Joh 8:12 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord has shown with the history of the woman that He is the light of the world. Through His word He placed all in the light and all have left. But the Pharisees have returned. He speaks to them again and speaks about Himself as “the Light of the world” ( ; ). This statement is the key to the rest of the chapter. He is going to explain what that means. That He speaks of Himself as the light of the world indicates that His glory exceeds the borders of Israel . In fact, His rejection by the Jews is the reason for God to make Him a light for the nations ( ). It also means that anyone who follows Him no longer walks in the darkness, but that such a person has the “Light of life”. For such a person, the darkness no longer has a hold, nor does the darkness hold terror for such a person. Those who follow Him follow the life that is light. The Lord Jesus reveals life and that revealed life casts light on all other lives. All those other lives become revealed as darkness and are on their way to darkness. Only following Him leads to the path of light and to the light. The testimony of the Lord leads to yet another manifestation of enmity in the Pharisees, as we always find in this Gospel. The Lord has endured the hostility, or contradiction, of sinners in general, but of these religious leaders in particular ( ). They feel that they have no part in any blessing of which He speaks and they even do not want to have any part in it. They think they have an argument for rejecting His testimony by saying that He is testifying of Himself and therefore His testimony cannot be true. If we look at what the Lord Jesus said in John 5 ( ), it seems that they are right to make this remark. But the background is different. There it is about His dependence on the Father and that is why He says that He does not testify of Himself. Here it is about His own glory and His connection with the Father. Here He gives His testimony as the Omniscient. These people are completely ignorant of the Father and the Son. They do not think about heaven and lack the ability to judge Him correctly. On the contrary, the Son has the constant awareness of the truth of His own Person and of His mission by the Father. His testimony is inseparable from that of the Father. They do not know where He comes from. Earlier the Lord said that they knew where He came from ( ). There He meant that they knew that He came from Nazareth. But His pre-existence in heaven and His place with the Father is completely unknown to them.

‏ John 8:12

The Light of the World

The Lord has shown with the history of the woman that He is the light of the world. Through His word He placed all in the light and all have left. But the Pharisees have returned. He speaks to them again and speaks about Himself as “the Light of the world” (Jn 8:12; Jn 1:4-5 ; 9). This statement is the key to the rest of the chapter. He is going to explain what that means.

That He speaks of Himself as the light of the world indicates that His glory exceeds the borders of Israel. In fact, His rejection by the Jews is the reason for God to make Him a light for the nations (Isa 49:6). It also means that anyone who follows Him no longer walks in the darkness, but that such a person has the “Light of life”. For such a person, the darkness no longer has a hold, nor does the darkness hold terror for such a person. Those who follow Him follow the life that is light.

The Lord Jesus reveals life and that revealed life casts light on all other lives. All those other lives become revealed as darkness and are on their way to darkness. Only following Him leads to the path of light and to the light. The testimony of the Lord leads to yet another manifestation of enmity in the Pharisees, as we always find in this Gospel.

The Lord has endured the hostility, or contradiction, of sinners in general, but of these religious leaders in particular (Heb 12:3). They feel that they have no part in any blessing of which He speaks and they even do not want to have any part in it. They think they have an argument for rejecting His testimony by saying that He is testifying of Himself and therefore His testimony cannot be true.

If we look at what the Lord Jesus said in John 5 (Jn 5:31), it seems that they are right to make this remark. But the background is different. There it is about His dependence on the Father and that is why He says that He does not testify of Himself. Here it is about His own glory and His connection with the Father. Here He gives His testimony as the Omniscient.

These people are completely ignorant of the Father and the Son. They do not think about heaven and lack the ability to judge Him correctly. On the contrary, the Son has the constant awareness of the truth of His own Person and of His mission by the Father. His testimony is inseparable from that of the Father.

They do not know where He comes from. Earlier the Lord said that they knew where He came from (Jn 7:28). There He meant that they knew that He came from Nazareth. But His pre-existence in heaven and His place with the Father is completely unknown to them.