Who Is the True Light?

Who is the true light of John 1?

Before we get to the true light of John 1, it is worth briefly remembering what Paul wrote in Romans.

God made himself known to men. But although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks. Their thoughts became futile, and their hearts were darkened.

Then Paul repeats a frightening expression three times:

“God gave them over.”

God gave them over to the desires of their own hearts.

God gave them over to shameful passions.

And, because they despised the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a reprobate mind.

Paul ends by describing what comes to fill human life: injustice, wickedness, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice…

Man was not left without a manifestation of God.

His heart was darkened, and God gave him over.

It is against this backdrop that John's first words take on extraordinary force:

“The light shines in the darkness.”

And then the question arises:

Who is this true light?

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In the beginning

John begins before speaking of Jesus.

Before John the Baptist.

Before Abraham.

Even before creation.

“In the beginning was the Word.”

The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

All things were made through him and, without him, nothing that was made was made.

There are, therefore, the things that were made.

And there is the one who, in the beginning, was.

But John has not yet spoken of the light.

Before it, another word appears:

Life.

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The life was the light

John writes:

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

It is worth preserving exactly this sequence:

Word → life → light of men.

The light is inseparably related to life.

And then John shows us what this light does:

“The light shines in the darkness.”

After Romans 1, we feel the weight of this sentence a little more.

The human heart was darkened.

And John announces:

The light shines in the darkness.

It is not the darkness that produces the light.

The light shines.

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The true light

Then John introduces a man sent by God: John the Baptist.

He came to bear witness about the light.

But John takes care to make it clear:

“He was not the light.”

Until we arrive at the expression:

“The true light, which, coming into the world, gives light to every man.”

Not just a light.

The true light.

It comes.

It gives light.

And yet:

“The Word was in the world, the world was made through him, but the world did not know him.”

The light was present.

But the world did not recognize it.

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A man came by night

Shortly after, John introduces us to another man.

His name was Nicodemus.

A Pharisee, one of the rulers of the Jews, someone whom Jesus himself would call a teacher of Israel.

Nicodemus knew the Scriptures.

He knew religion.

He recognized the signs.

And he recognized something extraordinary in Jesus:

“We know that you are a Teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

But John records a small detail:

Nicodemus went to Jesus by night.

And Jesus said to him:

“Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus knew many things about God.

But Jesus spoke to him of seeing.

And, right after, he went even further:

“Whoever is not born of water and the Spirit cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Now we have two words:

see.

enter.

And between them is something that no knowledge can produce:

being born of the Spirit.

Maybe this conversation remains so current because it is possible to know the Scriptures, to know doctrines, to recognize signs, to talk about God and even to know many things about the Kingdom.

But Jesus did not invite Nicodemus simply to know more.

He spoke to him of something that needed to happen in him:

being born of the Spirit.

In order to see.

In order to enter.

We do not need to look at Nicodemus with accusation.

Maybe it is better for us to sit beside him, that night, and hear the same silent question:

Do I only know the things of the Kingdom, or have I entered it?

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The Word became flesh

We return to the beginning.

John writes:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

And he adds:

“We saw his glory.”

Now we have:

life.

light.

glory.

And, shortly after, John mentions explicitly:

Jesus Christ.

Who, then, is this true light?

Maybe it is time to ask Paul.

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Christ, who is our life

Paul writes:

“Christ, who is our life…”

John had said:

“In him was life.”

And:

“The life was the light of men.”

Paul also writes:

“Awake, you who sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

Christ is our life.

Christ gives light.

But it is in another letter that Paul brings together almost all the elements we find in John.

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God shone in our heart

Paul speaks:

“…of the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

And right after:

“For God, who said: Light shall shine out of darkness, has himself shone in our heart, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ.”

Paul goes back to creation:

Light shall shine out of darkness.

But now the place where God shines is surprising:

our heart.

Romans had left us before a darkened heart.

Now Paul speaks of God shining in that same place.

And the light given is:

“of the glory of God, in the face of Christ.”

Maybe our question is finding its answer.

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Who is the true light?

John spoke of the life that was the light of men.

Paul calls Christ our life.

John spoke of the light that gives light.

Paul says:

“Christ will give you light.”

John spoke of the glory.

Paul speaks of the:

“glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

The words of John and Paul are not identical.

But their convergence is extraordinary.

The true light is Christ.

And Paul leads us a little further still.

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Christ in you

Paul speaks of a mystery:

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

The light does not simply remain before man.

God:

“has shone in our heart.”

Christ:

“in you.”

Paul also writes:

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”

And:

“until Christ is formed in you.”

Now we can place side by side two statements of Jesus:

“I am the light of the world.”

“You are the light of the world.”

Two lights?

Paul offers us a very simple expression:

“Now you are light in the Lord.”

Not an independent source of light.

Light in the Lord.

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You are the light of the world

Jesus did not say:

“Become the light of the world.”

He said:

“You are the light of the world.”

It is not a command to manufacture light.

We return to the beginning:

“The light shines in the darkness.”

The light shines because it is light.

Paul explains:

“Christ lives in me.”

“Christ in you.”

Maybe the whole path can be contemplated in a few lines:

The heart was darkened.
The light shone in the darkness.
The true light came into the world.
That light is Christ.
God shone in our heart.
Christ in us.
Light in the Lord.

And then we can hear in another way:

“I am the light of the world.”

And:

“You are the light of the world.”

Because John had said:

“The life was the light of men.”

And Paul revealed to us:

“Christ, who is our life.”

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Who is this Son of Man?

At a certain moment, they asked Jesus a direct question:

“Who is this Son of Man?”

The answer seems, at first glance, to hardly answer the question:

“The light is still among you for a little while. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness does not overtake you.”

And he added:

“While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.”

They asked:

Who is this Son of Man?

Jesus answered:

The light.