRIST IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE AS HE IS THE REDEEMER OF HUMAN EXISTENCE.
1. This is the one rational explanation of His death.
2. Redemption is by price.
3. Redemption is also by power.
III. MANS TRUE LIFE CONSISTS IN HIS UNION WITH CHRIST.
1. There is no true human life apart from God.
2. This true human life we forfeited by sin.
3. But we recover it in Christ. (Homiletic Magazine.)
The light of life
I. THAT THIS LIFE IS ITS OWN EVIDENCE.
1. For life is a resisting force.
(1) Inanimate things are submissive to the forces of nature. Thus a stone is obedient, without resistance, to the law of gravitation.
(2) But things of life resist the mechanical forces. Thus even a blade of grass pushes its way upwards through the resisting soil, in the direction opposite to that of gravitation. As we ascend in the scale of life, these resistances become more remarkable. The eagle darts sun-ward, in every stroke of its pinion resisting and triumphing over the force of gravitation.
(3) Men who are spiritually dead are like the stone or the feather, under the control of worldly fashion and sinful influences. They are carried captive by the devil at his will.
(4) Men who are spiritually alive resist and vanquish these influences. To do this the more effectually they avail themselves, by prayer, of the promised help of God. So, like the eagles, they mount sun-ward (cf. Isa 40:31)
. Thus spiritual life is its own evidence.
2. Life is an appropriating force.
(1) A living animal seizes the vegetables around it and appropriates them as food for its nourishment. A dead animal is a prey to the chemistry of nature.
(2) Life is an appropriation, even in the vegetable form. The root of the plant performs functions analagous to those of the animal stomach, absorbing from the soil, digesting, and elaborating the juice which nourish its stem and branches. The leaves perform functions analogous to the twigs.
(3) The Christian will avail himself of the means of grace, public, domestic, private. He is not in them, like the formalist, a mere observer of what is passing. He is in them as feeder.
3. Life is a propagating force.
(1) Let a stone be buried, and after thousands of years it will be found as it was. Witness the Nineveh marbles. Let an acorn be buried; it will germinate and develop into an oak.
(2) So the germ of religious life unfolds into the maturity of Christian manhood. It exerts a propagating influence upon the spirits of other men.
(3) The waste of life in nature is enormous. So is the waste of spiritual life in the Church. The failure of the propagating energies of spritual life is serious.
II. THAT THIS LIFE LIGHTS UP IMMORTALITY.
1. Life touches everything into beauty.
(1) During winter the face of nature is dreary.
(2) But what beauty is comparable to that of holiness which springs from spiritual life? The beauty of the saint is the reflection of the image of God. It is seen in the integrity that cannot be bribed. It is seen in the magnanimity of sacrifice. It is seen in the tenderness of kindly sympathy.
2. Life illuminates the chambers of the tomb.
(1) It prevents not the dissolution of the body. The saintliest die.
(2) But while spiritual life prevents not physical dissolution, it modifies death into sleep. The Christian sleeps in Jesus. The sleeper expects an awakening.
(3) The labourer sleeps expecting not only to awake, but to awake refreshed. So does the Christian worker. No more weariness.
3. Life is the germ of immortality.
(1) The spiritual life here is the power of an endless life hereafter. The principle is even more than the promise of immortality.
(2) Hence the kingdom of heaven is within you. The heaven of heavens is love.
(3) Christ is eternal life. Having Him, we have eternal life (cf. Joh 3:16; Joh 5:24; Joh 11:25; Joh 14:6; Joh 1:1-2; Joh 5:11-12; Joh 5:20).
(Homiletic Magazine.)
Christ the pre-eminent and illuminating Life
I. HIS LIFE WAS PRE-EMINENT. In Him was life.
1. In Him was life without beginning. Life in all other existences had a commencement.
2. In Him was life without dependence.
3. In Him was life without limitation. All other life has its limits, not so with His. His is without limit
(1) As to kind. In His life were the germs and archetypes of all other life, material and spiritual.
(2) As to amount. All other life is circumscribed.
(3) As to communicativeness.
(4). As to duration.
II. HIS LIFE WAS ILLUMINATING. And the life was the light of men. Christs life, whatever its variety and fulness, had all a moral character, for He was a moral Being. There are several things taught here concerning His life as light:
1. That His life was the light of men.
2. That this light was heralded by the Baptist.
3. That this light become available by faith.
4. That this light is the true light of every man (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christians the reflectors of this light
There is a little church on a lonely hill-side where they had neither gas nor lamps, and yet on darkest nights they hold Divine service. Each worshipper, coming a great distance from village or moorland home, brings with him a taper and lights it from the one supplied and carried by the minister of the little church. The building is thronged, and the scene is said to be most brilliant! Let each one of our lives be but a little taper–lighted from the life of Christ, and carrying His flame–and we shall help to fill this great temple of human need and human sin with the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. The life of Christ will be the new sunshine of the world. Men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed; universal man shall receive Gods Living Light. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ living
A missionary in China stated that on one occasion a number of persons who were hearing him, mostly women, manifested the greatest astonishment when he told them that the God he worshipped and wished them to worship was a living God. Uttering an exclamation peculiar to themselves when much surprised, they said, The foreigners God is better than ours–ours has no life.
Christ the universal light
The sun does not shine for a few trees and flowers, but for the wide worlds joy. The lonely pine on the mountain top waves its sombre boughs and cries, Thou art my sun. And the little meadow violet lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its perfumed breath, Thou art my sun. And the grain in a thousand fields rustles in the wind, and makes answer, Thou art my sun. (H. W. Beecher.)
Christ a living Saviour
A Smyrna native agent came across a Turk from some town in the interior, who showed considerable acquaintance with the Christian Scriptures. He said he had long studied the gospel, and had once nearly got into trouble through it. He was called before the authorities for reading Christian books, but before judgment was passed upon him he begged to be allowed to ask a question. Permission having been granted, he said, I am travelling; I come to a part where the road branches off in two ways; I look around for some direction and discover two men; one is dead, the other alive. Which of the two am I to ask for advice–the dead or the living? Oh, the living, of course! all cried out. Well, he added, why require me to go to Mahomet, who is dead, instead of to Christ, who is alive? Go, go about your business! were the words with which he was dismissed.
Christs influence in relation to human cooperation
You cannot tell how much is done by the pure shining of His light and the emission of this life, and how much by your own receptivity, bier is it necessary. Christ fructifies and stimulates the original and moral faculties and makes them productive. If I take a plant out of a cellar where it has grown etiolated, and without chlorophyl, and put it where the light will shine upon it, and when it turns green, will you tell me what part of the green is plant and what part sun? I would say that the sun developes this chlorophyl by injecting itself, so to speak, into the leaf. So that the light and the life cooperate with the faith, the love, the receptivity of the individual who receives them. (H. W. Beecher.)
Christs influence known by its fruits
What is the evidence that the sun is active? The fact that every root is sprouting. What is the evidence that the sun has brought summer? The fruits of summer. What is the evidence that the sun has been shedding down upon the earth its light and warmth and ripening power? The flavour of the fruit. Bring me an apple. If it is hard and acid I know that it is the product of a rainy sunless summer. Bring me another, and if it is mellow and full of sugar and aroma, I know that the sugar and aroma do not come out of the ground, but from where there was light and, heat. And I can judge of the influence, under which nations have been unfolded by the nature of the fruit they produce. Show me a nation developing coarse animation, and I will show you a nation that has not been true to the light. On the other hand, show me an individual, a family, a community that yields the products of a higher moral nature, and I will pronounce that higher moral nature to be the result of the life and light of men. (H. W. Beecher.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. In him was life] Many MSS., versions, and fathers, connect this with the preceding verse, thus: All things were made by him, and without him was nothing made. What was made had life in it; but THIS LIFE was the light of men. That is, though every thing he made had a principle of life in it, whether vegetable, animal, or intellectual, yet this, that life or animal principle in the human being, was not the light of men; not that light which could guide them to heaven, for the world by wisdom knew not God, 1Co 1:21. Therefore, the expression, in him was life, is not to be understood of life natural, but of that life eternal which he revealed to the world, 2Ti 1:10, to which he taught the way, Joh 14:6, which he promised to believers, Joh 10:28, which he purchased for them, Joh 6:51; Joh 6:53-6:54, which he is appointed to give them, Joh 17:2, and to which he will raise them up, Joh 5:29, because he hath the life in himself, Joh 5:26. All this may be proved:
1. From the like expressions; 2Jo 5:11, This is the promise that God hath given unto us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son: whence he is styled the true God and eternal life, 1Jo 5:20; the resurrection and the life, Joh 11:25; the way, the truth, and the life, Joh 14:6.
2. From these words, Joh 1:7, John came to bear witness of this light, that all might believe through him, viz. to eternal life, 1Ti 1:16; for so John witnesseth, Joh 3:15; Joh 3:36.
And hence it follows that this life must be the light of men, by giving them the knowledge of this life, and of the way leading to it. See Whitby on the place. Is there any reference here to Ge 3:20: And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, chava, , LIFE, because she was the mother of all living? And was not Jesus that seed of the woman that was to bruise the head of the serpent, and to give life to the world?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In him was life; in this Word was life corporal, spiritual, eternal; it was in him as in the fountain. Some understand this of corporal life, both in the first being and preservation of it; it is certain that this is in Christ, for he upholdeth all things by the word of his power, Heb 1:3; Act 17:28; and thus it is another demonstration of the Deity of Christ. Others think that here is rather a transition from creation to redemption; you hath he quickened, Eph 2:1. Others understand it of eternal life, because our evangelist most generally taketh the term life, as a benefit flowing from Christ, in this sense, as Eph 3:16, and Eph 4:14, and in a multitude of other texts. I know no reason why we should not understand it of all life; all life being in Christ, as God equal with the Father; and spiritual and eternal life flowing also from him in a more peculiar consideration, as Mediator.
And the life was the light of men: but though as God he distributes life according to their degree to all his creatures, yet he is the peculiar light of men, enlightening their minds with light of which vegetative and sensitive creatures are not capable; so as by light is not here to be understood the emanations of any lucid bodies, as that of the sun or stars, for other creatures as well as men are capable of that; nor is it to be understood of the light of reason, though that be the candle of the Lord in the soul; but that light by which we discern the things of God; in which sense the apostle saith, Eph 5:8, Ye were darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord. And therefore he saith of men, exclusively to angels, who though lightsome, noble creatures, yet had not their nature assumed by Christ, Heb 2:16. Besides that it is said in the next verse, that this light shineth in darkness, that is, amongst many men who yet had reasonable souls, but the darkness comprehended it not. That cannot be, that men did not comprehend reason, but even rational men comprehended not this light of supernatural revelation. So John is said to have come to testify of that light; who did not come to testify of Christ, as the author of reason. Nor is there any text of Scripture in which the term light signifieth reason.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. In Him was lifeessentiallyand originally, as the previous verses show to be the meaning.Thus He is the Living Word, or, as He is called in 1Jn 1:1;1Jn 1:2, “the Word of Life.”
the life . . . the light ofmenAll that in men which is true lightknowledge,integrity, intelligent, willing subjection to God, love to Him and totheir fellow creatures, wisdom, purity, holy joy, rationalhappinessall this “light of men” has its fountain in theessential original “life” of “the Word” (1Jn 1:5-7;Psa 36:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In him was life,…. The Persic version reads in the plural number, “lives”. There was life in the word with respect to himself; a divine life, the same with the life of the Father and of the Spirit; and is in him, not by gift, nor by derivation or communication; but originally, and independently, and from all eternity: indeed he lived before his incarnation as Mediator, and Redeemer. Job knew him in his time, as his living Redeemer; but this regards him as the word and living God, and distinguishes him from the written word, and shows that he is not a mere idea in the divine mind, but a truly divine person: and there was life in Christ the word, with respect to others; the fountain of natural life is in him, he is the efficient cause, and preserver of it; whether vegetative, animal, or rational; and proves him to be truly God, and that he existed before his incarnation; since creatures, who have received such a life from him, did: and spiritual life was also in him; all his elect are dead in trespasses and sins, and cannot quicken themselves. Christ has procured life for them, and gives it to them, and implants it in them; a life of sanctification is from him; and a life of justification is upon him, and of faith is by him; all the comforts of a spiritual life, and all things appertaining to it, are from him, and he maintains, and preserves it. Eternal life is in him, and with him; not the purpose of it only, nor the promise of it barely, but the gift of it itself; which was granted in consequence of his asking it, and which he had by way of stipulation; and hence has a right and power to bestow it: now, this being in him proves him to be the true God, and shows us where life is to be had, and the safety and security of it:
and the life was the light of men; the life which was in, and by the word, was, with respect to men, a life of light, or a life attended with light: by which is meant, not a mere visive faculty, receptive of the sun’s light, but rational knowledge and understanding; for when Christ, the word, breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul, he filled him with rational light and knowledge. Adam had a knowledge of God; of his being, and perfections; of the persons in the Trinity; of his relation to God, dependence on him, and obligation to him; of his mind and will; and knew what it was to have communion with him. He knew much of himself, and of all the creatures; this knowledge was natural and perfect in its kind, but loseable; and different from that which saints now have of God, through Christ, the Mediator; and since this natural light was from Christ, the word, as a Creator, he must be the eternal God. The Socinians are not willing to allow this sense, but say that Christ is the light of men, by preaching the heavenly doctrine, and by the example of his holy life; but hereby he did not enlighten every man that cometh into the world; the greatest part of men, before the preaching, and example of Christ, sat in darkness; and the greatest part of the Jews remained in darkness, notwithstanding his preaching, and example; and the patriarchs that were enlightened under the former dispensation, were not enlightened this way: it will be owned, that all spiritual and supernatural light, which any of the sons of men have had, since the fall, was from Christ, from whom they had their spiritual life; even all spiritual light in conversion, and all after degrees of light; through him they enjoyed the light of God’s countenance, and had the light of joy and gladness here, and of glory hereafter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In him was life ( ). That which has come into being (verse 3) in the Logos was life. The power that creates and sustains life in the universe is the Logos. This is what Paul means by the perfect passive verb (stands created) in Col 1:16. This is also the claim of Jesus to Martha (Joh 11:25). This is the idea in Heb 1:3 “bearing (upholding) the all things by the word of his power.” Once this language might have been termed unscientific, but not so now after the spiritual interpretation of the physical world by Eddington and Jeans. Usually in John means spiritual life, but here the term is unlimited and includes all life; only it is not (manner of life), but the very principle or essence of life. That is spiritual behind the physical and to this great scientists today agree. It is also personal intelligence and power. Some of the western documents have here instead of to bring out clearly the timelessness of this phrase of the work of the .
And the life was the light of men ( ). Here the article with both and makes them interchangeable. “The light was the life of men” is also true. That statement is curiously like the view of some physicists who find in electricity (both light and power) the nearest equivalent to life in its ultimate physical form. Later Jesus will call himself the light of the world (Joh 8:12). John is fond of these words life and light in Gospel, Epistles, Revelation. He here combines them to picture his conception of the Pre-incarnate Logos in his relation to the race. He was and is the Life of men ( , generic use of the article) and the Light of men. John asserts this relation of the Logos to the race of men in particular before the Incarnation.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In Him was life [ ] . He was the fountain of life – physical, moral, and eternal – its principle and source. Two words for life are employed in the New Testament : biov and zwh. The primary distinction is that zwh means existence as contrasted with death, and biov, the period, means, or manner of existence. Hence biov is originally the higher word, being used of men, while zwh is used of animals [] . We speak therefore of the discussion of the life and habits of animals as zoology; and of accounts of men’s lives as biography. Animals have the vital principle in common with men, but men lead lives controlled by intellect and will, and directed to moral and intellectual ends. In the New Testament, biov means either living, i e., means of subsistence (Mr 12:44; Luk 8:43), or course of life, life regarded as an economy (Luk 8:14; 1Ti 2:2; 2Ti 2:4). Zwh occurs in the lower sense of life, considered principally or wholly as existence (1Pe 3:10; Act 8:33; xvi
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “In him was life;” (en auto zoe en) “in him life existed,” or life was resident in Him. As life existed preceding activity, and as nouns (things) exist before verbs of action or state of being, so life existed in Jesus Christ in eternity, before time, enabling the Creator to create. The Living One (Word) is the original and principal source of all life. Its highest order in and through Him is eternal life, Joh 3:36; 1Jn 5:12; Joh 10:27-28.
2) “And the life was the light of men.” (kai ho zoe en to phos ton anthropon) “And the life was (existed as) the light of men.” His life after death brought immortality to light, Act 3:15 2Ti 1:10. As our life, “spiritual” and resurrection “life,” He will yet appear, Col 3:4; Joh 5:21; Joh 5:26.
As “The Light of the world” none who follows Him walks in or passes into spiritual darkness, Joh 8:12; Psa 23:4 declares that even the shadow-valley of death holds no darkness or fear for those saved, those who are His children, Joh 12:35-36.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
4. In him was life. Hitherto he has taught us, that by the Speech of God all things were created. He now attributes to him, in the same manner, the preservation of those things which had been created, as if he had said, that in the creation of the world there was not merely displayed a sudden exercise of his power, which soon passed away, but that it is manifested in the steady and regular order of nature, as he is said to uphold all things by the word or will of his power, (Heb 1:3). This life may be extended either to inanimate creatures, (which live after their own manner, though they are devoid of feeling,) or may be explained in reference to living creatures alone. It is of little consequence which you choose; for the simple meaning is, that the Speech of God was not only the source of life to all the creatures, so that those which were not began to be, but that his life -giving power causes them to remain in their condition; for were it not that his continued inspiration gives vigor to the world, every thing that lives would immediately decay, or be reduced to nothing. In a word, what Paul ascribes to God, that in him we are, and move, and live, (Act 17:28,) John declares to be accomplished by the gracious agency of the Speech; so that it is God who gives us life, but it is by the eternal Speech
The life was the light of men. The other interpretations, which do not accord with the meaning of the Evangelist, I intentionally pass by. He speaks here, in my opinion, of that part of life in which men excel other animals; and informs us that the life which was bestowed on men was not of an ordinary description, but was united to the light of understanding. He separates man from the rank of other creatures; because we perceive more readily the power of God by feeling it in us than by beholding it at a distance. Thus Paul charges us not to seek God at a distance, because he makes himself to be felt within us, (Act 17:27.) After having presented a general exhibition of the kindness of Christ, in order to induce men to take a nearer view of it, he points out what has been bestowed peculiarly on themselves; namely, that they were not created like the beasts, but having been endued with reason, they had obtained a higher rank. As it is not in vain that God imparts his light to their minds, it follows that the purpose for which they were created was, that they might acknowledge Him who is the Author of so excellent a blessing. And since this light, of which the Speech was the source, has been conveyed from him to us, it ought to serve as a mirror, in which we may clearly behold the divine power of the Speech
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) In him was life.The creation, the calling into existence life in its varied forms, leads up to the source of this life. It is in the Word by original being, while of the highest creature made in the image of God we are told that God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).
Life has here no limitation, and is to be understood in its widest sense; the life of the body, even of organisms which we commonly think of as inanimate, the life of the soul, the life of the spirit; life in the present, so far as there is communion with the eternal source of life; life in the future, when the idea shall be realised and the communion be complete.
Was.This is in the Greek the same verb of existence that we have had in Joh. 1:1-2, and is different from the word in Joh. 1:3. Comp. Notes on Joh. 1:6, and Joh. 8:58. It places us, then, at the same starting point of time. The Word was ever life, and from the first existence of any creature became a source of life to others. But the was of the first clause of this verse should not be pressed, for we are not quite certain that the original text contained it. Two of our oldest MSS. have is, which is supported by other evidence, and is not in itself an improbable reading. The meaning in this case would be in the Word there ever is life. Creation is not merely a definite act. There is a constant development of the germs implanted in all the varied forms of being, and these find their sustaining power in the one central source of life. The thought will meet us again in Joh. 1:17; but see especially the expression, upholding all things by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3, Note).
And the life was the light of men.We are led from the relation of the Word to the universe to His relation to mankind. That which to lower beings in the scale of creation was more or less fully life, as the nature of each was more or less receptive of its power, is to the being endowed with a moral nature and made in the divine image the satisfaction of every moral need, and the revelation of the divine Being. The was still carries us back to the first days of time, when creation in all the beauty of its youth was unstained by sin, when no night had fallen on the moral world, but when there was the brightness of an ever-constant noon-tide in the presence of God. But here, too, the was passes in sense into the is. God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. In every man there are rays of light, stronger or feebler, in greater or lesser darkness. In every man there is a power to see the light, and open his soul to it, and the more he has it still to crave for more. This going forth of the soul to God, is the seeking for life. The Word is the going forth of God to the soul. He is life. In the feeling after, there is finding. The moral struggle is the moral strength. The eye that seeks for light cannot seek in vain. The life was and is the light of men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. In him was life Life original and essential. For had he not possessed original life, neither life, nor motion, nor sense could have ever existed in the universe. And from his original life all other life is derived. And this life is more than mere existence. A thing may exist and yet have no life. Life is the opposite of death; existence is the opposite of annihilation or non-existence. Existence is at the bottom and is the basis, and life overlies it.
And the life was the light of men This life imparted by the Logos to man became the light; that is, the consciousness. It appears as the physical or sensitive consciousness by which men feel; the intellectual consciousness by which they perceive and reason. But this light, thus far, is possessed, more or less distinctly, by mere animals. But it is rather the light possessed by men alone, over and above mere animal nature, that our Evangelist speaks of. There is the moral and spiritual consciousness by which men have eternal and divine conceptions: such as conceptions of God, of absolute right, of holiness, and of immortality. And this highest consciousness of the human spirit is the basis of the operation of the divine Spirit in and upon man, by which he is able to be in himself a responsible and a holy being. Thus have we the climax of existence, of life, and of consciousness, intellectual and spiritual.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.’
It is now emphasised that the Word was not only the Creator but as such was the source of life, because in the beginning it was He Who created life, first the living creatures, and then man. And it was the very unique life that He gave to man (Gen 1:26; Gen 2:7) that meant that man had an awareness shared by no other on earth. Man alone received the light of conscience and thought. Man alone was able to reason profoundly. Man alone was able to know and worship God. Man alone was ‘in the image of God’ (or ‘in the image of the elohim, the heavenly beings’). And here we learn that it was He the Word Who was the source of man’s life, and Who gave man light. As the Psalmist says, ‘Your word has made me alive’ (Psa 119:50), ‘For with you is the fountain of life, in your light will we see light’ (Psa 36:9). But, as John’s Gospel will now make clear, there is more to it even than that. The Word is not only the source and fountain of life and light as men know it on earth but He has come to reveal life and light in its fullest sense, to reveal a deeper life, to reveal a life fuller than man has ever known before, and to bring men to walk in His spiritual light. He has come to bring to men, that is, to those who will receive it, new life, abundant life, spiritual life, overflowing life, everlasting life, which has its source in Him, and in the ‘eternal life’ that results.
This life is to be like a light within, more powerful than the conscience or the reason, revealing good and evil to man (Joh 3:19-20), and above all revealing God. That is why in 1Jn 1:1 Jesus is specifically called ‘the Word of life’, because Jesus, the One Whom they have heard, seen and touched, is to be seen as essentially God’s saving Word, His life-giving word. This connection between life and light is most important. It is the life of which He is the source, and which He imparts, which gives light (Joh 1:4; Joh 8:12). This emphasis distinguishes the idea from both Greek ideas and from ideas at Qumran.
To the Greeks the idea of the Logos (the Reason) included the thought that it was a light within revealing morality and understanding, while the connection between the Word and light was well known to the Jews as expressed in Psa 119:105, ‘your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path’ (compare also Pro 6:23). But the one saw it as intellectual and the other as rooted in the Law of God, the Torah, and it is with the Torah that this new light is being contrasted here (Joh 1:17). In a similar way the Qumranis saw themselves as ‘sons of light’ because they followed the teaching of their community. But here the emphasis is on the light-giver as a Person. For John is here seeking to turn their eyes on this One Who went beyond, and was the fulfilment of, all in which they sought to believe. Greater than their reason, greater than the Torah, was the One Who had come as ‘the very Word of God’, revealing His glory, bringing about His will, offering salvation to man.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 1:4. In him was life, The most ancient fathers who quote this text, so generally join the words at the end of the last verse, , which we render that was made, with this 4th verse; and St. John uses so frequently to begin the following sentence with what ended the foregoing, that many judicious commentators think it to be the true reading, and therefore render it,that which was in him was life; “that fulness of power, wisdom, and benignity which was in him, was the fountain of life to the whole creation;” and the life which was in him, St. John goes on to observe, was the light of men; that is, reason and revelation, the greater and lesser lights of the moral world, were the effects of his energy on the minds of intelligent beings: but, above all, the Light of the divine Spirit, by which alone any thing can be spiritually discerned (1Co 2:10-14.), is the gift of Jesus, and the purchase of his Blood. The reader will recollect, that Cerinthus (as we have shewn in article 4.)asserted that there were two high aeons distinct from Christ, one called Life, and the other Light; in opposition to which St. John here asserts, that the Word, Life, and Light were the same identical person. As having life in himself is the characteristic of God, St. John, by saying this of Christ, asserts his proper divinity, and intimates, at the same time, that he was the great fountain of life to all creatures. Life and light are frequently connected in scripture; if any one should question how the Logos could be the author of so many things, it is here fully explained, In him was life. And, lest it should be imagined that this power of life could be exhausted in calling so many creatures into being, it is added, that this life was light; light being of that nature, that, though it enlightens many, it is not in the least diminished thereby. The apostle, in another place, tells us, that God is light; here the Word is so-called, and consequently was God, as the evangelist asserts in Joh 1:1. It is remarkable, that in Midrash the Messiah is described in a most glorious light, exceeding the sun in radiance.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 1:4 . An advance to the nature of the Logos [77] as life , and thereby as light .
] in Him, was life , He was (Philo). Life was that which existed in Him, of which He was full. This must be taken in the most comprehensive sense, nothing that is life being excluded, physical, moral, eternal life (so already Chrysostom), all life was contained in the Logos, as in its principle and source. No limitation of the conception, especially as is without the article (comp. Joh 5:26 ), has any warrant from the context; hence it is not to be understood either merely of physical life, so far as it may be the sustaining power (B. Crusius, comp. Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, Calvin), or of spiritual and eternal life, of the Johannean (Origen, Maldonatus, Lampe, Kuinoel, Kstlin, Hengstenberg, Weiss), where Hengstenberg drags in the negative notion that the creature was excluded from life until Christ was manifested in the flesh, and that down to the time of His incarnation He had only been virtually life and light.
, . . .] and the life , of which the Logos was the possessor, was the light of men . The exposition then passes over from the universal to the relation of the Logos to mankind; for, being Himself the universal source of life to the world made by Him, He was as such unable to remain inactive, least of all with respect to men, but shows Himself as operating upon them conformably to their rational and moral nature, especially as the light , according to the necessary connection of life and light in opposition to death and darkness. (Comp. Joh 8:12 ; Psa 36:10 ; Eph 5:14 ; Luk 1:78-79 .) The light is truth pure and divine , theoretical and moral (both combined by an inner necessity, and not simply the former, as Weiss maintains), the reception and appropriation of which enlightens the man ( , Joh 12:36 ), whose non-appropriation and non-acceptance into the consciousness determines the condition of darkness . The Life was the Light of men, because in its working upon them it was the necessary determining power of their illumination . Comp. such expressions as those in Joh 11:25 , Joh 14:6 , Joh 17:3 . Nothing as yet is said of the working of the Logos after His incarnation (Joh 14:6 ), but (observe the ) that the divine truth in that primeval time came to man from the Logos as the source of life; life in Him was for mankind the actively communicating principle of the divine , in the possession of which they lived in that fair morning of creation, before through sin darkness had broken in upon them. This reference to the time when man, created after God’s image, remained in a state of innocency, is necessarily required by the , which, like the preceding , must refer to the creation-period indicated in Joh 1:3 . But we are thus at the same time debarred from understanding, as here belonging to the enlightening action of the Logos, God’s revelations to the Hebrews and later Jews (comp. Isa 2:5 ), by the prophets, etc. (Ewald), or even from thinking of the elements of moral and religious truth to be found in heathendom ( ). In that fresh, untroubled primeval age, when the Logos as the source of life was the Light of men, the antithesis of light and darkness did not yet exist; this tragic antithesis, however, as John’s readers knew, originated with the fall, and had continued ever after. There follows, therefore, after a fond recalling of that fair bygone time (Joh 1:4 ), the painful and mournful declaration of the later and still enduring relation (Joh 1:5 ), where the light still shines indeed, but in darkness , a darkness which had not received it. If that reference, however, which is to be kept closely in view, of to the time of the world’s creation, and also this representation of the onward movement of our narrative, be correct, it cannot also be explained of the continuous (Joh 1:17 ) creative activity of the Logos, through which a consciousness and recognition of the highest truth have been developed among men (De Wette); and just as little may we find in . . what belongs to the Logos in His essence only , in which case the reading would (against Brckner) be more appropriate; comp. , Joh 1:9 . As in , so also by . . must be expressed what the Logos was in His historical activity , and not merely what He was virtually (Hengstenberg). Comp. Godet, who, however, without any hint from the text, or any historical appropriateness whatever, finds in “ life and light ” a reminiscence of the trees of life and of knowledge in Paradise.
[77] The Logos must necessarily be taken as in vv. 1 3, but not from ver. 4 onwards in Hofmann’s sense, as no longer a person but a thing, viz. the Gospel, as Rhricht (p. 315) maintains, as if the verbum vocale were now a designation of Christ, who is the bearer of it. No such change of meaning is indicated in the text, and it only brings confusion into the clear advance of the thought.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
What a beautiful account doth this verse give of Christ, when considered in connection with what went before. In him, that is, essentially, and in himself underived, and in common with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, he is life, the origin, fountain, and source of all life, natural, spiritual, eternal. And as by virtue of his own eternal power and Godhead, he is the efficient cause of all life to all creatures, so in a special and personal manner he is the life, and the light of men; natural life and light to them who are in a state of nature; and spiritual life and Wight to them to whom he communicates grace. Nothing can be more evident than this statement, and nothing can be more blessed.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
Ver. 4. In him was life ] As he created, so he quickeneth and conserveth all, being the Prince and principle of life, Act 3:15 ; both of natural life, Act 17:28 ; (the heathen could say as much), a and of spiritual, 1Jn 5:12 . Hence his members are called “heirs of the grace of life,”1Pe 3:71Pe 3:7 , and all others are said to be “dead in trespasses and sins,” Eph 2:1 , living carcases, walking sepulchres of themselves. In most families (as in Egypt, Exo 12:40 ) there is not one, but many dead corpses, as being “alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in them,” Eph 4:18 .
a Est Deus in nobis, agitante calescimus illo. This is a God in us, we are warmed by that stirring.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. ] Compare 1Jn 5:11 ; 1Jn 1:1-2 , and ch. Joh 6:33 .
is not merely ‘ spiritual life ,’ nor ‘ the recovery of blessedness ,’ as Tholuck, Kuinoel, &c. explain it: the is the source of all life to the creature, not indeed ultimately, but mediately (see ch. Joh 5:26 : 1Jn 5:11 ).
. . . ] This is not to be understood of the teaching of the Incarnate Logos , but of the enlightening and life-sustaining influence of the eternal Son of God , in Whom was life. In the material world, light, the offspring of the Word of God, is the condition of life, and without it life degenerates and expires: so also in the spiritual world that life which is in Him, is to the creature the very condition of all development and furtherance of the life of the spirit. All knowledge, all purity, all love, all happiness, spring up and grow from this life, which is the light to them all.
It is not , but : because this is the only true light: see Joh 1:9 , also 1Jn 1:5 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 1:4 . . “In Him was life”; that power which creates life and maintains all else in existence was in the Logos. To limit “life” here to any particular form of life is rendered impossible by Joh 1:3 . In John is generally eternal or spiritual life, but here it is more comprehensive. In the Logos was life, and it is of this life all things have partaken and by it they exist. Cf. Philo’s designation of the Logos as . , “and the life was the light of men”; the life which was the fountain of existence to all things was especially the light of man Lcke). It was not the Logos directly but the life which was in the Logos which was the light of men. O. Holtzmann thinks this only means that as men received life from the Logos they might be expected in the gift to recognise the Giver. Godet says: “The Logos is light; but it is through the mediation of life that He must become so always; this is precisely the relation which the Gospel restores. We recover through the new creation in Jesus Christ an inner light which springs up from the life.” Stevens says: “The Word represents the self-manifesting quality of the Divine life. This heavenly light shines in the darkness of the world’s ignorance and sin.” The words seem to mean that the life which appears in the variety, harmony, and progress of inanimate nature, and in the wonderfully manifold yet related forms of animate existence, appears in man as “light,” intellectual and moral light, reason and conscience. To the Logos men may address the words of Psa 36:9 , , .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
life. Greek. zoe. App-170.: i.e. the fountain of life. Hence 1Jn 5:11, 1Jn 5:12, and Psa 36:8, manifested (Joh 1:4); obtained (Joh 3:16); possessed (Joh 4:14); sustained (Joh 6:35); ministered (Joh 7:38); abounding (Joh 10:10); resurrection (Joh 11:24, Joh 11:25). A characteristic word of this Gospel. See note on p. 1511.
the light. Not a light. Compare Joh 8:12. Greek phos. App-130. A characteristic word of this Gospel. See note on p. 1511.
men. Greek. Plural of anthropos. App-123.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4. ] Compare 1Jn 5:11; 1Jn 1:1-2, and ch. Joh 6:33.
is not merely spiritual life, nor the recovery of blessedness,-as Tholuck, Kuinoel, &c. explain it:-the is the source of all life to the creature, not indeed ultimately, but mediately (see ch. Joh 5:26 : 1Jn 5:11).
. . . ] This is not to be understood of the teaching of the Incarnate Logos, but of the enlightening and life-sustaining influence of the eternal Son of God, in Whom was life. In the material world, light, the offspring of the Word of God, is the condition of life, and without it life degenerates and expires:-so also in the spiritual world that life which is in Him, is to the creature the very condition of all development and furtherance of the life of the spirit. All knowledge, all purity, all love, all happiness, spring up and grow from this life, which is the light to them all.
It is not , but :-because this is the only true light: see Joh 1:9, also 1Jn 1:5.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 1:4. , in) First, John says, In Him was life: (comp. ch. Joh 5:26, For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself). Then he calls Him the Life. So in 1Jn 1:1-2, first he calls Him the Word of Life, then the Life; and in the same chapter, Joh 1:5; Joh 1:7, God is said to be Light, and to be in the light. John especially imitates the expressions of the Lord Jesus.[12]-, life) After the consideration of being [esse], the next consideration is as to living [vivere]. Then [the result of life entering the world] there is no death, there is then no nature devoid of grace.- , and the Life) The Subject: the Life, bestowing life on all things, which were alive.- , was the Light) Light and Life together: ch. Joh 8:12, He that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life: 1Ti 6:16, Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto: Php 2:15-16, Ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. As on the opposite side, , Darkness and death. Quickening is, however, prior to illumination.- , of men) Of all men in the state of innocency, from which there ought not to be separated the consideration as to the Logos.[13] Men: nowhere is this expression used for Adam and his wife; so it denotes mankind. The evangelist here is come from the whole to the part-from those things which were made, or which were alive, to rational beings. In relation to the several particulars, , the Speech [Sermo], has the signification suited to each.
[12] Joh 8:12. That which thus harmonizes with the intimate relation between the beloved disciple and Jesus, is made a ground of cavil by Rationalists; viz. that elsewhere John puts into Jesus mouth a phraseology which is not Jesus but his own.-E.
[13] Or, of man in his ideal.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 1:4
Joh 1:4
In him was life;-He not only created, but he imparted life to all beings, vegetable, and animal. [Having predicated of him the creation of all material things, John now turns to the sentient creation, and especially man, its crown. As it is said that God created man, and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so the Word is capable of a higher work than making things; he makes them live. There has been much scientific groping to find and understand the subtle principle called life. Here is the answer and all any one can know about it. Life is an emanation from the logos with power of an infinite series of reproductions; life in all its varieties, physical, moral, spiritual. As all objects have their present form through him so all things that live, live by him.]
and the life was the light of men.-[In the case of man, the crown of creation distinguished from all the rest by impassable lines, the life became light, which, in the Bible, is put for truth, knowledge, and holiness; darkness for ignorance, error, and sin. Spiritual light and life are mainly intended in the text. Or, rather, we should say that the thought progresses to light in its highest signification.] All light comes from God. This is not only true of spiritual light, but all true light of knowledge. Science, by many, is supposed to be the enemy of revelation; but where has science ever obtained a foothold in the world where the light of the revelation of God had not gone? Where has truth on any subject gained admission unless the light of Gods truth opened the way? Look at the condition of the world in all ages where the light of Gods revelation has not gone and see what practical truth on any subject exists among the heathen nations.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
him: Joh 5:21, Joh 5:26, Joh 11:25, Joh 14:6, 1Co 15:45, Col 3:4, 1Jo 1:2, 1Jo 5:11, Rev 22:1
the life: Joh 1:8, Joh 1:9, Joh 8:12, Joh 9:5, Joh 12:35, Joh 12:46, Psa 84:11, Isa 35:4, Isa 35:5, Isa 42:6, Isa 42:7, Isa 42:16, Psa 49:6, Psa 60:1-3, Mal 4:2, Mat 4:16, Luk 1:78, Luk 1:79, Luk 2:32, Act 26:23, Eph 5:14, 1Jo 1:5-7, Rev 22:16
Reciprocal: Exo 37:17 – the candlestick of Lev 24:2 – the lamps Job 25:3 – upon whom Psa 43:3 – send Isa 49:6 – I will also Eze 21:27 – until Joh 3:19 – this Act 3:15 – Prince Act 26:18 – and to Eph 5:8 – but Heb 1:3 – upholding 1Jo 2:8 – and the Rev 21:23 – the Lamb
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4
A careful attention to the language of this book, will show us that John was especially impressed with the divine character of Christ, and that He has been present, either apparently or otherwise, in all of the movements and influences pertaining to the works of God. In him was life, then, applies from the very “beginning” which is explained above. When God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life, the Word contributed to that life. Of course, the writer is not especially thinking of that fact as he writes this verse, but is viewing the subject more directly as it pertains to His influence upon the spiritual lives of men as he lived upon the earth. Thus we hear Jesus saying, “I am the light of the world” (Joh 8:12).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
[In him was life.] The evangelist proceeds from the creation by the Word; to the redemption of the world by the same Word. He had declared how this Word had given to all creatures their first being, Joh 1:3; “All things were made by him”: and he now sheweth how he restored life to man when he lay dead in trespasses and sins. “Adam called his wife’s name Hevah, life;” [Eve, AV Chavah; margin] Gen 3:20; the Greek reads Adam called his wife’s name, ‘Life.’ He called her Life who had brought in death; because he had now tasted a better life in the promise of the woman’s seed. To which it is very probable our evangelist had some reference in this place.
[And the life was the light of men.] Life through Christ was light arising in the darkness of man’s fall and sin; a light by which all believers were to walk. St. John seems in this clause to oppose the life and light exhibited in the gospel, to that life and light which the Jews boasted of in their law. They expected life from the works of the law, and they knew no greater light than that of the law; which therefore they extol with infinite boasts and praises which they give it. Take one instance for all: “God said, Let there be light. R. Simeon saith, Light is written there five times, according to the five parts of the law [i.e. the Pentateuch], and God said, Let there be light; according to the book of Genesis, wherein God, busying himself, made the world. And there was light; according to the book of Exodus, wherein the Israelites came out of darkness into light. And God saw the light that it was good; according to the Book of Leviticus, which is filled with rites and ceremonies. And God divided betwixt the light and the darkness; according to the Book of Numbers, which divided betwixt those that went out of Egypt, and those that entered into the land. And God called the light; day; according to the Book of Deuteronomy, which is replenished with manifold traditions.” A gloss this is upon light; full of darkness indeed!
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Here we have a farther proof of Christ’s divinity, and an evidence that he had a being as God, before his incarnation: forasmuch as life is centered in him, communicated by him, and derived from him. In him was life, formaliter et causaliter. Life was formally in Christ, as the subject of it; and also casually in him as the fountain of it.
Learn, 1. That Christ is Author and Dispenser of all life unto his creatures. He is the original life in the order of nature, because by him man was created, Gen 1:26 He is spiritual life in the order of grace, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Joh 14:6 He is eternal life in the order of glory, This is the true God, and eternal life. 1Jn 5:20
Learn, 2. That all creatures receiving light and life from Christ, not as an instrument, but as the fountain from whence it floweth, and in which it is preserved, is an evident proof of his divintiy, and an argument that he is truly and really God. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 1:4-5. In him Or, through him, as Beza understands it; was life He was the living and powerful Word, which was the source of life to every living creature, as well as of being to all that exists. And the life was the light of men He, who is essential life, and the author of life to all that live, was also the fountain of wisdom, holiness, and happiness to man in his original state. And the light shineth in darkness Namely, in the darkness, or amid the ignorance and folly, sinfulness and wretchedness of fallen man. This has been the case from the time of mans fall, through all ages, and in all nations of the world; the light of reason and conscience, as well as the light issuing from the works of creation and providence, and the various discoveries of God and his will made to and by the patriarchs and prophets, being through and from him: But the darkness comprehended it not Did not advert to it, so as to understand and profit by it, as it might have done by the instruction thus communicated. It became necessary, therefore, in order to the more full illumination and the salvation of mankind, that God should give a more perfect revelation of his mind and will, than he had given in former ages. Of this the evangelist speaks next.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
[See also the “General Considerations on the Prologue” in the comments of Joh 1:18.]
Vv. 4: In Him there was life, and the life was the light of men. A large number of authorities join with this verse the words (that which subsists), which we have united with the preceding verse; so already the Gnostic Heracleon, then Origen, the Syriac versions, the MSS. A C D ( B, have no punctuation), and the Latin Fathers. Several modern editors (Wetstein, Lachmann, Westcott, etc.), do the same. On this view, we can translate in three ways. Either, with Cyril of Alexandria: That which exists…there was life in him (in that existing being); or: That which exists in him was living (placing the comma after ); or finally: That which exists, had life (was living) in him (the comma before). The first meaning is grammatically forced; the thought, moreover, is an idle one. Of the other two constructions, the simplest, the one also which gives the most natural meaning, is certainly the second. For the idea which needs to be determined and explained by the defining words (in him), is not the subject, that which subsists, which is made sufficiently plain by Joh 1:3, but the predicate was life. This last interpretation, however, is also inadmissible. With this meaning, John would have said, not: was life (a far too strong expression), but: had life in him. The expression is familiar to him in the sense of participating in life (Joh 3:15-16;Joh 5:24; Joh 6:47, etc.).
The words , therefore, cannot in any way belong to Joh 1:4; and the subject of the first proposition of this verse is, consequently, the word , life: Life was in Him. But what meaning is to be given to these words? Must we, with Weiss, apply the term life to the life of the Logos Himself. The Logos had life, as unceasingly in communication with the Father (Joh 1:1). But why return to the description of the nature of the Logos, already described in Joh 1:1-2, and after His first manifestation, the act of creation, had already been mentioned? Weiss answers that, as Joh 1:1-2, had prepared the way for the mentioning of the creative work (Joh 1:3), Joh 1:4 returns to the nature of the Logos in order to prepare for that which is about to be said in Joh 1:5 of His illuminating activity. But this alleged symmetry between Joh 1:4 and Joh 1:1 is very forced. There is constant progress, and no going backward. It is an altogether simple course to regard Joh 1:4 as continuing the description of the work of the Logos. The world, after having received existence through Him (Joh 1:3), gained in Him the life which it enjoyed. There is here a double gradation: first, from the idea of existence to that of life, then from through Him to in Him. Compare an analogous double gradation in Col 1:16-17 : All things have been created through Him ( )…; and they subsist in Him ( ).
Life, indeed, is more than existence. It is existence saturated with force, existence in its state of normal progress towards the perfect destination of being. And this first gradation is connected with the second: It is through the Logos that the world exists; it is in intimate relation with Him (in Him) that it receives the life-giving forces by means of which it subsists and is developed. With the same meaning, Gess says: The creation has not been abandoned by the Logos subsequently to the act of creation; but He penetrated it with forces which were able to make it prosper, make it move onward with success. Some interpreters apply the term life here solely to the physical life (Calvin, etc.); others, to the spiritual life (Origen, Hengstenberg, Weiss). But this distinction is out of place in this passage. For, as the question in hand is as to what the Logos was for created beings, it follows from this fact that He communicates life to each one of them in a different measure, and in a form appropriate to its aspirations and capacities; to some, physical life only; to others, that life, and besides one or another degree of the higher life, Thus, the want of the article before the word (life), is very fully explained; the purpose being to leave this word in its most unlimited and most variously applicable sense. The reading (is), instead of (was), in the Sinaitic and Cambridge manuscripts, has been wrongly adopted by Tischendorf, in his eighth edition; it is incompatible with the of the following clause. It is, undoubtedly, a correction arising from the interpretation of those who connect the words with Joh 1:4; since this perfect, being in sense a present, demands in the verb of the principal clause the present (is), and not the imperfect (was).
To what moment of history must we refer the fact declared in this proposition? Hengstenberg and Brucknerthink that the question is of a purely ideal relation; the first, in this sense: The Logos must one day (at the moment of His incarnation) become the life, that is to say, the salvation of the world; the second: The Logos would have been the life of the world, had it not been for sin, which has broken the bond between the world and Him. But these two explanations violate the sense of the word was, which must express a reality, as well as the was in Joh 1:1-2.
In the first editions of this Commentary, suffering myself to be guided by the connection between Joh 1:3 and Joh 1:4, I referred Joh 1:4, with Meyer, to the time which immediately followed the creation, to that moment of normal opening to life when the Word, no longer meeting any obstacle to His beneficent action in nature and in humanity, poured forth abundantly to every being the riches of life; these words designated thus the paradisaical condition. In this way, Joh 1:4 answered to Genesis 2, as Joh 1:3 to Genesis 1, and Joh 1:5 to Genesis 3 (the fall). The two imperfects was, in this verse, are in harmony with this view. I am obliged, however, to give up this view now, in consequence of a change which I have felt compelled, since the second edition, to make in my interpretation of Joh 1:5 (see on that verse). If the 5th verse is referred, as I now refer it, not to the fall and the condition which followed it, but to the appearance of the Logos at His coming in the flesh, and to the rejection of Him by mankind, the interval between Joh 1:4 (Paradise) and Joh 1:5 (the rejection of Christ) would be too considerable to be included in the simple , and, at the beginning of Joh 1:5. We must therefore necessarily extend the epoch described in Joh 1:4 to the whole time which elapsed from the creation (Joh 1:3) to the coming of Christ (Joh 1:5). During all that period of the history of humanity, the world subsisted and was developed only by virtue of the life which was communicated to it by the Logos. The Logos was, as Schaff says, the life of every life. Not only all existence, but all force, all enjoyment, all progress in the creation were His gift.
The meaning of the second proposition naturally follows from that which has been given to the first. If, asWeiss thinks, the first referred to the life which the Logos possesses in Himself, the second would signify that this same Logos, in so far as He possesses the spiritual life through the perfect knowledge which He has of God, became the light of men by communicating it to them. But John does not say in Joh 1:4 that the Logos was Himself the light of men; he makes the light proceed from the life which the Logos communicated to them. And this is the reason why he limits the word life in the second proposition by the article: That life, which the world received from the Logos become light in men, it opened itself in them and in them alone, in virtue of their inborn aptitudes, in the form of light.
Light, with John, is one of those extremely rich expressions which it is difficult accurately to define. It does not designate an exclusively moral idea, salvation, as Hengstenberg thinks, or holiness, the true mode of being, asLuthardt says; for in these two senses it could not be sufficiently distinguished from life. No more is it a purely intellectual notion: reason (Calvin, de Wette), for John could not say, in this sense: God is light, (1Jn 1:5). In this last passage, John adds: And there is in him no darkness. If he means by this last term moral evil, the depravity of the will uniting with it the inward falsehood, the darkening of the intelligence which results from it, the light will be, to his thought, moral good, holiness, together with the inward clearness, the general intuition of the truth which arises from a good will; let us say: the distinct consciousness of oneself and of God in the common sphere of good, the possession of the true view-point with respect to all things through uprightness of heart, holiness joyously contemplating its own reality and thereby all truth. This inward light is an emanation of the life, of the life as moral life. Here is the explanation of the objective phrase: of men; for men alone, as intelligent and free beings, as moral agents, are capable of the enjoyment of such light. This word would certainly have a very natural application to the primitive state of man in paradise. But it can be extended to the human condition in general, even after the fall. God has continued to reveal to man the end and the way (Gess). From existence, as it appeared in man, determined by the consciousness of moral obligation, there has sprung up in all times and in all places a certain light concerning man, concerning his relations with God, concerning God Himself, and concerning the world; comp. as to the Jews Joh 7:17, and as to the Gentiles Joh 10:16; Joh 11:52; so also in Paul: Rom 1:19; Rom 1:21; 1Co 1:21; Act 14:17. The various forms of worship and the indisputable traces of a certain moral sense, even among peoples the most degraded, are the proofs of this universal light emanating from the Logos. All the rays of the sentiment of the beautiful, the true and the just which have illuminated and which ennoble humanity, justify the expression of John (comp. Joh 1:10). It is this fundamental truth which was formulated by the Fathers (Justin, Clem. Alex.) in their doctrine of the . There is nothing more contrary to the idea of an original dualism which Baur and his school ascribe to John, than this expression: of men, which embraces all humanity without any distinction.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
1:4 {i} In him {k} was life; and the life was {l} the light of men.
(i) That is, by him: and this is spoken after the manner of the Hebrews, meaning by this that by his force and working power all life comes to the world.
(k) That is, even at that time when all things were made by him, for otherwise he would have said, “Life in him”, and not “life was”.
(l) That force of reason and understanding which is kindled in our minds to acknowledge him, the author of so great a benefit.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
". . . we move on from creation in general to the creation of life, the most significant element in creation. Life is one of John’s characteristic concepts: he uses the word 36 times, whereas no other New Testament writing has it more than 17 times (Revelation; next come Romans with 14 times and 1 John with 13 times). Thus more than a quarter of all the New Testament references to life occur in this one writing." [Note: Morris, p. 73.]
Jesus was the source of life. Therefore He could impart life to the things He created. Every living thing owes its life to the Creator, Jesus. Life for humankind constitutes light. Where there is life there is light, metaphorically speaking, and where there is no light there is darkness. John proceeded to show that Jesus is the source of spiritual life and light as well as physical life and light (cf. Joh 5:26; Joh 6:57; Joh 8:12; Joh 9:5; Joh 10:10; Joh 11:25; Joh 14:6; Joh 17:3; Joh 20:31). Metaphorically God’s presence dispels the darkness of ignorance and sin by providing revelation and salvation (cf. Isa 9:2). Jesus did this in the Incarnation.