John 1:9

John 1:9. There was the true Light, which lighteth every man, coming into the world. This almost literal rendering of the Greek will show how it is that these simple words have been so variously explained. As in the English, so in the Greek, the word ‘coming' might be joined either with 'light' or with 'man.' The punctuation we have adopted (it will be remembered that in ancient manuscripts of the original there is little or no punctuation) will show that, in our view, the last clause is to be joined, not with the second, but with the first clause of the verse. What has been said above of the general structure of the Prologue has shown that, as yet, the full presence of the Word personally come is not before us. The manifestation is in its initial stage, not yet complete. To this thought the word ‘coming' exactly corresponds. But still more important in guiding to the right interpretation of the verse is the Evangelist's use of the last phrase elsewhere. The expression ‘come into the world' occurs in as many as seven other passages of this Gospel (chap. John 1:19; John 6:14; John 9:39; John 11:27; John 12:46; John 16:28; John 18:37). In every one of these passages the words relate to the Lord Himself: sometimes they are used by the multitude (John 6:14), or by a disciple (John 11:27), as a designation of the Messiah, ‘He that should come;' sometimes they are the words of Jesus or of the Evangelist, in passages which speak of the purpose of His ‘coming.' In chaps, John 3:19 and John 12:46 the phrase stands in close connection with the figure which is now before us. The latter verse (chap. John 12:46) is especially noteworthy; for Jesus Himself says, ‘I am come a light into the world.' If, then, we would allow the Evangelist to be his own interpreter, we seem bound to believe that he here speaks of the light as ‘coming into the world.' If the words are joined with ‘man,' they add little or nothing to the thought. ‘Every man' is really as full and inclusive an expression as ‘every man that cometh into the world.' Familiarity with the common rendering may prevent the reader from at once perceiving that this is true; but we are persuaded that reflection will show that by the change much is gained, nothing lost. In the previous verse we have read that John was not ‘the Light.' When he ‘arose' as a witness, the true Light was in existence; it had been shining in the darkness; it was now ‘coming into the world,' about to manifest itself with a clearness and in a manner hitherto unknown.

Two more of the special terms of the Gospel meet us here, ‘true' and ‘world.' It is unfortunate that two different words must be represented by the same English word, ‘true.' The one (used in chaps, John 3:33; John 5:31, and eleven other verses of the Gospel) denotes truth in contrast with falsehood; the other, which we have before us here, expresses the real as contrasted with the phenomenal, that which is perfect and substantial as opposed to what is imperfect and shadowy, or that which is fully accomplished in contrast with the type which prefigured it. This word is, in the New Testament, almost confined to the writings of John. Of twenty-eight passages in which it occurs, nine are found in this Gospel, four in the First Epistle, ten in the Revelation. Three of the remaining five passages are (as might almost have been foreseen) in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The other examples of the word in this Gospel will be found in chaps, John 4:23; John 4:37; John 5:32; John 7:28; John 8:16; John 15:1; John 17:3; John 19:35, and in most of these the reader will easily trace the idea. The ‘true worshippers' are those whose worship is real, not imperfect and undeserving of the name; the bread which came down from heaven is ‘the true bread,' that of which the manna was a type, that which ministers real and abiding nourishment. So here we read of the archetypal source of light, the light which alone is real and perfect. This true Light was coming into the ‘world.' Originally signifying the universe created and ordered by the hand of God, ‘the world' came successively to mean the world of men, and the world of men as opposed to God. In this Gospel especially, we read of the world as an antagonistic power, unbelieving, evil in its works, hating and persecuting Jesus and His people, a power over which He will be victorious, and which shall be convicted of sin and judged; but we also read of God's love to the world (chap. John 3:16), and of the gift of His Son that the world may be saved through Him. If the thought of evil and alienation is brought out in the following verse, it is most important to observe that this verse speaks of the illumination of every man. No man belongs to the world that is given up to darkness and impenitence, unless he, through resistance and choice of evil, have made the light that was in him to become darkness (comp. Ephesians 4:18). We cannot doubt that in the words ‘every man' there is an allusion to John (‘a man sent from God') as himself illumined by this Light.