Jesus the Light of the World

During His earthly ministry, our Savior used several titles and metaphors for Himself to help us know who He is and what He came to do. John’s gospel records several of these in what have come to be known as the “I am” sayings of Jesus. In today’s passage, we read that Jesus is the Light of the World.

When we studied the attributes and metaphors for God used in Scripture a few months back, we looked at the metaphor of light as applied to God in texts such as Psalm 36:9 and 1 John 1:5. That Jesus could call Himself “the light of the world” (John 8:12) is yet another indication of His deity, for in referring to Himself as light, He took for Himself a descriptor that applies to God. Yet Jesus’ description of Himself as “the light of the world” is more than a claim to deity. It also tells us that Jesus is the ultimate means by which our Creator communicates the light of His truth to the world. Jesus is “the true light, which gives light to everyone” (1:9). As Augustine of Hippo and other Christian theologians have said throughout history, any knowledge of truth at all that people have comes because the Son of God has illumined our minds. This is true whether we are talking about the nonsaving knowledge of scientific facts or the saving knowledge of the gospel that includes truth and commitment.

Certainly, the most important truth that Jesus brings to people as the Light of the World is the truth of His person and work as the only way to salvation. We see this in texts such as John 1:17, where Jesus’ bringing of grace and truth plainly means that He brought undeniable clarity to God’s plan of salvation and what was necessary to accomplish it. Such truths were revealed under the old covenant, but they were not as plain to people back then as they are to the world since the coming of Jesus and the inauguration of the new covenant (2 Peter 1:16–21). Thus, Dr. R.C. Sproul is correct to note in his commentary on John that “Jesus brought illumination and understanding of truth when He came into the world.”

In commenting on today’s passage, John Calvin notes the importance of “the world” in terms of how it universalizes Jesus’ mission. By using such a phrase, Calvin writes, Jesus eliminates distinctions with respect to Jew and gentile, noble and commoner, and learned and uneducated. He is the true Light for all people no matter who they are or what status or education they have attained. Jesus is Light by which anyone must walk if he is to be saved.